For lawyers & paralegals

An Indigenous man (Wikwemikong) with a slight smile and short dark hair standing in front of light grey stone wall

Through Level’s Dare to Dream program, Thomas, a lawyer, volunteered his time to give young students an inside and inspiring view of the justice system

Lawyers and paralegals have a special relationship with The Law Foundation of Ontario. We are connected through legal obligations and our shared mandates of improving access to justice.

Legal duty

How the interest is used

Access to justice partners

Legal duty

Legal duty to report and direct mixed trust account

Lawyers and paralegals have a legal obligation to report mixed trust accounts. This helps ensure that The Law Foundation of Ontario receives the interest on these accounts, which it uses to advance access to justice.When opening a mixed trust account, lawyers and paralegals must direct their financial institution to pay the interest to The Law Foundation of Ontario.

Lawyers and paralegals must report on each mixed trust account held at any time during the licensee’s reporting year in their Lawyer Annual Report or the Paralegal Annual Report filing through the Law Society of Ontario portal.

Established by statute in 1974, The Law Foundation of Ontario is the sole foundation in Ontario with the mandate of increasing access to justice. The Foundation’s main source of revenue is interest received from lawyers’ and paralegals’ mixed trust accounts. This revenue goes to The Law Foundation of Ontario to make grants that advance access to justice and to Legal Aid Ontario. The higher the interest rate a bank provides, the more dollars are available for the Foundation to make grants.

Learn more on our Report a mixed trust account webpage.

How the interest is used

The Law Foundation of Ontario directs 75% of the interest it receives to Legal Aid Ontario to support critical legal services for low-income Ontarians. With the remaining monies, the Foundation makes grants to advance access to justice across Ontario. Some examples of the work funded by the interest on licensees’ mixed trust accounts include:

$2M annually to Ontario law schools to support, among other things, legal clinics that give law students the opportunity for hands-on learning while delivering needed services to community members
Funds to place articling students at nonprofit organizations across the province including the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, Amnesty International, and Innocence Canada
Community-based projects that expand access to legal information, training, pro bono services, and support collaborations to advance access to justice

Access to justice partners

Report a mixed trust account

Lawyers and paralegals must report annually on each mixed trust account. It is important to direct the financial institution to forward all interest earned from a mixed trust account to The Law Foundation of Ontario.

Direct a cy-près award

Many courts have approved the Foundation as a fitting and accountable recipient of cy-près awards. The Access to Justice Fund is a permanent fund available to receive such awards.

Class Proceedings Fund

The Class Proceedings Fund provides financial support to approved class action plaintiffs for legal disbursements and indemnifies plaintiffs for costs that may be awarded against them in funded proceedings.