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Ontario|Find A LawyerFind A Lawyer 868 Volunteer Lawyers Service: Free legal help for Charities and Non-profit Organizations
The Volunteer Lawyers Service was created to promote free legal services in Ontario to charitable and not-for-profit community based organizations. Since 1994, the Volunteer Lawyers Service has helped over 150 organizations and has approximately 400 participating volunteer lawyers.
- Legal Services
The legal services provided cover a variety of legal issues. Some of the most common are: assistance with incorporating and preparing bylaws; employment and labour matters; tenant and landlord issues; and help with obtaining charitable status.
Organizations may take an application to their local United Way or Volunteer Centre, or they can contact the Volunteer Lawyers Service directly.
Once an organization has received approval for these services, they will be matched with a lawyer who can assist them with their request. The organization only has to pay for the out of pocket costs, such as government filing fees, photocopying, and so on.
- Seminars
The Volunteer Lawyers Service also conducts information seminars on relevant legal topics to community agencies. These seminars are conducted on a regular basis. The main focus of the seminars is to keep organizations informed of current laws and issues affecting the not-for-profit and volunteer sector. Seminar topics include:
- How to incorporate,
- How to obtain charitable status,
- The duties and liabilities of Boards of Directors, and
- Employment issues for non-profit organizations.
Handouts are provided at each seminar.
- Who is Eligible?
All Charities and non profit organizations are eligible to receive free legal advice and services, provided they meet 4 criteria. The organization:
1. Must not have more than 12 full time employees;
2. Cannot have gross assets exceeding 2 million dollars;
3. Must not have annual gross revenues plus operating reserves excess of 1.2 million dollars (except amounts for designated projects); and
4. Must be a non-profit or charitable community-based organization serving the public interest
.
- Application Process
To apply for free legal assistance, the organization must submit a brief written explanation about the type of services that the organization requires and a little bit about what the organization does. In addition to the actual request, the organization should submit as much of the following information as is available: the organization's Mission Statement, and Bylaws, the most recent Financial Statements, and a list of the Board of Directors. The Volunteer Lawyers Service will review the request and if approved, attempt to match the agency with an appropriate lawyer within approximately one month.
If your organization would like to submit an application or would like more information, you can contact the Volunteer Lawyers Service by mail at: Volunteer Lawyers Service, c/o Law Society of Upper Canada, 130 Queen St. West Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2N6. Or you can call in Toronto (416) 947-3931, or toll-free 1-800-668-7380. You can also contact the Volunteer Lawyers Service by email at vls@lsuc.on.ca, or logon to their website at www.volunteerlawyers.org.
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