People with disabilities, particularly those facing financial barriers, may have difficulty accessing the legal support they need. Having legal information can help people understand their rights and options, make informed decisions, and take steps to assert their rights.
Reach Legal Referral Services connects people with disabilities in the Ottawa and Champlain regions with volunteer lawyers, paralegals, and mediators for legal information and advice.
What we do—connect individuals with legal professionals for a one-time consultation on their matter
If an individual has a disability, lives in the Ottawa and Champlain regions, and has a legal issue, Reach Legal Referral Services may be able to connect you with a lawyer, paralegal, or mediator for a consultation on their legal issue.
What is a consultation?
If you are eligible for the service, we will try to connect you with a lawyer, paralegal or mediator for a once-time consultation (confidential advice). A consultation is an opportunity to:
- explain your legal situation;
- ask questions;
- better understand your options; and
- receive confidential legal information and advice from a lawyer or paralegal.
The consultation does not mean that the lawyer or paralegal will represent you or take on your case afterward.
If you and the legal professional decide to work together after the consultation, you will make those arrangements directly with each other. Reach is not involved in that arrangement.
The program is volunteer-based, which means we may not always have a legal professional available who can help with your particular legal issue.
If we cannot connect you with a legal professional, we will do our best to provide information about other community services or resources that may be able to help.
What we don’t do—provide legal advice, urgent legal support, or ongoing legal representation
We do not provide legal advice
Reach staff and volunteers cannot give you legal advice or tell you what you should do about your legal matter.
Legal advice can only be provided by the lawyer or paralegal you are connected with, if we are able to make a successful referral for you.
We do not provide urgent legal support
Reach is supported by volunteers and students, and we often have several requests for assistance at the same time. Because of this, we do not provide emergency or urgent legal assistance.
We understand that your legal issue is important to you, and we will respond to your request as soon as we are able.
For more immediate legal support, please contact the Law Society of Ontario’s Referral Service by phone at 1-855-947-5255 or through their online application at Law Society Referral Service | Law Society of Ontario.
We do not provide ongoing legal representation
If we successfully connect you with a lawyer or paralegal, the match is for a consultation only.
Reach cannot arrange for a lawyer or paralegal to represent you or take on your case.
If you and the legal professional decide to continue working together after the consultation, that is a separate arrangement between you and the legal professional. Reach is not involved. Due to the volume of inquiries we receive, we can only attempt to one consultation for your legal matter.
We cannot guarantee a consultation
We will do our best to find an available legal professional who can provide a consultation. However, because Reach relies on volunteer legal professionals, we cannot guarantee that a match will be available.
If we cannot find someone to provide a consultation, we will try to connect you with other resources that may be able to help, such as community services or mediation services.
Please know that we take every request seriously and will do our best to help with the resources available to us.
“I am a mental health survivor, and I have a disability. Twice I obtained help from Reach Legal Referral Services. Each time, I was connected with an Ottawa lawyer, who treated me with great respect and made me aware that I had legal rights. At the beginning of these legal travails, I had to ask myself, ‘Who can help me?’ As on my own, I didn’t have the knowledge, clarity, focus, strength or knowledge to move out of the mire.”
– Christine, Reach client
Reach Legal Referral Services accepts online and telephone referrals only. Please complete the online referral form below or contact us at 613-761-9522 ext. 452 or 453.
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The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin Access to Justice Fund
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