Our Mandate

Our Mandate

The Law Foundation of BC exists for the benefit of people in British Columbia. We are the recipient of the interest on pooled funds held in trust by lawyers across the province, and we are directed to invest those funds in strengthening access to justice for people in BC. 

That responsibility shapes everything we do. Our grantmaking is directed into five mandate areas: legal aid, legal education, legal research, law libraries, and law reform. Each one is a lever for building a more accessible and equitable justice system in BC.

Legal Aid

Legal aid is about making sure people can actually access the justice system when they need it. It includes community-based legal advocacy, public interest law, and other forms of legal assistance. Our funding supports free legal services and programs that address issues affecting groups of people who face barriers to justice. 

A wide range of the programs we fund touch this mandate area. They include:  

• family law advocacy  

• legal services in areas of law such as old-age security, tenancy, disability, and employment   

• specialized legal advocacy, in areas such as disability law, children & youth, immigration and refugee law, elder law, and mental health  

• student legal clinics  

• community legal clinics   

• Legal Aid BC, pro bono legal services, and a range of projects to advance access to justice  

Legal Education

Understanding your rights is the first step to exercising them. Our funding of legal education programs and services makes the law more accessible for everyone. These programs increase public awareness of the law and the justice system, provide education to groups with specific legal needs, and support the professional development of legal service providers. 

Within this mandate area, our funding includes: 

• public legal education  

• legal education projects  

• professional legal education and law school programs  

• public interest articling positions, work placements, and awards  

Legal Research

We fund programs that advance knowledge of the law, the administration of justice, and social policy, as well as projects that identify areas and issues needing deeper study and analysis. 

Law Libraries

We fund law libraries and other resource centres to collect materials and keep them current, supporting accessibility for both the legal profession and the public. We encourage and support projects designed to improve the utility of law-related and legal materials. 

We hold longstanding relationships with Courthouse Libraries BC and the Law Society of BC. We also fund law library projects that support their modernization and improvement. 

Law Reform

We encourage and support projects that promote meaningful changes to law and the administration of justice. 

Most of our funding within this mandate area goes toward limited-time projects, though we also hold longstanding relationships with some grantee organizations. We fund ongoing law reform programs in areas such as freedom of information and privacy rights, as well as research that leads to improvements in the law and the administration of justice.