New Report Calls for Greater Collaboration Among Legal Information Providers

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - April 21, 2016) - CLEO today released an important new research report on the availability of legal information for people in Ontario. The report identifies almost 1,700 legal information resources on a range of topics produced by over 180 organizations. This abundance means that people looking for legal information may have difficulty finding and identifying what is relevant and reliable -- particularly when looking for information online.

Public Legal Education and Information in Ontario: Learning from a Snapshot takes a look at the public legal education and information (PLEI) resources available in Ontario. Hundreds of ministries and offices at all levels of government, and a large number of smaller community-based organizations working at the front lines, are providing legal information of one sort or another.

Julie Mathews, CLEO's Executive Director, notes that the research raises a key question. "With so much legal information available", Mathews says, "how can legal information providers help users put their hands on information that they can understand and rely on?"

The report offers several recommendations to address these challenges, and calls for greater collaboration among major legal information providers as a key step.

CLEO wants to acknowledge the help of a range of justice sector organizations that shared their time and expertise by acting as strategic research advisors for this project and through participation in the PLEI Cluster of the Action Group on Access to Justice (TAG).

To view the report Public Legal Education and Information in Ontario: Learning from a Snapshot:

http://www.plelearningexchange.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/PLE-in-Ontario-Learning-from-a-snapshot_Final-report.pdf

To view the PLEI in Ontario infographic:

http://www.plelearningexchange.ca/plei-ontario-learning-snapshot-infographic/

CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario/Éducation juridique communautaire Ontario) is a non-profit organization that provides accurate and easy-to-understand information and education about the law for people in Ontario. For over 40 years, CLEO has reached people who have low incomes or are marginalized in other ways with critical legal rights information. CLEO's Centre for Research and Innovation conducts research relating to public legal education and information. http://www.plelearningexchange.ca/research/cleo-research/

CLEO is grateful to The Law Foundation of Ontario and the Department of Justice Canada for funding this research through their support of CLEO's Centre for Research and Innovation. The Action Group on Access to Justice also supported this research in a number of important ways.

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