Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County
Automatically compiled listing. Details may contain errors.Wellington County (Guelph)
One of 50 law firms listed in Guelph, and one of 7 handling Administrative & Regulatory Law.
Accepts Legal Aid
Accepts Legal AidAbout Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County
The Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County gives free legal help to people with low incomes in Guelph and across Wellington County. It's a community legal clinic rather than a private firm: Legal Aid Ontario funds it, and a volunteer board of local residents governs it. Its casework covers four main fields, namely housing, human rights, employment and income assistance, and it also commissions and notarizes certain documents.
Founded in 2002, the clinic works out of the Guelph Community Health Centre on Wyndham Street North. Its catchment area is divided between rural and urban settings. The Law Van carries clinic services out to rural communities in Wellington County and the northern part of Halton Region.
Help comes at several levels. Staff can refer you elsewhere, give summary advice, take on a brief service or represent you, and the clinic runs public legal education as well. Fuller help can mean advice on your own situation, a hand with completing forms, and representation at a hearing before a court or tribunal. When a problem falls outside what the clinic can do, it'll try to connect you with an organization that can.
There's no charge for the clinic's services. You can drop in, call or email; reception staff will ask a few questions about the problem and book you with a caseworker if that's needed. The clinic commits to returning voicemail and email messages in priority order within 48 business hours, its doors are open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and callers in Wellington County outside Guelph can reach it on a toll-free line.
History
Anthea Millikin joined the clinic in 2002 as its first executive director, bringing a background in municipal and administrative law along with organizational development. The years that followed saw the new clinic launched, a move into a health hub in 2015, and the start of rural service through the Law Van, which ran as a pilot in 2019 before securing three years of funding in 2021. In 2022 the clinic marked 20 years with events in Guelph and Arthur.
Stephanie Clendenning took over as executive director in March 2024, coming from Halton Community Legal Services, where Clendenning was senior staff lawyer. The Guelph and Halton clinics have a long and close working relationship that has included the Legal Health Check-Up, a legal secondary consultation project and extending the Law Van into north Halton.
Practice areas
Housing help for tenants
The clinic works on the tenant side of housing problems, from evictions and maintenance to rental subsidies and co-op housing. It doesn't act for landlords, but it can tell them about organizations that help landlords.
Income assistance and disability benefits
Income assistance is one of the clinic's core fields, and that includes problems with the Ontario Disability Support Program and Canada Pension Plan Disability. The goal of this work is to help people keep their social benefits and hold on to stable housing.
Employment problems in non-union workplaces
As a partner in the Mobile Legal and Social Justice Initiative, the clinic can put financially eligible workers from non-unionized workplaces in touch with an employment lawyer.
Human rights
The clinic advises people facing discrimination or harassment at work, in housing and rental accommodation, or when trying to get services such as social assistance and public benefits.
Commissioning and notarizing
The clinic can commission or notarize some documents, including paperwork for subsidized housing, child care subsidies and government income support. It doesn't do this for family law matters, corporate or business declarations, or land transfer and real estate.
Good to know
Wheelchair accessibleFees & payment
Legal aidHow Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County works
The clinic exists to deliver legal services in the cause of social justice, and its vision is a thriving community built on justice and equality. Alongside its casework, it designs access to justice initiatives aimed at the parts of the community that turn up less often in its own service data.
In the community
- Under a three-year pilot with Halton Community Legal Services that began in 2021, the Law Van ran weekly from May to the end of October, visiting Mount Forest, Arthur, Fergus, Clifford and Palmerston in Wellington County and Georgetown and Acton in North Halton, with fixed indoor sites taking over in fall and winter.
- Between roughly 85% and 90% of the people who came to the summer van or the winter venues had never before been in contact with the Guelph or Halton clinics or the Law Van.
- Community groups and organizations can book a public legal education workshop from the clinic on tenant rights, income assistance such as OW, ODSP and CPP-d, human rights or employment rights.
- In Guelph and Wellington County, the Ahwenehaode Indigenous Justice Program is delivered through the clinic. Founded in December 2016, the program offers culturally respectful clinic law services, and its Cayuga name means using words that are kind and supportive.
- To mark National Housing Day, which it recognizes every November, the clinic has hosted a screening of the documentary Bridging Divides: Voices and Visions about Homelessness in Mid-size Cities at the Norgan Theatre in Palmerston.
- In 2024 the clinic set up a new placement program for LPP and IPC law students, and it takes law student and co-op applications for the fall, winter and summer terms.
Affiliations & connections
- Legal Aid Ontario: Legal Aid Ontario funds the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County.
- Halton Community Legal Services: The clinic runs its online Legal Health Check-up in partnership with Halton Community Legal Services.
- The Law Foundation of Ontario: The Law Foundation of Ontario gave the clinic the initial three-year Connecting Rural Regions grant for the Law Van.
Lawyers
No individual lawyers listed on the firm site.
The neighbourhood
The clinic's office is Unit 5 at 176 Wyndham Street North in Guelph, inside the Guelph Community Health Centre. That centre gives priority to people living with tier 4 or 5 mental health and substance use needs or with precarious housing, and the clinic works side by side with the centre's social supports so those clients get wrap-around help.
Frequently asked questions
- I live in rural Wellington County. Can the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County's Law Van bring help to my community?
- The Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County sends its Law Van to communities in Wellington County and northern Halton Region to bring clinic services to rural areas. It's set up as a low-barrier, friendly place to get legal advice and useful referrals, and the clinic posts a calendar of Law Van stops.
- Will the clinic ask about my income before giving me summary advice?
- The Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County generally doesn't ask about income before giving summary advice, where staff hear the problem out and give their view on the next steps you should take. Summary advice doesn't include help with forms or coming with you to a hearing. For fuller help, staff may ask about your income and assets to check eligibility, and you could be asked to repay money the clinic spends on disbursements for your case, such as medical reports.
- Can the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County help with a name or gender marker change, or with reclaiming an Indigenous name?
- The Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County helps 2SLGBTQIA+ community members through name and gender marker changes, and helps people who want to reclaim a traditional Indigenous name. That includes help navigating the process, a review of the application and free commissioning. The clinic can't cover the provincial government's filing fees for name and gender marker applications.
- I support clients at a Guelph agency. Can I call the clinic about a client's legal issue?
- The Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County gives legal advice and information directly to the people supporting someone with a legal problem, from health care and social service workers to peers and volunteers. In May 2024 it opened a dedicated Secondary Consult phone line for timely access, with the aim of cutting referral fatigue and lowering barriers to its services.
- Does the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County take family, criminal or immigration cases?
- The Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County doesn't provide family law, criminal law or immigration services, and it can't help you write a will or power of attorney. Other organizations handle those matters, and the clinic will try to point you to one.
Where to find them
176 Wyndham Street North, Unit 5, Guelph, ON N1H 8N9 (inside the Guelph Community Health Centre) · 519-821-2100
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Employment & Labour LawThis listing was generated by AI from public sources in October 2026. It may contain errors, and we can’t guarantee it’s accurate or complete. Before you rely on anything here, verify it on the firm’s own website. Verify licence status in the Law Society of Ontario directory ↗
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