Court Zoom Connection and Contact Information
If you are supposed to be connecting to a court by Zoom and do not know how to do this, here is your answer. Click on the city where the court case is located to find your connection information.
Please note that you cannot appear for every type of court appearance by Zoom. There are directions about what kind of appearances are in-person unless otherwise stated. You can also ask for permission from a judge to appear by Zoom for appearances that would normally be in person, but you have to ask for permission in advance. Read the directions carefully or ask your lawyer if you can appear by Zoom if you are not sure.
Helpful Contacts and Websites
Daily Dockets
The 'docket' is the list of cases, by name, that are scheduled to be heard in a court on any given day. Ontario's 'Daily Court Lists' website will let you look at the entire docket for a courthouse either that day or one day in advance. The website will tell you which courtroom the matter is located in and what time the docket starts running. So if you are not sure if you are supposed to be in court today, don't know which room you are supposed to be in, or what time you are supposed to show up, you can check using this website.
When you click the below links, you have to scroll all the way to the bottom and agree to the terms and conditions before you can search for a case by court level, city, type of case, and address.
Today's dockets: https://www.ontariocourtdates.ca/Default.aspx
Tomorrow's dockets: https://www.ontariocourtdates.ca/tomorrow/
Important notes:
While this is a helpful tool, it is not always 100% accurate. If you are expecting a matter to be in court today or tomorrow but cannot find the name on the docket, call or visit court services in person to confirm where and when the matter will be appearing. Phone numbers and emails for court services at various locations in Ontario are included in our Zoom court link sections, above.
Youth matters are never included in the dockets. If a person was charged with something when they were under the age of 18 years, regardless of their age now, you will not find information about their matter online.
Publication bans are sometimes in place which results in the full name of the matter not being included in the online docket. These names will sometimes appear instead as initials. For example, if John Smith has charges up today and there is a publication ban, his name may appears as "S., J." on the docket.
Legal Aid Ontario
If you cannot afford a lawyer, you may be eligible to have your defence funded by Legal Aid Ontario. Contact them to apply. The lawyers at Newman Barristers may accept Legal Aid-funded clients on a case-by-case basis.
Toll-free: 1-800-668-8258
Toronto: 416-979-1446
Legal Aid also has an online directory of all lawyers who are able to accept Legal Aid certificates, and you can search this directory by name, location, specialty, or which language(s) in which the lawyer can provide services.
https://www.legalaid.on.ca/lawyers/
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
CanLII is a non-profit organization founded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. It is completely free to access. The site contains a huge repository of legislation, court decisions and secondary sources such as law journals, books, and commentaries.
Law Society of Ontario Lawyer and Paralegal Directory
All licensed paralegals and lawyers have their name, contact information and practice status in the directory. You can also use the directory to search for lawyers or paralegals based on the city where they practice.
https://lso.ca/public-resources/finding-a-lawyer-or-paralegal/lawyer-and-paralegal-directory
Law Society of Ontario Referral Service
If you need a lawyer and are not sure where to start looking, or don't know what kind of lawyer you need to help you with your issue, you can request a referral through the Referral Service. Lawyers contacted through the referral service will give at least a 30-minute free consultation.