Telephone: (604) 681-3535, Ext. 213

Email: legal@allianceforarts.com

Website: artistslegaloutreach.ca

Legal Services

The ALO provides legal services to the artistic community in a variety of ways:

The Clinic. The ALO Clinic allows artists to discuss their legal matter during a 30-minute, summary advice session with a lawyer. Clinics are held twice each month on Wednesday evenings. For more details, please visit our Clinic page.

Resource Library. The ALO Resource Library is located at the Alliance for Arts and Culture, at Suite 100 - 938 Howe Street. It contains legal materials related to all artistic disciplines and can be accessed during office hours. For more information, please visit our Resource page.

Legal Education. The ALO organizes workshops on a variety of topics related to the arts and the law, including intellectual property, incorporation, societies and wills and estate planning. For more information, please visit Education page.

History

In February 2003, the "Arts Professionals - Legal Advice - Weekly Sessions" (APLAWS) program began as a joint volunteer project between the Alliance for Arts and Culture and the late Burt Harris, an influential Canadian arts and entertainment lawyer. APLAWS was a free volunteer legal advice service for arts professionals, and became the precursor to the Artists' Legal Outreach (ALO).

In 2005, APLAWS was relaunched as the ALO, a pilot project run by Martha Rans and Jamie Mellott, with Burt Harris continuing as a member of the ALO's Advisory Committee until his untimely death in November 2006. The ALO is now a permanent program staffed by volunteer lawyers and law students. Martha Rans is currently the ALO's Legal Director.