Mr. Philip O'Leary:

There are two effective thresholds that have to be met in order to obtain a civil legal aid certificate. There is the finance eligibility threshold and then there is what we call the merits test. If a person wants to qualify to receive legal aid, he or she to be within the finance eligibility threshold. Second, to put it in layman's terms, he or she has to establish he or she has a reasonable chance of success in going to court and that a reasonable person with reasonable means would take on the case.