The article ascertains that a legal status of the individual should be considered as a legal tool to secure human needs and interests with the help of a legal control mechanism where an important role is played by guarantees of human rights and freedoms. In case of such approach, legal aid is considered as one of the important conditions for enforcement of human rights and freedoms in their ensuring mechanism. Legal aid means a state-guaranteed qualified assistance for an individual by statutory subjects as such individual performs lawful procedural steps (acts) required to acquire, amend or terminate legal rights or duties. The criteria of a legal aid classification by types are determined in the article. 

The attention is drawn to the necessity of a deep investigation of the mentioned institution with a view to its detailed legislative regulation.