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I Need Help

One of the most important goals of The Legal Aid Society is to make clients, prospective clients, and their families and friends aware of our services and how to access them. The following pages should provide some help.

The Self-Help section was created by the Civil Practice Area to be a resource which addresses legal issues and questions that are commonly faced by our clients. The Legal Aid Society appreciates the high demand for its services in New York City and recognizes that it cannot represent every low-income New Yorker. Through this website, we hope to make important legal information available to all visitors a 24/7 basis. This section was created for The Legal Aid Society and its clients by students and faculty of the Columbia University School of Law, Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic.

The Criminal Practice represents people who have been arrested in New York City. The Court assigns Legal Aid to represent people after their arrest if they cannot afford to pay a private attorney. The Criminal Practice also represents people who are appealing their convictions and people who are on parole and have been arrested and charged with violating their parole.

The Civil Practice represents low income families and individuals who have problems involving housing, government benefits, disability, domestic violence and family law, immigration, medical and health law, employment, homelessness and eviction, HIV/AIDS, and prisoners rights.

The Juvenile Rights Practice represents children who are the subject of child protective proceedings, Persons In Need of Supervision and children who are the subject of juvenile delinquency proceedings.