Legal Aid in North Louisiana
For more than forty years, legal aid has provided access to legal services and representation for low-income individuals and families throughout North Louisiana. Based in the Third Circuit of Louisiana, legal aid serves the parishes of Caddo, Claiborne, Bossier, Bienville, Grant, Jackson, Lincoln, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Sabine, Webster, and Winn. The services offer a general overview of civil law—divorce, child custody, child support, domestic violence, successions, guardianship, eviction, foreclosure, and consumer issues, along with many other areas that cross the organization’s radar. These civil law areas fall under the purview of organizations like the Legal Aid Clinic at the LSU Health Sciences Center, the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Lawyers in the Library program at the Shreveport, Caddo Parish Libraries, and Northwest Louisiana Legal Services, Inc . The clinic and North Louisiana Legal Services also accept clients through the intake process of statewide Louisiana Civil Legal Aid Services. For civil legal issues, there are no fees for civil legal aid. Legal aid staff attorneys are licensed and in good standing with the Louisiana State Bar Association. Should a legal aid staff attorney determine their firm cannot represent an individual, then the potential client will be referred to the Louisiana State Bar Association’s nationwide Lawyer Finder Referral Service for help finding an attorney in their area. Although legal aid does not extend legal services to renters, they do assist in providing a list of local organizations that offer housing help. Louisiana Housing Search is one of these organizations—they offer free online rental property listings and affordable housing search resources.
The Requirement to Qualify for Legal Aid in North Louisiana
Each legal aid organization imposes its own eligibility standards. The ones applicable to North Louisiana — like those in other regions — are primarily based on income, family size and residence. According to the Southwest Louisiana Law Center, adults must have incomes less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level, and families with children must generally have incomes less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Although "generally" is a catchword, specific exceptions apply to bankruptcy, some family law cases and discrimination issues that are referred to the organization due to its involvement with the Northwest Louisiana Pro Bono Project. The North Louisiana Legal Services Society, Inc., applies its own set of income standards to its services. For a single participant, that standard is an annual income that does not exceed $15,730. A household with two or three members qualifies if its income does not exceed $16,976, while a four-member household can qualify if its income does not exceed $20,844. The specific residency requirements for receiving legal aid vary by organization as well. As stated by the Southwest Louisiana Law Center, eligibility requires that the applicant reside in the 11-parish area the organization serves. That area includes Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Grant, Jefferson Davis, Natchitoches, Rapides, Sabine, Vernon and Winn parishes. Exceptions can be made in rare cases.
The Major Providers of Legal Aid Services in North Louisiana
In North Louisiana, a number of organizations and law firms provide vital legal aid services to those in need. The consolidated legal aid and pro bono needs assessment for 2019 in the Second Judicial District of Louisiana reports that in selected parishes of the Fifth Congressional District, 2,095 clients were served by area legal aid and pro bono organizations.
The Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) is a central legal aid resource. The LSBA coordinates pro bono activities and resources flooding to individual regions, helping to match low-income Louisianans with volunteer attorneys while also supporting legal aid and public interest attorneys in their work across the state.
The LSBA is partnered with the Public Interest and Pro Bono Section, in addition to bar associations across the state, enabling them to facilitate CLE programming and access for those in North Louisiana, as well as deliver targeted outreach efforts and trainings in the region’s most underserved areas.
Just a few of the many local legal aid providers in North Louisiana include:
LSBA Pro Bono Project and Project HERO
900 Camp St., Suite 300, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504)581-4043
The LSBA manages the statewide coordination of pro bono services through the Pro Bono Project and Project HERO, which are staffed by full-time legal aid attorneys who provide pro bono services to underserved areas, encourage pro bono volunteers, and develop pro bono legal service projects.
North Louisiana Jewish Federation – Pro Bono Project and Resource Center
820 Brook Hollow Dr., Shreveport, LA 71105
(318)869-3648
(318)868-0291
Baton Rouge Pro Bono Project and Domestic Violence Special District Pro Bono Project
Baton Rouge Pro Bono Project: 616 Main St., Baton Rouge, LA 70801
(225)383-1700
Domestic Violence Special District Pro Bono Project: 1600 Government St., B-03, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
North District Pro Bono Project (Evangelical Lutheran Good Shepherd)
2112 Chelsea Ave., Monroe, LA 71201
(318)324-5333
North Louisiana Legal Services, Inc.
202 W. Clay St., Ste. B, Minden, LA 71055
(318)676-5100
The Types of Problems Legal Aid Can Assist You With
Each legal aid organization in North Louisiana serves a number of different parishes and therefore provides a slightly different range of services. The following gives a general overview of the types of legal issues that those in need of help can receive assistance with.
A significant amount of services offered by the various groups focuses on family law including divorce, separation and child custody disputes, as well as domestic violence. Family law is a complex and often time-consuming area of the legal system, which makes it a focus for many law organizations. This can be complicated by a lack of representation and access to lawyers in many rural communities.
Alongside family law, the most frequently encountered areas of law covered by pro bono services is issues relating to housing in its various forms. This covers problems that renters and landlords can face, including eviction, discrimination and accessibility for disabled tenants.
Credit issues also arise increasingly often so that services can provide support with bankruptcy , mortgage agreements and loans alongside protecting consumer rights. This can include disputes around predatory loan practices, identity theft and unrealistic loan terms.
Personal injury and medical malpractice cases are also common. This sometimes covered issues of medical negligence, but in North Louisiana often also includes environmental damage and oil spills. Organizations can assist with legal advice on how to protect your interests if you have been affected by an oil spill.
Other common areas of the law that legal aid services can help with include unemployment, social security and other government services, benefits fraud and obtaining legal status for immigrants.
Some groups focus on assisting seniors and disabled individuals with various matters relating to planning their futures or protecting the assets they leave behind. Others focus on simplifying legal issues and complications for veterans who are struggling to come to terms with their situation.
While increasingly the focus is on providing legal assistance and advice to those in need, some of the organizations also offer assistance and support for adopting children.
Obtaining Free Legal Aid Services in North Louisiana
Eligibility for legal aid in North Louisiana extends to those who can prove that a lack of representation will prevent them from having meaningful access to our system of justice in civil cases. We are not a free attorney service for all who apply.
Each office will screen applicants to determine their eligibility for legal aid services based on income and other factors. Eligible applicants will be interviewed and a determination of whether the applicant case will be accepted will be made only after an evaluation of the case for merit under the rules of ethics and professionalism that govern all lawyers.
If you believe that our legal aid program may help you, we encourage you to apply. Applying does not guarantee representation. Legal aid cannot represent everyone who applies; however, if the situation is one that Legal Aid is able to take on, any attorney at Legal Aid will be able to represent you.
Applying for legal aid is easy. Once you’ve determined you’re eligible, here’s how you can apply:
This is the best way to apply for assistance from Legal Aid of North Louisiana. You can fill out the form online and tell us about your legal problem. Including your contact number and a brief description of your income and assets will help us review your situation and refer your case for services. Shortly after you submit the form, you will receive a call or email from a support staff at Legal Aid.
Depending on your case, you may get help directly from a legal aid attorney or staff member, or your situation may be referred to a pro bono volunteer attorney. If you are referred to another attorney, it does not necessarily mean your case is not important – just that our staff may have a better outcome for you through that referral or prefer to partner with someone whose time is available for you.
We serve residents of Caddo, Bossier, Claiborne, Webster, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine, and Winn Parishes. In some circumstances, we can also provide representation in criminal record expungement matters where the arrest records are in those parishes. Please contact an office for specific information.
The Impact of Legal Aid on the Community in North Louisiana
Legal aid organizations in North Louisiana have a profound, community-wide impact on the citizens they serve. By offering free or low-cost legal assistance, they help to ensure that even the neediest individuals have access to the legal services they require. Legal aid clients are often faced with a number of risk factors, sometimes including poverty, domestic violence, and a lack of education. In many cases, legal representation is the critical factor that helps them secure their rights and improve their quality of life.
One example of legal aid improving an individual’s quality of life comes from the lawsuit and subsequent settlement that created the New Beginnings Program at The Salvation Army in Shreveport, Louisiana. The class action lawsuit – brought against The Salvation Army and other defendants – was begun on behalf of all citizens in Shreveport who had been arrested and whose vehicles had been towed . Police officers routinely failed to notify vehicle owners before vehicles were towed, which led to countless individuals ending up with "abandoned" vehicles on their records. The class action suit sought to hold officers accountable for this policy and to ensure that the city provided proper training.
The New Beginnings program – mandated by agreement in the lawsuit – allows people who had vehicles removed to apply to have their record cleared of the offense. The New Beginnings program offers financial benefits to the class members as well. People who qualify can receive a credit up to $600 to be used to pay down fees in other matters related to their driver’s license. Legal aid attorneys from the North Louisiana region took leadership roles in challenging policies that they felt led to such a risk of harm in the community and ultimately resolved the issue for those impacted by the motor vehicle towing issue.