Provides civil legal services to low income residents. Types of cases handled include family law, housing, education, benefits, employment, consumer, disability law, nonprofit organization legal assistance, and labor and employment law specifically aimed at farmworkers.

Community Legal Services Farmworker Program - Phoenix | Community Legal Services Farmworker Program - Phoenix

Programs that provide assistance for people who believe they have been denied equal access to student loans or scholarships, or to educational programs at preschool, elementary, secondary, vocational, postsecondary, postgraduate or professional school levels based on their age, gender, race or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, sexual orientation or marital status.

Education Discrimination Assistance

Programs that provide information and guidance for tenants who need to know their rights and responsibilities regarding leases and rental agreements, deposits, legal eviction procedures, measures to protect themselves from unlawful or retaliatory evictions, rent withholding rights, rent control requirements, privacy rights and other issues that may be of particular interest to tenants. Tenant rights counseling may also include assistance in completing forms, advice regarding a particular dispute and contact with the offending landlord to provide notification that she or he is not in compliance with landlord/tenant laws.

Tenant Rights Information/Counseling

Programs that provide assistance for people who are initiating or responding to a suit for an annulment of their marriage, which establishes that a marital status never existed; a legal separation, which suspends the marriage so far as concerns the cohabitation of the two parties; or a divorce, which totally dissolves the marriage relationship. These programs may also discuss and represent the individual's interests regarding distribution of property assets and parenting issues regarding any children.

Divorce Assistance

Programs, usually provided by members of the business community, that offer technical assistance or other forms of management support for individuals or groups who want to establish a nonprofit agency or expand the services of an agency that operates on a not-for-profit basis. Nonprofit organizations are entities that serve a sacramental function, provide services for the public benefit, provide advocacy services, operate primarily for the mutual benefit of their members or are private foundations whose primary function is to transfer funds to other nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofit Corporation Development

Programs that provide assistance for people who are unable to make their mortgage payments and at risk of losing their homes through foreclosure or who are already in the foreclosure process. Services may include information about the foreclosure process, legal timelines and how to contact and negotiate with a lender; assessment of the homeowner's financial situation and development of a plan to address homeownership and financial issues; in-depth financial counseling regarding foreclosure avoidance options and/or options that involve leaving the home; advocacy with lenders, when necessary; and referrals to foreclosure prevention resources. Also included are programs that provide mediation services to negotiate a compromise between the individual and the financial institution that holds their mortgage in order to avoid foreclosure.

Mortgage Delinquency and Default Counseling

Programs that are staffed by lawyers who offer information and guidance regarding legal matters, proposed lines of conduct, claims or contentions including opinions on the party's rights, responsibilities and liabilities; and who offer suggestions for an appropriate course of action, but do not represent clients in court.

Legal Counseling

Programs that are staffed by lawyers who appear on behalf of their clients in criminal, civil and/or administrative actions and proceedings in addition to offering legal advice and guidance.

Legal Representation

Programs that provide information and/or legal assistance that helps farmers, landowners and others who are involved in the agricultural industry understand their rights and responsibilities and achieve compliance with the federal and state laws, administrative rulings and court decisions that govern the practice of agriculture. Specific issues may include crop and livestock financing; farm financing and borrowers' rights; farm bankruptcy; agricultural land leases; eminent domain (condemnation); agricultural labor laws; livestock sales and breeding rights; mad cow disease, hoof and mouth disease and other conditions that affect livestock; livestock waste management; pesticides and herbicides; agricultural production contracts; genetically modified organisms; insurance coverage; water resources law; fence laws; and the formation and operation of agricultural cooperatives and the disputes that may arise among members. Clients may include local and federated agricultural cooperatives, hybrid seed companies, hog production operations, meat packing plants, agrichemical companies, cattle producers and related organizations.

Agricultural/Agribusiness Law

Programs that provide legal assistance (including advice and representation in administrative hearings) for individuals whose application for public or subsidized housing has been denied or whose rent subsidy benefits have been terminated in situations where they believe that their rights under applicable housing laws have been violated.

Public/Subsidized Housing Appeals Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for prospective or current public financial assistance recipients who are having difficulty understanding and/or obtaining the full benefits to which they are entitled by law under various income support entitlement programs. The programs may help people understand the eligibility criteria for benefits, how much they can work without affecting their benefits (for some programs), the benefits provided by the program, the payment process and the rights of beneficiaries; provide consultation and advice; help them complete benefits application forms; negotiate on their behalf with public assistance benefits staff; and/or represent them in administrative hearings or judicial litigation. Included are welfare rights organizations that offer a range of advocacy services as well as legal aid programs that offer more formalized legal assistance. Entitlement programs include (but are not limited to) General Relief (GR), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamps/SNAP, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

Welfare Rights Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for people who have cases involving violations of federal and state statutes governing sales and credit practices involving consumer goods, in situations where appeals to consumer complaints organizations have not resolved the issue. Consumer law cases involve deceptive or unconscionable advertising and sales practices, product quality, credit financing and reporting, debt collection, leases, and other aspects of consumer transactions.

Consumer Law

Programs that help tenants and landlords resolve disputes regarding security and other rental deposits, unsanitary conditions, failure to make repairs, privacy, notice requirements, excessive rent increases, nonpayment of rent, neglect or damage to property, overcrowding or other grievances.

Landlord/Tenant Dispute Resolution

Programs that provide a variety of supportive services for victims of crimes and their families which may include general emotional support, crisis counseling, information about police investigative procedures, liaison to police personnel, assistance in completing and filing applications for reimbursement of crime-related expenses or losses, information about the mechanics of court proceedings, advice concerning court appearances, court accompaniment services, assistance in preparing victim impact statements and referrals for other needed services such as medical treatment, shelter away from home, transportation, child care, financial assistance and protective services.

General Crime Victim Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for people who believe that they have been denied equal access to employment or that they have been treated unfairly as employees, i.e., that they were sexually harassed or denied equal pay for equal work, passed over for a promotion, denied training opportunities or fired on the basis of their age, gender, race or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. Also included are programs that provide assistance for job applicants who feel they have been denied employment because of a military service obligation or help restore job seniority and pension rights which have been withheld from military service personnel because of an absence from work due to a service obligation.

Employment Discrimination Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for people who believe that they have been denied an opportunity to purchase, lease or rent the home or apartment of their choice due to their age, gender, family composition (including families with children under the age of 18 and pregnant individuals), race or color, nationality, religion, disability, sexual orientation or marital status, actions that are prohibited by the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the federal Fair Housing Act Amendments Act of 1988 in the U.S. Federal fair housing law also extends limited protection to recovering alcoholics who actively and regularly participate in a medically based treatment or AA program, and people with a drug use disorder including those who have prior convictions for illegal drug use (but not for drug dealing or manufacture). Assistance may also be available to other individuals who are protected from housing discrimination by state or local laws with a broader set of protected categories, or which cover properties that are exempt from federal fair housing laws but are protected under state law.

Housing Discrimination Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for people who want to request spousal support, change the amount of a spousal support award, dispute the award of spousal support or enforce payment of spousal support monies in cases where the supporting spouse is delinquent in paying or refuses to pay altogether. Spousal support payments are allowances which husbands or wives pay, by court order, for the maintenance of the other spouse while they are separated, pending divorce, or divorced.

Alimony Assistance

Programs that provide assistance which helps to ensure that parents fulfill their mutual obligation to financially support and provide health care for their children. Included are services for people who want to locate an absent parent; establish paternity; establish a child support order; request that the non-custodial parent provide health insurance for a child in conjunction with a child support order; change the amount of a child support award; dispute a child support award; or enforce payment of child support monies in cases where the supporting parent is delinquent in paying or refuses to pay or make health insurance arrangements altogether. Child support is money paid by one parent to another for the maintenance, including the education, of their children following the dissolution of their marriage or other relationship. Non-custodial parents enrolled in an insurance plan at work may be required to include the child under this coverage while those not covered by any insurance plan may be required to obtain medical coverage, if available at a reasonable cost. Child support assistance/enforcement may be provided by private attorneys, legal clinics, family law facilitators' offices or child support enforcement programs which are available in all states, often as a component of the district attorney's office.

Child Support Assistance/Enforcement

Programs that provide information and guidance and/or representation in court proceedings for individuals who have been abused in an intimate relationship and/or for people who are facing a summary conviction offence or criminal charge for perpetrating abuse. Included are domestic violence law clinics and other legal assistance programs that represent victims of domestic abuse at restraining order hearings or in other civil or criminal actions involving charges against an abuser. Most also represent the person's interests in complexities that arise as part of the legal process such as restitution, payment of debts or child support, custody and visitation and property control. Some programs may also represent victims of domestic abuse who have been charged with a crime and/or handle cases involving accusations of child abuse filed by one parent against the other, abuse of an elderly person by an adult child or abuse of an adult child by a parent.

Domestic/Family Violence Legal Services

Programs that provide assistance for people who are being evicted from their apartments or other rental property either wrongfully or with reason, e.g. nonpayment of rent. Included are programs that provide legal support in the form of information on tenants' rights, help to navigate the eviction process, and/or mediation services to negotiate a compromise between the individual and the landlord. Eviction prevention programs can also provide a Housing First approach and include various strategies designed to maintain individuals and families in their current housing, such as rent payment assistance, financial assistance with the cost of utilities, assistance securing other types of income support, third-party money management programs, and referrals to other types of community support.

Eviction Prevention Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for women who want to initiate litigation to prove that a particular individual is the father of a given child and to enforce support obligations, or for men who want to establish that they are not the father of a particular child.

Paternity Suits

Programs that provide legal assistance for people who want to establish employment practices for their organization that will minimize or eliminate problems in the employment area or who need to resolve a dispute or initiate or respond to litigation which relates to their role as employers or employees, their rights and obligations. Labor and employment law deals with a variety of issues including ADA compliance, wage and hour compliance, workplace health and safety, interview and hiring practices, employee contracts, employee benefits, maternity/paternity leaves, medical leaves, supervision and discipline, workplace privacy, workplace violence, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, and worker's compensation cases as well as protection from a range of employer-committed crimes including wage theft, deliberate worker misclassification, evasion of unemployment and workers' compensation laws, labor trafficking, defamation including false statements by an employer during or after the firing process, violation of state laws related to whistleblower protections or other relevant statutes.

Community Legal Services Farmworker Program - Phoenix | Community Legal Services Farmworker Program - Phoenix

Community Legal Services Farmworker Program - San Luis | Community Legal Services Farmworker Program - San Luis