The Legal Aid Justice Center provides free legal help for people living in our service areas (or who have legal issues arising in our service area) who: meet our eligibility parameters and have legal issues we may be able to address (see “What We Can Help With” below).
Warrants in debt, unfair fees, and old debt; not bankruptcy.
Special education, discipline issues, and enrollment.
Unpaid wages or unemployment insurance; not workers’ compensation or wrongful termination.
Removing old arrests and non-convictions from your record. If you have a conviction, we will not be able to help you with removing it from your record but can discuss the new expungement law with you and advise you if you will qualify for expungement in 2025 (when the law takes effect).
Landlord/tenant disputes; not foreclosure or home ownership. We cannot render advice or representation to landlords.
Immigration consultations, immigration bond hearings, representing immigrants in ICE detention or ORR custody.
Education issues in detention, conditions of detention, as well as serious offender review hearings. We do not assist with initial defense against convictions.
We have very limited capacity to take on full representation but we are interested in hearing your story.
Not initial applications, but we may be able to assist with denials, overpayments, or other disputes you may have.
We may be able to assist you with legal matters related to court debt arising from your criminal or traffic case in Virginia.
For issues unrelated to the above categories, it’s possible that we cannot help you. Please look at the list below for issues we do not take. If you are unsure, you are still welcome to contact the LAJC office closest to your home.
DUI/DWI, traffic tickets/offenses, reckless driving, most kinds of suspended license issues, theft and property crime, drug offenses, public intoxication, assault and battery, homicide and other criminal-related matters.
We don’t handle cases involving estates, wills and trust.
Domestic violence; protective orders; child support/custody/visitation; spousal support; divorce and other family-related matters.
Auto/pedestrian/construction accidents; accidents at work; slip and fall; wrongful death; assault and battery, medical negligence/malpractice and other injury related matters.
We don’t handle cases involving tax law.
Cases related to workers compensation benefits for work-related injury or disability.
“Right to sue” letters (handling lawsuits related to EEOC complaints about workplace discrimination).
Please note that what we can help with depends on where you live, details of the situation, and current staff bandwidth to take on new cases.
NOTE: Our Richmond office is temporarily closed to in-person visits. It will reopen on January 3rd.
Charlottesville Area:
Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson.
Northern Virginia Area:
Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Herndon, Loudoun, Prince William, and Stafford.
Petersburg Area:
Colonial Heights, Dinwiddie, Hopewell, Petersburg, Prince George, and Surry.
Richmond Area:
Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, Powhatan, and Richmond.
Other:
If your issue happened outside of the listed counties, we likely do not serve you. You can contact your local legal aid here or by calling 1-866-LEGLAID (1-866-534-5243).
CONTACT US:
NOTE: Our Richmond office is temporarily closed to in-person visits. It will reopen on January 3rd.
Northern Virginia Area:
6402 Arlington Blvd, Suite 1130
Falls Church VA 22042
Phone:
(703) 778-3450
Fax:
(703) 778-3454
Charlottesville Area:
1000 Preston Avenue, Suite A
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Phone:
(434) 977-0553
Fax:
(434) 977-0558
International:
1-800-269-4717
(In Mexico, dial 001 first)
Richmond Area:
626 East Broad Street, Suite 200
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone:
(804) 643-1086
Fax:
(804) 643-2059
Petersburg Area:
237 N. Sycamore Street, Suite A
Petersburg, VA 23803
Phone:
(804) 643-1086
Fax:
(804) 643-2059
* Individuals may call the Richmond office (804-643-1086) for phone intakes Monday-Friday.
In order for us to determine whether we can help you, you must be screened for eligibility. During this brief screening, a member of our Intake team will ask about:
- Names and birth dates of people involved in your case [to check for conflicts of interest]
- Where you live and where your issue took place
- Demographic information, including your income, financial resources and household size
Our program only serves low-income clients. Applicants must meet income and financial requirements. Income is based on household income and can be affected by medical expenses, work expenses, and other factors.
We accept clients of all immigration statuses and keep that information confidential (though we do need to ask). We also have translation services available in all languages upon request.
If you are seeking help with a legal issue, please contact the Legal Aid Justice Center office closest to you. If you do not speak with someone, or are asked to do so, be sure to leave a voicemail. A member of our staff will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
Please note that anyone seeking to receive legal advice or become a client of LAJC must first complete an intake interview. This is just a conversation with you to review your legal issue and determine your eligibility. We may ask you to submit supporting documentation for your possible case. Everything you tell us will be kept confidential. The intake interview will be with an intake representative, not necessarily an attorney.
Completing an intake interview does not guarantee that you will receive legal advice and/or representation by LAJC.
Intake Interview: If you have documents related to your case – court notices, school communications, leases, contracts – it will be helpful to have those with you during the intake interview. Our intake representative may ask you to share those with us after your interview to have a better sense of the legal issues in your case.
Intake Callback: Once we review the information in your case, you will normally get a call back from intake. The intake staff generally will give you either a referral to another organization (if we are unable to help you and another organization may be able to assist), or describe the next steps that an attorney will take with you. In some instances, you may hear back directly from an attorney or paralegal.
If you miss the call from our intake staff, call the LAJC office you first contacted and leave a voicemail letting us know that you are still interested in receiving help.
Timeline: From the time our intake representative confirms that your intake has been completed, it may take up to 7 business days to hear back from our offices. After that, it may take additional time to speak directly to an attorney. If your issue is time-sensitive, please be sure to let staff know of any important dates coming up, including court hearings and filing deadlines. You are responsible for handling any issues (including meeting any deadlines) unless or until an LAJC attorney agrees to assist you with them.
Attorney Appointment: Please make sure to be available during your appointment. If you need to reschedule for any reason, please call us as soon as possible, and leave a voicemail with different times you can be available..
An appointment with an attorney does not guarantee representation or any other specific legal assistance.
The attorney may give you advice only, choose to investigate further by requesting additional documents, choose to represent you fully, or otherwise. Sometimes the representation may be limited to one part of your case, rather than representing you on everything. If you are ever unclear about what your attorney is offering you, you can request a copy of a representation agreement. If the attorney is only advising you, there does not need to be a representation agreement, but you can still ask for clarification.