The Legal Aid Society of Columbus Awarded $130,000 The Columbus Bar Foundation awarded The Legal Aid Society of Columbus (LASC) $130,000 to support the work of the Public Benefits Team at LASC. The funding will enable LASC to start a new pro bono project that will expand upon the efforts of existing staff and match volunteer attorneys with clients who are facing denial of their unemployment compensation benefits. LASC hopes to engage newer attorneys by offering exposure to the unemployment benefits administrative scheme, training by retired hearing officers from the Unemployment Compensation Review Commission, and access to an esteemed panel of mentors. Columbus Bar Foundation President Dave Alexander (middle) and CBA President Brad Wrightsel (right) presented Legal Aid Society of Columbus Executive Director Tom Weeks with the check for $130,000 at the 2013 Gala.

The Legal Aid Society of Columbus (LASC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) regional law firm that seeks to improve the lives of and empower low income residents and senior citizens of Columbus and our Central Ohio service area by providing high quality legal representation to meet our clients' civil legal needs.

You must meet income and resource limits to be eligible for our services but our experienced intake staff will help you determine eligibility and find the right attorney to help you resolve your problem.

The Legal Aid Society of Columbus does not charge for its services but you may be required to pay certain court costs. If we must refer you to a private attorney, there may be a reduced fee. If The Legal Aid Society of Columbus cannot help you with your problem, we will refer you to an agency that may be more suited to your needs. If you have a problem that is not listed on our services page, please call us anyway; we may have a service that can help you or know of just the right program or private attorney that will.

The Legal Aid Society of Columbus' legal experience includes but is not limited to:

* Loss or denial of public benefits * Medicaid/Medicare * Unemployment compensation * Evictions * Foreclosures * Domestic Violence * Child Custody * Consumer Issues * Garnishments and attachments * Landlord/Tenant Dissolutions * Divorce * Income Tax Issues * Wills

Callback and Intake Lines

Call toll free 1-888-246-4418 for advice on housing problems, domestic violence and other legal issues. An attorney will call you back as soon as possible or you can set an appointment for an office visit. The Legal Aid Society of Columbus does not handle criminal cases.

Home Visitation
If you are sick or disabled we will come to your home.

Ohio State Bar features the VRC The Ohio State Bar Association recently recorded a brief story on the LASC Volunteer Resource Center for its Senior Lawyers Division. Check out the OSBA You Tube channel and feel free to share this video with anyone potentially interested in volunteering.

Our new Access to Justice (A2J) online application is an interactive interview that will walk you step by step through our intake process. This easy to follow question and answer session will help us better understand your problem so we can give you a more accurate response to your needs. It also saves our intake workers time and helps us to help more people. Our A2J system has been operational for nearly a year and in that time it has enabled us to promptly process over 3000 applications! Rest assured that your data is safe and will not be shared with anyone.

Click here or click on the picture to the right to try A2J today.

TAX INTAKE FOR CLIENTS OF FREE TAX PREPARATION SITES: Click here

Are you are a victim of domestic violence? We can help you obtain a civil protection order to protect you from your abuser. If possible, please contact our intake department at 614-241-2001 immediately to complete an application.

You can also file an application for assistance online through our website. In addition to our services, if you are in immediate danger from domestic violence or abuse, or if there is a threat to your immediate safety, please call 911 for help from the police.

You may also call the domestic violence shelter CHOICES at 244-4663.

By Laura Arenschield

The Columbus Dispatch Sunday August 5, 2012 5:52 AM

Marcia Palof, right, advises Diedre Stump of Grove City at a free legal clinic held by the Legal Aid Society of Columbus. Funding for such clinics has tanked as calls have spiked. The last volunteer lawyer had left Broad Street United Methodist Church for the night when a man and woman came in, hoping for help. "I need a divorce," the woman said, clutching a stack of papers 3 inches thick. "I don't know where to go." The woman, who declined to be interviewed for this story, is part of a growing number of people who qualify for and need free legal services to navigate the thorny world of divorce, debt collectors and evictions. But even as the demand is growing, funding for such services has dropped.