Programs
Legal Aid Society has a general priority statement applied to all its programs: “We will give priority to cases and matters in which we can assist in preserving the home, obtaining housing, maintaining economic stability, preventing domestic violence, obtaining health care, and/or encouraging family stability.” Even so, there are differences in the types of cases handled and community education conducted in the eight offices. These differences result from local issues and our abilities to address them. We encourage our lawyers to be responsive to local needs. Some of our lawyers specialize in one or two fields of the law (e.g., family law, social security, consumer law) and are a resource to those in other offices unfamiliar with a particular field. We recognize the challenges of making our services accessible to the new immigrant communities. We have several multi-lingual attorneys and staff. We subscribe to Language Line, an on-demand telephone translation service.
Legal Services
Legal representation is sometimes needed in order to understand and protect rights. Yet, for low-income individuals and families, hiring a lawyer is financially impossible. The Legal Aid Society provides free civil legal help in cases that are critical to low-income people, but that are generally not accepted by other lawyers in the community because the cases do not generate fees: domestic violence, housing, predatory lending, healthcare, special ed, exploitation of the elderly, consumer fraud, income, benefits, tax, and other critical needs. Legal services are provided to low-income people in 48 Tennessee counties. The services are offered through eight offices in Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Oak Ridge and Tullahoma. In 2008, the Legal Aid Society staff represented clients in 6,010 cases and coordinated pro bono representation for an additional 1,154.
