Description
Founded in 1958, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, Inc. is the largest legal aid organization in Nevada. As a qualified 501(c) (3) organization, Legal Aid Center meets the civil legal needs of low-income Nevadans, a population which exceeds 300,000 people in Clark County alone, through a variety of both traditional and innovative programs. In 2010, we served over 45,000 people in our community.
Our Children’s Attorneys Project has as its primary mission to ensure that the abused and neglected children in our child welfare system have their own voice in court through legal representation. We represent over 1,200 children a year, many of whom view their attorney as the only person who has positively impacted their lives. Our Domestic Violence Project provides direct legal assistance to victims of domestic violence who otherwise could not afford legal representation. Victims leaving abusive relationships often require extended protective orders against domestic violence or stalking and harassment, child custody/child support orders and/or divorces, intercession with landlords or employers, and other assistance in establishing and maintaining a safe household (i.e., immigration assistance, counseling on how to establish independent credit, etc.) The Domestic Violence Project levels the playing field for a victim who otherwise suffers intimidation from a better financed batterer.
Our Consumer Rights Project provides direct legal assistance to victims of unfair consumer practices such as predatory lending, payday lending, and car sales. Nevada ranks among the highest in the nation in bankruptcy and mortgage foreclosure rates, often a result of unsophisticated borrowers falling prey to unscrupulous lending practices.
Our Pro Bono Project recruits private attorneys to assist low-income individuals with meritorious cases in all areas of civil practice: family law, consumer and other fraud, real estate disputes, bankruptcy and children’s law. Providing training, mentoring, and screening cases, allows private attorneys to provide quality free legal services to the poor and disenfranchised.
Since 1999, through our Community Legal Education Project, and in conjunction with the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law, we provide free legal information to individuals with the assistance of law students in topics such as Divorce, Paternity/Custody, Small Claims, Bankruptcy, Guardianship and Foreclosure Mediation in an effort to inform people about their legal rights and the legal process.
