Providing free civil legal services to low-income residents of Philadelphia since 1996

Lit Brothers Building

Photo credit: Maureen Olives

Welcome to Philadelphia Legal Assistance

For 20 years, Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA) has provided free civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and families in Philadelphia.

About 30% of the people in Philadelphia live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. For those who are low-income, elderly, or disabled, our legal assistance is often crucial for them to protect their homes, their children, their safety, and their livelihood. PLA is dedicated to helping those who cannot afford legal counsel navigate the legal system and understand and safeguard their rights.

On our web site you can learn about PLA, our advocates, our departments, the types of legal problems we handle, and how to get legal assistance.

2015 Annual Report

Register for the CLS/PLA panel at Philly Tech Week

Unemployment Compensation: busy signals and long wait times when calling the Service Centers

Planning for Custody and Care of Children: an Informational Guide for Immigrant Families

News from the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network

News from PALawHelp.org

Resources from other web sites

General legal information is available from PALawHelp.org.

Information about Utilities, Landlord-Tenant law, Language Access, and other areas of law is available from Community Legal Services.

Proposed Budget Cuts

The Office of Management and Budget recently proposed eliminating funding for the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC), PLA’s primary funder, and the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG), which funds PLA’s Save Your Home Philly Hotline.

How will these cuts impact Philadelphia? Read about what PLA does with LSC and CDBG funding at https://philalegal.org/at-a-glance.

Donate Now

As a non-profit, we rely on grants and gifts to fund our work. There are several ways you can donate to PLA. To make a donation right now, click:

Elder Justice Resource Center at Court of Common Pleas

Starting February 1, 2017, unrepresented litigants aged 60 and over will be able to receive free legal assistance from the Elder Justice Resource Center located in Room 278 of City Hall. For more information, see the court's press release announcing the Center.

Medical-Legal-Community Partnership

Since 2013, PLA has operated a Medical-Legal-Community Partnership (MLCP) in collaboration with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. The MLCP is located at Health Center #3 and (since January 2015) at Health Center #4 in West Philadelphia. The MLCP is an innovative service delivery model that brings together health care providers, legal advocates, social workers, and other healthcare staff to help individuals, families, and communities improve their health and quality of life. On the cutting edge of service delivery, the MLCP has many committed stakeholders across the City of Philadelphia, including leaders in the fields of public health, legal services, academia, and the private bar.

The MLCP is the recipient of a two-year grant from the Legal Services Corporation's Pro Bono Innovation Fund and a one-year grant from the First Hospital Foundation.

How To Find Our Office

We are located at:

The Cast Iron Building
718 Arch Street
Suite 300N
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Please feel free to print and distribute our flier with a map to our office.

2017 Philadelphia Legal Assistance- This is a Free Drupal Theme
Ported to Drupal for the Open Source Community by Drupalizing, a Project of More than (just) Themes. Original design by Simple Themes.