Legal Aid Society
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/76.101.161.169|76.101.161.169]] to last version by 72.224.23.77 (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]])
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'''The Legal Aid Society''' is the [[United States]]' oldest and largest provider of legal services to the [[homelessness|indigent]]. It operates both traditional civil and criminal law cases.
Founded in [[1876]], the Society provides a full range of [[civil law (common law)|civil legal]] services, as well as [[criminal law|criminal]] defense work, and juvenile representation in Family Court. The Society's core service is to provide free legal assistance to New Yorkers who live at or below the poverty level and cannot afford to hire a lawyer when confronted with a legal problem.
The first attorney for the Society was [[Charles K. Lexow]] who was hired in [[1876]].
The Society handles more than 200,000 indigent criminal cases every year, acts as [[legal guardian]] to more than 30,000 children and represents families, individuals and community groups in more than 30,000 cases. Legal Aid also conducts major [[class action]] litigation on behalf of thousands of welfare recipients, foster children, homeless families, elderly poor, inmates at [[Rikers Island]] and prisoners.
In [[New York City]], the group acts as an agency for [[contract attorney]]s for [[criminal defendant]].
==External links==
*[http://www.lasnny.org]
==See also==
* [[Contract attorney]]
* [[Legal aid]]
* [[Public defender]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legal Aid Society, The}}
[[Category:Law enforcement in the United States]]
[[Category:Legal defense organizations]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1876]]
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