Statements
Mission
TALS strengthens the delivery of civil legal help to vulnerable Tennesseans. We do this by:
• Simplifying the search for legal help so disadvantaged Tennesseans can learn about and protect their legal rights;
• Being a leading and unifying voice in the civil justice community;
• Establishing a Center of Innovation, Training and Expertise to assist the equal justice community in serving disadvantaged Tennesseans who face civil legal problems and cannot afford to hire an attorney.
Background
In 1977, the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) was created to strengthen the delivery of civil legal assistance to low income, elderly and disadvantaged Tennesseans. Since that time, TALS has consistently provided services to the access to justice community by creating innovative legal help tools for disadvantaged Tennesseans, hosting trainings for advocates, establishing communication vehicles, providing analysis and information about public policy that impacts low income Tennesseans.
These efforts have included:
• Administering and facilitating statewide, free civil legal assistance programs for specific groups of clients, including seniors, children in state custody, TANF/Families First recipients, and others ;
• Creating innovative, new tools and programs, including a Legal Wellness Checkup app, Renter Defender, and forms that make use of chatbots, for providing free legal advice and information to low-income Tennesseans through technology ;
• Hosting an annual training conference for legal assistance providers and other access to justice advocates, Equal Justice University;
• Operating a statewide Disaster Legal Services helpline and working with the American Bar Association Young Lawyers' Division, Tennessee Bar Association, TEMA, FEMA and other partners
• Supporting the ongoing efforts of the Tennessee Supreme Court's Access to Justice Commission, and;
• Providing education about policies affecting vulnerable Tennesseans, such as tenant's rights and consumer protection. TALS continues to be a leader in the access the justice community by driving change and improvements in legal services delivery through partnerships - new and old.
Impact
TALS' Most Recent Accomplishments:
• Handled over 5,050 calls last fiscal year by providing free civil legal referral and information via our toll-free legal line, 1-844-HELP4TN.
• Provided over 1,800 hours of legal training on poverty law topics to Tennessee attorneys and other advocates.
Answered 2,512 questions submitted by Tennesseans via the Tennessee Free Legal Answers portal.
• Enlisted more than 700 Tennessee attorneys to answer civil legal questions for people who cannot afford to hire an attorney on our virtual legal advice clinic site, www.tnfreelegalanswers.org. Law students and attorneys across Tennessee conducted 11 in-person and virtual clinics featuring the site to answer questions together.
• Offered preventive legal care through our online Legal Wellness Checkup. The checkup asks users a series of questions, based on conditional logic, designed to identify the user's legal risk areas. The tool generates a customized report with a brief explanation of the legal risk areas and resources to help. It was created using the Neota Logic platform through an American Bar Endowment grant.
• Increased usability and searchability on our legal information web portal, www.HELP4TN.org.
TALS' Goals include:
• Increase the number of volunteer lawyers who have answered a question on our free email based legal clinic, www.tn.freelegalanswers.org and increase the number of questions answered by 10%; support 4 law school clinics; continue outreach about the service to low income, disadvantaged and elderly Tennesseans.
• Continue working with our Content Advisory Council to provide timely, plain language legal and social service related information online via our mobile responsive web portal, www.HELP4TN.org with a focus on family law, healthcare/benefits and elder issues. Further implement bot technology to help make searching through website content quicker and easier. Increase web portal visitors by 10%
• Expand the reach of Legal Wellness Checkups, a preventive, holistic service to low-income communities, through collaborations with legal providers, social services, and technology innovators. Continue to revise and expand the content of the Legal Wellness Checkup.
Continue working with partners to provide education and outreach on topics of interest to clients, including end of life planning documents.
Explore, coordinate, facilitate, and implement new projects to expand availability of free, civil legal assistance in Tennessee.
Explore projects that would help TALS and partner agencies consider and incorporate more data in the day-to-day practice of and decision making
Needs
1-844-HELP4TN: Free, civil Legal helpline staffed by licensed attorneys who triage callers' legal issue and provide civil legal advice and referral for callers who cannot afford to hire an attorney. The helpline is consistently staffed by licensed Tennessee attorneys but the demand for the service frequently exceeds the current helpline capacity.
www.HELP4TN.org: Mobile responsive web portal (adapts to any screen size) providing a one-stop venue for trustworthy, easy-to-read information about civil legal problems and related social services needs, forms for filing claims, and referral information to local resources. More voice-integrated chat bot makes resources more accessible.
Equal Justice University: Annual conference organized and hosted by TALS, attracting approximately 250 lawyers, paralegals, judges, and other advocates involved in providing civil legal assistance across Tennessee. The conference provides continuing legal education on key poverty law topics, connects service providers across regions, and reinforces the importance of being a part of our state's equal justice community.
http://tn.freelegalanswers.org: Web-based civil legal advice service for low-income Tennesseans who would otherwise fall through the cracks of receiving legal assistance. The easy
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy - Alliances & Advocacy |
| Secondary Category: | Crime & Legal - Related - Legal Services |
| Tertiary Category: | Public & Societal Benefit - Public & Societal Benefit NEC |
Areas Served
The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services serves the entire state of Tennessee.
| TN |
