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Blue Ridge Legal Services

Why We Exist

Blue Ridge Legal Services (BRLS) is a nonprofit charitable law firm providing free legal assistance in civil matters of critical importance to low-income residents of the Shenandoah Valley and Roanoke Valley. BRLS is committed to eliminating poverty-based inequities in the civil justice system by providing high-quality legal assistance to low-income residents of our service area, folks who would otherwise be unable to obtain legal help due to their poverty. Our mission is premised on the recognition that the American ideal of “Equal Justice for All” can be achieved only if we provide the poor meaningful access to our judicial system.

What We Do

Utilizing our small cadre of staff attorneys together with the pro bono services of hundreds of private attorneys in the Valley, we strive to provide free legal advice and/or representation to low-income residents facing critical civil legal problems where they are unable to obtain legal representation because of their poverty. We give priority to clients with legal problems that affect such basic needs as shelter, protecting their limited income and resources, accessing financial assistance and public benefits, and attacking conditions that hinder their ability to be economically and socially self-sufficient. These cases consumer/finance issues (including predatory lending, garnishments, and consumer protections), domestic violence and related cases, housing (including defense against foreclosures, evictions and attacking substandard housing conditions), and fighting financial exploitation of vulnerable clients.

Who We Serve

We target our services to the low-income population in the Valley of Virginia, primarily those with household incomes of less than 125% of the current federal poverty guidelines.
Why Community Members Support Our Work
Blue Ridge Legal Services is perhaps the single most potent force for social justice in the Valley of Virginia. We bring to bear the power of the law to ensure that the poor and most vulnerable residents in the Valley have access to justice. We attack those practices and conditions that oppress the poor or which create obstacles and barriers to their fight to escape poverty. We believe the lack of access to legal assistance to be one of the greatest causes of poverty in America. While the state is required to provide court-appointed counsel to poor people accused of crimes, there is no such requirement for poor people who are NOT accused of criminal-wrongdoing, but who simply face an honest legal problem that that turn their lives upside down if not properly addressed. As a result, it is up to a hodge-podge of under-funded non-profit legal aid societies like Blue Ridge Legal Services to help such folks. Sadly, our current staffing and resources force us to turn away as many eligible clients as we can help. Charitable donations allow us to help more poor, desperate people who have nowhere else to turn.
How Volunteers Contribute to our Work:
Blue Ridge Legal Services is perhaps the single most potent force for social justice in the Valley of Virginia. We bring to bear the power of the law to ensure that the poor and most vulnerable residents in the Valley have access to justice. We attack those practices and conditions that oppress the poor or which create obstacles and barriers to their fight to escape poverty. We believe the lack of access to legal assistance to be one of the greatest causes of poverty in America. While the state is required to provide court-appointed counsel to poor people accused of crimes, there is no such requirement for poor people who are NOT accused of criminal-wrongdoing, but who simply face an honest legal problem that that turn their lives upside down if not properly addressed. As a result, it is up to a hodge-podge of under-funded non-profit legal aid societies like Blue Ridge Legal Services to help such folks. Sadly, our current staffing and resources force us to turn away as many eligible clients as we can help. Charitable donations allow us to help more poor, desperate people who have nowhere else to turn.
How Volunteers Contribute to our Work:
Blue Ridge Legal Services is perhaps the single most potent force for social justice in the Valley of Virginia. We bring to bear the power of the law to ensure that the poor and most vulnerable residents in the Valley have access to justice. We attack those practices and conditions that oppress the poor or which create obstacles and barriers to their fight to escape poverty. We believe the lack of access to legal assistance to be one of the greatest causes of poverty in America. While the state is required to provide court-appointed counsel to poor people accused of crimes, there is no such requirement for poor people who are NOT accused of criminal-wrongdoing, but who simply face an honest legal problem that that turn their lives upside down if not properly addressed. As a result, it is up to a hodge-podge of under-funded non-profit legal aid societies like Blue Ridge Legal Services to help such folks. Sadly, our current staffing and resources force us to turn away as many eligible clients as we can help. Charitable donations allow us to help more poor, desperate people who have nowhere else to turn.

Contact Information:

John E. Whitfield
P.O. Box 551
Harrisonburg,
Virginia
22803