Company Profile
Texas Legal Services
Company Overview
Texas Legal Services Center is a statewide nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide high-quality legal representation, advice, advocacy, and education at no cost to underserved people across the state. With more than a dozen practice areas, our work touches almost every aspect of civil law that impacts low-income Texans.
Our vision is for all Texans to have access to the civil justice system regardless of income.
What We Do
Texas Legal Services Center works throughout the state to ensure everyone has access to justice. Our team works across the gamut of civil law areas that impact low-income Texans.
Assuring Financial Security
We advocate for financial security through our work in pension recovery, occupational drivers licenses procurement, and criminal record expungements.
Guiding Parents Through Their Legal Rights
We help parents understand their rights surrounding complicated issues like non-custodial parenting and child protective services.
Educating Modern Families
We teach grandparents, aunts, uncles, and older siblings who are raising their relatives' children how to navigate healthcare, human services, and school systems.
Empowering Pro Se Litigants
For those who must represent themselves in the justice system, we offer advice, court-approved legal forms, and instructions on how to achieve the best outcome.
Engaging with the Greater Public Service Community
We work with interrelated organizations to teach the intersections between civil law, public benefits, healthcare, law enforcement, and more.
Intervening in Health-Harming Social Factors
Through Medical-Legal Partnerships, we disrupt the cycle of returning people to unhealthy conditions that could bring them right back to the clinic or hospital.
Preparing Plans for End-of-Life and Loss-of-Health
We defend and solidify the wishes of those planning for end-of-life or the loss-of-health.
Reforming Law and Policy
We work to effect systemic changes through pursuing impact litigation and advising on legislative reforms that benefit all low-income Texans.
Standing with Veterans and Their Families
Along with providing broad civil legal assistance for veterans and their families, we handle legal matters unique to veterans—like military discharge upgrades and accessing VA benefits.
Securing Public Benefits for Those Who Qualify
We help families and individuals access public benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, SSDI, and TANF.
Supporting Survivors of Violence
We provide crucial legal services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, abuse, and trafficking throughout the state.
Company History
Texas Legal Services Center began in 1977 as an educational organization providing policy advocacy and poverty law training to civil legal aid providers. While operating as a resource hub, we identified populations who were underserved by traditional legal aid.
In 1989 we opened our first legal helpline — the Legal Hotline for Elderly Texans (LHOT) — to provide low-income seniors free legal advice over the phone. Since its inception, LHOT has helped more than 130,000 Texas seniors access public benefits, create advance healthcare directives, secure their finances, and resolve other critical legal matters.
Based on LHOT's success, we began expanding the model to serve other underserved communities like low-income veterans, survivors of abuse, families, and the formerly incarcerated.
Today we host a dozen programs, including: Crime Victims Legal Services, Impact Litigation, Legal Aid for Survivors of Sexual Assault, a CPS Family Helpline, a Parenting Order Legal Line, a Pension Rights Program, Transactional Legal Assistance (such as Criminal Record Expunctions and Occupational Driver's Licenses), Veterans Legal
Assistance (such as Foreclosure Prevention and Discharge Upgrades), Kincare (Legal Assistance for Grandparent and Relative Caregivers), Medical-Legal Partnerships, a Virtual Pop-Up Clinics in Rural Hubs, and of course, the Legal Hotline for Elderly Texans, where our client-facing services began.
Through these programs, we offer advice, advocacy, education, and representation to people across the state, free of charge.
The success of that first helpline inspired how we expanded into direct client services. Mirroring how our clients adapt to technology, we now assist clients all over the state via helplines, email, websites, chat, and video conferencing. This allows us to serve clients in even the most rural areas as we strive to reform how low-income Texans experience the justice system.