Legal Referral Service (LRS)
reachAbility’s Legal Referral Service offers access to free legal advice for any person with a disability. The legal counsel does not have to relate to their disability, but they must have a disability to use our service. By calling our office, our staff connect the client with a lawyer, who volunteers their time and expertise, and will give them an initial consultation of approximately one hour. Our staff try to find a lawyer for the client who specializes in the area of law (to which the issue relates) and who works from a location common to them both. The lawyers then often go beyond their commitment, by assisting clients past the initial consultation, by sometimes making phone calls and writing letters on their behalf, doing further research on the issue, or even going to court. Although any work undertaken by the lawyer following the free consultation would have to be negotiated between the lawyer and client.
There are currently over 140 lawyers volunteering with this program. They have been recruited through mail-out initiatives and word-of-mouth, and can be both general and expert law practitioners.
The Legal Referral Service is a community-based service, which completes the link between existing local resources and services, and potential clients. reachAbility’s Legal Referral Service provides the opportunity for persons living with disabilities to better understand their specific legal rights, and to resolve any legal issues.
• FACT: There are no free legal services dedicated to the unique needs of persons living with disabilities across Nova Scotia.
• THEREFORE: reachAbility offers clients with disabilities in need of access to legal advice, an initial consultation at no charge with one of our (over) 140 volunteer lawyers across Nova Scotia. To date over 1000 reachAbility clients have benefited from our service.
This program is generously supported by The Law Foundation of Nova Scotia.
reachAbility would also like to thank Pro Bono Students Canada for their support in providing law student volunteers.
You can get involved by Volunteering!
Join other members of the Legal Community volunteering at reachAbility by completing our Lawyer Volunteer Form.
If you would like further information on reachAbility and its Legal Programming, please contact:
Legal Services -- (902) 429-5878 or legal@reachability.org.
Brochure (.pdf)
Brochure (.doc)
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