How We Can Help | VTLawHelp.org

Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont work together to provide free civil (not criminal) legal help to low-income people who live in Vermont. Our services are free.

Legal Services Vermont screens all requests for legal help. If we can help with a legal problem, we will refer you to lawyers and advocates at Vermont Legal Aid or Legal Services Vermont. We also might refer you to other programs.

Please contact us to find out if we can help you. We may be able to give you advice. We may be able to tell you where to find information to help you represent yourself in court.

We can’t help everyone who needs help. We may not be able to help you based on your income. We do not have enough attorneys to help everyone who asks us.

Please note: We won’t defend you in a criminal case or traffic violation. We also can’t represent you in a personal injury case.

How to get help

Use the Legal Help Tool. Use our anonymous, step-by-step guide to finding legal information and fill out a form to ask for legal advice on problems that we might help with.
Explore our web pages. Choose from the menu of legal and health care topics.
Contact us and leave a message anytime. Call 1-800-889-2047 or you can fill out our Legal Help Request Form.

We will call you back during regular business hours as soon as we can, usually between one and three days. When you leave a message or use the online form:

Tell us your name and phone number.
Tell us the safest way to reach you and whether we can leave a message or send an email.
Tell us the best time to reach you. We make callbacks from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays.
Give us a short description of the problem. Let us know if it’s an emergency.
Let us know if you received paperwork or court papers and what the dates are on those documents.
Keep those documents nearby so we can talk about them when we call you back.

We may not be able to call you back right away, so don't wait until the last minute to contact us about an emergency!

What if you don’t speak English?

If you don’t speak English, get someone to help you contact us. Ask us for an interpreter. We will provide an interpreter free of charge.

What to expect

We will ask you to answer some questions to see if you are eligible to speak with one of our lawyers. This is called the “intake” process.

For example, we will ask you questions about:

personal information such as address, telephone number, date of birth, Social Security number and how many people are in your household
the problem or issue you are calling about
your income and assets to determine if we can help you

All information you give us is protected by attorney/client privilege and will not be shared without your permission.

Our staff will decide how best to help you.

Depending on your situation and if you qualify for help, you may:

get legal advice over the telephone
get information sent to you by mail or email
get limited legal research
be represented by one of our lawyers or a volunteer lawyer
be directed to information to help you represent yourself in court
be referred to a private attorney for advice or representation
be referred to other agencies that can help you

What are civil legal services?

Vermont Legal Aid, Legal Services Vermont and other civil legal services organizations help people with “civil legal matters.” Civil legal matters are law suits and other legal issues that aren’t about crimes.

For example, civil legal matters include most landlord/tenant and family court issues, bankruptcy, credit cards, unlawful discrimination, Reach Up and SSI benefits cases and similar issues.

On the other hand, Public Defenders and other legal services organizations represent people in criminal cases – when the government has accused a person of committing a crime.

Please note: We won’t defend you in a criminal case or traffic violation. We also can’t represent you in a personal injury case.

Are you a victim of crime?

If you have a legal problem due to being a victim of crime, visit our Legal Help for Victims of Crime page to see how we can help.

Advice from lawyers

We hope this website will help you understand the law better. The information you find here is no substitute for meeting with a lawyer or paralegal, if you can, when you have a legal problem. We may be able to help some people find a lawyer who may work for free or low cost.

About this website

This website was created by and is maintained by Legal Services Vermont and Vermont Legal Aid. Legal Services Vermont and Vermont Legal Aid are nonprofit legal services law firms. The website is supported in part by a grant from the Legal Services Corporation.

Please use our feedback form to tell us how we can make our website better.

This VTLawHelp.org website used to be called the Vermont Law Help website. We dropped the Vermont Law Help name in January 2019.

Legal clinics and workshops

Saturday clinics in Burlington

Do you live in the Burlington area? You can go to a free legal clinic at Legal Services Vermont, 274 North Winooski Avenue, Burlington, Vt., most Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. You can get free legal help there. Call us at 1-800-889-2047 to check on the exact schedule.

Legal clinics in Newport and St. Johnsbury

A Vermont Legal Aid lawyer takes part in monthly legal clinics at the restorative justice centers in Newport and St. Johnsbury. Learn more and make an appointment.

Expungement clinics around the state

Vermont Legal Aid holds frequent expungement clinics around Vermont. See the schedule and learn more about expunging your past criminal record.

Advance planning workshops for seniors

Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont hold free advance planning workshops for seniors who want to complete a simple will, a financial power of attorney and a medical advance directive. See when and where the next workshop is planned.

Other clinics and projects in Vermont

You can view a list of other legal clinics and projects around Vermont on the Vermont Bar Association website. See the link at the bottom of this VBA web page.

Other legal help

See the More Help section at the bottom of this page for other free or low-cost legal resources. This includes Vermont’s Free Legal Answers program and the Vermont Bar Association’s Modest Means Project.

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