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Northeast Legal Aid, Inc. (Lawrence Office)

  • Location:
    Union Crossing, 50 Island Street
    Suite 203A
    Lawrence, MA 01840
  • Phone:
    (978) 458-1465
  • Toll-free:
    1-800-336-2262
  • Fax:
    (978) 685-2933
  • Contact methods:
    Drop-in, Email, Phone calls, Website
  • Appointments accepted:
    Yes

Northeast Legal Aid, Inc. (NLA) provides free civil legal services to low income clients in Northeastern Massachusetts. Northeast Justice Center (NJC) is a subsidiary of Northeast Legal Aid.  We provide services in Essex County and northern Middlesex County and have offices in Lynn, Lawrence, and Lowell. We do not charge for our legal services but clients generally must be income-eligible and our resources are limited (demand far exceeds resources).

NJC provides immigration services including family-based and humanitarian-based petitions, as well as adjustment of status and naturalization, bond hearings for individuals in detention and other removal defense services for those not detained. There is a special focus on survivors of crime, including domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and other serious crimes (U visas; T visas; VAWA petitions; I-751 removal of conditions based on abuse; SIJ). Limited resources are available to help individuals who are not survivors of crime. A HelpLine is available to offer limited advice and information by telephone to individuals from our service area, even if their cases cannot be the subject of full representation.

Potential clients should contact the general office number to do an intake (they will check for eligibility; conflicts; etc).  If someone is calling on behalf of a detainee, they should make that clear when speaking to the intake worker.

Counties served: Essex, Middlesex
Detention Facilities Served: Plymouth County Correctional Facility (MA)

Services Provided

Are immigration legal services provided? Yes
Areas of immigration legal assistance: Adjustment of Status, Asylum applications, Consular Processing, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Employment authorization, Family-based petitions, Habeas Corpus, NACARA, Naturalization/Citizenship, Removal hearings, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, T visas, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), U visas, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions
Types of immigration legal services provided: Filings with USCIS, Representation at Asylum Interviews (Credible Fear Interviews, Reasonable Fear Interviews), Representation before the Immigration Court, Representation before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), Federal court appeals
Other areas of legal assistance: Consumer, Debt/Credit/Bankruptcy, Disability, Elder Law, Employment, Family & Juvenile, Homeless, Housing, Public Benefits, Veterans
Non-legal services: Administrative advocacy (CIS/ICE/CBP), Legal Orientation Programs (LOP) / Know Your Rights Presentations (KYR), Legislative advocacy (state or national), Referrals to other services
Populations served: Detained individuals, Domestic Violence Victims, Human Trafficking Survivors, Individuals who are not in legal immigration status, Individuals with criminal histories, Individuals with physical/mental disabilities, Juveniles, Lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender, Torture survivors
Languages spoken: English, Spanish
Access to a commercial interpreting service or language bank: Yes
Nominal fee charged? No
Other information: Representation reserved for client victims of domestic violence. A telephone help line is available to serve others.

Staffing Information

Number of attorneys on staff: 4
Is organization BIA recognized? No
Number of fully accredited BIA representatives on staff: 0
Number of partially accredited BIA representatives on staff: 0
Number of paralegals/legal workers on staff: 0

Additional Details

Pro Bono opportunities? Yes
Network affiliations: Immigration Advocates Network

Volunteering

Volunteer Coordinator
Ethan Horowitz
(978) 888-0624