Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) is the legal aid organization neighbors turn to when they need civil legal help but can’t afford a lawyer. Serving Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, and Lawrence Counties, NLS provides free legal representation and education to help people protect their homes, safety, income, and families. For nearly 60 years, we’ve worked to keep justice within reach for everyone—because fairness shouldn’t depend on what you can afford.
Neighborhood Legal Services secures justice and ensures fairness by resolving civil legal problems for low-income individuals and victims of domestic violence in Southwestern Pennsylvania by providing high-quality legal services and community legal education.
More About Neighborhood Legal Services
Every year, Neighborhood Legal Services helps thousands of people overcome life-altering legal crises that threaten their homes, families, and livelihoods.
- Eviction Prevention: Our housing attorneys and our Lawyer of the Day program keep families housed by defending tenants in court and connecting them to rental assistance.
- Protection from Abuse: We represent survivors of domestic violence, helping them secure legal protection and rebuild lives free from harm.
- Economic Security: NLS advocates help people access disability, veterans, and family benefits.
- Record Clearing: Through our “Clean Slate” advocacy and expungement clinics, we remove barriers to employment and education so people can move forward with dignity.
- Home Secure Initiative: NLS attorneys resolve tangled titles and foreclosure threats, preserving family homes and generational wealth.
- Legal Literacy Programming: Through community workshops and outreach events, we equip people with practical legal knowledge to prevent problems before they escalate into crises.
By restoring housing, safety, and income, NLS helps stabilize families and strengthen our region’s economic foundation. When people are secure, employed, and safe, communities thrive—and justice becomes a catalyst for lasting economic stability. In fact, a study of Pennsylvania’s civil legal aid system, sponsored by the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board, found that for every $1 invested in civil legal aid, approximately $12 in economic benefit is produced over time.
How You Can Help
Join us in closing the justice gap! Donate, volunteer your legal skills, sponsor an event, or host a community legal education workshop. Visit nlsa.us to learn more.
Your generosity provides life-changing legal help to those who need it most—families facing eviction, survivors seeking safety, veterans fighting for benefits, and individuals working for a second chance. Every gift directly supports free legal aid for neighbors in crisis.
Story and Photography by Neighborhood Legal Services
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