Join Us in Delivering Free and Accessible Legal Services to Hardworking Washingtonians!
Our services change lives, disrupt inequities in the legal system, and put clients on the path to economic advancement! Together, we can expand access to justice for all!
At DCALF, we are delivering justice to modest- and lower-income DC residents who fall into a unique Catch-22 – they earn too much to qualify for the wide-range of traditional sources of free legal services available in DC, but cannot afford representation by private attorneys, or cannot access services elsewhere. In Washington, DC, over 100,000 residents fall within this income range, and 9 out of 10 of those residents are forced to represent themselves in complex legal proceedings where they risk losing custody of their children or being deported from this country.
That’s where DCALF steps in.
DCALF has grown from a small, seven-person charitable initiative of Georgetown University Law Center, ArentFox Schiff, and DLA Piper, to a thriving, robust nonprofit organization reaching and serving 450+ clients per year.
We have had a busy nine years of growth as we have leaned into DCALF’s unique identify as the central legal services in the District – and the Country – serving our modest-income DC residents while also running a one-of-a-kind legal fellowship program through partnerships with Georgetown University Law Center and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.
Since our birth, we have served more than 2,200 clients across 2,900+ free and low-cost legal matters, reached hundreds more through community engagement and education, and more than doubled our size and annual impact since our founding.
We have nimbly spearheaded a number of innovative, transformative programs to fill critical access to justice gaps in our community, including through the Family Law Assistance Network, our immigration law program, and our comprehensive Heirs' Property program. And, we continue to ignite the careers of committed public interest lawyers who dedicate their immeasurable talents and careers to public interest and social justice lawyering.
Click above to donate, and join us in our mission to provide hardworking Washingtonians with the critical legal assistance they need and deserve!