Greater Hartford Legal Aid's mission is to work to increase access to the courts and advocate for fairness in the application of law. Our lawyers provide core essential representation on legal problems related to peoples ability to meet their basic human needs, community education and empowerment to help people better help themselves and advocacy to improve systems that underlie our clients problems and the barriers to their success.

To be eligible for our services applicants generally need to be living near the federal poverty level. This is about $30,000 for a family of 4, about $20,000 for a family of 2. We serve residents from the following towns: Avon, Bloomfield, Bristol, Burlington, Canton, East Granby, East Hartford, East Windsor, Enfield, Farmington, Glastonbury, Granby, Hartford, Hartland, Manchester, Marlborough, Newington, Simsbury, South Windsor, Suffield, West Hartford, Wethersfield, Windsor, Windsor Locks. We serve people 60 years of age and older in the above towns and also in these additional towns: Andover, Berlin, Bolton, Columbia, Ellington, Hebron, New Britain, Plainville, Plymouth, Somers, Southington, Stafford, Tolland, and Vernon.

We do not take criminal cases (defend a person who has been arrested) or medical malpractice or accident cases. We handle these legal issues such as divorce, custody, restraining orders for family violence victims evictions, landlord problems for tenants in subsidized housing, employment discrimination, unemployment compensation, pardons, Food Stamps, Medicaid, SAGA, SSI, Temporary Family Assistance (TFA), immigration status issues for family violence victims, nursing home, right to home care, advance directives for seniors, special education, expulsions & school discipline.

Please call Statewide Legal Services (SLS) to determine if you qualify for free legal services. SLS staff will ask you some questions and may give you legal advice. If you have the kind of case GHLA handles, SLS will refer your case to us. GHLA will then review your application and decide if we will take your case.

SLS call-in hours are:

Monday Friday

9 am to 12 noon and 1 to 2 pm

Toll-free: 1-800-453-3320

From Hartford: 860-344-0380

You can call GHLA directly at 860-541-5000, Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

If you are 60 years old or older you can apply by calling GHLA directly at 860-541-5003.

Mission Statement: “To achieve equal justice for poor people, to work with clients to promote social justice, and to address the effects and root causes of poverty.”