Who We Are
About LawNY®
Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc.® (LawNY®) provides free legal aid to people with civil legal problems. If you are having a legal problem with a person or agency, and it is not a criminal matter, LawNY® may be able to give you help or advice. Here are some examples of legal problems that LawNY® often handles:
-Your landlord is threatening to evict you.
-You have been denied Unemployment Insurance benefits.
-You have been denied Public Assistance.
-You are facing foreclosure on your home.
For more details about services available in your area, visit our Get Help page and click on the county you live in. Each office works on a wide variety of legal problems in addition to these examples.
Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc.® (LawNY®)'s mission is to increase access to justice through excellent legal representation, advocacy, and service.
LawNY®’s vision is a society where access to justice is not determined by one’s social or economic status.
Read more about our values here.
Can LawNY® help me?
The best way to find out if LawNY® can help you is to call your nearest LawNY® office location. When you call, you will be asked about the kind of problem you are having, where you live, and some specifics about your situation. This will help us figure out if we can help you. For many legal problems, we are only able to help people who have low income and few assets, and who are U.S. citizens or have a U.S. citizen in the household. We will keep confidential any personal information that you give to our office. We will not share your information with other people or agencies without your permission.
Unfortunately, we cannot represent everyone who asks for our help. Even if we do not have funding or advocates available to help with your specific problem, we can usually give you general information about your problem. If we are unable to help you, we can usually give you the name of another agency which might be able to help you. LawNY® is not allowed to give advice about criminal law problems.
Where do I go if LawNY® can't help me?
There may be another legal aid office near you that can help. Visit www.lawhelpny.org to find one. If you do not qualify for free help, the New York State Bar Association has a lawyer referral service to help you find a local attorney. You can find more information here: https://nysba.org/new-york-state-bar-association-lawyer-referral-servic…
How Are Our Services Funded?
Without the support and generosity of our funders who believe in our mission to provide access to the justice system, we would not be able to provide the wide variety of legal services we now offer to residents of our 14 county service area. Thanks to the numerous agencies, individuals and organizations, we have been able to develop a variety of innovative projects and partnerships that allow us to holistically serve our clients. Read more about where we recieve our support from here.