Legal Clinic

Learn about DC Resident Legal Protections During Coronavirus: English
Aprenda sobre las protecciones legales para residentes de DC durante el coronavirus … En Español

During the coronavirus public health emergency, Bread for the City’s Legal Clinic remains available by phone. Call 202-386-7616 Monday – Friday.

Durante la emergencia de salud pública del coronavirus, la clínica legal de Bread for the City permanece disponible por teléfono. Llame al 202-386-7616 de lunes a viernes.

በዚህ በኮሮናቫይረስ የወረርሽኝ በሽታ ወቅት፤ የብሬድ ፎር ዘ ሲቲስ ሊጋል ክሊኒክ (Bread for the City’s Legal Clinic) በስልክ ክፍት ሆኖ ይቆያል። ከሰኞ እስከ ዓርብ በስልክ ቁጥር 202-386-7616 ቢደውሉ ያገኙናል።

在冠状病毒公共卫生紧急事件期间,城市面包(Bread for the City)公益组织的法律诊所仍然可以通过电话联系。请于周一至周五拨打电话: 202-386-7616。

The DC Bar Pro Bono Center Advice and Referral Clinic will be closed for its in-person clinic at Bread for the City through January 2021.

La Clínica de Asesoría del DC Bar Pro Bono Center estará cerrada por su clínica en persona ubicada en Bread for the City hasta enero de 2021.

A remote clinic is available, click below for more details. Una clínica remota está disponible. Haz clic a continuación para más detalles.

November Remote A&R Clinic Flier (In English) and November Remote A&R Clinic Flier (En Español)

How to Get Help

Bread for the City’s Legal Clinic provides advice and representation in three main areas to DC residents living with low-incomes:

HOUSING LAW: helping tenants in landlord-tenant and subsidized housing cases.

FAMILY/IMMIGRATION LAW: helping survivors of domestic violence in Civil Protection Orders, family law cases (like custody and divorce), and immigration cases (like VAWA self-petitions, U visas, and SIJS), plus helping custodial and non-custodial parents in child support cases.

PUBLIC BENEFITS LAW: helping individuals facing problems with getting or keeping public benefits, like TANF, Food Stamps, and Medicaid.

Learn more about how the Justice Gap impacts the low-income community.

How was your visit with Legal Services? Use our Client Comment Form to share your thoughts.

Access to justice should not be limited by one’s ability to pay for help. Unfortunately, 86% of low-income households in the United States receive little or no help with civil legal challenges.

With Bread for the City’s help, individuals …
• Receive same-day advice and representation in court during critical stages of child support cases,
• Receive legal services while escaping domestic violence,
• Receive same-day advice and representation when facing eviction or loss of a housing subsidy,
• Overcome barriers in getting a government-issued ID, and
• Organize to achieve legal solutions to effect systemic change on community-identified issues.

Call our Legal Clinic today!
202-386-7616

Access to Justice Projects

Accessing Identifying Documents

The Accessing Identifying Documents Project helps residents who hit barriers in getting a DMV-issued ID, which is necessary to pursue critical opportunities like employment and housing.

Child Support Community Legal Services

The Child Support Community Legal Services Project, in partnership with the Legal Aid Society of DC (Legal Aid), provides same-day advice and representation to parents at a critical stage of their child support case. Our attorneys often meet these new clients for the first time in court.

Community Lawyering

The Community Lawyering Project uses legal advocacy and organizing to help achieve solutions to community-identified issues in ways that develop local leadership and institutions that can continue to exert power to effect systemic change, including representing groups of tenants in preserving affordable, safe housing in the District.

Domestic Violence Community Legal Services

The Domestic Violence Community Legal Services Project staffs an office once a week at the Domestic Violence Intake Centers in NW and SE DC and offers necessary legal services to individuals experiencing domestic violence.

Housing Right to Counsel Project

The Housing Right to Counsel Project, in partnership with Legal Counsel for the Elderly and Legal Aid, expands access to representation to tenants at risk of eviction and losing an invaluable housing subsidy that is the only way they can afford to live in the District.

Landlord-Tenant Court-Based Legal Services

The Landlord-Tenant Court-Based Legal Services Project, in partnership with Legal Aid, offers same-day advice and representation to tenants facing eviction from their homes in a part of the court where 90-95% of landlords are represented by an attorney and only 5-10% of tenants have an attorney by their side.

Additional Resources for Free Legal Help: DC Bar Advice & Referral Clinic and Washington Lawyers’ Committee Workers’ Rights Clinic

Legal Clinic Blog

November 16, 2020

Bread for the City Working with Amazon to Expand Housing Justice

Bread for the City, a direct services agency in Washington, DC, that serves over 32,000 DC residents living on low incomes, has received $750,000 in i...

October 30, 2020

One Victory, One Settlement, and Relief for Hundreds of Thousands

In a case we brought in partnership with Alston & Bird on behalf of Bread for the City and two individual Legal Aid clients (and consolidated with...

October 28, 2020

Meeting Our Clients Where They Are: Serving Families East of the River

Children’s Law Center and Bread for the City co-hosted this event during D.C. Pro Bono Week (October 2020) to discuss our respective legal services ...

View All Posts

Celebrating Elise N. Paeffgen, BFC Legal Services Volunteer

We want to thank Elise N. Paeffgen for volunteering time in our Legal Clinic. Paeffgen dedicated countless hours to helping our clients who had their long-term care benefits reduced under D.C. Medicaid. We are proud of our partnership with Alston & Bird, LLC, and we thank them for believing in our mission.

Celebrating Elise N. Paeffgen, Bread for the City Legal Services Volunteer