The Legal Hand Call-In Center Serving Albany and Schenectady Counties is an exciting new way to help low and moderate income people gain access to legal help when critical issues arise. Legal Hand combines sophisticated technology and volunteer action to help people overcome civil legal issues involving housing, employment, public benefits, and other difficulties. All to often, these issues lead to families experiencing an avoidable crisis. By providing volunteer-driven, cost-efficient civil legal information and referrals, Legal Hand is the first step in avoiding to a potential problem. Neighbor helping neighbor has always been a key part of what makes CCJ successful. We wouldn't have programs like Legal Hand or Court Appointed Special Advocates  (CASA) without volunteers generously giving their time to help others.

What Makes the Legal Hand Call-In Center Stand Out?

Barrier Free - Too often people cannot access existing free legal help due to income and other barriers.

Cost Efficient - Legal Hand's huge database of information and organizations, operated by volunteers who're supervised by staff, delivers information and referrals at a fraction of the cost of traditional legal service help.

Community Need - The Legal Hand Call-In Center has helped thousands of people, far exceeding our goals since we opened in January 2022. The majority of our calls come from the ten lowest income zip codes in Albany and Schenectady Counties.

Court Response - One of our biggest referral sources are local courts. This speaks volumes about the quality of the help provided by Legal Hand and the dedication of our staff and volunteers.

Over 90% of the people we've surveyed think our service helped them resolve their problem, or get closer to a resolution.

We believe that all our programs help the less fortunate. Supporters like you make it possible for us to help our community to imagine a better future.