Nonprofit that provides free civil legal services to low-income individuals. Headquartered in Jonesboro. Serves 31 of the 75 counties in Arkansas.
Link to organization
Primary geographic focus: Arkansas
Organization type(s): Provider
Acronym or short name: LAA
Lists: LSC
In order to qualify for free legal assistance from a program funded by LSC, you must not have income and assets over a certain level. Our income eligibility guidelines are based off the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines. View our income guidelines here.
Due to limited resources, we can only accept cases that fall within our established priorities. Examples of these case type priorities include: Guardianships; Powers of Attorney; Wills; Orders of Protection; Domestic Abuse; Landlord/Tenant disputes; Contract disputes; Debt relief; Consumer matters; Disability rights; Employment rights; Problems with public benefits, including Medicaid, Food Stamps, TEA, Medicare, SSI, child care, and subsidized housing; End of life instructions; Garnishments and Evictions.
A 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to low-income individuals residing in the state of Arkansas in civil (non-criminal) cases. LAA is headquartered in Jonesboro and serves 31 of the 75 counties in Arkansas.
CONTENT MENTIONING/INVOLVING THIS SOURCE
ColumnThe threat Trump poses that gets almost no attention
Catherine RampellWashington Post
July 3, 2017
Low-income families, whether in red-state America or blue, turn out to need a lot of legal help.
Op-Ed
Justice for all
Justice Robin WynneArkansas Democrat-Gazette
September 16, 2017
Legal aid deserves support.
News Story
DHS rule change threatens disabled care
Jacob RosenbergArkansas Times
October 11, 2017
ARChoices algorithm inspires state and federal lawsuits.
News Story
Free Clinic To Help Arkansans Expunge Their Criminal Records
Colton FaullKUAR (Little Rock, AR)
October 24, 2017
A criminal record can often prevent people from obtaining employment, secure housing, or qualifying for loans.
Interview
Joshua Silverstein on the Importance of Pro Bono Work in the Legal System
Mark FriedmanArkansas Business
October 27, 2017
As part of Pro Bono Week, which ends Saturday, Arkansas Business talked with Joshua Silverstein, a law professor at the Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, about the importance of pro bono work in the legal system.
Investigative , Video
Working 4 You: Computer Program Determines Critical Care
Marci ManleyKARK4 (local NBC, Little Rock)
November 14, 2017
Controversy surrounds a program that Arkansans with profound disabilities, and those affected by aging, rely on to receive their life-sustaining care in their homes instead of in an institution.
Investigative , Video
Working 4 You: A Formula for Care, Finding a Solution
Marci ManleyKARK4 (local NBC, Little Rock)
November 16, 2017
A new assessment system implemented by the state has cut hours unfairly
Feature
What Happens When an Algorithm Cuts Your Health Care
Colin LecherVerge
March 21, 2018
Algorithmic tools like the one Arkansas instituted in 2016 are everywhere from health care to law enforcement, altering lives in ways the people affected can usually only glimpse, if they know they’re being used at all.
News Story
Judge orders DHS to stop using algorithm for home care hours; DHS says services won’t be disrupted
Benjamin HardyArkansas Times
May 14, 2018
The decision is a victory for advocates of the disabled, including Legal Aid of Arkansas, which represented the plaintiffs.
News Story
Judge orders Arkansas home-care aid formula’s end
Andy DavisArkansas Democrat-Gazette
May 15, 2018
State agency failed to notify Medicaid users, Griffen says.
Blog Post
Disabled Medicaid recipients ask judge to block DHS emergency rule on home care hours
Benjamin HardyArkansas Times
May 18, 2018
The state agency says the emergency rule is necessary for it to serve beneficiaries. A brief for the plaintiffs calls that argument from DHS "alarmist claptrap."
News Story
Arkansas judge orders state to end care-hours setup, sets hearing on whether to hold DHS in contempt
Andy DavisArkansas Democrat-Gazette
May 22, 2018
In a ruling on May 14, Griffen agreed with Jonesboro-based Legal Aid of Arkansas that the department failed to give adequate public notice before it began using the algorithm, which resulted in reductions in hours for many participants.
News Story
Medicaid Recipient Reacts to ARChoices Ruling
Benjamin HardyKLRT (Little Rock, Arkansas)
May 30, 2018
Lead plaintiff Bradley Ledgerwood of Cash (Craighead County) said he felt "relieved" the emergency rule was suspended because he feared it would lead to a reduction of attendant care hours.
News Story
Arkansas Works deadline looms; health coverage at risk for many
Andy DavisArkansas Democrat-Gazette
September 30, 2018
Arkansas Works enrollees face work compliance cutoff.
Feature , Video
With new work requirement, thousands lose Medicaid coverage in Arkansas
Catherine RampellPBS News Hour
November 19, 2018
A major initiative of the Trump administration has been adding work requirements to benefit programs for the poor, now including Medicaid. This year, Arkansas became the first state to roll out the requirement.
Column
Are work requirements inherently, irredeemably flawed?
Catherine RampellWashington Post
November 21, 2018
Arkansas’s first-in-the-country, first-in-history Medicaid work requirements have been backfiring. Nonetheless, 13 other states are pursuing similar policies.
News Story
Who’s More Likely to Be Audited: A Person Making $20,000 — or $400,000?
Paul Kiel, Jesse EisingerProPublica
December 12, 2018
If you claim the earned income tax credit, whose average recipient makes less than $20,000 a year, you’re more likely to face IRS scrutiny than someone making twenty times as much. How a benefit for the working poor was turned against them.
Feature
Arkansas puts work requirements on Medicaid
The EconomistFebruary 15, 2019
The preliminary results from the Arkansas experiment look alarming: 18,000 people lost their health insurance in the first six months because they did not comply with the requirements.
Op-Ed
Consistent health coverage is needed
Kevin de LibanArkansas Democrat-Gazette
February 17, 2019
A real path out of poverty is not paved in red tape. Consistent health coverage helps people on Arkansas Works be healthy enough to work and make a better life.
News Story
Suit filed over Medicaid terminations
Andy DavisArkansas Democrat-Gazette
May 24, 2019
Agency wrong to cut off benefits during appeals, legal aid group contends.
Feature
Saving Medicaid Expansion: An Arkansas Nonprofit Legal Aid Story
Steve DubbNonprofit Quarterly (NPQ)
May 31, 2019
“Over 18,000 lost coverage just due to the work requirements and another 30,000 lost coverage due to administrative red tape. They lost healthcare that is needed to support their ability to be able to work. Health insurance lets you be healthy.”
Audio , News Story
U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Block on Arkansas Medicaid Work Requirement
Jacqueline FroelichKUAR (Little Rock, AR)
March 17, 2020
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously found an experimental Arkansas Medicaid waiver program to be unlawful.
News Story
Advice On Filing For Unemployment Benefits: Document Everything And Be Persistent
Yuki NoguchiNational Public Radio (NPR)
March 26, 2020
A record 3.3 million people filed for initial unemployment benefits last week, with millions more anticipated in coming weeks. All this has put a huge strain on state employment agencies, so experts say persistence is key to getting those benefits. In this story, legal aid attorneys give recommendations for what recently laid-off workers should do to navigate the unemployment benefits system.
News Story , Video
Attorney offers advice for those struggling to file for unemployment
Alicia NievesE.W. Scripps Company
April 2, 2020
Audio , Interview
How to Get Unemployment Benefits During the COVID-19 Pandemic
WNYC (NY)April 8, 2020
Investigative
Capital One and Other Debt Collectors Are Still Coming for Millions of Americans
Paul Kiel, Jeff ErnsthausenProPublica
June 8, 2020
Investigative , News Story
Capital One and Other Debt Collectors Are Still Coming for Millions of Americans
Paul Kiel, Jeff ErnsthausenProPublica
June 8, 2020
News Story
Plaintiffs’ welfare at risk, says filing in ARPath lawsuit
John LynchArkansas Democrat-Gazette
February 2, 2017
In a request filed Tuesday, the plaintiffs asked the judge to decide by Monday whether he will force the state, at least temporarily, to revert to the way it used to determine how much in-home service each recipient was allotted.
News Story
Lawsuit filed against DHS over ‘secret computer algorithm’
Jeff BrickerJonesboro Sun (AR)
January 29, 2017
The lawsuit, filed late Thursday by Legal Aid of Arkansas, alleges that DHS has used a "secret computer algorithm" to reduce in-home health services to many disabled Arkansans.
News Story
Legal nonprofit files 2nd suit over ArPath
Andy DavisArkansas Democrat-Gazette
January 27, 2017
The Arkansas Department of Human Services failed to follow a state law when it began using a new method to determine Medicaid recipients' eligibility for home-based services for the elderly and disabled, a lawsuit filed Thursday contends.
Blog Post
Legal Aid sues DHS again over algorithm denial of benefits to disabled: Update with DHS comment
Leslie Newell PeacockArkansas Times
January 27, 2017
The seven plaintiffs in the suit are low-income individuals with disabilities including cerebral palsy, quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis and other debilitating illnesses whose Medicaid ARChoices benefits were cut by an average of 43 percent.
Feature , Video
7 disabled file suit against state
Jason PedersonKATV (local ABC, Little Rock)
January 27, 2017
Ledgerwood and over 7,000 other disabled Arkansas adults receive Medicaid waivers through the ARChoices program. But a new assessment tool introduced by DHS last year cut ledgerwood's weekly attendant care hours from 56 to 32.
News Story
Judge: Medicaid cuts inadequately explained
Andy DavisArkansas Democrat-Gazette
October 29, 2016
Arkansas can't reduce a Helena-West Helena woman's Medicaid benefits until it issues an adequate notice explaining why it plans to do so, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Video
Arkansas attorney fights for justice in courtroom… and on stage
WREG-TV (Memphis, TN)June 29, 2015
Profile on the unexpected passion of a legal aid attorney.
News Story
For Pacific Islanders, Hopes and Troubles in Arkansas
Bret SchulteNew York Times (NYT)
July 12, 2012
Legal Aid of Arkansas has helped Marshall Islanders with a civil rights petition to the Arkansas state government asking for a Marshallese-language driver’s test.
Investigative , News Story
Can You Go to Jail for Not Paying Rent?
Eli HagerMarshall Project
April 16, 2015
This article dives into Arkansas' failure-to-vacate statute that criminalizes being late on rent and how civil legal aid lawyers are challenging it in court.
This page last modified: Wed, March 29, 2017 -- 1:53 pm ET