Memphis Area Legal Services, Inc.
 
Serving the Tennessee counties of Shelby, Fayette, Lauderdale and Tipton.
Hablas Espanol? Póngase en contacto con nosotros en el (901) 523-8822.

The University of Memphis Legal Clinic: An Unsung Community Resource

Webb BrewerMany people in Memphis – especially those in our legal community – know the important role that Memphis Area Legal Services plays in the fight to achieve equal justice for all. In this difficult era of tight credit, massive home foreclosures, and extensive job losses, it’s an ongoing challenge to provide free legal services to the poor and elderly in Memphis and our surrounding areas.

What is less well known, however, is that the University of Memphis School of Law, in partnership with MALS, also serves as an important training ground for law students, providing them with the opportunity to understand, examine and apply legal theory while serving as advocates for people too often denied access to justice because of their lack of resources to retain private counsel.

Memphis Lawyer magazine, Vol. 26,
Issue 1, Jan/Feb 09: MALS Corner by Harrison D. McIver III
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Forty years ago in the wake of the tragedy of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death, that beset the Memphis, Shelby County community and indeed the world, 30 members of the legal profession in Memphis, Shelby County, created the Neighborhood Legal Service Project. Two years later the NLSP gave way to the chartering of Memphis Area Legal Services, Inc. (MALS).

Today MALS is the principal provider of civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and the elderly in Southwestern Tennessee, anchored by  Memphis, Shelby County,  with three other counties, Tipton, Fayette, and Lauderdale, comprising its four-county service area. MALS has two offices – one in downtown Memphis, which serves Shelby County, and the Covington office that serves the three smaller rural counties. Our case acceptance priorities include issues relating to Family and Children; Housing and Real Property; Consumer Issues , Individual and Civil Rights; Health and Income Maintenance and Seniors.

With more than 175,000 of the most vulnerable residents in our service area eligible for assistance, MALS is dedicated to helping those who cannot afford legal counsel navigate the legal system in order to safeguard their rights under the law.

Please read to learn more about MALS, the services we provide and how you can volunteer and/or support the work we do on behalf of those who otherwise would have no voice.
MALS