Company Profile
Legal Aid Justice Center
Company Overview
The Legal Aid Justice Center is a nationally recognized, non-profit organization that partners with low-income clients and communities of color in Virginia to fight for racial, social, and economic justice. We understand that the harms our clients endure are inextricably linked to overarching systems of injustice. Together we are dismantling those systems through a combination of community organizing, litigation, policy advocacy, public relations, and individual legal services.
Founded in 1967, LAJC has offices in Charlottesville, Richmond, Petersburg, and Falls Church and provides services under six key program areas: Civil Rights & Racial Justice (focuses on the criminal legal system), Housing & Consumer Justice, Youth Justice, Health Justice & Public Benefits, Immigrant Justice, and Worker Justice. As examples of LAJC’s recent work, our lawsuit and organizing against the state forced reform of Virginia’s unemployment insurance system, including advocacy that resulted in the distribution of over $1 billion in illegally withheld payments to over 160,000 Virginians. During the pandemic, we demanded and secured a statewide eviction moratorium and emergency pandemic protections that helped hundreds of families avoid eviction. We reduced incarceration across the state, including reducing the population of a local immigration detention center down to historically low levels through a coordinated effort of organizing paired with impact and individual litigation. Our staff are on the front lines of some of the most important anti-poverty fights happening today.
With a staff of over 90, the past few years have been a time of exciting growth and opportunity for the organization. In addition to the growth of programmatic efforts including increased organizing capacity, LAJC has expanded its operations and administrative capacity, created new opportunities for professional growth and leadership among staff, engaged in ongoing race equity work, and explored changes to organizational structure to deepen its efforts to create long-term, sustainable, community-driven change.
LAJC’s latest strategic plan is available at https://www.justice4all.org/lajc-strategic-plan-2022-2026/#area%20d.
For more information about LAJC’s work and programs, visit www.justice4all.org.
Company History
1965: The Beginning of Legal Aid
As part of its “War on Poverty,” the Johnson administration adopts Jean and Edgar Cahn’s vision for a nationwide legal services program that would provide legal assistance to low-income people and engage in efforts to reform systems that do not serve the interests and needs of low-income communities.
1967: CALAS is Formed
A group of Charlottesville attorneys and law students establishes the Charlottesville Albemarle Legal Aid Society (CALAS) in response to the acute need for a program of civil legal assistance to those who cannot pay for legal services. Staff and local pro bono attorneys provide free legal services with funding from the National Legal Services Program.
1977: Staffing Up
After years of being primarily staffed by pro bono support and law students, the Legal Aid Justice Center begins to hire full-time employees.
1978: Early Expansion
CALAS expands services to the rural counties of Nelson, Greene, and Louisa.
1996: Crisis
The U.S. Congress drastically reduces federal funding for legal aid providers nationwide and imposes significant restrictions on the representation of low-income people, especially immigrants and people who are incarcerated, and making it very difficult for legal aids to address systemic problems. As hundreds of legal aid offices around the country close or consolidate, CALAS begins to examine its options to continue meeting the full range of legal needs of low-income families.
1998: Rejecting Federal Funds
Because Congress's restrictions would make it impossible for CALAS to fulfill its mission, the Board of Directors decides to reject federal funds and assists in the creation of Piedmont Legal Services, a new corporation with an overlapping Board, to receive all federal funds that can be used for cases that fit the new federal restrictions. The Board charges CALAS with responsibility to find new sources of revenue to provide comprehensive legal services to all low-income people, including immigrants and people who are incarcerated, and to continuing pursuing its law reform mission.
1998: New Programs Centering Youth and Immigrants
CALAS launches two programs, JustChildren (now the Youth Justice Program) and the Virginia Justice Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers (now the Immigrant Justice Program and the Worker Justice Program), which become an integral part of its mission.
2001: Expansion and Renaming
CALAS expands to serve the Richmond and Petersburg areas and is renamed the Legal Aid Justice Center, following a merger with Southside Virginia Legal Services—a legal services program with a rich tradition and history in the Petersburg area. At the same time, Piedmont Legal Services merged into Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, creating federally funded sister offices in Charlottesville, Richmond and Petersburg.
2001: Fighting to Serve Immigrant Communities
After being prohibited from using state funding to file lawsuits state on behalf of undocumented immigrants, the Legal Aid Justice Center seeks new sources of funding for that work by opening an office in Falls Church primarily to serve the needs of immigrant communities.
2003: A Permanent Home
Legal Aid Justice Center conducts a capital campaign to purchase and renovate the Bruton Building at 1000 Preston Avenue in Charlottesville to serve as LAJC’s headquarters.
2006: The Rock House
The Legal Aid Justice Center restores and dedicates the Charles B. Holt Rock House and installs a garden and walkway that commemorate Charles B. Holt, the son of formerly enslaved people who became a successful entrepreneur and had the rock house constructed in 1926. The dedication is delivered by civil rights legend Julian Bond.
2007: 50 Years of Service
The Legal Aid Justice Center celebrated its 50th anniversary of providing legal services in Central Virginia.
2017: New Program to Fight the Criminalization of Poverty
LAJC launches the Civil Rights & Racial Justice Program to fight the criminalization of poverty in Virginia by exposing and addressing criminal legal system policies that target people because of poverty and race.
2019: A New Board and Focus on Racial Justice
LAJC's Board of Directors votes to create a new Board free of federal restrictions on Board membership and explicitly adopts racial justice as a core, animating principle of LAJC’s work.
2020: The COVID-19 Pandemic Begins
LAJC's physical offices close to the public due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, our staff learn how to work remotely and shift into overdrive to address catastrophic housing, health, financial, and other emergencies associated with the pandemic
2022: Reopening for Walk-Ins
As the height of the pandemic wains, LAJC offices carefully reopen to allow more direct access to our services for our clients and community members.
2022: Worker Justice Program
LAJC launches the Worker Justice Program to address issues such as workplace discrimination, wage theft, and labor trafficking. Born from our longstanding work with migrant farmworkers, this new program establishes a year-round presence in Southwest Virginia and on the Eastern Shore, expanding organizing and legal advocacy support to low-income workers across the state.
2023: Health Justice and Public Benefits Program
Building on the work of its oldest programming around economic justice, LAJC launches a new focus on improving healthcare access, equity, and outcomes for Virginians experiencing poverty.
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