Services
It’s about being a trusted advisor, listening and then acting. That’s the LCD difference. We advise and represent clients with disabilities in most areas of civil law including:
- Child custody
- Child support
- Protection from Abuse
- Landlord-tenant
- Divorce (no-fault)
- Debt collection
- Medicaid/Medicare
- Increasing access to healthcare
- Simple wills
- Living wills
- Power of attorney
Please note we do not handle criminal or personal injury matters.
We also have a number of volunteer attorneys who represent clients in real estate, estate administration and divorce (property settlement) matters. We also give help, advice and make referrals on:
- Social Security
- Housing
- Disability/Discrimination/ADA
All Intakes Are By Phone Only
General Intake (all non-housing matters):
Call 215-587-3158 Option 2
Landlord-Tenant (Housing):
Call 215-587-3158 Option 1
Eligibility
To access our services a person must:
Have a disability, chronic illness, or be deaf or hard-of-hearing;
Have an income no greater than 200% of the federal poverty level.
- Reside or have a legal matter in a county in Southeastern Pennsylvania. These include: Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery County.
Service delivery
LCD staff connect with and serve clients across a number of locations and ways. In addition to being available by phone, many LCD staff are embedded in healthcare sites across Philadelphia, we hold community outreach events where clients live and receive services, and we also connect with clients at Landlord-Tenant Court in Philadelphia.
Clients can reach us by phone, text, and email. Through phone or in-person interpreters, we are able to work with clients in numerous languages including ASL. As needed, LCD staff hold meetings at our office and conduct home or hospital visits.
Programs
Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) Initiative
A medical-legal partnership (MLP) integrates legal services into a medical care setting to work with and train doctors, nurses, social workers and healthcare staff to identify social determinants to health that are legal in nature that negatively affect health care outcomes, so that appropriate referrals for legal care can be made. LCD has six MLPs across nine sites.
Family Practice & Counseling Network (FPCN) Nurse-Managed Health Centers
FPCN has three federally qualified health centers in Philadelphia, all providing primary health care by nurse practitioners. FPCN was the first in the country to utilize this nurse-managed model. Our first MLP with FPCN was formed in 2011 at Abbottsford Falls in the Germantown area. We are now at all three sites including the 11th Street Health Center in North Philadelphia and the Health Annex located in the southwest section of Philadelphia.
Magee Rehabilitation Hospital
Magee was one of our founding partners back in 1987, and we have been located within the hospital since 1990. Our 35-year partnership has seen thousands of patients obtain advice, guidance and representation from our staff. We serve clients who are receiving healthcare services either as inpatients or as outpatients.
Nemours Children’s Health, Philadelphia
Project Home’s Stephen Klein Wellness Center (SKWC)
The Stephen Klein Wellness Center Medical-Legal Partnership (SKWC MLP) is a collaboration between LCD and Project Home that provides on-site free high-quality legal services to low-income patients with disabilities. Launched in 2013, the goal of the project is to address the health-harming social determinants to health that are legal in nature that SKWC’s patients, many of whom are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless every day.
Project Home’s Hub of Hope
In 2018 we began working with the chronically homeless population at the Hub of Hope. Located underneath Suburban Station the Hub of Hope provides numerous resources. LCD has partnered with Project Home to provide legal services. Project HOME seeks to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty in Philadelphia, alleviate the underlying causes of poverty, and enable all of us to attain our fullest potential.
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children
In 2011 we began providing legal services to families at the Center for Child and Adolescent Health which relocated to St. Chris’ new Center for the Urban Child in 2014. In 2013 we expanded our services to the Special Needs Clinic, which provides medical service to children with severe disabilities. From 2014, we have participated in the monthly asthma team meetings and are working with the medical team to determine if mold or other housing problems may need to be addressed with the landlord.
The Philadelphia AIDS Consortium
In 2022 we began providing legal services at TPAC.
Housing & Habitability Initiative
Developed in collaboration with the City-funded Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project (PEPP), LCD’s housing program addresses legal issues surrounding evictions and the quality and availability of safe housing for low-income persons with disabilities. Under this program, LCD works to enforce the legal obligations of landlords when neglect, non-compliance, or abuse are in evidence, as well as to prevent evictions.
Clients connect with us directly through our landlord-tenant intake phone line, are referred to us after calling the Philly Tenant Hotline, or meet us in Court.
Community Legal Outreach Clinics (CLOCs)
To bring essential legal services to low-income people with disabilities in community settings where they live and/or receive services, LCD partners with community centers, specialty housing programs, and service providers to host CLOCs. LCD works with volunteers from area law firms and corporations to provide pro bono legal services.
VisionLink
We have partnered with VisionLink (formerly Associated Services for the Blind) since 2005 to hold planning document clinics at their premises.
Inglis House
Our partnership with Inglis began in 2006 and we continue to host planning document clinics there.
Legal Outreach
We perform outreach to people with disabilities, lawyers, medical professionals, and social services agencies to educate them about legal issues facing people with disabilities and about the availability of our services. This includes speaking at domestic violence service agencies and shelters about domestic violence and its impact on children. Through these programs, we continue to increase awareness of our mission and services in order to assist professionals and consumers alike to better address their disability-related legal needs.