Gifford Legal Services Clinic
Gifford Legal Services Clinic
The Gifford Legal Services Clinic serves those populations within Indian River County that do not have adequate access to legal services.
We provide basic legal advice and analysis, assistance to individuals in resolving their own legal issues and referrals to qualified attorneys committed to serving Clinic participants.
Introducing Our Clinic
The Gifford Legal Services Clinic was founded on the premise that many local residents of limited means find the prospect of accessing our legal system to be intimidating and fear the financial consequences of contacting an attorney. The Clinic works to provide a way for these members of our community to overcome these perceived barriers and begin the process of accessing resources to resolve their legal issues.
Our full-time paralegal works to coordinate the process by which those seeking services, our Participants, access our services, most commonly beginning with a 30-minute meeting with one of our volunteer attorneys. Many times, these sessions provide the information necessary and an attorney-designed plan by which the Participant can resolve their issue on their own. In others, the Clinic refers the Participant to one of our participating attorneys for further analysis and assistance. When formal legal representation is needed, our participating attorneys provide their services on a below-market, sliding fee scale.
The Clinic maintains an office provided by its operating partner, the Gifford Youth Achievement Center. Our partnership with the Indian River County Bar Association ties our efforts to the community of local attorneys. The Clinic is organized as a Florida Not-For-Profit Corporation and has applied for recognition as a charitable organization with the internal Revenue Service.
Our Activities
01.
Advice and Referral
Our Typical Starting Point
After initial screening with our staff paralegal, when appropriate, Participants will meet at the Clinic with a Clinic-affiliated attorney. The goal? To develop an appropriate, attorney-derived plan of action.
02.
Supervised Self-Help
In many instances, the Advice and Referral Session equips the Participant with a plan for solving their legal problem on their own. Our staff paralegal assists the Participant as appropriate in moving the legal issue to conclusion.
03.
Access to Information
In some cases, the solution to the legal problem at hand is as simple as gaining access to the information needed to solve the puzzle. Our staff paralegal can assist Participants in finding many different types of court-based information, along with information and analysis of legal rules.
04.
Community Education
Some legal problems are common to many. The Clinic is developing a series of legal education seminars designed to provide information on these common legal issues to the community at large.