LARC, THE LEGAL Advice and Referral Center, has been operating in New Hampshire since March of 1996. LARC advocates, who are either attorneys or paralegals working under attorney supervision, provide counsel and advice over the phone to low-income people in the areas of housing, public benefits, consumer and family law. We can refer some cases for representation (mostly to the Bar’s Pro Bono program or New Hampshire Legal Assistance), but the vast majority of clients to whom we speak will be handling their problems pro se. I have been at LARC since it opened, having come from New Hampshire Legal Assistance, where I was a paralegal specializing in public benefits cases. At LARC, I handle both benefits and housing cases.

We take calls from new clients from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day. For those four hours, all advocates are at their computers, on their phones, almost non-stop. Callers self-select a substantive area from a menu of choices when they call in; calls are then routed by specialty to each of the advocates. We use intake software to record all of the information about each case. We start an interview by screening for conflicts and income eligibility, then enter demographic information. We obtain and record detailed information about the legal problem and decide how to advise the client and whether we can refer the case for representation.

Calls can vary in length from 15 minutes to an hour or more. On one day, I spoke to six eligible clients during intake hours. One was a single mother of a four-year-old who was very concerned that she’d be homeless in a few days. She had given her landlord notice that she would be moving out because she could no longer afford the apartment she and her husband rented before they separated. The only housing she cold find would not be available for at least another month, but the property manager kept telling her that the apartment was promised to someone else and she would have to leave when her notice became effective a few days after our conversation. This client also had some questions about child support and public benefits.

I advised the client about the eviction process and assured her she could not lawfully be locked out when her notice expired. I told her how to file a 540-A petition if the landlord did attempt a lockout. I also told her where to apply for needed assistance with her rent and other expenses and advised her with respect to the child support and benefits issues. I urged her to call back if she got served with a notice to quit or needed further help with the other issues.

Another call was from a disabled NH resident, a single father who was temporarily living at a relative’s house out of state. He believed his electricity had been shut off, so he was afraid to come home with his young daughter. Part of his disability involved severe anxiety and ADHD, which were exacerbated by stress, so he found it particularly difficult to provide clear information or comprehend advice about what to do himself. I got his permission to contact NHLA, PSNH and his town welfare officer. I learned that the shut-off was not scheduled for another 12 days, ample time for him to come home, apply for town welfare and get assistance from NHLA if needed. Once he knew his electricity was still on, he was able to calm down enough to take in the advice and make plans to follow through.

The other four clients with whom I spoke during intake hours were all calling with housing issues and included an elderly woman who was awaiting a Pro Bono attorney in an eviction case, calling back with new information and new questions, and a man who had an eviction hearing scheduled less than an hour from the time I got on the phone with him.

Family and consumer advocates speak to clients with a wide range of problems, including custody, visitation, child support and bankruptcy.

In addition to giving advice and referring cases for representation, we refer callers to the LARC Web site for our pamphlets, to the Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service for issues outside of LARC’s priority areas, and to other agencies, such as women’s’ crisis centers, security deposit loan funds and consumer credit counseling services.

Afternoons at LARC are spent doing research; consulting one another about difficult cases; following up with current clients; processing referrals to other agencies; attending training, staff and case review meetings; and, it seems, constantly trying to figure out how to better meet the needs of our clients with our limited resources.

All legal services work is both challenging and gratifying. Our clients’ legal problems are often only part of the real difficulty of their lives; addressing discrete legal issues does not resolve all of the problems created by poverty, disability, inadequate education, domestic violence, insufficient affordable housing and the complex other barriers they face. And there are never enough resources to meet even the legal needs of everyone who needs our help. But every day we get to be part of a dedicated community of colleagues working toward the ideal of equal justice, and nearly every day we see legal resolutions that make a tremendous difference in clients’ lives.

LARC, as a hotline, provides its own unique set of frustrations and rewards. We sometimes feel isolated from our clients and each other, we know some clients are daunted by our phone system no matter how we try to improve it, and it is painful to see a client who desperately needs representation struggling to handle a case without it because there simply is no attorney available. On the other hand, we know we serve many clients who otherwise would have no service at all. When we empower a client to successfully preserve his housing, obtain needed child support, or protect herself and her children from abuse, we experience a level of job satisfaction that more than makes up for the frustrations.

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