Free Legal Services

The Earl Carl Institute for Legal & Social Policy, Inc. provides FREE LEGAL SERVICES to individuals in certain types of cases.

 The Opal Mitchell Lee Property Preservation Project (OMLPPP) receives funding from the Texas Access to Justice Foundation  (www.teajf.org) to provide legal services to low income individual.  To be eligible for these services the household income must be at or below 125% of poverty.  Our services include actions involving probate, adverse possession, clearing title to property, partitions, mortgage, homeowner association and tax foreclosure defense, property tax exemptions, formation of nonprofit corporations to assist with community development, and consumer debt issues. 

The ECI Juvenile Justice Project (JJP) receives funding from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and the Equal Justice Works Fellowship Program.   This service is available to effected students without regard to household income.  The program provides legal services to juveniles involved in the juvenile justice system, disparate educational disciplinary systems, the mental health system or foster care system with a particular focus on homeless children.

Service Areas:  The Opal Mitchell Lee Property Preservation Project and the Juvenile Justice Projects serve the general Harris County community and its contiguous counties (Brazoria, Galveston, Chambers, Liberty, Montgomery, Fort Bend, & Waller).

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law Innocence Project  provides services to convicted individuals who make a claim of actual innocence to convictions that occurred in the State of Texas.  The project does not however accept any death penalty cases.  Currently incarcerated inmates should apply for services by completing a TPIQ from the prison library and mailing it the TMSLIP in accordance with the instructions accompanying the form.

We conduct telephone and walk-in intake Monday – Friday between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. You may also apply for our services by registering below and completing an intake form online.  We will generally respond to an online service request within 24 hours.

To Donate to an ECI Legal Services Project

Please make checks payable to Earl Carl Institute, and mail to: 3100 Cleburne St., Houston, TX 77004. Please specify which program you wish to donate to on your check.

 

 

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