A History of the Legal Aid Foundation : Linje Rivers

In 1970, the Tallahassee and Florida Bar Associations started the Legal Aid Foundation, a nonprofit organization tasked with helping low-income families and individuals get the legal assistance they needed for a variety of issues. At first, the foundation only helped people with family law issues, but today their services have expanded to include wills, bankruptcy, property disputes, purchasing disputes, landlord/tenant issues, and more. Finding willing lawyers to work pro bono cases was never an issue, and today the Foundation helps many hundreds of people get through their legal cases for free.

To qualify for free legal help from the Legal Aid Foundation, you have to live in Leon County and make 125% of the federal poverty level or less. The Legal Aid Foundation has many volunteers ready to make a difference, and the foundation boasts some of the most talented legal minds in the area. The foundation offers assistance in two primary ways: the Pro Bono Program, which assigns skilled lawyers to take your case for free, and the Pro Se Program, which offers low-cost legal form assistance for those willing to represent themselves in family court. Indeed, most of the cases that the Legal Aid Foundation handles are family law cases. These are often the most complex and emotional cases for many low-income families.

Linje Rivers is the Treasurer of the Legal Aid Foundation and a Senior Attorney for the Office of Financial Regulation. Rivers is proud to help the foundation find solutions for Tallahassee's many low-income families and individuals looking for legal help.