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Legal Aid and Defender Association is the largest provider
of legal services to low- and moderate-income people in Michigan
and one of the largest in the nation. Our service area comprises
Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, including the City of Detroit.
We provide civil legal services to residents of all three counties.
We represent defendants arraigned on criminal charges in Wayne County
Circuit Court and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Michigan. We have a full-time staff of 150, an annual operating
budget of $15.2 million, and close more than 11,800 cases a year.
Mission
Our mission is to provide comprehensive, aggressive legal advocacy and representation to residents of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, including the City of Detroit, who cannot afford an attorney. We are committed to serving our client in such a thorough and personal manner that they will be satisfied with our performance, regardless of the outcomes of particular cases.
History
We were founded in 1909, when the Detroit Bar Association appointed a committee to provide free civil legal services to the city's poor, especially new immigrants from Europe and the South. In 1968, we began handling criminal cases. In 1999, we adopted our current name. In 2003, we began providing civil legal services to residents of Macomb and Oakland counties.
Funding
Legal Aid and Defender Association is a Michigan nonprofit, IRS 501(c)(3) corporation. Several organization provide our funding, including the federal Legal Services Corporation, United Way of Southeastern Michigan, Michigan State Bar Foundation, Detroit Area Agency on Aging, The Senior Alliance, City of Detroit, Wayne County, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. We also receive individual charitable donations.
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