Christina Lee

Regardless of national shifts in the immigration landscape, the New Haven Legal Assistance Association will continue making legal counsel accessible for immigrants of New Haven residents living in poverty — as it has for the past 60 years. 

Since 1964, the New Haven Legal Assistance Association has provided legal assistance for low-income residents from the Greater New Haven area. The NHLAA promises to help underprivileged residents navigate the justice system by offering legal advice and full representation. 

“[The association] exists to help people who are more or less at the margins of society and wouldn’t be able to seek legal representation through normal means,” said Maximillien Inhoff, communications consultant for the association through The Narrative Project.

Alexis Smith, the association’s executive director since 2017, currently leads a 50-person staff composed of attorneys, legal assistants and community organizers. 

The NHLAA is one of the nation’s oldest legal assistance programs, offering services in family, housing and employment law –– to name a few.

As the organization celebrates its anniversary, Smith hopes to preserve its historical legacy as a supporter of marginalized communities while continuing to expand the association’s reach and services. For now, the association’s main priorities are identifying new areas of law to pursue based on community needs, potentially expanding office spaces and strengthening outreach such as hosting “Know Your Rights” presentations. 

The NHLAA also strives to balance client interests without compromising its relationship with the city and state, which partly fund the association. When the association represented New Haven families in a class action lawsuit against the city’s violations of lead policies in 2021, for example, they had to provide relief to the families while being conscious of the association’s ongoing relationship with the city. 

“Our role and our goal is to provide fierce advocacy on behalf of our clients that are represented in our client community,” Smith said. 

Unlike other legal aid organizations in the U.S., the NHLAA is financially independent from the Legal Services Corporation, a federally-funded non-profit corporation that provides financial assistance to legal aid organizations. The association’s independent status allows them to depart from Corporation directives, such as a ban on lobbying and representing undocumented individuals. 

Over the years, the association has developed a close relationship with Yale, particularly Yale Law School. The association was originally founded by graduates of YLS and has since maintained an affinity with the school through collaborative law clinics, alumni engagement and internship programs. 

Francis X. Dineen ’61, former Visiting Clinical Lecturer in Law at YLS and one of the longest-serving legal aid attorneys in the country, served as senior counsel for the association and is remembered as a mentor for many in the association before his passing in 2019. 

With the upcoming presidential election, the NHLAA is also preparing to work around the uncertainties of national politics. After the election of Donald Trump in 2016, the association experienced a notable shift in their immigration work, Smith explained. The association observed changes in the types of immigration cases they were taking.

This year, the association is focused on being responsive to client needs ahead of the election. Still, Smith considers the association safe from political shifts at the national level. 

If a new administration is elected in November, Maureen Abell, an immigration lawyer at NHLAA since 2019, anticipates accommodating for an increase in client demand in the months before the president takes office in January.

But she explained that the biggest challenges in the field of immigration law — meeting the demands of immigrants, filing asylum applications on time, working with backlogged courts — will need attention regardless of who wins the election. 

The New Haven Legal Assistance Association’s 60th Anniversary Gala is set to take place on Wednesday.