The Center for Arkansas Legal Services will be closing its doors at 201 E. Markham St. at the end of this year. (Sophie Baker)
The Center for Arkansas Legal Services will dissolve at the end of the year, leaving
Legal Aid ofArkansas as the only provider of free civil legal services in the state.
The decision to end the nonprofit came after a statewide task force led by the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission studied the possibility of Arkansas having only one legal aid program to serve the entire state, said Legal Aid Executive Director Lee Richardson. Several states have only one legal aid program. And the task force’s decision in 2024 was for Arkansas to do the same.
“So that’s what we’re transitioning to as of Jan. 1,” Richardson said. “And it’s not a merger by any means. It’s just the Center for Arkansas Legal Services sunsets and Legal Aid of Arkansas assumes responsibility for providing services statewide.”
The move will allow Legal Aid, which has its headquarters in Jonesboro and was established in1967, to provide legal services to people across the state. Founded in 1965, the Center for Arkansas Legal Services served the counties mainly south of the Arkansas River, and Legal Aid represented people primarily in the northern parts of the state.
“It’ll provide more consistent services statewide,” Richardson said. “There won’t be two different organizations, and the confusion that comes with that, both in the client community and in the general public community, and even in the bar and bench.”
Legal Aid of Arkansas represents low-income individuals in civil issues when they can’t afford to pay an attorney. Unlike the case in criminal proceedings, a person doesn’t have the right to a lawyer in civil actions except for a few isolated situations, Richardson said.
Legal Aid mainly handles issues that don’t generate a fee, such as domestic justice cases,housing-related issues, access to public benefits and bankruptcies.
Richardson said the move shouldn’t affect the clients who are being served by the Center for Arkansas Legal Services.
The clients who have an open case with the Center “will just have a seamless transition over to being represented by Legal Aid of Arkansas,” Richardson said. “And then any new clients coming in will be hitting our intake system.”
The move to have one legal aid program is expected to save between $600,000 and $700,000, Richardson said. The savings will come from the elimination of duplicated systems, such as the case management systems, accounting systems and insurance.
Legal Aid’s total revenue in 2024 was $4.8 million, which was about the same amount in 2023. Most of the funding, 44%, came from Legal Services Corp. of Washington, which is the largest national funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans. Legal Aid’s expenses also were $4.8million for the year in 2024, but that total was $4.98 million in 2023. Funding also came from state funds and donations.
The Center for Arkansas Legal Services reported total revenue of $4.3 million and a loss of $1.1million in 2023, the most recent year financial numbers were available to Arkansas Business.
In 2022, it reported a loss of $580,582 on revenue of $4.3 million, according to its most recent IRS Form 990 available on Candid’s website.
A few of the Center’s positions were eliminated, but most of its employees were hired by LegalAid. A message left with the Center wasn’t immediately returned.
On Jan. 1, Legal Aid will have about 45 attorneys. In June, it had 29 attorneys, which tied it for the ninth-largest law firm in the state ranked by the number of lawyers. CALS had 20 attorneys, making it No. 14 on Arkansas Business’ list of the largest law firms.
