• About Florida Rural Legal Services (FRLS)

  • Our organization makes a difference in the communities we serve because we change lives by helping people get access to justice that we all want and need.

    We do this through our legal services.

     

    Every day, our attorneys and staff work to create opportunities for the most vulnerable individuals and families to find their path out of poverty, live independently, and contribute to making our society a better place for all of us to live.

     

    Take the time to learn how we can help you in improving your life, and how you can support our services to ensure they are available to those who need them most in the 13 counties that we serve.

  • Vision

    Our vision is a justice system in which every person, regardless of their income, has equal access to legal representation and justice.

    Mission

    Our mission is to empower low income individuals, groups, and communities by providing them with access to justice through legal advice, representation, and advocacy.

    Values

    Work hard, be passionate, be determined, help others and always keep learning and improving.

    A woman working in a field
  • FRLS History

    Florida Rural Legal Services, Inc. was founded in 1966 as a private, non-profit corporation. FRLS provides free civil legal assistance to indigent families and low income elderly people in thirteen South Central Florida counties. FRLS also provides legal assistance to migrant workers throughout the state of Florida.

    FRLS is unique in its service of farmworkers because of its rich history. The office of Economic Opportunity – the agency created by R. Sargent Shriver during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration to spearhead the War on Poverty – funded a 2 year demonstration and research project to provide legal services to farmworkers in six South Florida counties. The project was originally called the South Florida Migrant Services.

     

    The program was extremely successful, and to this day, now as FRLS, continues to be the only legal services organization in Florida providing services to farmworkers and migrant workers throughout the state.

     

    Today, FRLS has seven offices and 70 staff members, including 31 attorneys. FRLS helps clients with the following types of legal problems: Consumer, Employment, Public Benefits and Economic Stability, Housing, Elder, and Farm Worker Law. We also provide services in Civil Rights and Family Law. Each year FRLS handles thousands of cases and continues to evolve in the quality and scope of services provided.

    Men working in a field
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