Eastern Regional Legal Intake (ERLI)

ERLI is a project of the Volunteer Lawyers Project and provides a free legal intake line for low-income individuals seeking legal intake, information, advice and referrals.

ERLI handles intake for Greater Boston Legal Services, the Volunteer Lawyers Project, and limited intake for Metro West Legal Services.

ERLI’s service area includes the service areas of the Volunteer Lawyers Project, Metro West Legal Services, and Greater Boston Legal Services.

Callers must provide essential information about themselves such as contact information (name, date of birth, address), household size and income, amount of financial assets, and immigration status in order to be screened for legal services. Callers who are not eligible for direct representation with an Eastern Region legal services program are provided legal information and/or referrals.

ERLI screens and refers potential clients to Greater Boston Legal Services.

Their call center's hours during the pandemic are:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 9am - 12pm
Tuesday & Thursday: 12:30pm - 3:30pm

To qualify for VLP services, clients must:

• Live in their service area
• Have incomes under 125% or 200% of the federal poverty guidelines
• Have civil legal issues that meet VLP’s priorities
• Be a US Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident (green card holder) or have another status acceptable under the LSC rules

VLP refers people they can’t assist to organizations that may be able to help.

VLP Service Area: Acton, Arlington, Ashland, Bedford, Bellingham, Belmont, Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Canton, Carlisle, Chelsea, Cohasset, Concord, Dedham. Dover, Everett, Foxborough, Framingham, Franklin, Hingham, Holbrook, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Hull, Lexington, Lincoln, Malden, Marlborough, Maynard, Medfield, Medford, Medway, Melrose, Millis, Milton, Natick, Needham, Newton, Norfolk, Norwell, Norwood, Plainville, Quincy, Randolph, Revere, Scituate, Sharon, Sherborn, Somerville, Stoneham, Stow, Sudbury, Wakefield, Walpole, Waltham, Watertown, Wayland, Wellesley, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Winchester, Winthrop, Woburn, Wrentham.

English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Portuguese