General Information

Utah Legal Services (ULS) is a nonprofit law office which provides legal help in non-criminal cases, free of charge, to those who qualify. ULS serves the entire state through a variety of locations and in 2000, Utah had more than 350,000 persons eligible for legal help from ULS.

Our Mission

Utah Legal Services seeks to protect the rights of the disadvantaged and persons of limited means by legal representation, advocacy, and education throughout Utah.

Our Intake Hours

We take telephone calls Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. If you can call downtown Salt Lake City as a local call, dial 328-8891. Outside the Salt Lake valley, please call 1-800-662-4245 toll free.

What will happen when I call?

When you have a legal problem that Utah Legal Services can help you with, the most important thing is to contact us as soon as possible. The earlier you contact us, the easier it will be for both you and us, because it will give us more time to help you.

When you call Utah Legal Services, please remember that we receive many calls every day, so please be patient--all people qualifying for help will get it, but it can take some time. When you call, you will hear a recording (in both English and Spanish) listing several options to choose from. If this is your first call to Utah Legal Services, you will have to wait for an available staff person to talk to you. The length of time you'll wait depends on how many callers there are ahead of you in line. Sometimes this takes 20 minutes or longer. We hope that the wait will not be too long, but please be patient; we will get to you.

The first person you will talk to is an intake worker. This person's job is to help us determine if you qualify for our services, based on your income or age or type of legal problem, so the first thing they will ask you is for basic information such as your name, address, phone number, and income. The intake worker needs to get this information first, before you can tell them about your problem. The intake staff is aware of how long you have had to wait, and wants to help you as best they can, but they need to get this basic information first. The intake worker will then ask for information about your legal problem. However, they cannot decide if your case has legal merit; this decision can only be made by an attorney -- intake workers are not attorneys. After the intake worker has all the information, the intake worker will transfer your call to an attorney or specialized paralegal, someone who is an expert in the legal area you need help with.

It has been the experience of the staff at Utah Legal Services that a good many problems can be handled with just a phone call and some advice, so patience can pay off.

In addition, Utah Legal Services has a large selection of informational flyers, fill-in-the-blank forms, and other written materials that can help you help yourself; the intake worker will send you these materials where appropriate.