Texas RioGrande Legal Aid – El Paso Office

Office Hours

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Monday – Friday

Except on Holidays

Intake Hours and Guidelines 

Intake Hours are the hours that the office is able to accept calls to potentially accept new cases.

Local Intake

You can apply for services, from this office,  locally by calling (915) 585-5183

Monday – Friday, from 9:00 AM -11:30 AM and from 1:30 PM -4:30 PM.

There is dedicated intake for the following legal subjects:

• Homelessness
• Veterans
• Farmworker
• Contract for Deed

Centralized Intake

Call the Telephone Access to Justice (TAJ) hotline at 1-888-988-9996 during the following hours: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

We know that it is often difficult to get through to TRLA on the hotline and we apologize for the inconvenience. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid gets far more calls on the hotline every day than they are able to answer, especially calls related to family law issues.

It may be easier to reach us in the evening.

Eligibility Guidelines

To qualify for free legal services from TRLA, an applicant must meet the income, asset, and immigration requirements established by the United States Congress, the Texas Legislature, and other funding sources. TRLA will always attempt to find a funding source that will permit representation for persons who are unable to afford the services of a private attorney.

The guidelines are complicated, but trained intake workers will be the first step of the process.  Applicants will be asked various questions regarding income, assets, and citizenship/immigration status in order to see whether they are eligible. To start the application process, visit How to Apply.

Client applications are reviewed based on financial eligibility and other requirements. Clients who are unsure whether they qualify for our services can call the intake phone number above.

What if I have an emergency?

The following are cases are considered for emergency intake at the TRLA branch office in El Paso:

•     Cases where the client has been served with papers and they have an answer deadline.
•     Cases with a discovery deadline.
•     Cases where the client is about to lose his or her shelter, either through eviction or foreclosure.
•     Cases where the client is at the end of a statute of limitations deadline.

All emergency intake cases are to be approved by the branch manager.

Persons whose emergency intake status has been approved are then referred to Monica Lopez, a paralegal in their office. Because there are only 2 paralegals in this office who are designated to do intake, the emergencies are rotated between them.

Other callers who have tried to access the TAJ number unsuccessfully, but whose cases are not considered emergencies, are put on a call back list and called within 1-2 days.

This office only handles 6 calls of this type per day, on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Languages Served

• English
• Spanish
• Iterpreters are available for other languages upon request.