Neighborhood Legal Services Association (NLSA) was established in 1966 as a non-profit, public interest law firm to provide civil legal assistance to poor and vulnerable residents of Allegheny (and later) Beaver, Butler and Lawrence Counties. Staffed by highly qualified lawyers, deeply committed to the practice of poverty law, NLSA attorneys sacrifice higher salaries available to private practitioners and lawyers employed in the public sector in order to provide civil legal assistance to people who cannot afford a lawyer. All of the cases that NLSA handles have reached a crisis stage that threatens the fundamental safety and security of low-income individuals living in the region. Since 1966, NLSA has provided civil legal services to over 1.1 million low-income clients and victims of domestic violence who would otherwise have been denied access to the justice system.