For the past 20 years, Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Centralized Intake Unit has served as the primary entry point for people seeking civil legal help statewide.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Centralized Intake Unit (CIU), which helps connect people across all 100 counties to civil legal assistance. The team of intake specialists and attorneys supports individuals and families during some of the most challenging moments of their lives.
Each year, more than 300,000 people contact LANC for help, most often related to housing instability and domestic violence issues that can threaten family safety or lead to homelessness. Over the past five years alone, CIU has completed more than 287,000 intakes, helping individuals and families access legal advice, brief services, and referrals to critical resources.
“Access to justice begins with access to information and a real person who will listen,” said Ashley Campbell, Executive Director of Legal Aid of North Carolina. “For 20 years, our Centralized Intake Unit has made it possible for people across North Carolina to reach us, be heard, and get connected to help. It is one of the most important ways we carry out our mission.”
CIU was first envisioned by LANC founder and former Executive Director George Hausen, who recognized the need for a consistent and accessible way for people statewide to seek civil legal help. Working alongside longtime Legal Aid attorney Vilma Suarez, Hausen helped design and launch the unit, drawing inspiration from a centralized intake model in Chicago and adapting it to meet North Carolina’s needs.
From the beginning, CIU was designed not only to streamline access to legal services, but also to provide meaningful assistance as early as possible. By offering advice, brief services, and referrals over the phone, the unit allows LANC’s field offices to focus on more complex cases while ensuring that people still receive timely support.
“Centralized Intake fundamentally changed how we serve our clients,” said Allison Weller Tikare, Director of Intake and Client Services at Legal Aid of North Carolina. “It created a consistent, high‑quality entry point into our services and helped us better understand client needs across the state. That original vision continues to shape how we deliver legal aid today.”
At launch, CIU was staffed by a small team that included a managing attorney, supervising attorney, paralegal, office manager, and six part‑time hourly attorneys. That early structure laid the foundation for the statewide intake system serving North Carolinians today.
Today, CIU has grown into a team of 27 staff members with over 68 years of intake experience and more than 215 years of legal experience combined.
Over time, CIU also helped pave the way for several statewide initiatives that previously did not exist in a coordinated way, including pro bono programming, Continuing Legal Education opportunities, Lunch and Learn sessions, Listen and Learn sessions, and the integration of social work support services.
Earlier this year, CIU partnered with LANC’s Legal Innovation Lab to launch JusticeHub, a new online intake and client portal designed to make it easier for people across North Carolina to apply for civil legal help and access reliable legal information. JusticeHub serves as a single, centralized entry point for LANC’s services and improves upon the previous online intake process, which was often confusing for clients.
The platform is mobile‑friendly, available 24 hours a day, and designed with accessibility at its core, including support for users with low literacy, disabilities, limited English proficiency, and limited access to technology. North Carolinians can also apply by phone from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday by calling 866‑219‑5252.
Together, CIU and JusticeHub reflect LANC’s commitment to modernizing access to justice while keeping people at the center of every improvement. That commitment is critical in a state where approximately 1.5 million residents are financially eligible for Legal Aid services and available resources remain limited.
Legal Aid of North Carolina recently marked the milestone with a 20th anniversary celebration recognizing the staff who have helped build and sustain the Centralized Intake Unit over the past two decades.
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