The CHI St. Vincent Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) is an ongoing partnership between CHI St. Vincent and the Center for Arkansas Legal Services (CALS) to provide free, non-criminal based legal services to patients and families of CHI St. Vincent.

The partnership brings together physicians, nurses, social workers, attorneys and paralegals to address social and environmental determinants of poor health that may have a legal remedy, including: substandard housing conditions; domestic violence; food, income, housing insecurity; and improper denials of Medicaid and disability benefits.

The mission of the MLP is to help provide stability to individuals and families through the provision of civil legal services.

MLP clients do not pay attorney fees for the services they receive from the MLP, however, if there are court or other costs connected with the patient’s legal issue, the patient would be responsible for paying those costs if the court or third-party does not waive the fees.

Who may request assistance?

Eligible Individuals are patients, immediate family members of patients, responsible parties for patients, and CHI St. Vincent coworkers who have incomes that are at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

To submit a request, or to make a referral for legal assistance please download and complete this form:

CHI St. Vincent MLP Referral Form (PDF)

Mail or Fax to:

Center for Arkansas Legal Services
ATTN: Helpline
1300 West 6 Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
Phone: (501) 376-3423
Fax: (501) 376-3664

When a patient is referred to the MLP, the patient will speak with a CALS staff member to obtain information about the patient’s civil legal issues and together will decide the best steps to take to resolve the patient’s issue.

The MLP can help with many different civil legal matters including:

  • Domestic violence protection
  • Public Benefits – SNAP, TEA, Medicaid, AR Works
  • Collections and consumer problems
  • VA Benefits
  • Social Security Benefits
  • Filing Bankruptcy
  • Homeownership/Landlord disputes
  • Sealing an AR criminal record (Formerly known as “expungement”)


An important note about legal services: MLP does not handle malpractice, criminal issues, personal injury or other fee-generating cases, or other civil legal cases where a referral for services is readily available elsewhere. This website is for general information purposes only. The information included in this website is not legal advice. Legal advice is dependent upon the specific circumstances of each situation.