A clear name for this specific service. Use something a person seeking help would understand — "Housing Eviction Defense" rather than internal program names or grant codes.
Field slug: service_name
The Services table breaks down what each organization actually offers. A single legal aid group might have three different services: an eviction defense program (full representation, housing issues, Cook County), a family law clinic (brief advice, family issues, statewide), and a benefits hotline (advice, public benefits, statewide by phone). Each gets its own row.
Every service links back to an organization in your Organizations table. Fields like audience served, languages, and jurisdiction are inherited from the organization if you don't set them on the service — so you only need to tag a service differently when it diverges from what the org does overall.
Do you need a Services table? Not necessarily on day one. If every organization you track offers one main thing, the Organizations table is enough. Add Services when you need to say "this org offers multiple different things with different eligibility, different legal issues, or different kinds of help." Most people add it when they start doing detailed referral matching.
Required fields
The minimum to identify and locate a service.
Service name
RequiredOrganization
RequiredWhich organization provides this service? Link to a record in your Organizations table. This connection lets the service inherit the org's jurisdiction, languages, and audience unless you override them.
Field slug: org_id
Legal issues covered
RequiredWhat legal topics does this service help with? Link to records in your Legal Issues table, which uses LIST taxonomy codes. Be as specific as the service warrants — if it only handles eviction defense, use HO-02-00-00-00 rather than all of housing.
Field slug: list_codes
Jurisdiction
RequiredWhat geographic area does this service cover? Link to records in your Jurisdictions reference table. Each jurisdiction record should include a FIPS code (the federal standard geographic identifier — 2 digits for states, 5 digits for counties, like 17031 for Cook County, Illinois) as its machine-readable identifier.
Field slug: jurisdiction
If this service covers the same area as the organization overall, you can leave this blank — it will inherit from the org. Only set it when the service covers a different or narrower area.
Never use free text for jurisdiction. Free text ("Cook County, IL" vs. "Cook Co." vs. "Cook County, Illinois") creates matching nightmares. Always link to a Jurisdictions reference table with standardized names and FIPS codes.
Recommended fields
These are the fields that make referral matching actually work. Without them, all you know is "this service exists in this jurisdiction for this legal issue." With them, you can match on what kind of help the person gets, where they are in their legal journey, what language they speak, and how they prefer to access help.
Service type
RecommendedWhat does the person actually get from this service? This is the single most important field for setting expectations. Someone expecting a lawyer to take their case should not be referred to a self-service website. Select all that apply — some services offer multiple levels.
Field slug: service_type
These tiers align with how the Legal Services Corporation categorizes service levels:
| Option | What the person gets |
|---|---|
| self-service | Tools, guides, forms, or AI-powered resources you use on your own. No person is assigned to your case. This can range from a simple PDF guide to a full document assembly interview — the key is that no human is individually working your problem. |
| advice | Someone (or a trained AI system) reviews your specific situation and gives you guidance. Typically one interaction, not ongoing. You leave knowing more about your options, but nobody takes on your case. Maps to "Brief Advice and Counsel" in LSC terms. |
| limited-action | A person handles specific tasks in your case — drafts a document, fills out your forms, represents you at one hearing, negotiates on your behalf. They don't take the full case, but they do concrete work. Maps to "Limited Action / Scope Representation" in LSC terms. |
| full-representation | A lawyer or advocate takes your case and handles it through resolution — court hearings, negotiations, administrative proceedings, all of it. Maps to "Extended Services / Full Representation" in LSC terms. |
| classes-workshops | Group education — know-your-rights workshops, legal clinics with presentations, training sessions. Valuable but not individualized to your case. |
| referral | This service connects you to someone who provides legal help. It doesn't provide legal help directly. |
| dispute-resolution | Mediation, arbitration, settlement conferences, diversion programs. A structured process to resolve your dispute outside of (or alongside) traditional litigation. |
Why this matters for AI tools: As AI-powered legal help tools become more common, the distinction between self-service and advice is increasingly about whether a person (or trained AI) is reviewing your specific situation — not just whether a human is involved. A sophisticated guided interview might be self-service; an AI triage tool that analyzes your case and gives tailored guidance might be advice.
Audience served
RecommendedWho is this service for? If the same as the organization overall, leave blank — it inherits from the org. Only set this if the service has different eligibility than the org's default.
Field slug: audience_served
Uses the same options as the Organizations table — see that page for the full list of 17 options including general-population, low-income, domestic-violence, self-represented, and others.
Languages
RecommendedWhat languages is this service available in? Inherits from the organization if not set. Only override when this service has different language availability than the org overall (for example, a Spanish-language DV hotline at an org that primarily operates in English).
Field slug: languages
Uses the same ISO 639 language code options as the Organizations table — en, es, zh-cmn, vi, ko, etc.
Delivery mode
RecommendedHow does someone access this service? This helps match people who have strong preferences or constraints — someone without transportation needs phone or online access; someone without reliable internet needs in-person or phone.
Field slug: delivery_mode
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| in-person | Visit an office, courthouse, clinic, or community location |
| phone | Call a person or automated line |
| text | SMS or text-based communication |
| video | Live video call (Zoom, Teams, etc.) |
| online-async | Website, portal, email, chat, or intake form — no live interaction needed |
| mobile-outreach | Staff go to community sites, shelters, courts, or other locations |
| Postal mail |
Phases of legal journey served
RecommendedWhere in their legal journey can this service help someone? A person who just received an eviction notice is in a very different situation than someone trying to understand their rights before anything has happened, or someone appealing a benefits denial. Matching on phase prevents sending someone to a service that can't help at their stage.
Field slug: phases_served
| Option | Where the person is |
|---|---|
| understanding-rights | "I have a situation and I need to know what the law says." Before any action is taken — just trying to understand options and rights. |
| prevention-planning | "I want to set something up or protect myself before there's a problem." Estate planning, lease review, creating a business entity, proactive protective orders, applying for benefits before a crisis. |
| negotiation-resolution | "I'm trying to work something out with another party." Landlord-tenant negotiation, debt settlement, workplace disputes, family agreements — trying to resolve things without a formal legal proceeding. |
| application-filing | "I need to submit something to a court, agency, or other body." Filing for benefits, submitting a petition, requesting a name change, applying for a protective order — non-adversarial filings and applications. |
| pre-lawsuit | "A legal case is likely or imminent but hasn't been filed yet." Demand letters, pre-litigation negotiation, gathering evidence, consulting about whether to file. |
| responding-to-action | "Someone has filed something against me, or I've received a notice I have to respond to." Eviction notice, debt collection lawsuit, agency denial letter, immigration hearing notice. The "I just got served" moment. |
| active-case | "I'm in an ongoing legal proceeding." Discovery, hearings, trial preparation, trial itself, administrative hearings, ongoing negotiations within a case. |
| post-decision | "A decision has been made and I need to deal with the outcome." Enforcement of judgments, appeals, modifying existing orders, complying with court orders, sealing or expunging records. |
| emergency | "I need help right now, today." Emergency protective orders, imminent eviction, immigration detention, immediate safety concerns. This crosses all issue types — it's about urgency, not legal topic. |
Select all phases the service covers. Many services span multiple phases — an eviction defense program might cover responding-to-action, active-case, and post-decision. A benefits help desk might cover understanding-rights, application-filing, and responding-to-action (for appeals). Select all that apply.
Optional fields
These improve match quality and help set expectations. Fill them in as you can.
Service URL
OptionalA direct link to a web page describing this specific service (not the org's homepage). Even better if it links to an intake page or application form.
Field slug: service_url
Description
OptionalA brief description of what this service does, in plain language. One to three sentences. This is what a hotline operator reads when deciding whether to recommend this service, and what an AI tool uses to understand it.
Field slug: service_description
Capacity
OptionalIs this service currently accepting new clients? This is the most time-sensitive field — it should be updated regularly. Referring someone to a service that's full is worse than not referring them at all.
Field slug: capacity
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| accepting | Currently taking new clients |
| waitlist | Taking applications but there's a wait |
| limited | Accepting some cases selectively |
| appointment-only | Available but requires scheduling in advance |
| seasonal | Only operates at certain times (tax clinics, annual pro bono events) |
| not-accepting | Temporarily closed to new clients |
| unknown | Current capacity not known — when in doubt, use this |
Add a "capacity verified" date field alongside this. Even a simple date field showing when someone last checked the capacity helps downstream systems flag stale data.
Cost
OptionalWhat does the person pay?
Field slug: cost
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| free | No cost to the client |
| sliding-scale | Fee adjusts based on income or ability to pay |
| low-cost | Below market rate but not free |
| free-if-eligible | Free if you meet eligibility criteria, fees otherwise |
| pro-bono | Free through volunteer attorneys, but limited availability |
| unknown | Cost information not known |
Eligibility notes
OptionalFree text for anything the structured fields don't capture about who qualifies. This is the companion to the audience served multi-select — the tags do the filtering, the notes explain the details. Put specific income thresholds, funder restrictions, case-type carve-outs, and other nuances here.
Field slug: eligibility_notes
Example: "Income must be at or below 200% FPL. Only handles eviction defense — not affirmative housing claims. VAWA-funded; certain citizenship restrictions apply. Spanish-language intake available Tuesdays and Thursdays."
Phone number
OptionalPhone number for this specific service, if different from the organization's main number.
Field slug: phone
Opening hours
OptionalWhen is this service available? Free text is fine here — "Monday–Friday 9am–5pm" or "Walk-in clinic every 2nd Thursday, 1–4pm."
Field slug: opening_hours
Fields that inherit from the parent organization: If you leave these blank on a service, they automatically use the organization's values: audience served, languages, jurisdiction, and delivery mode. You only need to set them on the service when they're different from the org's defaults. This saves a lot of redundant tagging.
Next steps
If you're also tracking legal help content — guides, forms, tools, videos — see the Content Index fields.
If you want to understand how these fields map to Schema.org markup or HSDS / Open Referral, see the Crosswalk.