Our 1(800)LAW-REP4 (1-800-529-7374) hotline operates 24/7/365 to connect callers with community and legal resources.

The hotline also connects callers with the Cook County Police Station Representation Unit, the emergency Westside Community Triage Center, and serves as an entry point into FDLA programming and our civil rights legal aid referral program. 

By calling our hotline, we can connect you with a variety of community and legal resources, such as connections for civil rights cases, domestic violence, food and housing insecurity, employment issues, tenants rights, immigration assistance, mental health services, reentry and post-incarceration, and more.

Hotline Background

1(800)LAW-REP4 began in 1995 with the mission of connecting anyone arrested or detained by Chicago police with an on-call attorney who could provide free police station representation. For 24 years, legal aid and pro bono attorneys staffed the hotline around the clock, day and night. At the same time, FDLA continued to advocate for policy change that would allow the service to be institutionalized by the Cook County Public Defenders to create more sustainable and universal access to this civil and human right. In March 2019, FDLA’s vision was realized. To this day, the Cook County Public Defenders now staff a 24/7 hotline for a newly-formed Police Station Representation Unit, representing individuals in police custody throughout Cook County.

As our work to secure public defense for arrestees culminated, FDLA re-examined its organizational strategic plan (available here) to implement a new mission statement and expand programming that could further our dedication to interrupting and ending mass incarceration. With stationside representation now staffed by the public defenders, 1(800)LAW-REP4 now connects you to community resources to avoid arrest and interactions with the police, as well as serves as an entry point into FDLA’s programs, including our civil rights legal aid referral program.