Center for Elder Law & Justice

What Center for Elder Law & Justice does

Center for Elder Law & Justice (CELJ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civil legal services organization headquartered in Buffalo, New York, that provides free legal representation, advice, and advocacy to older (55+), disabled, and low-income adults across 10 counties in Western New York. Its mission is to use the legal system to address housing instability, elder abuse and financial exploitation, healthcare access barriers, consumer fraud, guardianship needs, kinship care custody issues, and immigration concerns. The organization delivers services through 16+ specialized practice units including Elder Abuse Prevention, Housing, Health, Consumer Protection, Advance Planning, Guardianship, Kinship Care, PrideLaw (LGBTQ+ older adults), Older Refugees and New Americans, the MedLaw Partnership of WNY, CHAMP (addiction/mental health), and the WNY Coalition Pooled Trusts. Access channels include a toll-free Senior Legal Advice Helpline (1-844-0973), a Mobile Legal Unit that brings services to homebound clients, court-based advocacy, and Enhanced Multidisciplinary Team (E-MDT) coordination in five counties.

CELJ's underlying technology is centered on two web-based screening applications co-developed with Pro Bono Net on the Neota platform: the Legal Risk Detector, which screens older adults for legal risk across financial exploitation, consumer, housing, health care, and abuse domains and auto-refers urgent cases to CELJ; and the Senior Financial Safety Tool, which targets financial institutions and community partners for early identification of financial exploitation. The organization also publishes a Video Library, an Elder Advocacy Program (EAP) Replication Toolkit, and digital resource content, all hosted on a Squarespace-based website.

CELJ's business model is non-commercial: all legal services are provided free of charge to eligible clients. The organization is funded through a mix of government grants, private foundation grants, individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and fundraising events (annual golf tournament, meat raffle, kickoff raffle, Elder Law Day). Revenue figures are not publicly disclosed, and the organization is governed by a board of directors with no parent company, subsidiaries, or external equity/PE/VC ownership. Customer segments served include low-income older adults (primary), kinship caregivers, older refugees/new Americans, LGBTQ+ older adults, and disabled adults requiring guardianship.

Name

Center for Elder Law & Justice

Legal name

Center for Elder Law & Justice, Inc.

Website

https://elderjusticeny.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Center for Elder Law & Justice is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free civil legal services — including housing, elder abuse, healthcare, guardianship, and consumer protection — to older, disabled, and low-income adults across 10 counties in Western New York.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Aid Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (54111), Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (62412), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Elder Services & Aging Support (BPAGAEAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Care Navigation & Service Coordination (Medical, Social, Community) (HSABAIAB), Guardianship, Conservatorship & Fiduciary Care Management Coordination (HLADALAH)

Keywords

• Civil legal services
• Elder law services
• Legal aid nonprofit
• Elder abuse prevention
• Free legal representation

Headquarters

HQ city

Buffalo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Center for Elder Law & Justice (CELJ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal services organization that provides free civil legal representation and advocacy to low-income older adults, disabled adults, kinship caregivers, older refugees, and LGBTQ+ older adults in Western New York. The organization also operates specialized programs including an elder abuse multidisciplinary team response, mobile legal services, and community legal education.

Product overview

Center for Elder Law & Justice is a civil legal services organization offering free legal services primarily to low-income older adults across 10 counties in Western New York. The organization provides a comprehensive suite of legal services including elder abuse prevention, housing assistance, health care advocacy, consumer protection, advance planning, guardianship, kinship care, and specialized services for LGBTQ+ individuals and refugees. The portfolio includes core legal service units (Elder Abuse Prevention, Health Unit, Housing, Consumer Protection, Advance Planning, Guardianship, Kinship Care, PrideLaw, and others) complemented by digital tools (Legal Risk Detector and Senior Financial Safety Tool) developed in partnership with Pro Bono Net using Neota platform. The organization also provides educational programs including Elder Law Day, Video Library, and Elder Advocacy Program with a replication toolkit for other organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PrideLaw: CELJ's PrideLaw program provides civil legal services focused on the needs of aging LGBTQ+ individuals.
• Elder Advocacy Program (EAP)
• Family Guardian Support Project
• Aging with Pride Program
• Western New York Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiver Support Initiative
• Free Senior Legal Advice Helpline
• WNY Coalition Pooled Trusts

Products and services

• Civil Legal Services for Older Adults Free civil legal representation on issues such as housing, public benefits, health care, consumer protection, and advance planning for low-income older adults in Western New York.
• Aging with Pride Program Legal services and advocacy program dedicated to addressing the unique legal needs of LGBTQ+ older adults, including discrimination, benefits, family law, and estate planning matters.
• Alzheimer's Disease Caregiver Support Initiative Legal assistance program for caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease, focused on advance directives, guardianship, benefits navigation, and care planning.
• Family Guardian Support Project Legal support program for kinship caregivers (relatives raising children) facing guardianship, custody, benefits, and permanency planning issues.
• Housing & Health Care Legal Unit Dedicated legal unit handling housing (eviction defense, habitability, subsidized housing) and health care (Medicaid, Medicare, long-term care) matters for low-income clients.
• Elder Multidisciplinary Team (E-MDT) Response Coordinated multidisciplinary team response to elder abuse cases, bringing together legal, social service, health, and law enforcement professionals to investigate and remediate abuse.
• Mobile Legal Services Unit Mobile legal services unit that travels to underserved community locations to deliver legal advice, brief services, and outreach to older adults who cannot easily access the main office.
• Legal Risk Detector (Senior Financial Safety Tool) Online self-assessment tool that helps older adults screen for potential financial exploitation, scams, and elder law issues, with referral pathways to legal services.
• Community Legal Education & Outreach Community legal education, training, and outreach presentations delivered to older adults, caregivers, and community partners on topics such as advance directives, benefits, scams, and elder rights.
• Older Refugee Legal Services Specialized legal services for older refugees in Western New York, addressing immigration, benefits, housing, and family law matters in culturally competent manner.

Quantifiable outcome

• An estimated 260,000 older adults in NY State are victims of at least one form of elder abuse, and for every 1 case reported, 24 go unreported

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Pro Bono Net: National nonprofit that builds digital tools and infrastructure for legal aid organizations, including the Neota-platform applications co-developed with CELJ; ecosystem partner rather than direct peer, but materially enabling CELJ's digital strategy.
• ElderLaw Answers: Consumer-facing elder-law information and attorney directory site; adjacent to CELJ's mission in elder legal services but operates as an information marketplace rather than direct aid provider.

Broad incumbents

• Justice in Aging: National nonprofit legal advocacy organization focused on elder rights, with similar elder-law focus and policy advocacy mission; comparable at the strategic level though operating at national rather than regional scale.
• National Center on Law & Elder Rights (NCLER): National resource center providing legal training, technical assistance, and support on legal issues affecting older adults; comparable elder-law focus but as a federally funded training/TA center rather than direct service provider.

Direct peers

• Empire Justice Center: New York statewide legal services and advocacy nonprofit providing free civil legal aid to low-income and vulnerable populations, including elders; directly comparable mission and funding model to CELJ within NY.
• Bet Tzedek Legal Services: Los Angeles-based free legal aid nonprofit serving vulnerable populations including elderly and disabled clients; highly comparable in mission, free-services model, and practice area breadth.
• New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG): Large New York City-based legal services organization providing free civil legal services to vulnerable populations including elders, immigrants, and low-income families; comparable mission and free-services model, with broader scale.
• Legal Assistance of Western New York (LawNY): Regional civil legal aid provider serving low-income clients across Western New York with overlapping service counties to CELJ; highly comparable as a free legal aid nonprofit in the same geography.
• Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York: New York statewide legal aid society providing free civil legal services to low-income clients; comparable as a 501(c)(3) legal aid provider with similar practice areas and funding structure.
• Western New York Law Center: WNY-based legal services nonprofit providing free civil legal aid to low-income individuals; directly comparable in geography, mission, and grant-funded service delivery.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ElderJusticeNY
• Xx.com/elderjusticeny

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Center for Elder Law & Justice