Legal aid is needed now more than ever

An op-ed in today’s Baltimore Sun by Legal Services board chairman John G. Levi:

Federal funding for civil legal assistance to low-income Americans in Maryland and throughout the country is in jeopardy.

A proposal before the U.S. House of Representatives would cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) by 26 percent — a reduction of $104 million, down to $300 million. The proposal, for fiscal year 2012, would roll back LSC funding to a level not seen since 1999. Such a result would hit the 100-year-old Maryland Legal Aid Bureau with a cut of more than $1.15 million a year.

The proposal by the House Appropriations Committee is not the last word. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up the issue Thursday and will soon make its recommendation for 2012 legal services funding. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland is a great supporter of legal services, oversees the subcommittee that handles LSC appropriations, and through the years has helped to build bipartisan support for legal services in the Senate, for which we are very grateful.

Much is at stake. At many legal aid offices throughout the country, the recession and slow economic recovery have led to significant increases in matters involving foreclosures, landlord-tenant disputes, bankruptcy and consumer finance, and, sadly, domestic violence. And the number of Americans who are eligible for civil legal aid (at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty line) has continued to climb to now more than 60 million Americans. As a result, legal aid programs, including Maryland’s, are overwhelmed with requests for assistance and stretched thin in their ability to provide it. Recent studies show that half of eligible applicants are turned away at LSC programs because of underfunding; across the nation, less than 20 percent of the legal needs of low-income Americans are being met.

Why should taxpayers support legal services?

Civil legal assistance is necessary to provide access to justice, which has long been a part of our national fabric. We pledge allegiance to a nation with “justice for all,” and, as the legendary federal judge Learned Hand said, “If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: thou shalt not ration justice.”

To read the column, click here.

Law Day 2011

A statement from John G. Levi, board chairman of the Legal Services Corporation (a major funder of Maryland Legal Aid):

President Dwight D. Eisenhower celebrated our nation’s commitment to the rule of law in his inaugural 1958 proclamation designating May 1 as Law Day, calling on Americans to “vigilantly guard the great heritage of liberty, justice, and equality under law which our forefathers bequeathed to us.”

Sixteen years later, near the end of the Nixon Administration, Congress passed the Legal Services Corporation Act declaring that “there is a need to provide equal access to the system of justice in our Nation” and “to provide high quality legal assistance to those who would be otherwise unable to afford adequate legal counsel.”

Today, LSC is the nation’s single largest funder of civil legal assistance, and is at the center of access to justice efforts across our country. Through extraordinary public-private partnerships, LSC-funded programs help the elderly, victims of domestic violence, veterans, disabled individuals and others confronting serious civil legal matters.

Much work remains to be done if our nation is to fulfill its promise of equal justice for all Americans. Local legal aid offices are swamped with requests for assistance. State and local courts—especially housing and family courts—are overwhelmed with low-income unrepresented individuals. LSC-funded programs need increased federal and state funding in order to keep our national promise.

As we observe Law Day, we must heed President Eisenhower’s call to never lose sight of our primary responsibility—to uphold our nation’s core values. Our generation has its own responsibility to the next generation to renew and strengthen those values given to it by preceding generations. We can never take our founding values of “liberty, justice and equality under law” for granted.

Congress to cut $15.8 million for legal aid

The fiscal year 2011 budget for the federal  Legal Services Corporation  would be cut by $15.8 million, reducing funds for civil legal assistance to low-income Americans, according to legislation announced today. LSC is a funder of Maryland Legal Aid.

LSC received $420 million in funding for FY 2010, and the funding bill for 2011 would provide $404.2 million, a reduction of 3.8 percent. The legislation, the result of a negotiated agreement between the Congress and the White House to avoid a government shutdown, is scheduled for votes in the House and Senate this week.

“Every dollar provided for civil legal assistance helps low-income individuals gain access to our justice system. We are grateful that funding cuts will not be as deep as initially proposed, and we look forward to working with the Congress on Fiscal Year 2012 funding to provide even greater access to justice for the growing number of low-income Americans in need of civil legal assistance,” LSC Board Chairman John G. Levi said.

On the passing of Sargent Shriver

A statement by John G. Levi, Chairman, Legal Services Corp. Board of Directors:

Sargent Shriver will be remembered as an extraordinary American, a giant who led the “war on poverty” and fought for equal justice for all Americans. His passion for equal justice and opportunity helped define our nation and shaped the lives of generations of Americans.

Sargent Shriver was the first Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and instrumental in the founding of the federal Legal Services Program—the forerunner of today’s Legal Services Corporation. Mr. Shriver was the first Director of the Peace Corps, helped create Head Start, Volunteers in Service to America, the Job Corps, the Community Action Program, and served as president and chairman of the Special Olympics. He also founded the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago.

Speaking at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting in 1965, Sargent Shriver said, “The extension of legal services to the poor is only a means of a more universal end—one we both share—the establishment of the rule of law.” He added, “It is that ordered quest for dignity, for justice, and for opportunity which is the central concern of society today.”

That “ordered quest” remains alive today. Sargent Shriver’s legacy also lives on at the Legal Services Corporation. We join all Americans in mourning his death and celebrating his remarkable life.