House Proposal Would Cut Civil Legal Aid by $104 Million

From the Legal Services Corporation: July 6, 2011, Washington, DC— Funding for the Legal Services
Corporation (LSC) would be cut by 26 percent in Fiscal Year 2012 under a
proposal announced by the House Appropriations Committee today. The
Committee bill proposes a $300 million budget for LSC—rolling back LSC
funding to a level not seen since 1999.

Basic field grants, which
are currently provided to 136 nonprofit civil legal aid programs across
the nation, would be cut to $274.4 million, a 27.5 percent reduction
from current funding of $378.6 million.LSC’s preliminary
estimates show that about 235,000 low-income Americans eligible for
civil legal assistance at

LSC-funded programs would be turned away if
the Committee proposal were enacted.“The proposed cut would
prove to be especially damaging to low-income persons whose health and
safety are at risk—the elderly, the victims of domestic violence, the
disabled, children, veterans and others—by denying them access to
justice,” LSC President James J. Sandman said.

“At LSC programs,
requests for assistance are increasing. The poverty population eligible
for civil legal assistance has grown by 17 percent since 2008, to an
all-time high of 63 million Americans. And funding from non-federal
sources is decreasing. This is not the time to undercut the fundamental
American commitment to equal justice for all,” Mr. Sandman said.

In
April, Congress cut LSC funding by 4 percent for Fiscal Year 2011, to
$404.2 million from $420 million. The impact of that cutback, combined
with reductions in state funds, Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts and
other funding sources, has put many LSC-funded programs under great
financial stress.

LSC-funded programs by the end of 2011 project
net staff reductions of 445 employees, including more than 200
attorneys, because of layoffs and attrition, according to survey
responses provided by 121 of the 136 LSC-funded programs.  In the
responses, 57 percent of the programs project budget deficits for 2011
totaling more than $19 million. Forty-two percent of the respondents
said they had imposed a salary freeze, and 31 percent anticipate
reducing employee benefits this year.

Some LSC-funded programs have dipped into reserve funds to postpone
downsizing and reduced client services, but almost all report that
continued cuts to their funding in 2012 will lead to layoffs, office
closures and reduced services to clients. Many rural areas, where there
are not enough private lawyers to volunteer pro bono services, will be
especially vulnerable to office closures because they are already
minimally staffed.

Last year, the 136 nonprofit programs funded by LSC closed nearly 1
million cases, which affected 2.3 million people. The legal aid programs
also assisted an additional 1.4 million Americans, through referrals to
private lawyers, self-help workshops and other services.

From 2009 to 2010, foreclosure cases were up 20 percent at LSC-funded
programs; unemployment compensation cases increased 10.5 percent;
landlord-tenant disputes rose by 7.7 percent; bankruptcy, debt relief
and consumer finance cases were up by nearly 5 percent, and domestic
violence cases increased by 5 percent.

“Never in American history has the need for federal support for
access to justice been clearer. We look forward to working with the
Congress in the coming weeks on continuing and expanding civil legal
assistance to low-income Americans,” Mr. Sandman said.

Established by Congress in 1974, LSC is an independent 501(c)(3)
nonprofit corporation that promotes equal access to justice and funds
high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and
families.  LSC-funded programs provide legal services to persons at or
below 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline.

Legal Services NYC is the LSC's New York City grantee.