Legal Aid Societies Hit Hard By Recession

Legal aid societies that offer pro bono services to poor people with noncriminal cases such as foreclosure disputes and evictions have been battered by the recession, just as the need for their services is soaring. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts have cost legal aid groups around the nation dearly, because much of their funding comes from law firms that donate the interest from short-term deposits held in trust for clients during real estate deals. Cutbacks in staffing could soon reach 20% nationwide, while requests for legal aid have risen by at least 30%. And here in New York, Governor Paterson's proposed budget would cut the entire $8 million it gives to legal service groups. Steven Banks, chief attorney for New York City’s Legal Aid Society, tells the Times his staff is now forced to make wrenching decisions about which clients to help that remind him of choices made in "a MASH unit in a war zone."

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By John Del Signore in News on January 19, 2009 10:45 AM

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holyfrjole

First, it's either THE Legal Aid Society (which is the oldest and largest non-profit legal service provider in the nation) or any number of legal service providers (for example, Legal Services Corp.), but there isn't some large umbrella that covers "legal aid societies" -- at least get the terminology correct.

Second, Obama's "plan" -- what plan? State bars have already requested of its membership, or even required of members, a specified number of pro bono hours. A corporate lawyer who spends their days doing mergers and acquisitions can no more effectively represent a person about to be evicted from their home as that housing lawyer could handle a corporate bankruptcy. It would still require the resources of the legal service provider's already overburdened staff. While it's all well and good to have large firms encourage their associates to do pro bono work, you won't typically see those associates in the trenches at Bronx Housing Court.

CR

But they shouldn't be short on legal help since I would hope under Obama's plan more corporate lawyers would be encouraged to take on a couple of pro-bono cases.