Advocates for poor rally to save Legal Services
Lawyers step up efforts in face of budget threats
Wisconsin lawyers have stepped up efforts to save the Legal Services Corp., one of more than a dozen federal organizations President Donald Trump would cut in his proposed federal budget.
The LSC provides about half the funding for a pair of Wisconsin legal offices that help hundreds of poor clients deal with life-changing civil court proceedings, from evictions to restraining orders, child custody to restoring driver’s licenses, veterans’ benefits and recovering money scammed from the elderly.
There have been prior runs at trimming back the LSC, but nothing like the complete elimination Trump has proposed.
“Yes, during certain times in the ’80s and ’90s, the threat was perennial,” said Deedee Peterson, associate executive director of Legal Action Wisconsin, but the cuts were in the range of 10% to 20%.
“While we have varied funding sources, LSC is about 48% of our budget ($4.3 million) and threatens to undermine much of our core work — ensuring fairness and justice for low-income clients,” Peterson said.
Legal Action serves 39 Wisconsin counties. In 2016, its 111person staff juggled more than 11,000 cases for more than 10,000 clients.
Wisconsin Judicare, which provides similar services to the state’s northern counties and 11 Indian tribes, is even more reliant on the LSC funding: It accounts for 51% of its budget of just over $2 million.
Legal Action board member Nathaniel Cade, a Milwaukee lawyer, said the bravado of budget cutting often winds up being penny wise but pound foolish in regard to LSC.
“The big issue, putting aside politics, and whether you believe in funding for the poor, etc., is that with (legal services) you clog the system,” Cade said, as courts slow down to deal with unrepresented parties and paying corporate clients wait longer for hearings.
Last week, supporters of Legal Action and Judicare held simultaneous news conferences in Milwaukee and Madison urging lawyers of all stripes — and the general public — to urge their representatives in Congress to fight to keep LSC.
“The legal system is a complicated and often frightening place,” said Fran Deisinger, president of the State Bar of Wisconsin. “Judges can tell many stories of people in crisis without representation.”
Francesca Yerks said, “Many doors have opened and will continue to open for me,” after Legal Action helped her expunge a six-year-old theft ticket from her record. “This second chance has given me a boost to exit poverty.”
Katherine Perhach, a partner at Quarles & Brady, said the firm’s lawyers provide nearly 9,000 hours of free help to poor clients each year, but Legal Action and Judicare do much of the screening and training in specific areas of the law unfamiliar to corporate attorneys, in effect leveraging the agencies’ efforts.
Congress created the LSC in 1974. It provides most of the funding for 134 independent, nonprofit civil legal aid offices around the country, where lawyers help poor clients facing evictions, consumer protection, child support, employment discrimination, veterans’ benefits and other serious civil legal actions.
(Legal aid agencies do not represent people for personal injury or other damages claims, or in criminal cases.)
An LSC grant helped Legal Action launch the nascent Eviction Defense Project, which coordinates volunteer lawyers to advise residents facing eviction notices at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
Some LSC supporters have faith it will survive Trump’s budget bluster.
“I look forward to working with Congress to continue LSC’s work,” said James Sandman, president of LSC. “I am optimistic that the bipartisan support we have enjoyed in Congress for more than four decades will continue for years to come.”
At a speech commemorating the LSC’s 40th anniversary, the late Justice Antonin Scalia said the organization, “pursues the most fundamental of American ideals, and it pursues equal justice in those areas of life most important to the lives of our citizens.”
Partners at more than 150 major law firms have urged Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director, not to defund the LSC.
“Eliminating the Legal Services Corporation will not only imperil the ability of civil legal aid organizations to serve Americans in need, it will also vastly diminish the private bar’s capacity to help these individuals,” reads a letter the partners sent.
“The pro bono activity facilitated by LSC funding is exactly the kind of public-private partnership the government should encourage, not eliminate.”
Linda Klein, president of the American Bar Association, said in a statement last month, “More than 30 cost-benefit studies all show that legal aid delivers far more in benefits than it costs.
“If veterans become homeless, or disaster victims cannot rebuild, their costs to society are significantly more.”
The LSC and its client agencies are working hard at expanding their advocacy beyond the bar. University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh has come out in support.
Before Trump released his budget, Harbaugh tweeted:
“I hope reports that White House trying to defund Legal Services Corp aren’t true. LSC is CRUCIAL to making justice system fair. #LSCmatters.”
Harbaugh later discussed his interest in LSC with Politico, telling the site, “Some people say ‘Why is a football coach concerned?’ I explained I’m an American first and all Americans should care about justice.”