Assistance of lawyer is needed more than ever in aid to poor
Supreme Court Justice Rita B. Garman was a -keynote speaker during the recent dedication -ceremony for the new Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation office in Champaign County. Excerpts from her remarks follow.
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Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation has been serving the poor, the elderly and the disabled in East Central Illinois – including my home town of Danville – for 35 years.
At that time, Congress created the Legal Services Corp. with the mission of promoting equal access to justice and providing high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income persons.
I began my legal career in 1968, before Land of Lincoln began its work, so I am very well aware of the need for its services. At that time, the legal needs of the poor and disenfranchised across the nation were served, if at all, by local non-profit legal aid societies.
My first job as a lawyer was as a legal aid attorney in Danville. I often tell people that it was the greatest learning experience of my life.
I learned the law in a way that law school hadn't taught me. I learned my way around a courtroom. And I learned about the people in my own community and the realities of their lives. In addition, I met many fine attorneys who gave their strong support to keep our doors open.
Then, as now, most of those seeking legal services were women with children. Some of you have heard my story about the client who purchased a vacuum cleaner from a door-to-door salesman for an incredible amount of money on an installment contract.
She had paid more for the vacuum cleaner than her carpeting was worth and, yet, she still owed money. Here was a woman who was trying her best to raise her children and to keep the kind of clean and safe home they deserved.
I was able to help her by contacting the creditor and having the contract cancelled. This was a small thing, but it was of tremendous value to her.
Forty years later, when I see the advertisements on television for payday loan companies or read about predatory lending practices, I am reminded of her and I know that the need for legal services for the poor has not diminished in the decades since.
Indeed, the need has increased. While today there are more laws protecting consumers, tenants, victims of domestic violence, the disabled and others in need, navigating the bureaucracies to obtain benefits and services has become more and more difficult. The assistance of a lawyer is more necessary than ever before.
In 2005, the Legal Services Corp. released a report titled "Documenting the Justice Gap in America: The Current Unmet Legal Needs of Low-income Americans." Data gathered from legal aid offices nationwide, both LSC-funded and community funded, revealed that for every person who seeks legal services, one is turned away.
Yet even this statistic is overly optimistic, because it does not reveal the number of people who need legal services, but do not even dare to seek them.
Other studies estimate that agencies such as Land of Lincoln have the resources to meet only about 20 percent of the legal needs of low-income people.
These numbers are staggering. It is estimated that more than 50 million Americans are eligible to receive legal aid from LSC-funded programs based on their income. This number includes 13 million children.
In Illinois alone, approximately 1.3 million individuals are eligible for legal services. The Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice estimates that there is only one legal aid attorney for every 4,752 legal problems faced by low-income residents.
The beautiful facility we are here to dedicate today will serve the residents of 14 counties. Located as it is in the heart of old Champaign, it is a more convenient location for many of those it will serve.
I was quite pleased to see that this new facility includes not only space for attorneys, law student interns and support staff, but also a classroom that will be used for educating and training clients.
One of the greatest barriers to equal justice is lack of information. This fact was demonstrated to me day after day when I sat on the circuit court in Vermilion County. Pro se litigants would appear in landlord-tenant disputes, debt collection actions and dissolution matters with little understanding of their rights and obligations.
I cannot count the number of times, for example, that I have heard one spouse say that he or she wanted a divorce, but could not get one because the other spouse would not agree.
Or the number of times I have seen con-sum-ers burdened with debt because they did not understand the fine print in a sales agreement that would have allowed them time to withdraw from the contract for home improvement or purchase of a set of encyclopedias.
As an impartial judge, I could do little to assist these individuals by the time the matter ended up in my courtroom.
But Land of Lincoln staff and volunteers can educate constituents about tenants' rights, predatory lending, insurance and other day-to-day legal issues and, in doing so, reduce the need for litigation.
Our community is indeed blessed to have such a resource, but the building alone is but one step in the road we must all take together to improve and expand legal services for the poor in East Central Illinois.
Federal funding is important, to be sure, but it has been steadily declining in recent years. Land of Lincoln needs our financial support, the volunteer efforts of attorneys, and our participation in its educational mission.
Yet, as I have followed the presidential primaries and watched the debates, it has occurred to me that I have not heard a single mention of access to legal services.
The need for legal services among the population served by Land of Lincoln will only increase. Despite holding a degree in economics, I am no expert on the economy. I do not presume to know whether our country is in a recession or merely experiencing an adjustment in the marketplace.
But I do know from my own observations as a lawyer and judge that the poor have more legal problems when economic times are hard.
The mortgage crisis has resulted in an increase in the number of people in need of access to legal services. There are those who entered into adjustable rate mortgages they could barely afford who are now losing their homes to foreclosure.
And as more people lose their homes and seek housing elsewhere, the number of disputes between landlords and tenants is increasing. In addition, debt, unemployment and housing crises often precipitate divorce, failure to pay child support, and domestic violence.
The need for services will also increase as my generation – the baby-boomers – ages and the number of senior citizens in need of assistance grows.
Land of Lincoln can expect a surge in the number of clients needing assistance with applications for various governmental benefits and programs and from those who are victims of elder abuse.
And as more and more disabled veterans return to our communities, they and their families may find themselves in need of access to justice – access that will be denied if they cannot turn to Land of Lincoln for assistance.
I did not intend to paint so bleak a picture, but the unmet need is great and cannot be ignored.
The members of the Illinois Supreme Court are well aware of the need for legal aid services and, in particular, the need for increased pro bono efforts to help meet that need. We have appointed a special committee to study the problem and have begun to implement strategies to encourage attorneys to engage in pro bono work.
For example, a recent rule change allows retired attorneys or in-house counsel to represent clients under the supervision of a legal aid program. As we move forward, we will look for other strategies to improve access to justice for all Illinois citizens.