Saturday, February 03, 2007

Legal needs of the poor in focus

from The Albany Times Union

Spitzer's budget calls for state support of equal access to justice

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer

ALBANY -- For the first time in the 131 years since the American civil legal assistance system was founded in New York City, funding to pay for critical legal help for the poor has been built into the new state budget.

The $4.6 million proposed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and another $5 million recommended by the state judiciary, brings the per-person spending total for the neediest New Yorkers to about $18 a year from a 2006 member item spending level of $2.54.

Minnesota, by contrast, spends $32.33 per poor resident.

New York is seriously lagging behind other states that for years have made it a priority to fund legal programs for the poor. The state was one of only seven states without a stable state appropriation for indigent legal aid until funding was inserted Wednesday into the state budget plan.

About 14 percent of the state residents -- or 2.8 million -- live in poverty, according to a 2006 report from the state Equal Justice Commission.

Members of the panel, drawn from across the state, also acknowledged a 2005 federal finding that at least 80 percent of the civil legal needs of low-income Americans aren't being met means fewer than 15 percent of the legal needs of low-income New Yorkers are being met.

"The governor's actions send a strong message that access to justice is an important part of the reforms he's working to implement," said Anne Erickson, president and CEO of the Empire Justice Center.

But Spitzer and the state Legislature must build on the foundation, Erickson said, because the proposal falls short of the $50 million necessary to provide equal access to justice for those who need it.

Erickson is part of a coalition of 34 nonprofit legal assistance agencies and unions for legal workers called The Statewide Campaign for Civil Legal Services that has worked to get funding into Spitzer's budget.

The $50 million figure is based on a June 1998 recommendation by a commission appointed by Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye to review New York's investment in civil legal services.

Members at the time suggested an investment of $40 million, calling it a small down payment toward access to justice. The additional $10 million now called for accounts for changing poverty statistics and inflation, advocates said.

The Legal Project, an arm of the Capital District Women's Bar Association, provides free or low-cost legal help to those who can't afford an attorney in the Capital Region.

In 2005, the organization lost a vital $300,000 federal grant that threatened closure if not for the private donations, legislative member items and matching grants that kept the doors open.

"None of us want to turn people away," said Lisa Frisch, its executive director. "It's one of the most heart-breaking things I have seen since I came to this type of work."

Yet studies show 80,000 people with legitimate and critical legal needs were turned away from New York's federally funded legal aid programs in 2005. That means almost two people were rejected for every one person served.

That's the single mother about to be evicted, Frisch said. And the abuse victim who can't navigate Family Court alone. Or the low-income couple trying to buy their first home and the disabled man who was unjustly fired from his job, she said.

"Our country is based on equal access to justice, yet we have struggled around that in the civil arena," Frisch said, noting she was thrilled with the funding. "When I think of what a dollar does in a program like ours."

Civil legal assistance for poor people in the United States began in New York City in 1876 with the founding of the German Society of New York. The agency established to protect recent immigrants from exploitation became the Legal Aid Society of New York in 1890.

In 1964, after the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act, which launched the War on Poverty, the federal government first made funds available for legal services through the Office of Economic Opportunity.

Funding today comes from the state and federal governments, the Interest on Lawyer's Trust Accounts, private contributions from state bar associations and private sector foundations and groups like the United Way.

There is no way to really figure an accurate average nationwide payout because of the different sizes of the states, their populations and the varying numbers of poor people in the state, Frisch pointed out.

"That is what makes what New York puts into civil legal services so compelling," she said.

Michele Morgan-Bolton can be reached at 434-2403 or by e-mail at mbolton@timesunion.com.

No comments: