The Times-Picayune — Forty-six states provide funding to help their most vulnerable citizens secure free legal assistance in civil matters. The amounts vary widely, according to the American Bar Association: Arkansas provides $556,000 annually; Mississippi $708,000; Georgia $3.1 million; and Texas nearly $72 million.
Louisiana, which has the worst health care, the second highest rates of poverty and domestic violence, as well as being more prone to natural disasters than all but 10 states, provides nothing.
The consequences of this can be devastating both individually and to a state’s economy, said James Sandman, president of the Legal Services Corporation, a national nonprofit that provides funding for civil legal aid. If indigent people can’t effectively access the courts, they lose the ability to protect their vital interests such as housing, employment, health insurance, and parental rights, he said.
“Most Americans don’t realize there is no right to a lawyer in a civil case,” Sandman said. “They don’t realize you could lose your home or your children or be a victim of abuse in need of a protective order and you have no right to a lawyer. Fortunately, the vast majority of states recognize the role of government in trying to make the system accessible to all people, regardless of their incomes.”
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services – a nonprofit that provides free legal representation in 22 parishes, including Orleans – does what it can to fill the gap and meet the substantial demand, but it does so with limited resources.
In 2017, SLLS handled more than 12,000 cases which had a direct economic impact of $23 million. And yet, in 75 percent of civil cases in Louisiana, one or both of the parties involved are still forced to represent themselves.
The urgent need for state funding was more recently highlighted during the federal government shutdown, which followed two years of threats from President Donald Trump to eliminate all money going to civil legal aid. This presented an existential crisis for SLLS as 60 percent of its budget comes from federal dollars. Should that money go away, and without any state funding to fall back on, the organization would all but cease to exist, said executive director Laura Tuggle.
“We find ourselves having to make hard decisions and turning people away for a lot of things,” Tuggle said. “There’s no safe funding.”
Louisiana has an opportunity in the upcoming legislative session to restore the funding former Gov. Bobby Jindal eliminated eight years ago. Jay Dardenne, commissioner of the Division of Administration said the administration received a $500,000 request from SLLS and its sister organization, Acadiana Legal Services Corporation.
“We recognize the importance of the work done by these organizations, and we’re considering the budget request alongside the dozens from other nongovernmental organizations,” he said in an emailed response.
Sen. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, who leads the Senate’s budget committee, said his fellow legislators understand the need for legal aid, but too often, that is not enough.
“We want to fund it,” he said, “but wanting to fund it and funding it are two different things. The same is true for indigent defense. We fund it but we fund it insufficiently. It’s why Louisiana ranks at the bottom in a lot of areas. We don’t make it a very high priority.”
Unprepared for court
The impact of the legal aid shortfall was vividly illustrated in Civil District Court Judge Bernadette D’Souza’s courtroom on a recent Wednesday.
A woman appeared before Judge D’Souza seeking a protective order against her ex-boyfriend and the father of one of her children. She sat in the witness chair, her leg bouncing uncontrollably, her hands shaking as she read what she described as threatening texts from him.
D’Souza asked if she had print-outs of the texts.
“No,” she said.
The woman then said she has pictures on her phone of injuries she sustained during an assault by her former boyfriend.
D’Souza asked if she had print-outs of the photos.
“No,” she said.
The man had previously been arrested for domestic abuse, but the woman didn’t bring those records to court either.
Sitting in her chambers during a recess, D’Souza said this is a recurring problem she sees in her courtroom every day: people attempting to address serious issues, such as abuse, but coming unprepared because they don’t have an attorney. She estimates that up to 70 percent of the people who appear before her have no legal representation.
“If she had a lawyer,” D’Souza said, “she would have come prepared with copies of the text messages and the police report. If they don’t bring evidence, what can I do?”
D’Souza, who worked as a legal services attorney on domestic violence issues prior to being elected judge, eventually granted the woman the protective order. But other judges might not have been as understanding, she said.
“This is why the funding is so important. SLLS is not able to service everybody,” she said. “I have grave concerns for that organization.”
A healthy return on investment
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services represents people who fall under the federal poverty guidelines: for an individual, that means an income of $15,613 and for a family of four, $32,188.
The bulk of their cases involve family law, such as domestic violence, child custody, adoption and divorce. The next biggest issue is housing which covers evictions, landlord and tenant disputes, successions, sub-standard housing and foreclosures. They also deal with disaster relief, bankruptcies, tax issues, social security, Medicaid and Medicare, fair labor standards, disabilities and wills and estates.
There is monetary value of investing in such civil legal aid, according to a report by the Louisiana Access to Justice Commission, an organization created by the state Supreme Court and bar association to improve access to the legal system. The study showed that there is a $9.13 return for every $1 invested.
For example, Louisiana civil legal aid organizations received $10.4 million in funding in 2017 and had a net economic impact of $95 million. This represents homes and jobs saved, debt relief, and health coverage obtained, among other benefits.
“Say we help a veteran get his disability benefits. That has a direct economic impact which goes on annually,” said Tuggle during an interview at the office of Chris Ralston with the Access to Justice Commission.
“He’s able to pay rent, buy a mattress, spend money,” Ralston added.
“If we help a domestic violence victim get child support or use of the family home or car there are longer term costs savings that put money back in the economy,” Tuggle said.
So why do Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Idaho not support this service? There’s no easy answer, Ralston said. Louisiana provided SLLS with $500,000 annually as recently as fiscal year 2008-09. Jindal, who was elected governor in 2007, eliminated the funding the following year. Lawmakers themselves did not restore the funding.
“We’ve been fighting to get it restored ever since,” Ralston said. “But when something gets taken out, it’s really hard to get it put back in.”
The lack of state funding has also served to create a roadblock to other potential sources of money.
“The Kellogg Foundation won’t give you a grant for civil legal aid if your state doesn’t have any skin in the game,” Ralston said.
‘You’re courting chaos’
SLLS’ annual budget last year was $7.1 million, of which 43 percent came from the Legal Services Corporation and another 17 percent from other federal sources. The remaining 40 percent is a mix of donations, grants and a small percentage from local governments.
The Legal Services Corporation is a nonprofit created by Congress in 1974. It receives public funds for civil legal aid then distributes those dollars to organizations throughout the country. Its future, however, remains uncertain, which makes SLLS’ survival all the more tenuous.
For two years in a row, the Trump administration has sought to eliminate all funding for the Legal Services Corporation, stating in its proposed 2018-19 budget a desire to end “the one-size-fits-all model of providing legal services through a single federal grant program.”
“This proposed elimination will encourage nonprofit organizations, businesses, law firms, and religious institutions to develop new models for providing legal aid, such as pro bono work, law school clinics, and innovative technologies,” the proposed 2019 budget stated.
Congress, in a bipartisan rebuke, voted in March 2018 to increase funding to the Legal Services Corporation by $25 million for a total of $410 million. The House voted 256-167 and the Senate 65-32 to approve the spending package that included the extra money.
Sandman, president of the Legal Services Corporation, said it was an important victory, but funding remains at historic lows while demand is at its peak. This is why it’s never been more important for states like Louisiana to step up and provide their own funding, he said.
“When you leave people having to navigate for themselves a legal system that was created by lawyers for lawyers and built on the assumption that everybody has a lawyer, you’re courting chaos.”
D’Souza estimates she handles about 50 cases a week, and as many as 2,700 cases a year in which individuals are attempting to secure protective orders against abusive spouses, divorces or custody of children without an attorney.
In an attempt to fill this gap, the ProBono project operates the Self-Help Resource Center on the first floor of Civil District Court. Manned by a staff attorney and team of volunteer law students and paralegals, the center doesn’t provide legal representation but, instead, helps people fill out paperwork and answers general questions about court procedures.
Last year, the center served 2,150 people while operating just three hours a day, three days a week.
“This is not a good situation. This is like triage,” Ralston said.
C.C. Kahr, executive director of the ProBono Project, agreed, saying self-representation is rarely the best option.
“It is a very difficult process for individuals who are coming through the courts, who are frequently in distress, to focus on legal issues that will define their future,” she said. “These are people not looking to make money but to make their lives whole again. And until there is a right to counsel in civil legal matters or until there is proper funding for civil legal aid, it’s unrealistic to think that there is access to justice for all.”
While Louisiana seeks to restore its previous token funding, its neighbor to the west remains all in on the concept. Texas is one of the biggest funders of civil legal aid, providing $17 million in annual state appropriations in addition to more than $54 million in mandatory statewide court fees and fines, according to the American Bar Association.
Texas also passed a statute allowing money its awarded through class action lawsuits to fund civil legal aid organizations. For example, Texas received $47 million last year as part of a $575 million settlement with Wells Fargo Bank. Nearly $43 million of that money will be sent to civil legal service providers.
Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, who successfully lobbied the state to provide the $17 million in annual funding, said it’s impossible to have a “justice system that is built on the rule of law and promises everybody is going to be treated fairly and equally and then only the wealthy people can get there. It’s a farce,” he said.
Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson draws on her own experience as she advocates for the reinstatement of state money.
Johnson was a legal services attorney in the early 1970s, working in the Lower 9th Ward on consumer protection issues. At the time, it was not unusual for door-to-door salesmen to attempt to lend low-income homeowners money that came attached with unfavorable conditions, a direct violation of the recently passed Truth in Lending Act.
“You had folk who owned this little house, they owned this little piece of land,” Johnson said. “Someone passes by one day, knocks on the door and asks, ‘Wouldn’t it really look nice if you put some aluminum siding up?’ Then, all of a sudden, you miss a payment and there is a horrendous interest rate and now you’ve lost your house.”
It was her job as a legal services attorney to protect them from such practices. And that role continues today with SLLS.
“If you save someone’s house and saved someone from being homeless that’s tremendous. It’s a value to society generally to not have people sleeping under the bridge on Claiborne Avenue,” Johnson said.
“If the state would fund legal services at just a minimum it would be like yeast, it would encourage philanthropy and donations and other foundations to contribute. I’m hopeful this legislative session we’ll see a change.”
Read the original story in the Times-Picayune here.