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Chairman Levi Leads White House Forum on Civil Legal Services

LSC’s grantees “are great public-private partnerships, obtaining, on average, more than half of their support from non-federal sources together with significant donations of time from private practitioners." These legal services programs “help women and children escape abusive relationships, families avert foreclosure, protect the elderly from consumer scams and assist veterans struggling to get the benefits and treatment that we owe them.  Nearly three of four clients are women, and include Americans of all races, ethnic groups, and ages. These programs are overwhelmed with requests for assistance.  As a result of the recession, nearly 1 in 5 Americans — 63 million people — qualify for LSC-funded civil legal assistance, because they live at or below 125% of the federal poverty guideline.  That is an all-time high.”

(Excerpt from LSC Chairman John G. Levi's opening remarks at the April 17, 2012 forum on The State of Civil Legal Services.)

Read the entire speech, and view a video of Chairman Levi at the forum.

Message from the Chairman

Across the country, low-income Americans seek out their local legal aid programs funded by the Legal Services Corporation for help with civil matters that go to the very heart of their safety and security. They are fighting to avert foreclosure, or to escape domestic violence. They are grandparents seeking legal guardianship of a grandchild in need of life-saving surgery, or they are veterans returning from overseas and facing legal issues. LSC-funded programs are not alone in being swamped with requests for civil legal assistance. State and local courts—especially housing and family courts—are overwhelmed with low-income individuals who are appearing without a lawyer.

Much is at stake. Access to justice is essential in our democracy, and civil legal assistance provides important support for the orderly functioning of the civil justice system. More than 60 million Americans are eligible for LSC-funded services, living at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty line. Our ability to assure these individuals that the legal system works for them, too, continues their faith in our democracy.

The current LSC Board has focused on the needs of clients and the resource constraints that affect the delivery of civil legal assistance. At our board meetings, we have convened panels to hear directly about challenges in the field and the many innovative ways our grantees are meeting those challenges. We have received presentations on the delivery of legal assistance in urban, rural and Native American communities. In an era when every dollar counts, we have supported and encouraged partnerships, enlisted significant donations of pro bono services from private practitioners and empaneled a pro bono task force to keep us at the forefront of these vital activities.

Our 11-member bipartisan Board was appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and the members come from every region of the country. They are dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of LSC-funded programs and to championing innovations that enhance legal services provided to clients. You may read more about our members of the Board on the Board of Director’s web page.

The mission of the LSC is reflected in the words engraved above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court – “Equal Justice Under Law.” A member of that court, Justice Lewis Powell, aptly stated the fundamental importance of that mission:

"Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building--it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society. It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists…it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status."

Every day, legal aid attorneys across our nation can be counted on to pursue this ideal by ensuring that their clients are treated with fairness and dignity in the resolution of their civil legal problems and that low-income Americans have a place to turn for help in managing their civil legal needs.

The work of LSC-funded programs has never been more important, and we thank them for the invaluable service they are performing on behalf of the nation.

--John G. Levi
(Bio)