Civil Justice
Our nation promises “equal justice for all.” But, the promise of equal justice is often just that—a promise. When families with limited means turn to courts for assistance with matters of fundamental importance—evictions, unpaid wages, child custody, domestic violence, health care, mortgage foreclosure and government benefits –often they encounter insurmountable barriers to justice.Nationally, low-income households experience approximately one civil legal need per year, but only a small portion of those legal needs are met. Experts report that fully 80 percent of the civil legal needs of low-income people go unmet annually. A major part of the problem is a lack of funding. For every person served by a federally funded civil legal services provider, another was turned away because of insufficient resources. More than one million civil cases are turned away each year. The vast majority of people involved never find help.
The Brennan Center is working to close this “justice gap” by expanding the types of civil cases in which low-income people have a right to counsel, increasing funding for the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC), removing onerous restrictions on LSC-funded organizations, improving language access in the courts, ensuring that attorneys’ fee awards continue to encourage lawyers to take civil rights cases, and guaranteeing that people can get their questions answered at help desks when they interact with the government officials who will make important decisions about their lives.
North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) Complaint
The Brennan Center works to ensure access to legal representation and enforcement of labor rights for workers in the United States on H2-B visas.
Dobbins/Velazquez v. Legal Services Corporation
This lawsuit challenges restrictions on civil legal aid programs that receive some of their funding from the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC).
Arbor Hill v. Albany Amicus Brief
The Brennan Center and allies filed an amicus brief emphasizing the importance of attorneys’ fee awards in enabling law firms to take cases benefiting low-income people.
Arbor Hill—Is Three Times a Charm?
It’s unusual for any court to issue three versions of one opinion, but in Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Ass’n, a civil rights case involving an award of attorneys fees, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is at three, and counting....
Among the many provisions of the omnibus appropriations bill President Bush signed the day after Christmas is one that, for the first time ever, promises to bring one of the most vulnerable group of employees in the United States within the protection of the laws the rest of us take for granted.
Manufacturing a “Scandal” at the Legal Services Corporation
What to do when you have it in for a federal agency that is recognized on both sides of the aisle for providing high-quality services to Americans in need, all the while operating on a shoestring (about half of its 1981 budget in real terms)? Manufacture a “scandal,” of course. Legal Services Corporation under fire.
Illustrations by Risko
The “State Basic Access Act” is a model for a narrow right to counsel which attaches only to certain high priority basic needs, defined in the Act as shelter, sustenance, safety, health, and child custody.
The Price of Rushing Regulatory Reform
As Bush leaves office, there’s a rush to issue last-minute regulations for the nation’s executive agencies. As a result, we face the specter of starting 2009 with an ill-considered regulatory regime that will be hard for the next president to alter.
Each month, Brennan Center staff contribute the Drum Major Institute’s Civil Justice Blog
Unleash Legal Aid (New York Times Op-Ed)
“Legal aid lawyers are among the few allies of poor homeowners caught in the subprime-mortgage meltdown. But these lawyers are hamstrung by federal regulations that limit homeowners’ access to speedy, low-cost legal relief.”