Overview: Analyzing the Legal Services Corporation in the U.S.
Bobby Vanecko, a former intern superstar and law VISTA at First Defense Legal Aid, recently published a periodical in Volume 25, Issue 1 of the Public Law Interest Reporter analyzing the current legal aid atmosphere in the United States. The article, titled “Access to Justice: The Law and Political Economy of the Legal Services Corporation” details the history of U.S. governmental legal services and the currently ever-growing “Justice Gap” for low-income citizens in accessing legal representation— a right for every U.S. citizen. While many organizations like First Defense Legal Aid have remained a staple in bridging the gap for many in our communities, Vanecko advocates for a return to governmental anti-poverty legal programming “with individual representation while also pushing for broad legal and policy change to eliminate poverty.”
Vanecko describes the introduction of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in 1974 that replaced the previous Legal Services Program founded in 1965 to governmental aid and the original goals that would intentionally lead to lowered rates of poverty. However, because of the different and multiple barriers involved in policy reform, allocation of funds, politics, and more, the LSP is in endangerment of being shut down altogether. Vanecko explains:
“These restrictions remain in place today, and for the third year in a row the White House's proposed 2020 budget calls for the elimination of the LSC. The LSC is optimistic that Congress will continue its' funding despite the President's efforts, but the prohibition on law reform survives and the LSC remains restricted to the totally inadequate model of individual representation.”
The current saving grace to providing legal aid comes from state legislature, which combats the restrictive priorities of federal funds that don’t include legal services in the budget. Vanecko gives us a peek at the light of hope in the dark atmosphere that is federal legal services, “[w]e must return to the original vision of law reform to address these interconnected crises while securing equal justice for all… Fortunately, many legal aid organizations and progressive politicians are already undertaking this essential work. In the face of hostility towards spending on legal aid from conservatives in the federal government, state legislatures have strengthened legal aid programs through their own budgets.”
Because of the current funding strategy for legal aid, many nonprofit organizations like First Defense Legal Aid and the Westside Justice Center, who rely heavily on private and foundational funds, can be strengthened by the state’s priorities to address poverty through no-cost legal representation, education, and more. Vanecko writes:
“The WJC's mission has always aimed beyond individual representation, although providing free legal and quasi-legal assistance to individuals in the community is a large part of the daily operation. Through regular "Know Your Rights" workshops and resource fairs, the WJC seeks to establish and nurture community trust, while educating individuals about their rights and connecting them to legal services and employment resources.”
There isn’t currently a one-answer solution to the issue of legal access, but organizations like FDLA and the WJC are working hard to push policy reform, while simultaneously filling the gaps in legal aid access to low-income community members from a grassroots perspective. Listening to the needs of the people most directly impacted, and creating systems that can ease the stress of the individual to access a resource that is their human right. Vanecko reinforces the importance of legal aid organizations and individual attorneys advocating for a system-wide solution that addresses social, political, economic, and environmental downfalls, and ends on a call to action and a sobering truth:
“Law is central to how these crises were created, and they can only be adequately addressed through ‘legal work together with political mobilization, by individuals, organizations, and states.’ That will be impossible to accomplish as long as the United States continues to ignore the voices of the oppressed and relegate the poor to second class justice.”
“Access to Justice: The Law and Political Economy of the Legal Services Corporation” full article