Public at large--not just lawyers--needs to be aware of the justice gap, LSC board chair says
John G. Levi, chairman of the board of the Legal Services Corp. Photo by Tony Avelar.
The Legal Services Corp. is expanding its efforts to provide innovative technology to close the justice gap and trying to raise public awareness of the legal aid crisis, said John G. Levi, the board chair of the publicly funded nonprofit, to the ABA House of Delegates at the association’s annual meeting in San Francisco.
As for expanding the use of innovative technology, among many existing, new and proposed uses of technology to increase availability of legal services, Levi said the LSC has partnered with Microsoft Corp, which has committed $1 million to develop statewide legal portals to direct those with legal needs to where they can get assistance.
Levi spoke at length about the need for more funding and increasing the availability of legal services, and the need to get that message to the public.
“We can no longer leave this issue just to the lawyers,” Levi said.
To raise public awareness of the legal aid crisis and resulting justice gap, the LSC formed the Leaders Council to connect with the public , with high-profile, influential people from various walks of life. Among them are the legendary baseball player Hank Aaron; author John Grisham; University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh; former commissioner of Major League Baseball Bud Selig; and well as former U.S. attorneys general Eric Holder and Dick Thornburgh, former ABA presidents Paulette Brown, William Hubbard and Bill Neukom, among others.
Levi quoted Harbaugh as saying about the lack of access to justice for those of low income: “I may be a football coach, but I’m an American first and all Americans should care about justice.”
In 2005 study and a follow up in 2009, the LSC found that most civil legal needs of low-income people went unmet. Levi said that a new report will be issued early next year and that, he’s confident it “will reveal a continuing, alarming justice gap.”
LSC’s funding of $385 million remains near historic low levels when adjusted for inflation. More than 62 million individuals qualified for legal assistance last year, and the civil courts were clogged with pro se litigants.
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