[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S975-S976]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

 Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, for over two decades, the Legal 
Services Corporation, or LSC, has been the embodiment of the words 
emblazoned in stone above the Supreme Court: ``Equal Justice Under 
Law.'' In its effort to fulfill this commitment, the Legal Services 
Corporation has provided critically needed services to millions of 
poor, elderly, and disabled citizens who otherwise would not have 
access to the American legal system and the protection it affords the 
many basic rights we have in this country--protection which so many of 
us take for granted. The Legal Services Corporation has also proven to 
be one of the most efficient Federal programs in existence, using only 
3 percent of its total funding for administration and management.
  Yet in recent years, the Corporation's ability to satisfy its mandate 
has been imperiled by congressional efforts to limit its activities, 
both by cutting the Corporation's funding and by restricting the kinds 
of activities in which its lawyers could engage. Some of these efforts 
have already succeeded, and I suspect that further initiatives in this 
vein will emerge in the 105th Congress.
  But Mr. President, before we hasten down this path, let us look at 
what we have already wrought with respect to the ability of our Nation 
to provide legal services to the needy.
  I use as an example the effect of cutbacks in the Legal Services 
Corporation in my own State of Maryland. Maryland's Legal Aid Bureau 
receives by far the largest portion of its funding from the Legal 
Services Corporation, and over the years has done an outstanding job of 
representing Maryland citizens living in poverty. With the funding 
received from LSC, the 13 legal aid offices located throughout Maryland 
provide general legal services to approximately 19,000 families and 
individuals annually.
  In contrast to this tradition of effective service, a January 23 
article in the Baltimore Sun entitled ``Poor Have Trouble Getting Legal 
Help'' demonstrates the current state of legal services in Maryland--a 
state in no small part due to Congress's recent scaling back of the 
LSC.
  The article notes that over 1 million Marylanders qualify for legal 
services, but that volunteer lawyers--the source of the majority of 
legal assistance with the implementation of Government cutbacks--are 
barely making a dent in the caseload. In fact, Mr. President, Robert 
Rhudy, executive director of the Maryland Legal Services Corporation, a 
State-created organization that administers legal assistance programs 
in the State, estimates that the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau has the 
ability to address only 20 percent of the matters that come to its 
attention.
  The article also notes that recent studies confirm these estimates, 
finding that about 80 percent of the State's poor lack access to 
volunteer lawyers. Mr. President, these developments are shameful, and 
cannot be tolerated by a society that prides itself on its commitment 
to constitutional principles of equal protection of the laws and equal 
access to justice.
  Part of the solution certainly lies in encouraging and facilitating 
volunteerism in our legal communities. Pro bono service is part of a 
lawyer's ethical obligations. At the same time, we in Congress bear 
real responsibility for the shortage of legal assistance to the poor. 
Our efforts to cut back LSC funding in recent years have had a 
devastating impact on the poor, and have tilted the scales of justice 
in a way that the creators and founders of LSC would have found to be 
intolerable.
  Mr. President, I ask that the January 23 Baltimore Sun article be 
printed in today's Record. I daresay that many other States have 
stories similar to those in my State, and I urge my colleagues to 
investigate their States' situation before once again lining up to do 
away with a program that should be one of the great prices of our 
Nation.
  The article follows:

[[Page S976]]

                [From the Baltimore Sun, Jan. 23, 1997]

 Poor Have Trouble Getting Legal Help--Few Lawyers Agree To Give Free 
                                Service

                           (By Elaine Tassy)

       Poor Marylanders who need legal help are likely to have 
     trouble finding it, and with federal funding cuts at agencies 
     that handle such cases, the problem is worsening.
       More than a million Marylanders have income low enough to 
     be eligible for free civil legal services, said Robert J. 
     Rhudy, executive director of Maryland Legal Services Corp. 
     Low-income households often have several legal problems in a 
     year.
       But volunteer lawyers are barely making a dent in that 
     need.
       ``Of those problems that could clearly benefit from legal 
     attention, we believe that we currently have the ability to 
     serve the need of less than 20 percent . . .'' said Rhudy, 
     whose organization was created by state legislators to help 
     manage and fund free or reduced-fee services.
       Only about 5,000 new cases were handled last year by 
     volunteer lawyers serving in programs that keep statistics, 
     according to Sharon E. Goldsmith, executive director of the 
     People's Pro Bono Action Center Inc.
       And, although the number of volunteers is actually greater 
     because some lawyers provide services without being party of 
     any program--by offering advice to community groups, for 
     example--studies have shown that about 80 percent of the 
     state's poor lack access to volunteer lawyers.
       ``We have clients on waiting lists all the time . . . We've 
     probably got a couple hundred cases sitting here,'' said 
     Winifred C. Borden, executive director of Maryland Volunteer 
     Lawyers Service, the largest of several Baltimore-based 
     agencies that match volunteer lawyers with cases presented by 
     poor people. Those in need often wait months before a 
     volunteer is found, she added.
       The shortage of lawyers willing to do free, or pro 
     bono, work in civil cases--unraveling family, employment, 
     disability, education and housing disputes--has prompted 
     agencies that recruit volunteers to step up their efforts.
       ``We all recognize there is this tremendous need,'' said 
     Baltimore County Circuit Judge Dana M. Levitz, who also is 
     seeking new ways to recruit lawyers for such cases.
       No statistics
       No one knows how many lawyers do pro bono work. ``We've 
     never been able to come up with a tracking system,'' said 
     Janet Stidman Eveleth of the Maryland State Bar Association.
       Studies have found that in addition to those doing pro bono 
     work independently, about a fourth of Maryland's 20,000 
     practicing lawyers volunteer through programs such as the 
     Homeless Persons Representation Project, the House of Ruth 
     Domestic Violence Legal Clinic and the Senior Citizen Law 
     Project.
       But many experts think the number of volunteer lawyers is 
     still too small.
       ``I think lawyers like [doing pro-bono work] in principle, 
     and a substantial number of lawyers do it. But at the moment, 
     I think that it's getting harder and harder to find lawyers 
     who are willing to take pro bono cases,'' said David Luban, 
     professor of legal ethics at the University of Maryland 
     School of Law.
       Lawyers have vigorously resisted proposals to require each 
     of them to do 50 hours of pro bono work a year, he said.
       No enforceable requirement exists for volunteer legal work. 
     But the rules that govern Maryland lawyers state: ``A lawyer 
     should render public interest legal service . . . by 
     providing professional services at no fee or a reduced fee to 
     persons of limited means or to public service or charitable 
     groups or organizations.''
       Demand for such services is rising. Congress has scaled 
     back the services the Legal Aid Bureau--a nonprofit 
     organization providing civil legal services to the poor--is 
     permitted to provide and has trimmed its budget in recent 
     years, creating more demand for volunteers to fill the gap.


                              No free time

       Some lawyers say they are held back by a lack of free time, 
     conflicts of interest and difficulty in finding cases that 
     match their expertise. Others say they will help but don't 
     follow through.
       For example, Borden said, from July 1995 to June 1996, 
     2,017 lawyers signed up to volunteer and 788 took cases.
       The number of volunteers expressing interest also has 
     decreased in recent years. A statewide survey found that in 
     1989, almost 1,700 cases new cases were handled by 
     volunteers working with structured programs. The number 
     jumped to almost 6,000 by 1993 but dropped to 5,253 in 
     1995, the most recent statistics available, said 
     Goldsmith.
       People with thorny, time-consuming domestic matters such as 
     child-custody disputes are the most likely to request 
     volunteers. But many lawyers shy away from such cases.
       Criminal-defense lawyer Leonard H. Shapiro, who often 
     handles drunken-driving cases, said volunteering appeals to 
     him, but only in cases in which he has expertise.
       ``I don't want to engage in an area of the law where I 
     don't think I'm qualified,'' he said. ``I wouldn't want to 
     put the client in jeopardy while I experimented.''


                           specialties linked

       Volunteer agencies are working to link lawyers with 
     programs or cases that reflect their specialties.
       Goldsmith tries to match tax lawyers, for example, with 
     economic development projects such as Habitat for Humanity's 
     in Sandtown-Winchester, where residents need help in 
     acquiring loans and property.
       Levitz, after seeing dozens of poor defendants appear 
     before him without lawyers, asked the Judicial Ethics 
     Committee whether judges could recruit volunteers by writing 
     letters of inquiry, placing ads in legal newspapers or 
     talking to lawyers at bar association meetings.
       Two years ago, the committee, most of whose nine members 
     are judges, prohibited such actions. But it reversed its 
     stance in October, saying judges could seek volunteer lawyers 
     in those ways.


                              idea studied

       At a recent meeting of Baltimore County judges, Levitz 
     presented the idea of seeking volunteers; a three-judge panel 
     is studying the idea.
       Some lawyers balk at volunteering, but others embrace it.
       Daniel V. Schmitt is one of the latter. He handles general 
     business and commercial litigation cases at a four-person 
     firm in Towson, and provides 60 hours of free legal help 
     annually to special education students in Baltimore and 
     Harford counties.
       Using referrals from the Maryland Disability Law Center, he 
     helps students get into appropriate schools and classes, and 
     helps find computers equipped for people who cannot type with 
     their hands.
       ``I believe that pro bono is a professional and moral 
     obligation,'' said Schmitt, 38. ``As a professional, I feel 
     you need to hold yourself to a higher standard, and a higher 
     standard would include giving back to the 
     community.''

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