This is no exaggeration: legal aid for the poor is in a state of crisis. According to the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC), it is estimated that one in two low-income Americans seeking legal help will be turned away this year. Those of us who have toiled in the trenches to provide civil legal services believe that the actual number is much higher. There are some indications that as high as 80 percent of those eligible under the federal guidelines for legal services are not receiving the same. The scenario is far worse for those facing foreclosure, where two are turned away for every one person served. A study just released by the Brennan Center for Justice reported that 84 percent of homeowners in Queens County facing foreclosure on their subprime mortgages did not have full legal representation; that number increased to 91 percent in Richmond County and 92 percent in Nassau County.
Increased need and diminished funding brought about, in part, by the economic downturn will translate into the denial of legal representation for millions of poor people this year alone. Hundreds of thousands of those people are New Yorkers. And these numbers reflect only those who have sought legal services. Many never ask for help. Millions of people simply try to represent themselves.
