The gap between the need for legal services and the services available for low-income individuals in the United States continues to widen, with more than 80 percent of the civil legal needs of low-income people going unmet.
While the United States’ per capita rate of lawyers is among the world’s highest, there are not enough legal service lawyers to assist the number of low-income individuals in need. In 2009, New York legal service providers reportedly turned away 50 percent of eligible low-income New Yorkers due to lack of resources, and although more recent figures were not available, it’s a safe bet that in 2013, it’s way more than 50 percent. The unmet legal needs among the underserved are so great that all sophisticated and competent resources to serve them, including in-house counsel working in states outside their home jurisdictions, must be tapped.
