The 2010 spending package on its way to President Barack Obama's desk will give the Legal Services Corp. a much smaller boost than some Democrats had hoped for--but a boost nonetheless. It will also allow the agency's grant recipients to pursue attorney fees for the first time in more than a decade.
LSC, which distributes funding nationwide for civil legal representation of the poor, will receive $420 million this fiscal year, up from $390 million last year. The 7.7 percent increase is far less than one proposal in March sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), which would have brought the agency’s budget up to $750 million, an increase of 92.3 percent.
In September, the agency released a report saying about half of Americans who need civil legal assistance are not able to get it because of limited resources. Other advocates, including the Brennan Center for Justice, say the needs of the agency are growing because of the wave of foreclosures and other recession-related legal work.
“Many of our programs are overwhelmed with requests for legal assistance from low-income Americans because of these hard economic times,” LSC President Helaine Barnett said in a statement.
The omnibus spending bill, expected to become law this week, would also strike a prohibition on collecting an award of attorney fees. The prohibition, in place since 1996, has kept LSC from providing funding to any group “that claims (or whose employee claims), or collects and retains, attorneys’ fees pursuant to any Federal or State law permitting or requiring the awarding of such fees.” The bill eliminates that language.
To the members of Congress who had the guts and the wisdom to correct this injustice, thank you. I have been doing (and loving) this work for more than 20 years and there was a lot more respect for my clients and me when attorneys fees were on the table. And, you cannot convince me that our current predicament, particularly the predatory lending massacre of communities of color and working class neighborhood would have ever happened if civil legal assistance had truly been available to these victims. For want of a nail, so to speak.
Posted by: Daphne Macklin | December 18, 2009 at 08:20 AM
The old fee ban made it more profitable to prey on poor people than on persons who could afford private counsel. It was perhaps the most cynical of the heinous restrictions placed on LSC funded programs. May the others follow it to oblivion.
Posted by: John Vail | December 16, 2009 at 10:31 AM