Legal aide for the indigent is at risk.

Nearly 50 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that people accused of a crime deserve the right to a defense lawyer, no matter whether they can afford to pay for one. But there's no such guarantee when it comes to civil disputes — like evictions and child custody cases — even though they have a huge impact on people's lives.

For decades, federal and state governments have pitched in to help. But money pressures mean the system for funding legal aid programs for the poor is headed toward a crisis.

"The legal services system in the United States today is in a state of crisis," says Jim Sandman, president of the national Legal Services Corp., which gives money to 135 aid programs all over the country.

The traditional funding streams, from Congress and state governments, are under attack. Aside from government dollars, there's another important source of financing for legal aid: interest that collects on trust accounts that lawyers set up for their clients. But because of record low interest rates, that money has hit record lows, too.

Over the past couple of years, Sandman estimates, more than 1,200 people who work for legal aid programs — 1 in 7 — have lost their jobs. Offices in rural Arkansas and North Carolina have closed outright. But Sandman says more than 60 million people now qualify for civil legal aid.

"We're talking about access to justice here," he says. "Access to justice is a fundamental American value. We have a great legal system in the United States, but it's built on the premise that you have a lawyer. And if you don't have a lawyer, the system often doesn't work for you." 
Congress is debating how much money to give to Legal Services nationwide in the coming year. But former Legal Services officials like Ken Boehm have urged lawmakers to take a closer look before allocating public funds.

"Many of the checks and balances and reforms and methods of accountability you would find in any other government agency just aren't there," says Boehm, who runs the National Legal and Policy Center, which tries to expose corruption in Washington.

He says Legal Services — which operates as a nonprofit group, not a federal agency — has not always been the best shepherd of public money.
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/15/154925376/legal-help-for-the-poor-in-state-of-crisis

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