Renewed Call for Increased LSC Funding

Emily Savner of the Brennan Center for Justice makes a strong case for the need to increase Legal Services Corp. funding to support civil legal services work over at the National Law Journal (something we’ve blogged about here in the past). Savner argues that LSC funding has become even more critical in the face of IOLTA funding decreases (we blogged about that earlier as well) and increased demand for services. Some numbers she cites includes:

The Legal Aid Society in New York City, for example, reported a 16% increase in clients seeking domestic violence-related help, a 40% increase in health cases, a 30% increase in employment-related cases and a 20% increase in housing cases from the recession’s start to July 2009. Legal services programs in Maryland reported a 60% jump in requests for assistance from 2008 to 2010. And in Florida, one program alone, Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, has seen a 700% increase in the number of people seeking advice in the 12 counties it serves.