CAP Weighs in on Need for Civil Legal Aid Funding
The Center for American Progress chimes in on the impact of legal services funding shortages..
The number of low- and moderate-income litigants representing themselves in civil legal matters has increased in recent decades. And there remains a significant gap between these individuals’ legal needs and the civil legal assistance system’s ability to fulfill them—the “justice gap.”
Self-representation, or pro se, features prominently in a wide range of civil legal cases, including but not limited to domestic violence, foreclosures, landlord-tenant disputes, bankruptcy, and consumer issues. Pro se litigants face many challenges in their quest to reach fair resolutions to civil disputes.
The following statistics illustrate the increase in self-representation over the last several decades and the need for additional funding for civil legal aid programs to ensure efficient, effective delivery of legal services to those who need them…