By Stefanie Balandis, Greater Boston Legal Services
Why is legal services for the poor a women’s issue?
For starters, seventy-five percent of the clients represented statewide by legal services are women. That means that their incomes are below 125% of the federal poverty level ($481 a week for a family of four). The majority of legal services lawyers––whose salaries remain appallingly low for the profession––are women. At Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), 80% of the lawyers are women. The challenge is getting greater funding to meet the pressing need for more lawyers and to increase the salaries of legal aid attorneys to make poverty law an economically viable career choice for a more diverse as well as talented pool of lawyers.
Funding for legal services comes from a range of sources. The biggest source of funding in Massachusetts is the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) (see page 3 for a breakdown by region and agency).
Additionally, a full 10% of funding to MLAC programs comes from individual and law firm donations (compared to 2% from the United Way). Ten percent of statewide legal services funding comes from the federal Legal Services Corporation: but the strings attached include a host of restrictions, including not assisting any undocumented immigrants. To make use of even those restricted funds, separate programs have been established in every area of the state, so that one can benefit from the federal money and the other can operate free of the restrictions. This dual system and patchwork of funding means that a chunk of an attorney’s time is spent on duplicate administration and on grant management and fundraising.
Massachusetts ranks better than most in terms of funding per poor person, but in the end, nearly half of the eligible clients statewide who seek legal services get turned away. Even then, factoring in individuals who aren’t aware of legal services or cannot navigate the system, only about 20% of those in need get help. We all know the difference a lawyer can make in the outcome of a case, especially when considering the disabilities, poverty, language, and cultural barriers faced by pro se litigants. Knowing that achievable difference is, ironically, as painful as it is inspiring: saying no to a client is the worst part of the job. Turning away a poor person all too often means that person likely won’t get asylum, won’t have the wherewithal to leave a batterer, or will end up on the street, in a homeless shelter, or perhaps institutionalized, despite the merits of their claims.
Even for those clients we do represent, bucking a legal system that too often penalizes rather than cares about poor people is an uphill battle. Despite the challenges of the work, the salaries earned by legal aid lawyers remain paltry. The starting salary at GBLS, even with the increase that took effect January 1st, will be $47,000. It is $42,000 at Western Mass. Legal Services, and $30,000 at South Coastal Counties Legal Services. At most programs, a ten-year lawyer makes less than $60,000; in Brockton, $46,000.
So where lie the rewards? For 87-year-old Anna Martin, legal services meant the revocation of a housing authority’s “No Trespass” notice that barred her only child Jack from her home (due to nothing more than his body odor) as she was dying of cervical cancer, and obtaining disability benefits for Jack so Anna no longer had to support him on her meager social security. For three Vietnamese refugee families, legal services meant not only preserving the families’ long-term rental housing, but also changing Boston’s Inspectional Services policies and securing due process for all tenants in city enforcement actions.
In almost every case taken by a legal services or a pro bono lawyer, a life-changing difference can be achieved. The American Bar Association passed a resolution last year calling for representation in civil cases where basic human needs are at stake. A Supreme Judicial Court Commission recently published its report, “Barriers to Access to Justice in Massachusetts”, echoing this principle and making practical recommendations. The WBA, as always, is making a difference. Its charitable sister organization, the Women’s Bar Foundation (WBF), sponsors programs to help battered women, elders, homeless women, and incarcerated women. WBA President Julia Huston serves on the GBLS Board. WBA President-Elect Kathy Jo Cook serves on the BBA’s Task Force on Expanding the Civil Right to Counsel, which is chaired by former WBA President Mary Ryan and vice-chaired by former WBA Board member Jayne Tyrrell.
The necessary funding challenges all of us. You can help:
--Co-counsel a case with a legal services lawyer in a practice area that appeals to you, then take on your own case. Legal services lawyers will answer your questions along the way.
-- Serve as Attorney for the Day in Housing Court (staffed every Thursday by the WBF in Western Mass., and by the BBA in Boston), or accept a case pro bono or for a reduced fee as part of the Probate Court’s limited representation pilot project.
-- Tell your legislators to support adequate funding for civil legal services by participating in the 9th annual Walk to the Hill on February 28.
-- Cultivate pro bono opportunities for a paralegal or secretary at your firm (Keep in mind that paralegals can represent clients in many administrative venues).
-- Donate directly to the WBF or your local legal services office.
Attorneys can find out about pro bono opportunities at womensbar.org (click on Women’s Bar Foundation) and vlpnet.org/volunteer. wbr
Stefanie Balandis, a senior housing attorney at GBLS, serves on the WBA Board of Directors. She also serves on the WBA’s Rosa Parks Committee for public interest lawyers, and the BBA’s Task Force on Expanding the Civil Right to Counsel. She has worked in legal services since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1993.