Re: Court weighs legal services for poor (fwd)

g. nelson (colleen@aa.net)
Wed, 14 Jan 1998 15:47:42 -0800 (PST) 

On Wed, 14 Jan 1998, Andrew Rose wrote:

> 
> For instance, if you want to hold your rent from your landlord because they
> aren't fixing the roof, you need to deposit the rent in a trust fund,
> usually after seeking legal aid.  Or if a lawyer asks for a retainer to
> cover expenses that money is deposited.  Or if an insurance company sends a
> lawyer a check for $50,000, legally,  it needs to be deposited immediately.
> Interest from all these accounts go for legal protection for the poor.
> 
> What these conservatives are seeking is for the interest to be given to the
> client rather than to the poor.  This would defund that program, which the
> conservatives probably see as a benefit.  I think a progressive position
> might be to allow that interest to be returned to the client, and to seek
> other funding for legal access for the poor.  Not sure where it would come
> from, and I have no idea how this system came to be.
> 
> that "justice" system is expensive that's for sure.
> 
> 
> >someone with more legal acumen please explain this one to me...I'm having
> >trouble understanding the oppositionality!  PatM

NPR did a report on this issue yesterday. The bottom line is that there
would be virtually no legal funding for the poor.
The conservatives felt that legal funding for the poor should be funded by
charitable contributions, as I recall.
I have no idea how this system came about, either but I am not at all
suprised that conservatives wish to defund legal services to the poor.
(I'm *not* going to go off in this rant right now because of time
limitations.)
I intend to do some further research on the issue and talk to a defense
attn. who is a friend of mine to try to discover some of the history of
this fund. I am not at all certain what the funding sources are for things
like the public defenders office and the unemployment law center etc. I
*do* know that there were several (republican) attorneys interview on NPR    
who were enraged by this. I *do* know that the entire ABA association
voted last year to request a moritorium on the death penalty because they
felt that due process had broken down. I *do* know that we obviously have
at least 2 standards of "justice" in this country and 2 standards of
medical care.
The hopeful thing is that there really are many educated lawyers and
medical people who are aware of this and deeply loathe it and wish to
change it.
Love to you all,
Gwen