As the economy has slowed, the demand for free civil legal services has risen, but funding for those services has not increased.
“The situation is dire,” said Sharon Goldsmith, executive director of the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland. “The programs are feeling stretched beyond their limits. The funding is not there.”
The center — the pro bono arm of the Maryland Bar Association serving as a clearinghouse for lawyers’ volunteer services — is a statewide nonprofit entity. Nowadays, Goldsmith said, center volunteers are seeing “a lot” of formerly middle-income people who would not have qualified for free legal help before. This is “a whole new group of people” asking for help, she said, in addition to the low-income people already being served.
4 comments:
BUT we have money to send illegals to college. dont make sence.
Maybe we should at least get them (and you) through grammar school so they can do basic spelling and sentence structure.
In our constitution, we as citizens are guaranteed a good defense and also in the Miranda warning that is given to suspects, I do not recall ever reading or hearing that a certain level of income was a criteria for qualifying for legal representation? The words in Miranda say, “If you cannot afford an Attorney one will be afforded to you…….ect”, have you tried to hire an Attorney lately? If you don’t have bundles of cash you’re screwed. They want almost a $100.00 to just write a letter! Part of our great criminal justice system is the right to a competent Attorney to represent you in the court of law, regardless of your income. I never can figure out how this county gets away with not giving suspects representation.
10:58 -- this article is talking about legal representation in civil, not criminal, matters.
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