Expanding Access to Justice
New York’s Next Challenge
December 1, 2006
Author: Anne Erickson
The New York Equal Justice Commission is pressing the incoming administration to take a fundamental policy approach to investing in civil legal services in New York. Here is our basic framing of the issue and the request.
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“The right to be heard would be, in many cases, of little avail if it did not comprehend the right to be heard by counsel. Even the intelligent and educated layman has small and, sometimes, no skill in the science of law.” “Poor people in New York State encounter literally millions of problems each year without the assistance of a lawyer. The problems are not trivial. Most often, they involve one of the basic necessities of life…” |
A Crisis in Civil Justice
New York State is home to one of the most comprehensive and vibrant legal systems in the country. We pride ourselves on honoring the rule of law and striving for justice. New York is also home to 2.8 million people – 14.9% of our state’s population -- living in poverty.1 The child poverty rate in our state tops 19%. Thousands more live just above poverty, where the loss of a day’s pay can pit the need to pay the rent against the cost of putting food on the table.
For the poor and near poor, access to justice is critical. Their lives intersect with the law and legal systems in the most fundamental areas of life, including housing, income supports, unemployment, health, social security and debt collection. As the New York State Bar Association noted in its seminal report on the legal needs of the poor:
“American society today is complex and the judicial system mirrors that complexity…. few middle class Americans would represent themselves in court if their access to shelter, income, food or clothing were at issue... Yet, the poor are confronted by such problems repeatedly and are often defeated due to the lack of counsel.”2
Despite the importance of legal aid in meeting the fundamental legal needs of the poor and near poor, the federal Legal Services Corporation in 2005 reported on the Justice Gap in America.3 Not surprising to anyone involved in the struggle to expand access to justice, the report found that “at least 80 percent of the civil legal needs of low income Americans are not being met.” These findings confirm earlier studies in New York that found less than 15% of the legal needs of low income New Yorkers were being met.
The New York Challenge
While other states have led the way in creating funding structures for legal services over the past few years, New York has lagged behind. New York is now one of only seven states that does not provide general operating support for the delivery of legal aid to the poor.4 Indeed, in New York general funding for civil legal services is only provided as an add-on by the Assembly Majority.
We urge the new administration to bring New York back into the leadership position it once held. Specifically, we call on the new administration to work with the Legislature and the Judiciary to:
- Invest in Justice by creating a permanent Access to Justice Fund at a level of $50 million in the 2007 budget;5
- Identify a state level agency or branch of government to assume responsibility for administration and oversight of such Fund; and
- Work with the legal community and the Equal Justice Commission to ensure that access to justice in New York receives the support, attention and priority it so desperately needs and so richly deserves.
The Equal Justice Commission believes the provision of civil legal services is a societal obligation and should be considered in the same light that we view other core social benefits, such as health, education and public assistance.
Anne Erickson
Chair, Equal Justice Commission
Footnotes
1 US Census Bureau, 2003 American Community Survey, New York State, data table 3.
2 The New York Legal Needs Study, New York State Bar Association Committee on Legal Aid, June 1990, revised and reprinted December 1993.
3 Documenting the Justice Gap in America, A report of the Legal Services Corporation, September 2005, hereinafter The Justice Gap; www.lsc.gov.
4 The others are Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming
5 In its 1998 report, The Legal Services Project appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye called on the state to create a $40 million Access to Justice Fund noting that “$40 million annually would do no more than restore legal services funding lost since 1992 (after adjusting for inflation).”
The picture that paints a thousand words. While other states made significant investment in civil legal services in recent years, New York did not. This shows a comparison of -- on a per poor-person basis -- general state appropriations and/or court and other fees dedicated to civil legal services for 2005-2006 based on information gathered by the American Bar Association. Investing $50 million in civil legal services would put New York in the mid-range of states, taking our per poor person investment to $18.57.
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