Nassau/Suffolk Law Services

Milestone for Nassau Suffolk Law Services and LSC: 35 Years Championing Equal Access to Justice

Washington, DC—On July 25, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) will celebrate 35 years of providing dedicated federal funding for the delivery of civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and families across the nation.

Nassau Suffolk Law Services is the only LSC-funded program on Long Island and provides free legal counsel in civil matters to disadvantaged, disabled and low income members of our communities. Established in 1966, Law Services’ existence pre-dates LSC, and in fact it was the first LSC program in New York State.

Last year, Law Services completed over 7000 cases assisting clients to vindicate their rights under the law. Many of these cases included children, and the justice/restitutions they sought involved basic survival needs like shelter, income, safety, consumer debt, and medical care and family problems such as domestic violence. In addition, Law Services offers special programs for some of the most grievously underserved, such as those with mental health disabilities, cancer, victims of domestic violence, senior citizens and residents of adult homes, and those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. It also provides technical assistance to every community-based, government and religious organization that works with the poor.

The Legal Services Corporation was established by Congress and President Richard M. Nixon on July 25, 1974, LSC is the single largest funder of civil legal aid for the poor. LSC, which operates as a nonprofit corporation, provides federal funds to 137 independent nonprofit organizations with more than 900 offices in the United States and U.S. territories.

“The work of legal aid programs is more important than ever before, as the recession puts more Americans at risk of losing their jobs, homes and access to health care,” LSC President Helaine M. Barnett said. “Going forward, we must champion public and private efforts to ensure equal access to justice, a bedrock principle of our great democracy.”

Frank B. Strickland, chairman of the LSC Board of Directors, said, “We deeply appreciate the bipartisan support of the Congress. Civil legal aid helps low-income individuals avert evictions and foreclosures, escape domestic violence and recover from hurricanes and other disasters. Without a doubt, civil legal aid strengthens communities.”

In fiscal year 2009, Congress appropriated $390 million to LSC, and more than 95 percent of the funding was distributed as grants to civil legal aid programs. LSC-funded programs closed 889,155 civil legal aid cases in 2008, with about 10 percent of those handled by private attorneys through pro bono work on behalf of legal aid clients.

The LSC Board of Directors will be holding a regular quarterly meeting on July 24-25 in Topeka, Kansas, where it will visit the statewide program, Kansas Legal Services, at its Topeka office. On the evening of July 24, Kansas Legal Services will host a reception at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site to commemorate LSC’s 35th anniversary. At the reception, private attorneys in Kansas will be honored for their pro bono service to the legal aid program.

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