Page 93 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

As a practitioner at an office that has been directly involved with many of the programs described above, it is absolutely clear to the author that these programs are of value to the clients that they serve . Legal services offices must struggle with limited funding and must prioritize their services on a daily basis . Our offices aim not only to provide high quality legal services to those we do represent, but also to have a broader impact by increasing the access to justice for those to whom we do not provide full representation .
Every day, NYLAG and our fellow legal services providers must inform the majority of those who come to us seeking legal services that we are unable to represent them due to a lack of sufficient funding . The frustration of not being able to represent countless intake callers is tempered by the knowledge that the callers can be directed to alternatives to full representation, such as sending a caller to a legal help desk, directing the caller to a volunteer lawyer for the day program or a storefront office, or pointing to DIY forms or other court resources that make the courts more accessible to pro se litigants . Many unrepresented litigants and others seeking legal services use these resources and tools to better understand their legal situation and to achieve a better outcome on their matter .
Another important consequence of these programs is that they place lawyers directly on the ground where unrepresented litigants struggle to navigate courts and understand the legal system . This daily interaction with pro se litigants gives legal services providers awareness of systemic problems both with the administration of justice and in the substantive areas of law . In some areas, such as the VLFD Consumer Credit program, lawyers providing limited legal services are the primary legal entity providing any service at all . In circumstances like this, lawyers involved in limited legal service have been instrumental in changing the culture of the courtroom, ensuring that represented plaintiffs do not take advantage of unrepresented litigants . Similarly, staff at the Project FAIR Help Desk have identified trends in problems with the administration of public benefits programs that have then been addressed with those administering these programs .
In sum, each of the programs described here is unique, with its own unique impact and efficacy . Even similar programs – such as legal help desks or Volunteer Lawyer for the Day programs – may have different results depending on their context . Ultimately, there should be a greater investment in continuing to review and evaluate these programs in order to more fully appreciate the impact that these programs have . Such evaluations will go far to confirm what those involved in these programs already know: alternatives to full representation can and do have an enormous, positive impact on the lives of low-income New Yorkers .68 •
68 There have been a few statistically rigorous program evaluations, such as one in two housing courts in Massachusetts. See bosTon bar associaTion Task force on The ciVil righT To counsel, The imPorTance of rePresenTaTion in eVicTion cases (2012), available at http://www.bostonbar.org/docs/default-document-library/bba-crtc-final-3-1-12. pdf; see also Carroll Seron et al., The Impact of Legal Counsel on Outcomes for Poor Tenants in New York City’s Housing Courts: Results of a Randomized Experiment, 35 L. & soc’y reV. 419 (2001).
Alternative Models
91