Lack of State Legal Aid Funding Called 'Justice Gap'

By Derrick Nunnally of the Journal Sentinel

In a report released Friday, a State Bar committee indicted Wisconsin for what it labeled a "justice gap" in civil courts caused by not providing any state funding while most other states do so.

The study surveyed 1,122 low-income households and reports that because Wisconsin spends no state money funding its civil legal services, an estimated 80% of Wisconsin's poorest households facing legal difficulty - such as foreclosure, consumer-finance lawsuits or problems with public benefits and schools - can't get a lawyer even through Legal Aid and other non-profits that focus on this situation.

"They do not have the resources to provide services to all the people who are coming to them for help," said Rachel A. Schneider, an attorney with Quarles & Brady and vice-chair of the committee that made the study.

The number, the study says, means more than 500,000 Wisconsinites have to face "significant legal troubles" without legal help. The problem would take from $16 million to $40 million to adequately address, study backers said Friday.

Other states have been trying to address the situation - in the Midwest, Ohio spends $14 million on legal services for the poor, compared with $12 million spent by Minnesota, $7 million by Michigan, and $3 million by Illinois (with $2 million more proposed). Wisconsin has not yet spent money on the problem, though Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed budget allocates $1 million for it. Only five other states don't spend public money on civil legal aid: Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, South Dakota and Wyoming.

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