Free Republic

In Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation Since the 1960s: The Role of Legal Services, (NBER Working Paper 26238) Andrew Goodman-Bacon and Jamein P. Cunningham investigate the contribution of low-income communities' access to legal services — enabled by the rollout of the War on Poverty's Legal Services Program (LSP) — as a driver of these changes. Their findings suggest that the program played a central role in changes in family structure and welfare participation of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. The LSP sharply increased the availability of free legal consultation for low-income households. LSP attorneys could assist with divorce...

Strike one for the little guy, judge. With your fists, in his face. Anyway, that’s what one Florida judge did to a public defender. He took him out back and gave him a butt whipping. In the face, with his fists. With lawyers it’s the same thing as a butt whipping, because most of them are all ass anyway. They are 100% certified USDA ass. “A Florida judge allegedly punched a public defender after the two stepped outside the courtroom to settle a beef,” reports the New York Daily News. “The brawl erupted after Judge John Murphy began to argue...

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez has given American businesses a short reprieve from a controversial proposed rule that, if promulgated, will restrict business’ ability to obtain legal counsel and other labor relations advice potentially leading to a dearth in labor counseling. Perez told an audience at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week that the new rule was “not going to happen” this November, as the Department of Labor had originally planned. While the Department has received over 9,000 comments on its proposal and considering the negative impact it will have on American businesses, it surprisingly hasn’t received much media...

At a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing [1], NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm was the lone witness opposed to reauthorization of the taxpayer-funded Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The April 27 hearing was chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who favors the reauthorization bill that increases the LSC budget to $750 million and strips out important reforms instituted in 1996. Boehm warned that the reauthorization would mean a new round of problems for the scandal-plagued program. LSC funds a network of lawyers in dozens of communities to provide civil (not criminal) day-to-day legal help to poor people. Many LSC-funded lawyers spend their time...

A new California law that gives poor residents the right to an attorney in civil matters such as child custody and foreclosure is being hailed as a model that could transform the nation's legal landscape. But critics argue that the law will result in a wave of case backlogs and could further burden court budgets. The law, signed this month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, assures the poor legal counsel in an array of civil cases. Advocates for the change say poor people often wind up in court facing life-changing consequences -- such as eviction -- but go through the process...

I am preparing for an exam, and I expect one question will deal with perceived lack of legal services for low and moderate income people. I am looking for ideas that could expand availability of services, but retain a conservative / free market philosophy. How does this sound, as one idea: instead of funding a legal services organization, use that money to subsidize regular legal firms. They do pro bono work already, and the subsidy would be "gravy" to them. This approach reduces the bureaucracy of legal services organizations and their associated overhead expense. What other approaches would you suggest?...

The immigration bill passed by the U.S. Senate in May 2006 not only would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, but it would also have required an amnesty-seeker to have a lawyer and forced taxpayers to provide one. Although the bill did not become law, the election of Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress ensures that it will be revived in 2007, very possibly with the support of President Bush. Tax-Funded Bonanza for LSC Giving free legal help to illegal aliens would mean a bonanza for the taxpayer-funded Legal Services Corporation (LSC). LSC leaders in recent years...

WASHINGTON - Those $70 lunches and $14 "Death By Chocolate" desserts are gone from the executive menu at the government's legal aid program for the poor. Expensive hotels, limousine services and first-class travel will become rare or disappear, too. The Legal Services Corp. has decided to change the generous expense policies for its top officials, yielding to pressure from members of Congress and the federal program's independent watchdog. The Associated Press highlighted in a series of stories in August and September how the program's executives spent freely while many poor Americans — in need of legal help — were being...

WASHINGTON A federally funded California nonprofit that gives legal help to Central Valley farmworkers and others violated federal prohibitions against political behavior, soliciting clients and other activities, an inspector general's report said Thursday. The report was requested by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare, who's been critical of California Rural Legal Assistance and also of the federal Legal Services Corporation that funds it. The report found that California Rural Legal Assistance, which claims to provide free legal help to 20,000 poor rural Californians each year, apparently flouted congressional reforms blocking actions like lobbying and advocacy, getting involved in class-action litigation...

The federal program that provides legal help to poor Americans turns away half of its applicants for lack of resources. But that hasn't stopped its executives from lavishing expensive meals, chauffeur-driven cars and foreign trips on themselves. Agency documents obtained by The Associated Press detail the luxuries that executives of the Legal Services Corp. have given themselves with federal money from $14 "Death by Chocolate" desserts to $400 chauffeured rides to locations within cab distance of their offices. The government-funded corporation also has a spacious headquarters in Washington's tony Georgetown district...

The federal program that provides legal assistance to poor Americans turns away half of its applicants for lack of resources. But that hasn't stopped its executives from lavishing themselves with expensive food, chauffeur-driven cars and trips to Ireland. Agency documents obtained by The Associated Press detail the many luxuries that executives of the Legal Services Corp. have given themselves with federal money — from $14 "Death by Chocolate" desserts to $400 chauffeured rides to locations within cab distance of their offices. The government-funded corporation also boasts spacious headquarters in Washington's trendy Georgetown neighborhood — with views of the Potomac River...

Revive the Conservative Revolution by Stephen Moore Posted May 21, 2004 This summer, the famous Contract With America that swept Republicans into power in Congress in January 1995 turns ten years old. The contract was a bold and sweeping agenda to change the way government works in Washington. It included 10 major provisions, including welfare reform, rules to force Congress to live under the same laws as the rest of us, term limits, tax cuts, and, most importantly, budget reduction. In the memorable words of Newt Gingrich, the Republican revolutionary who inspired and led the Contract With America Revolution, Republicans...

O'Neill's Backlash Against Bush Was Predictable by Howard Phillips Posted Feb 4, 2004 It isn't always nice to say "I told you so," but sometimes it is necessary. Paul O'Neill's blast at the Bush Administration, subsequent to his firing by Dick Cheney, was entirely predictable. He had previously opposed a President who promoted him -- Richard Nixon. As I wrote in December, 2000, Paul O'Neill was an LBJ "Great Society" Democrat, who, in 1973, as Deputy Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), strongly resisted the desire of President Richard Nixon to close down LBJ's "Great Society."...