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Monday, April 20, 2009

Law - "For the poor, there are simply not enough lawyers to go around"

That is a quote from Fran Quigley's opinion piece today in the Indianapolis Star. Quigley is described as "an attorney working on local and international poverty issues." Fran Quigley is also a former Executive Director of ACLU of Indiana. His important article today begins:

Indiana Legal Services, where I work part time as a staff attorney, is the justice system's equivalent of a hospital emergency room. Whenever the phones open to allow new applications for legal help, all available lines are quickly clogged with urgent requests.

This year, of course, the calls have reflected the epidemic of Hoosiers facing the loss of their homes through foreclosure. The clumsy privatization of Indiana's food stamps and Medicaid programs has forced many people who are sick and hungry to seek a lawyer's help. Calls pour in every week from women hoping for a divorce and protection from abusive spouses, tenants facing dangerous housing conditions, and seniors struggling to maintain access to shelter and medicine.

It concludes:
Some of those turned away from Indiana Legal Services get advice letters, and some get sample court papers they can fill out and file on their own. For a few, this patchwork effort works adequately. For others, it is the equivalent of handing me a scalpel and a medical textbook and instructing me to conduct my own appendectomy.

In our nation of laws, people who are facing evictions, enduring dangerous family arrangements or being unjustly denied access to government programs all have legal rights. These rights look very good on paper.

But those rights don't mean much if there is no one to help you defend them.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 20, 2009 01:39 PM
Posted to Indiana Law