User:Meganyeh/Legal aid in the United States

Lead
In this article, I plan to add contributions to the lawyer-client relationships in pro bono services section by expanding on trauma informed litigation. I plan on discussing how immigration law leads to barriers in the relationships between lawyers and clients due to the trauma that is faced by immigrants. The litigation process is centered around the triple-trauma paradigm, and this impedes on the ability of immigrants to play a role in deciding how their case is presented to a court.

Legend:

Bold type - my edits

Plain type - existing Wikipedia text

Pro bono[edit]
The problem of chronic underfunding of legal aid is that it traps the lower middle class in no-man's-land: too rich to qualify for legal aid, too poor to pay an attorney in private practice. To remedy the ongoing shortage of legal aid services, some commentators have suggested that mandatory pro bono obligations ought to be required of all lawyers, just as physicians working in emergency rooms are required to treat all patients regardless of ability to pay. Such proposals have been mostly fought off by bar associations successfully. In their 1993 Model Rule 6.1, the American Bar Association emphasized the importance of attorneys providing a minimum of fifty hours of free legal assistance to low-income litigants annually. To justify this requirement, the American Bar Association has referenced the larger movement to incorporate larger ideals that are central to the legal profession, such as public service and advancing the public good, in actionable ways. Since then, pro bono legal work has become institutionalized in large firms. Before the 1990s, pro bono legal work was provided mainly by small firms; however, by the end of the 1990s, pro bono was distributed "through a network of structures designed to facilitate the mass provision of free services by law firm volunteers acting out of professional duty". 1/3 of Latino lawyers perform pro bono work and 49% of Latino lawyers report to meet this 50 hour annual quota with 8.3% report to providing 200 hours or more. Pro bono services are sometimes awarded by Courts in cases related to employment, sex discrimination, consumer credit and fraud amongst others.

A notable exception is the Orange County Bar Association in Orlando, Florida, which requires all bar members to participate in its Legal Aid Society, by either serving in a pro bono capacity or donating a fee in lieu of service. Even where mandatory pro bono exists, however, funding for legal aid remains severely insufficient to provide assistance to a majority of those in need. Along with challenges in funding, legal scholars argue that the current pro bono system “fails to incentive high-quality legal assistance ... [because it] cannot replace the expertise and experience of seasoned lawyers". The concern is that, since pro bono services are often viewed as an opportunity for professional development for less experienced attorneys, the emphasis shifts away from the quality of services provided for a client to the attorney's growth. Moreover, access to pro bono services is often hindered by geographic access, particularly in rural areas where populations are widely dispersed. Thus, even with an increase in pro bono services, the delivery of these services remains a challenge that stands in the way of addressing the justice gap as a whole.

The term pro bono came into official existence in 1919. Reginald Herber Smith uncovered in his study of how drastically different the poor and rich prevailed in legal matters within the U.S. What Smith honed in on was need for lawyers to serve the "financially unservable", or those that could least afford legal services, but would also significantly benefit from such services. The issue with that notion however, means that a lawyer would not be compensated for their skills, knowledge, and time. Today, there are the "no costs to you" contingent contracts advertised to make a profit in the long run, in addition to the recommendation that private lawyers offer at least 50 hours of pro bono services per year in providing legal aid to those that cannot afford their services. To be clear, there is no mandate requiring any law firm or legal service providers to part take in either of these processes, only a recommendation that all lawyers "should aspire to" serve, and lawyers who wish to extend themselves in such a capacity must decide to render their services free of charge.

'Organizations that offer pro bono'' services are designed to benefit those in underrepresented groups such as immigrants and refugees. Immigrant lawyers face barriers in their lawyer-client relationships due to the lack of access to justice placed by administrative and political barriers. When it comes to offering legal aid to immigrants in the United States, pro bono services are an important resource for immigrants, but very few can access adequate legal aid. Additionally, there are ethical questions raised by legal aid critiques as to whether or not immigrants should be able to utilize pro bono legal aid services due to their lack of citizenship status. The 14th Amendment calls for equal protection despite national origin, but undocumented non-citizens are not required to be granted equal access under federal law. This tends to bar immigrants from equal access to justice and due process. '''

Lawyer-client relationships in pro bono services[edit]
A significant debate around pro bono services focuses on the lawyer-client relationship and the distribution of power within it. Since the 1970s, civil rights and public interest organizations have coined and used the concept of "lawyer domination", which is a perception that lawyers act according to their personal beliefs about what path of action would be best for the client. For low-income or minority clients, their submission to the lawyers’ control and authoritative decision-making was seen as the "price of access to the courts". With the lack of financial leverage that clients have over their counsel, lawyers have historically held more paternalistic attitudes to pro bono work, as opposed to a more collaborative approach. From the perspective of legal services lawyers, the assumption is that the "client is interested in a result and comes to you presumably because you know the best way, or the way that is most likely to get that result [...] So, there has to be some reliance on the expertise of the attorney in establishing and suggesting ways to proceed". In thirty-two percent of cases, lawyers referenced making strategic decisions with no participation from the client at all.

Critics argue that interactions between lawyers and clients should be dictated by the guidelines laid out in the American Bar Association's Code of Professional Responsibility. Aside from this code, there is no other description or guidelines for client-lawyer relationships and a great deal of variation, as a result, in practice. The conflict of interest provision of the code ensures that attorneys prioritize loyalty to their clients' goals over their individual interests or external interests. Generally, the code equips lawyers with more power over the 'means' and leaves clients with responsibility for the major decisions of a case (including if a client wants to settle or appeal).

'''When it comes to immigration courts, relationships between lawyers and their clients are essential to winning deportation cases. This relationship tends to be strained in immigration courts due to the high caseloads and tight deadlines that immigrant lawyers face. The American Bar Association's Code of Professional Responsibility does not include guidelines for immigration lawyers to address the trauma that their clients experience.'''

Trauma-informed litigation
'''The litigation process in immigration courts is challenging for immigrants, as well as for lawyer-client relationships. Research has indicated a “triple trauma paradigm” that immigrants face: trauma suffered during the migration journey, trauma in relocating, and trauma again in the asylum or immigration process. The trauma of applying for relief before an immigration court is given the least public attention. During the litigation process in immigration courts, immigration lawyers place a large emphasis on the traumatic stories immigrants have faced in order to help build their case against deportation.Though consulted, immigrants play a very minimal role in decision-making when it comes to presenting their case in front of a court. The lawyers ultimately make the final decisions and tend to make trauma the centerpiece of representation in court. This process brings up many ethical questions in regards to immigration law as an institution, and legal aid for immigrants as a sector. '''

Impact[edit]
In 2003, a study was published that linked civil legal aid to a marked decline in rates of Intimate partner violence (IPV). Programs funded by the LSC closed 120,944 cases involving domestic violence in 2017 alone. In the decade following this study, a considerable body of research began to take shape investigating the positive impact of civil legal aid. Studies have established legal aid as providing such benefits as decreasing homelessness as well as the need for emergency shelters through reducing evictions. Over the last two decades, civil legal aid services have shown to save the homes of more than 6,000 tenants in New York according to the 1996 study by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Because of the fragmented nature of civil legal aid in the US, cost benefit analyses are often specific to a given State. A 2010 article that gathered multiple other studies found that the benefits go beyond reducing domestic violence rates, finding that access to aid also brings more funds into a state by helping individuals receive federal benefits, protecting children, and aiding select groups such as seniors and veterans who are often exploited. A report from the ABA Day in Washington lists a State by State cost benefit analysis, finding a return on investment as high as 9:1 in Alabama in 2015.

East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC)[edit]
The East Bay Community Law Center provides free legal services to Alameda County residents. There are a variety of legal clinics from Berkeley Boalt Law School and legal divisions within the EBCLC and each has its own criteria establishing potential clients' eligibility for receiving their services. The EBCLC has two locations in Berkeley with one location on University Ave and one on Adeline Street. The EBCLC provides Clean Slate Services, Community Economic Justice Clinic Services, Consumer Justice and General Clinic Services, Education Defense and Justice for Youth Services, Health and Welfare Services, Housing Services, and Immigration services.

Advancing Justice: Asian Law Caucus
'''Advancing Justice: Asian Law Caucus is a Bay Area organization that provides legal services, encourages community empowerment, and facilities policy advocacy for immigrants of Asian descent. They provide pro bono legal aid ranging from class action lawsuits to direct services through legal clinics in San Francisco. Additionally, the Asian Law Caucus organizes community movements to raise awareness for immigrants and refugees of Asian descent. The Asian Law Caucus' work is centered around immigrants, refugees, incarcerated people, and low-income workers. '''