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Ax Hits Legal Aid,
Often Last Hope
By Adam Curtis
| For The Arizona Daily Star
| Tucson, Arizona |
Published May 4,
2009 |
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/291382.php
The economy is pushing more people to seek free legal
advice at a time when legal-aid
organizations nationwide
are being forced to reduce services.
Facing a significant loss
in funding and an increase in operating costs, Southern
Arizona
Legal Aid imposed a hiring
freeze in January 2008, said Executive Director Anthony
Young. It has not replaced
nine staff members, including six lawyers.
Randi Burnett,
law-student coordinator and staff attorney,
talks with Anthony Young, executive
director of
Southern Arizona Legal Aid. Volunteers are
essential to making Legal Aid work.
"There are a lot
of top-notch lawyers who volunteer and get the
word out," Burnett said. Benjie
Sanders / Arizona
Daily Star
The freeze was an
attempt to stay ahead of an anticipated decline in
revenue from a trust
fund supported by
lawyers. Dropping interest rates cost the agency
$100,000 in 2009,
with more losses
expected in 2010.
The 2009 loss was
offset by a 9 percent increase from Legal Services
Corp., the federal
fund that is Legal
Aid's largest revenue source. But with further cuts
in state funding
likely, the federal
increase may not be enough to avoid further cuts,
Young said.
"We're trying to adapt
and come to grips with being a smaller
organization," he said.
Legal Aid has had to
turn more people away, and it even stopped accepting
new cases
briefly at the end of
2008. The organization also has been forced to offer
less legal service
to most clients, and
it provides direct representation on fewer cases,
Young said.
Domestic-relations demand
The
domestic-relations unit, which handles divorce
and support issues, has not lost any
staff members, but
increased caseloads have required the staffers
to offer more basic
advice instead of
"direct legal representation" on most cases,
attorney Anthony Wisz
said.
Demand is always
high for the domestic-relations unit, he said,
but the economy has
sent it even
higher, as evidenced by a significant rise in
requests to reduce child support.
Homelessness prevention
Attorney Beverly
Parker took over housing, consumer protection
and public benefits
services last May.
Bankruptcy filings
overall have doubled since then, Parker said. As
Legal Aid's only
bankruptcy
attorney, she has always been stretched thin,
she said.
"If you're already
stretched to your maximum, how much more can you
stretch?" she
asked.
"There are more
people about to become homeless who never have
been before," she
said, and they're
turning to Legal Aid to help protect their
property.
Bankruptcy is
often the best way to prevent foreclosure, she
said. Many people get
pushed into
foreclosure when they are sued by a creditor and
are forced to pay court-
ordered
garnishments.
Garnishments,
which typically drain 25 percent of a debtor's
paycheck, are often what
pushes families
over the edge into homelessness, she said. "We
will file an action if it
can stabilize
their living circumstances."
Trouble with co-signed loan
On December
15, Maria Filva's pay was being garnisheed
for the repossession of a car on
which she
co-signed for her sister, leaving her unable
to pay her bills and putting her on
the verge of
eviction. "I'm a single parent with no child
support. . . . I didn't know what to
do," Filva
said.
Legal Aid,
which she found by searching online,
provided "the only people that would help
me."
Struggling
even to feed her 5-year-old daughter, Filva
said Parker helped her file for
bankruptcy
less than a month ago. Without help, Filva
said, she would have had to move
back with her
mother in a house with five other people.
"It would have
ruined my life," Filva said. "Now I can buy
my daughter summer clothes
without
worrying."
Single mother Maria Filva spends her day off with her 5-year-old
daughter, Alessandra. Life
became a struggle when
Filva's pay was garnisheed because of a loan on which
she co-
signed for her sister.
Legal Aid got her out of the jam.
Adam Curtis / For The
Arizona Daily Star
In 2005, Marie Sandersen's
mother died, and she needed emergency surgery. She said
she fell two months behind
on her payments to a credit company and was soon at risk
of
losing her home.
Frustrated by repeated
increases in how much she owed due to interest and fees,
she
started making calls until
someone directed her to Legal Aid. There, Katherine
Markoulis,
a former staff attorney,
told her, "I will see you through this," Sandersen said.
Sandersen was able to file
for bankruptcy days before she would have lost her home.
After four years of seeing
her paycheck evaporate and living off hairstylist tips,
Sandersen
said she finally paid off
her debts and emerged from the bankruptcy on Feb 13.
"It was a big relief to
pay this off. . . . It felt so good to say I won,"
Sandersen said. "I am
still so angry. . . . I
feel like I was taken advantage of.
"Nobody told me about SALA
(Southern Arizona Legal Aid) or claiming bankruptcy."
she
said. "I wasn't given any
options. There are bullies out there that do this to the
little
people. . . . That's why
we need Legal Aid."
50% of lawyers volunteer
Through the generosity of
its volunteers, Legal Aid has been able to continue
offering at
least basic legal advice
to those who qualify. About 1,200 to 1,300 attorneys in
Pima
County donate their time,
said Randi Burnett, staff attorney and law-student
coordinator.
About 50 percent of
lawyers in Pima County volunteer — a much higher rate
than the
national average of about
10 percent to 15 percent, she said.
"There's a small-town
feeling within the Pima County Bar. . . . There are a
lot of top-notch
lawyers who volunteer and
get the word out," Burnett said.
Private attorneys often
supervise law-student volunteers who do everything from
running
group clinics to
representing clients in court.
In 1999, one law student
volunteered. Now, an average of 125 per year do, Young
said.
Attorney Heather
Strickland has volunteered and worked with law students
since 2002.
"It's a fantastic way to
get hands-on experience, and you can start in your first
year of law
school," Strickland said.
"It's not only a great way
to give back to the community but also to help people
who really
are lost," she said. "It's
really neat to be training the next generation of
lawyers who will
be giving back to the
community."
Joseph Smith, a law
student at the University of Arizona, said he started
volunteering to
serve his community and to
gain experience that is not available in many
internships.
Smith said that until he
volunteered with Legal Aid, he never had the opportunity
to stand
in front of a judge with a
client and see the immediate results of his work. "It's
very
emotionally satisfying,"
he said.
Elder hot line loses grant
Southern Arizona Legal Aid
had to discontinue its Elder Law Hotline in September
after
more than 10 years of
helping almost 3,000 people a year, Young said. The hot
line was
funded by a grant from the
Arizona Supreme Court, and the grant was cut by the
state
Legislature.
The hot line was open to
any Arizonan over 60, and it was the only program of its
kind in
the state, Young said.
There was a huge benefit
in the area of consumer protection — seniors are
solicited by
scammers more often than
any other group, he said.
The Pima Council on Aging
is receiving an increase in calls due to the loss of the
hot line,
said Stewart Grabel, a
council ombudsman for the elderly. While callers are
still referred
to Legal Aid, they now
must meet income guidelines that weren't required for
the elder hot
line. Now there is no
number elderly people can call to get quick, free legal
advice, he
said.
Southern Arizona Legal Aid
has made several grant proposals and is looking for
other
ways to restart the hot
line, Young said.
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