Articles

Community Lawyering The New Form of Client Impact Work for Legal Services Advocates

Among the legal community, there is great debate regarding the emergence of Multidisciplinary Practices (MDP's) Within Legal Services, I prefer to call it Community Lawyering. What both of these terms have in common is looking at different and new methods of meeting community needs. There are now discussions beginning within the criminal defense bar, which also look at new methods of determining needs. full article »

Equal Access to Justice vs. Alleviation of Poverty The New Version of An Old Debate

For years, there has been an ongoing debate regarding the relative virtues of service work versus law reform. The names have changed, to individual representation versus impact work, however the basic debate has always remained the same. The Legal Services Corporation has now undertaken a new goal, called "Access to Justice" and "integrated and consolidated service delivery". It is the contention of this article, that the debate is the same as it has been in the past. Only the names have changed. We will all be better able to make decisions if we recognize the question for what it really is and stands for. We may then realize that a decent delivery system must provide for both avenues of service delivery. full article »

Fundraising As Advocacy

Legal services programs tend to approach fundraising in one of two ways. Either it is a necessary evil; left to the Executive Director or it becomes the driving force in a program. In most programs, it seems to be treated as a necessary evil. It is also seen as something separate from "real" legal services work. While the Fundraising Project of MIE has been attempting to convince programs that fundraising is real work, the appeal has often not been heard by many local programs. full article »

Research As Advocacy

Legal services programs have for ages limited their vision to that of a traditional law office where one gives advice, defends and brings lawsuits, and otherwise responds to the legal needs of the clients who come in the door. As the problems of the poor become more complex, we must broaden our vision to encompass not only the traditional legal needs of the poor, handled in a traditional fashion, we must also use other tools to obviate the causes and effects of poverty. One of those tools which is just beginning to be used by legal services advocates is research. full article »