Resources & Publications
- Feb 13, 2012 President Proposes to Restore Civil Legal Aid Funding, But More Is Needed The Budget released by the President on Monday recommends a budget level of $402 million, a $54 million increase over FY 2012, for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). This increase would be targeted solely toward direct funds to civil legal aid programs and would fully restore the funding that was cut from those programs in 2012. Read Online
- Jan 25, 2010 | CLASP Federal Policy Recommendations for 2010 Our nation faces many domestic challenges, including improving access to affordable health care, improving access to education as well as education outcomes, and providing debt and foreclosure relief. CLASP's 2010 federal policy recommendations are equally essential to achieving healthy and thriving families and improving the nation's prosperity. Read Online | Download PDF
- Sep 01, 2009 | CLASP Federal Policy Recommendations for 2009 and Beyond The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has developed an extensive federal policy agenda for President Obama and the 111th Congress directed at improving the lives of low income people. That agenda is outlined in this document. Download PDF
- Jul 01, 2009 | Alan W. Houseman Civil Legal Aid in the United States: An Update for 2009 While there is new hope for increased federal funding and a renewed interest in civil legal aid at the federal level, civil legal aid is facing reductions in funding from state sources which, until 2009, had been expanding and had overtaken LSC as the largest source of civil legal aid funding. State funding actually increased for civil legal aid in 2008. Today, however, state budgets are facing far greater crises than the federal budget and have far fewer options for financing because most cannot create significant deficits. Download PDF
- Jan 22, 2009 | Alan W. Houseman, Linda Perle What Can and Cannot Be Done: Representation of Clients By LSC-Funded Programs Download File
- Nov 06, 2003 | Alan W. Houseman and Linda E. Perle Securing Equal Justice for All: A Brief History of Civil Legal Assistance in the United States This document chronicles civil legal assistance for the low-income community in the United States from its privately funded beginnings, through its achievement of federal funding, to its expansion and growth into a national program operating throughout the United States. It also describes some of the political battles that have been fought around the legal services program and the restrictions that have come with government funding. It concludes with some brief thoughts about the future. Download PDF | Additional PDF
- Sep 26, 2003 | Alan Houseman Civil Legal Aid in the United States: An Overview of the Program in 2003 This paper provides an overview of the current U.S. civil legal aid system; a brief history of legal aid in the United States; the future of the legal aid system, including the evolution of state justice communities, the increased use of the Internet and hotlines in service delivery, and pro se developments; future funding sources; efforts to improve service quality; and other developments affecting civil legal aid. Download PDF
- Nov 12, 2002 | Leaders for Justice Advisory Council Leaders for Justice Draft Report: A National Leadership Development Initiative for the Legal Aid Community and the Equal Justice Movement This report from the Leaders for Justice Advisory Council sets forth a vision and plan for developing a collaborative national leadership initiative for the equal justice community. Download PDF
- Jul 23, 2002 | Camille D. Holmes, Linda E. Perle, and Alan W. Houseman Race-Based Advocacy: The Role and Responsibility of LSC-Funded Programs This article, from the May-June 2002 issue of Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy focusing on racial justice, discusses the mistaken belief that legal aid programs funded through the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) cannot effectively participate in race-based advocacy. The article examines what LSC-funded programs may do under their regulatory framework and highlights examples of race-based advocacy strategies that help communities of color within the confines of the LSC restrictions. Download PDF
- Jul 23, 2002 | Alan W. Houseman Racial Justice: The Role of Civil Legal Assistance Featured in the May-June 2002 issue of Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy focusing on racial justice, this article argues that the civil legal aid and state justice communities need to give greater priority and commitment to race-based advocacy. As an introduction to the issue, the article provides some specific examples--from the federal anti-discrimination laws to use to office hiring practices--of how these communities can better pursue racial justice. Download PDF