The Tennessee Bar Association joins in the chorus of legal associations and organizations across the country calling for Congress to reject those provisions of the Administration’s FY2018 budget proposal that would eliminate funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The implications of defunding LSC would be devastating to the administration of justice in our state and the well-being of all Tennesseeans, particularly those of limited economic means. LSC is a primary support arm for legal aid organizations across Tennessee, and the withdrawal of LSC funding would be a crippling blow to our access to justice community at a time when need for their services has never been greater. At a minimum, the defunding of LSC would radically alter the ways in which our legal aid communities work and would significantly reduce the assistance they currently provide.

Created in 1974 during the Nixon Administration as part of a bipartisan effort, LSC is fundamental to the delivery of basic civil legal services to the economically disadvantaged. As the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said during the 40th anniversary celebration of LSC three years ago, “Without access to quality representation there is no justice.” LSC has been a fundamental part of that quality representation for the past 43 years.

Among the many forms of legal assistance it provides, LSC funding provides housing for veterans, protects the rights of tenants facing eviction, assures protections for victims of domestic violence, and extends legal representation to the most rural areas within our state. We have seen first-hand this year the impact that LSC funding can have upon victims of disaster. When wildfires swept through Gatlinburg at the end of 2016, it was the partnership of our access to justice organizations that responded first and with vigor. That response was possible because of LSC funding. 

In Tennessee, we proudly wear the mantle of the “Volunteer State,” and our legal profession embraces that moniker.  LSC funding permits our legal aid attorneys to spend time and effort training private attorneys to take on pro bono representation. The funds are necessary, not only to provide direct relief, but to empower all attorneys to fulfill our civic responsibilities. The Administration’s budget proposal would curtail that unified effort.

Moreover, funding for LSC is an investment in our communities. A recent Tennessee study1 found that every $1 invested in legal aid produced more than $11 in both immediate and long-term returns for the community. I suspect the federal government would be hard pressed to find another program that produced an 11-1 return on its money.

The irony of the Administration’s budget proposal is that it comes at a time when increased funding is most needed and can produce the greatest benefits. In the rapidly evolving legal market, changes and technologies are being introduced almost daily that can expand the reach of lawyers and reduce the cost of their services. No group is better poised to take advantage of these changes than legal aid organizations.  In order to do so, they have to make an investment in technology, with the expectation it will pay dividends in the future. Elimination of federal funding threatens to reduce our legal aid organizations to 20th-century practice in a 21st-century world.

The obligation to provide civil legal services is at the same time local and federal. If our democracy is committed to the precept of equal justice, it must bear a fair share of this burden. Our leaders cannot give lip service to those core values they claim make America a great country and then push off the obligation of something as basic as access to justice upon state governments or local organizations. In a day and age of government distrust and a push to decentralize government, it is a challenge to preserve even those core government functions upon which our citizenry depends.

As attorneys, we are uniquely positioned to take on this challenge. No one is more aware of the dangers that may result from the elimination of LSC. No one is better positioned to educate decision makers upon the importance of LSC. No one, save the unrepresented, will feel more acutely the effects, should LSC be defunded. Lawyers must lead in this fight. Fidelity to justice and the rule of law is the code of our profession. Fidelity to the precept of helping those in need is the code of our humanity. 

Fortunately, lawyers around the country are doing just that. I invite you to view our resources page that links to all the many organizations that are speaking out on behalf of LSC funding at www.tba.org/news/lsc-gains-support-across-the-bar. It will make you proud to be a lawyer. It will motivate you to invest yourself in this cause.

I also encourage you to reach out and let your elected representatives know that this is an issue important to lawyers and to all Tennesseans — and join in the TBA effort to do the same. For more information, look at the resources from TBAImpact at https://account.votility.com/enterprise/TBA/ec/302. While we are a diverse bar, on this point we must be united.

Note

1. The study, “Economic Impact of Civil Legal Aid Organizations in Tennessee,” was prepared for the Tennessee Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee and the Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative by Michigan-based research firm The Resource for Great Programs. The report calculated the economic impact of nine of Tennessee’s civil legal aid organizations, including regional and statewide programs, and compared these impacts to the programs’ funding to quantify the study results. Learn more about it at www.tba.org/news/access-to-justice-boosts-tennessee-economy

JASON H. LONG is a partner with Lowe, Yeager & Brown in Knoxville. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, he is a past president of the TBA Young Lawyers Division and the Knoxville Bar Association Barristers.