by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid has already gotten a peek at its Christmas present and is eager to pass it on to the community.
With restrictions about to be lifted from cases they may pursue, JALA will be able to offer its services to a wider range of clients, said Michael Figgins, executive director of JALA.
“We will be able to help more people in the community since we’ll have more resources and time,” he said. “We’ll be able to do more cases, more litigation, than we’ve done in the past.”
About 22 percent of JALA’s funding comes from Legal Services Corp., a nonprofit organization that receives its money from Congress. LSC distributes those funds to 160 legal aid programs around the country that provide civil legal assistance.
In 1995, Congress slashed funding by 30 to 40 percent for legal aid and restricted what those funds could pay for. The legislation also restricted how funds from any other source could be used.
“For instance, we weren’t allowed to collect attorney fees; we couldn’t help out people with certain welfare issues,” said Figgins. “We couldn’t help people who were undocumented, and we couldn’t lobby for our clients.”
Those restrictions have now been lifted as the result of a cooperative partnership between JALA and its sister legal aid program, Three Rivers Legal Services.
Beginning Jan. 1, Three Rivers will receive LSC funds to provide client intake services and determine eligibility, offer brief services and advice and make referrals to JALA and pro bono attorneys.
“Legal aid lawyers will be able to do everything private attorneys can do,” said Figgins in his office at the Major B. Harding Center for Justice. “There will be no restrictions on our ability to practice.
“And having the administration of client intake assumed by TRLS will more than offset any loss of revenue by JALA.”
The service area covered by TRLS includes Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor and Union counties.
The restrictions and funding reductions were approved in 1995 “because the political will at that time was to get rid of legal aid,” he explained. “Legal aid has always been unpopular with some people in Congress.
“The reason is that some people who may be the objects of legal aid advocacy, who tend to be people with lots of resources, would just as soon there not be a legal aid. Those people have influence, and, with influence, you can make things happen in legislative bodies.”
There was a genuine threat eight years ago that Congress was going to eliminate all funding to Legal Services Corp., Figgins said.
“As a compromise, they reduced the funding and put on the restrictions,” he said. “We’ve been laboring under those restrictions since 1995, as did any other recipient of LSC funds.
“The legal aid board decided maybe this was the time for us to get out from under those burdens and not really have any loss of services to the community.”
The agreement will make for an “interesting” 2004, Figgins said.
“It will be nice not having the restrictions,” he said. “It will be nice to be lifted from the burden of having to do all the intake and eligibility and actually focus on practicing law and advocating on behalf of the poor.
“We’re pretty happy about that.”
JALA has a staff of 60: approximately 25 attorneys and 12 paralegals. The rest are support staff.
An estimated one out of 10 potential clients has an issue that legal aid can help with, Figgins said.
“But everybody gets an interview,” he added. “Everybody has to fill out an application to determine if they’re actually low income or not. You have to go through the whole process with everyone.
“After Jan. 1, we won’t have that responsibility. But we will have more responsibility on the other end as the extended service provider.”
JALA will continue to receive clients at the Major B. Harding Welcome Center, 126 W. Adams St. The phone number (356-8371) also will remain the same.
“The average person probably won’t notice any difference in how we advocate, who we advocate for or the results of our advocacy. The people we’re talking about, the poorest of the poor, lots of times aren’t aware of lots of things that affect them significantly.”