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Legal aid programs provide free legal assistance to low-income Alabamians for civil matters. Alabama’s system of legal aid includes a number of nonprofit organizations, thousands of volunteer attorneys and several government-based agencies. Some programs provide services through attorneys on their staffs while others use volunteer attorneys to provide services. Programs that use volunteers to provide services have staffs that perform the administrative functions of case intake and referral to volunteers.
Not all legal problems of low-income citizens need to be resolved by a court decision. There is a whole range of services that can be provided by different groups to increase the number of citizens who have access to legal assistance. These services range from staffed legal aid offices, to volunteer private attorneys, to self-help packets and forms in the courts for people who wish to represent themselves, to community outreach centers that simply provide legal information. Different types of providers are described below.
Staff-based Programs
Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Programs.
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) was formed in 1974 to provide free legal assistance in civil matters to people whose income is less than 125% of the poverty level. LSC receives an appropriation from Congress and distributes these funds to local programs throughout the country that have staff attorneys who provide legal assistance to clients. The amount of funding a program receives is based on an area’s poverty population.
Alabama previously had three federally funded Legal Services programs. In 2004, the three LSC grantees in Alabama merged to become Legal Services Alabama. Legal services Alabama has 10 offices located throughout the state. Its attorneys provide assistance in a variety of civil cases: housing, . The largest category of cases closed in 2008 was housing, followed by consumer and family law cases.
Other Staffed Legal Aid Providers
Unlike a number of states Alabama has few staffed programs providing free legal assistance to low-income residents. Those that do exist serve a specific type of client base or a specific issue. Examples include the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (disability-related issues), the Legal Aid Society of Birmingham, lawyers located at domestic abuse shelters or programs serving clients with HIV/AIDS. With the exception of the first two programs, the legal staff of the other providers are the legal component of a social services agency addressing other needs of their clients.
Volunteer Lawyer Programs
Rule 6.1 of the Alabama Rules of Disciplinary Procedure states that lawyers should help provide access to the judicial system to low-income citizens. One way lawyers meet their obligation is to provide pro bono (free of charge) legal assistance through organized Volunteer Lawyers Programs (VLPs). Alabama has four VLPs that serve different areas of the state. Each program accepts cases in a variety of areas such as family law, consumer law, wills and estates, real estate, employment and tax. The specific case types vary among the programs.
All of VLP's clients live at or below the 200% federal poverty guidelines. To qualify for services provided through VLP, clients must reside in Alabama or their legal problem must have arisen in Alabama. Each of the four programs has its own service area:
Madison County Volunteer Lawyers Program Provides assistance to clients who live in Madison County or whose legal problem is in Madison County.
Mobile Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program Provides assistance to clients who live in Mobile County or whose legal problem is in Mobile County.
Birmingham Volunteer Lawyers Program, Inc. Provides assistance to clients who live in Birmingham or whose legal problem is in the Birmingham metropolitan area. This program does not handle the Bessemer cut-off and clients who live in the Bessemer cut-off or whose legal problem is in the Bessemer cut-off are referred to the Alabama State Bar VLP.
Alabama State Bar Volunteer Lawyers ProgramProvides assistance to clients who live in or whose legal program is in any county other then Madison, Mobile and Jefferson County. The ASB VLP does handle the Bessemer cut-off and clients who live in the Bessemer cut-off or whose legal problem is in the Bessemer cut-off should be referred to the Alabama State Bar VLP.