Legal Aid filling void in state’s justice system, By Clay Carey, June 1, 2010, The Tennessean: “Zachary and Lauren Tubb owe their landlord more than $3,000 in back rent and late fees. They’re having trouble paying for food. When they were summoned to Davidson County General Sessions Court, a private lawyer was out of the question. The Tubbs sat alone on the back row in court Thursday morning, unaware of court procedures and worried about their case. ‘Once they evict us, we’re homeless,’ Lauren Tubb whispered after the judge started court. The Tubbs are among a growing number of Tennesseans who need legal representation but can’t afford it, experts say. The problem is so severe that the chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court voiced her concerns about it in a recent report on the state of Tennessee’s judiciary system. ‘The current economic climate has created a crisis in the need for civil legal services,’ Justice Janice Holder wrote. The problems will only worsen, she said, as the state’s indigent and working poor face unemployment, predatory loans, uninsured medical bills, domestic violence, evictions and foreclosures. Tennesseans who meet federal poverty guidelines are eligible for free legal aid in civil matters, but there are about 1 million residents who qualify and only 81 federally funded, full-time attorneys in Tennessee to help them, Holder said. That means four out of every five eligible residents still can’t get legal help…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty