The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a private, non-profit corporation established by the United States Congress to seek to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by providing civil legal assistance to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it. The LSC was created in 1974 with bipartisan congressional sponsorship and the support of the Nixon administration, and is funded through the congressional appropriations process. Shortcut: WP:-( Vandalism is indisputable bad-faith addition, deletion, or change to content, made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. ... Shortcut: WP:-( Vandalism is indisputable bad-faith addition, deletion, or change to content, made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. ... Corporate redirects here. ... Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups (as of November 7, 2006 elections) Democratic Party Republican... Most liberal democracies consider that it is necessary to provide some level of legal aid to persons otherwise unable to afford legal representation. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Nixon is the surname of some prominent people: Richard Nixon - 37th President of the United States Patricia Nixon - First Lady to President Richard Nixon Tricia Nixon Cox - older daughter to Richard and Pat Nixon Julie Nixon Eisenhower - younger daughter to Richard and Pat Nixon John B. Nixon - oldest inmate executed...

LSC is one of the organizational descendants of the former Office of Economic Opportunity. The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created during United States President Lyndon B. Johnsons Administration. ...

Funding and types of work

LSC is a private non-profit corporation with a board of directors appointed by the US President and confirmed by the US Senate. LSC was created by the LSC Act (citations at www.lsc.gov). The federal government provides over $300,000,000 for civil legal aid through LSC. The LSC Act contains certain rules and restrictions regarding what LSC grantees can do. LSC was strongly opposed by some political groups, including Ronald Reagan. LSC funding was at a high mark, in inflation adjusted dollars, in 1980. Subsequently President Reagan pushed through a huge funding cut and additional restrictions on LSC grantees. In 1996, when the Republican party took over Congress, LSC had its funded cut again and a new set of much more extensive restrictions were added to LSC grantees.

As part of a comprehensive "reform" of federal welfare laws beginning in 1996, Congress imposed restrictions on the types of work that LSC grantee legal services organizations could engage in. For example, LSC-funded organizations could no longer serve as counsel in class action lawsuits challenging the way public benefits are administered. Additionally, LSC grantees faced tightened restrictions on representing immigrants. However, non-LSC funded organizations are not subject to these restrictions. This has led the legal services community to adopt a two-track approach: LSC restricted counsel taking on individual clients but not engaging in class actions, and non-restricted counsel (using private donor funding) both taking on individuals as well as engaging in otherwise restricted litigation. Poverty lawyers in both tracks still work together where they can, being careful not to run afoul of LSC restrictions. Welfare reform is the name for a political movement in countries with a state-administered social welfare system to institute changes in that system, generally in a more conservative direction. ...

According to LSC's 2005 report "Documenting the Justice Gap in America: The Current Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-Income Americans", all legal aid offices nationwide, LSC-funded or not, are together able to meet only about 20 percent of the estimated legal needs of low-income people in the United States. ^[1]

Headquarters

By law LSC's headquarters is located in Washington D.C. In the 1970s and 1980s LSC also had regional offices. Now LSC has one office in Washington that administers all of LSC's work. LSC itself does not provide legal representation to the poor. The LSC grantee in Washington D.C. is Neighborhood Legal Services.

Notes

1. ^ Documenting the Justice Gap in America: The Current Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-Income Americans, pages 4 and 9. Legal Services Corporation, September 2005.

External links

• Official site
• Legal Services Restrictions section of the Shriver Center website
• Legal Services Funding section of the Shriver Center website
• United States v. Legal Services of New York City litigation, Brennan Center for Justice
• Velazquez v. LSC and Dobbins v. LSC litigation, Brennan Center for Justice