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National legal services update
We’ve documented the struggle for funding of legal services in Maryland, but there’s been news in the last week about federal funding for legal services.
It began Thursday when the House approved $440 million in funding for the Legal Services Corp. for Fiscal Year 2010, a $50 million increase from the current fiscal year. The bill passed after an amendment to eliminate LSC was defeated 323-105, according to LSC.
Rep. Allan B. Mollohan, D-W. Va., said the amendment was “the wrong place to try to balance the budget,” echoing Maryland Sen. Bobby Zirkin and Del. Jon Cardin, the Baltimore County Democrats who led the fight to prevent a $500,000 cut to the Maryland Legal Services Corp.
The U.S. House measure also removed a restriction barring lawyers paid by legal services from collecting attorneys’ fees from opposing parties. As the U.S. Senate begins discussing LSC this week, the The Washington Post and The New York Times editorial boards both urged the Senate to lift two additional restrictions: one prohibiting legal services clients from participating in class-action lawsuits; the other extending the federal restrictions to money legal services providers receive from other sources.
Incidentally, the Senate subcommittee that will be first to take up LSC funding is chaired by Maryland’s own Barbara Mikulski. Stay tuned.
