Copyright 2000 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
March 31, 2000, Friday, Final Edition
SECTION: METRO; Pg. B04
LENGTH: 833 words
HEADLINE:
Dispute May Trigger Legal Aid Cutbacks; Agency's Refusal to Cooperate in
Federally Mandated Audit Threatens Funding
BYLINE:
Fredrick Kunkle , Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
A dispute over a federal audit of its caseload could force the Legal
Aid Bureau to close offices, lay off lawyers or limit legal services for
thousands of poor clients across Maryland, its director said yesterday.
Legal Services Corp., a quasi-governmental agency that
provides funding for legal aid across the nation, has warned the Maryland and
New York City legal aid offices that their funding could be suspended for 30
days unless they comply with the congressionally mandated audit.
Congress took steps to tighten oversight of legal aid after the General
Accounting Office discovered double-counting and other problems in the 1997
caseload reported by Legal Services Corp.'s five biggest
recipients, including New York and Maryland. The GAO found that 75,000 of
221,000 cases reported by the five agencies were "questionable." At stake is a
portion of the $ 3.2 million that Legal Services Corp. will
contribute to the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau's $ 11 million budget this year, and
the $ 11 million the agency will give toward the $ 28 million budget of Legal
Services for New York City.
Although both the Maryland and New York
offices have turned over some data for the audit, they have refused to turn over
the names of clients, saying to do so would be an ethical breach of
attorney-client privilege. They are the only two grant recipients of about 30
that have not complied with the request.
Wilhelm H. Joseph Jr.,
executive director of the Baltimore-based Legal Aid Bureau, said lawyers fear
that the information about some 10,340 cases could fall into the wrong hands and
endanger clients, many of whom are domestic violence victims seeking help in
obtaining restraining orders. Many clients seek legal advice without taking
action in a public forum that requires disclosing their names, he said.
"They are not the ones who are representing the clients," said Hannah
Lieberman, director of advocacy for the Legal Aid Bureau. "We are the ones who
establish an attorney-client relationship with the clients."
Kim Dixon,
a spokeswoman for Legal Services Corp., said the corporation's
inspector general's office has taken steps to guard client confidentiality.
"Our position is that we are committed to responding to Congress's
requirements and restrictions, and that the programs that received federal money
follow those," Dixon said.
Instead of handing over the clients' names to
the corporation, both the Maryland and New York agencies provided data with
computer-generated pseudonyms so that the inspector general could track the
cases.
"We're essentially like a law firm, and they're not part of our
law firm," said Andrew Scherer, director of legal support for Legal Services for
New York City. Scherer, whose office provides free legal aid in all five
boroughs of the city, said legal experts warned that to give out the clients'
names would be a breach of attorney ethics.
Lieberman said the Baltimore
office has asked the Maryland State Bar Association's Ethics Committee to render
an opinion on whether handing over the clients' names would violate the rules of
professional conduct. The committee is expected to give an opinion shortly after
its April 15 meeting, Lieberman said.
No one was available for comment
at the bar association yesterday.
Legal aid lawyers offer professional
advice on civil matters for people who cannot afford an attorney. Approximately
two-thirds of all legal aid clients are women, and two-thirds of those cases
involve legal issues related to domestic violence, Dixon said. Legal aid lawyers
also counsel the poor on landlord-tenant disputes, consumer fraud, child custody
disputes and problems in obtaining government assistance.
To be
eligible, a person cannot make more than 125 percent of the federally defined
poverty level: $ 10,438 for a single person or $ 21,313 for a family of four.
Legal Services Corp., which is the single largest
source of funding for legal aid, provides grants to 237 legal aid programs
across the nation and in Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.
In
its heyday in the 1960s, legal aid took on school desegregation and other civil
rights campaigns on behalf of the poor. But the service has been buffeted by
political turbulence over the years, and its scope of services has steadily
narrowed. For example, legal aid lawyers may not handle certain class actions or
take on cases involving abortion.
With conservatives accusing legal aid
of using grant money to promote a liberal agenda, the Reagan administration
sought to eliminate it. A year after the 1994 Republican takeover, Congress cut
Legal Services Corp.'s annual budget by about one-third to $
278 million a year from $ 400 million. The corporation has a $ 305 million
budget in the current fiscal year, up from $ 300 million in 1999.
The
Legal Aid Bureau oversees about 100 lawyers in 13 offices across Maryland,
including the Washington area office, located in Riverdale in Prince George's
County.
LOAD-DATE: March 31, 2000
