NYS High Court Chief Continues Pounding The Pavement With Upstate Tour In Ongoing Push To Ensure Adequate Legal Help For Poor In Civil Cases

In Rochester, New York, the Democrat and Chronicle reports:

• New York's top judge stumped Thursday in Rochester on behalf of an effort to ensure adequate legal representation for the poor in civil proceedings. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman of the state Court of Appeals, who appointed a task force Wednesday to find a reliable way to pay for civil legal services, said the recession has forced hundreds of thousands of poor people to appear in court without lawyers for such matters as foreclosure, eviction, child custody and physical abuse.

• Although civil legal services for the poor have been paid for years through a fund paid by interest earned on escrow accounts set aside by lawyers on their clients' behalf, lower interest rates have caused the fund to shrink from $31 million to $8 million, he said in an interview with the editorial board of the Democrat and Chronicle. As a result, agencies that provide legal services to the poor have had to turn away eight potential clients for every client they've served, Lippman said.

• He said the task force's mission will be to find a permanent, comprehensive funding mechanism that isn't affected by interest rates and could involve money provided through the state budget's general fund. The present diminished fund could be part of the new mechanism, he said.

For the story, see Cause brings state's top judge to Rochester.