Legal Aid Lawyer
Civil legal aid is the aid of counsel and legal advocacy for people living at or near poverty in legal matters that fall beyond the criminal justice system. For individuals facing civil legal challenges, such as illegal evictions, foreclosure, domestic abuse, or wrongful rejection of government assistance, navigating the justice system without an attorney can be impossible. However, unlike the Sixth Amendment right to counsel in criminal cases, courts have not recognized a right to a lawyer in the vast majority of civil cases. This places justice out of reach for low-income individuals, and undermines a fundamental principle of our country, that: the amount of money an individual has should not determine the quality of justice they get.
Legal aid programs help ensure fairness in the justice system. Approximately 47 million people, and more than one in five children, live in or near poverty in the United States. Legal aid providers protect the legal rights of millions of Americans with low-income every year in areas such as housing, consumer, family, education and employment, and protect access to services for people of all backgrounds, including children, veterans, victims of domestic violence, the elderly, and those living with disabilities.
How Does Legal Aid Help?
Legal assistance is frequently the only lifeline available to people experiencing life-altering consequences, such as losing their home, job, or custody of their kids. For instance, research has shown that the provision of legal services "considerably lowers the incidence of domestic violence." The form of assistance depends on the type of legal trouble the client faces. Legal aid lawyers advocate for individuals in a range of issues outside of court, litigate on their behalf in court, and often lead complex legal actions pursuing systemic changes that affect large numbers of individuals facing similar situations.
For more information about a Legal Aid Lawyer in Anaheim, California, contact Thomas K. McKnight LLP at (800) 466-7507 or visit our website at TKMLLP.Com for a free consultation!