In the best of times, legal aid is able to meet only a tenth of the civil justice needs of cash-strapped Texans. As more become unemployed and slide into poverty during the coronavirus pandemic response, economic needs quickly become legal needs.
Family relationships crumbling. Threatened evictions and utility cutoffs. Medical hardships and denied government benefits. Waves and waves of people that will be needing assistance with consumer debt.
“It really is a tsunami of legal needs,” said Betty Balli Torres, executive director of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. “You have the combination of all the people who already were vulnerable and now you have added millions of people into poverty. It is overwhelming in every area, that’s for sure.”
Although Congress included emergency legal aid funding in legislation passed to address the crisis, other funding sources are worrisome. Two interest rate cuts in March resulted in a $1 million loss to the IOLTA program, and the prospect of continued zero interest rates will eat away at the $16 million annual revenue generator.
State legal aid funding could be at risk due to declining tax revenues. Even fundraising, a key revenue generator for many organizations, is uncertain during this time of social distancing.
The foundation has started an emergency legal aid fund and is accepting donations to help in the wake of the pandemic. The goal is to keep grants to regional legal aid agencies at their current level.
The Texas Supreme Court has issued emergency orders to delay court-ordered evictions and garnishment writs used to collect consumer debt until after May 25. Chief Justice Nathan Hecht worries that legal aid hotlines will be slammed once those moratoriums are lifted.
“That’s the next big story,” said Hecht. “You have three months of cases delayed. It’s going to be very difficult.”
The court is working to facilitate connections between local bar associations and legal aid agencies to give lawyers an easier way to sign up for pro bono cases.
On the ground, most legal aid lawyers are working from home, trying to reach those in need electronically. The 80 attorneys at Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas have shifted from holding in-person clinics to extending hours for legal aid phone lines and filming discussions on pandemic-related topics for the website. Recent videos cover topics of unemployment benefits, evictions, consumer fraud and co-parenting during the covid-19 situation.
“We are open,” said Maria Thomas-Jones, CEO of the agency. “A lot of people are thinking legal aid is not working. We are here and relevant to issues that are impacting people’s lives at this time.”
Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, which serves the Metroplex and far-flung locations throughout west Texas and the Panhandle, initially saw a dip in calls in March when schools and workplaces closed. As the weeks go by, more and more people are applying for legal services.
Thomas-Jones said novel legal needs are emerging involving the federal government stimulus checks and mom-and-pop business that may not survive being shut down for more than a month. Business bankruptcies have not been a traditional service for legal aid staff and agencies are hoping private bankruptcy lawyers will step up to help.
“I think the impact will be long,” said Thomas-Jones. “This is going to be a long-term crisis for legal aid to provide basic civil legal services for folks who really need it. And we must provide it efficiently and effectively.”
Texas Legal Services Center is a statewide organization that provides legal representation, advice, advocacy, and education in a dozen practice areas. The center operates a general legal helpline for older and disabled Texans and other lines for families in the state child protection system and survivors of sexual assault.
Executive Director Karen Miller said the center has been busy, successfully petitioning electric utility regulators for a six-month moratorium on service disconnections and helping individual clients such as a veteran who had been wrongly locked out of his residence by during the moratorium on evictions.
As an organization trying to reach clients statewide, the center already had been serving clients through distance means such as hotlines and pro se forms posted on its website. Miller said information is being updated to address emerging issues such as aiding Texans who don’t file income tax returns access benefits under the federal CARES Act.
The center is dedicating resources to help the neediest clients, including those in tenuous living situations and survivors of sexual assault who may be experiencing increased isolation and safety concerns.
“We know that sexual violence can cause economic and health insecurity. Many individuals who were experiencing these concerns are now facing additional challenges,” said Kate Meals, managing attorney of a legal aid program for sexual assault survivors at Texas Legal Services Center.
Miller believes that legal aid lawyers will be unpeeling layers of legal needs related to the pandemic for many months to come. Despite the funding and distance challenges, the state’s network of legal aid agencies is determined to fill those needs.
“These are people who aren’t alone. They do have a lawyer,” she said. “That’s why the work we do is really critical.”
Information about the TAJF emergency legal aid fund is available here.