Legal aid attorneys bolster community while defending the poor
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ALPENA -- Attorneys in the corner of Northeast Michigan's poorest people mean a better life for everyone in the region, Michigan civil legal aid proponents say.
A study released this week by state's Justice for All Commission says the federally-supported legal aid system -- providing free legal assistance for people facing unlawful evictions, foreclosure, domestic abuse, wrongful denial of government assistance, or other civil legal challenges -- also financially benefits the communities in which those people live.
A small staff takes cases at the Legal Services of Northern Michigan's Alpena office, serving the four counties of Northeast Michigan.
Two attorneys are responsible for a potential of more than 12,500 clients who meet poverty guidelines, according to the 2020 census, said Mary Kavanaugh-Gahn, deputy director for Legal Services of Northern Michigan, which encompasses northern lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
Last year, the office opened 179 cases, and this year it projects it will handle 217 cases, with many more turned away because of too few hands to handle a larger workload.
"We're never going to be able to meet everyone's needs," Kavanaugh-Gahn said. "But we do what we can."
Most residents pay little heed to the Legal Services office, tucked on the quiet side of one of Alpena's busy downtown business blocks -- and that's probably for the best, because the office staff can't take many more clients, Kavanaugh-Gahn said.
For every one case they take, attorneys at the agency have to turn away four others, she said.
Last year, the region gained one legal aid attorney but lost three.
"We're always under water, and we're more so now," Kavanaugh-Gahn said, rattling off a long list of situations for which the agency provides as much legal help as they're able.
Unlike the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, which represents indigent people charged with crimes, Legal Services attorneys fight for people impacted by the court system because of civil cases.
While social services agencies help people address their challenges and get back on their feet, an attorney can make the pivotal difference in someone achieving the long-term outcome they want -- and the outcome that's best for the community, Kavanaugh-Gahn said.
A Justice for All Commission report, released on Monday, says legal aid services provide $6.69 in immediate and long-term financial benefits for every $1 invested in the state's civil legal aid.
Legal aid offices help those who can't afford legal representation otherwise to stay in homes, keep their state benefits, avoid fraud, get access to health care, and have stronger families.
That help means a community spends less on community medical care expenses, support costs for homeless and struggling families, law enforcement and court systems, and other support costs, the study showed.
After a push for consolidation among the nation's numerous legal services regions in the early 2000s, with many states lumping rural counties with urban areas for legal aid services, the northern Michigan service area may be the last truly rural legal aid program in the country, Kavanaugh-Gahn said.
That separation from urban areas matters, because attention and money tend to go where people who need it are easy to see, Kavanaugh-Gahn said.
Large cities often offer a stark contrast between poverty and financial stability, and people suffering from homelessness or other impacts of financial struggle are easy to spot, she said.
Rural areas offer a different picture of poverty, she said.
People without money to spare might not have transportation to get to a required court hearing in another town. They might not have child care to allow them to get a job to better their circumstances and pay court fines.
Far-apart homes and little public transportation in a rural area, combined with a dearth of inexpensive housing and less money to fund support systems, make those challenges harder, Kavanaugh-Gahn said.
If an abusive spouse takes the car and the money and leaves for several days, there's nobody around to see the spouse and children left behind in an Up North trailer, with nowhere to go, she said.
"Everyone's scattered," she said. "That trailer's in the middle of nowhere."
Understanding the challenges of rural poverty helps Legal Services attorneys provide the best fight for their clients they can, which sometimes means being the voice their clients need to talk to the other side and find reasonable solutions, Kavanaugh-Gahn said.
At the Alpena office, the small staff juggles a large load, but the employees take on as many cases as they can, she said.
"We're dedicated to the job," Kavanaugh-Gahn said, "and we're really trying to assist the people who can least help themselves."