Photo courtesy of Legal Services Corporation
Legal Services Corporation hosted executive directors from more than 125 LSC grantees in Washington, D.C. for a three-day conference from September 12-14.
The conference allowed legal aid leaders to network and share strategies for engagement with the legal aid community and public officials. Sessions focused on critical topics like how to educate legislators on the value of legal aid, how to integrate advocacy into organizations' service models, ways to boost inclusive leadership and more. Attendees shared their own experiences and discussed the challenges to civil legal aid organizations, especially those presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 12, executive directors and LSC leadership had the opportunity to attend a special reception at the Department of Justice. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, and Office for Access to Justice Director Rachel Rossi shared remarks on the value of legal aid to the entire justice system.
“The legitimacy of the law depends on equal justice,” said Garland. “But equal justice depends on equal access to justice. And equal access, in turn, depends on the thousands of professionals who do the difficult and demanding work of providing legal services to those in need.”
The next night, attendees gathered for a special reception on Capitol Hill sponsored by the Congressional Access to Legal Aid Caucus. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-5), a longtime champion of civil legal aid, spoke on the importance of equal access to legal services and the role of lawmakers in helping the cause for civil legal aid. She serves as co-chair of the Caucus. The reception followed an afternoon where many executive directors had meetings with their members of Congress to educate legislators about their work on behalf of low-income constituents.
“I have made it my mission to make fighting for equal access to justice generally and Legal Services specifically a priority in my legislative work here,” Scanlon said. “We need every lawmaker to understand that when low-income Americans don’t get adequate legal help for that 92% of the civil legal problems they face, this is a systemic failure, and they have to do better.”
