Nonprofit law firm aims to represent victims priced out of the system

Profile about Sally Newman, who founded Charleston Legal Access, the first nonprofit, sliding-scale law firm in the Charleston area.

News Story (South Carolina)

Dustin Waters
Charleston City Paper
March 30, 2016
READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Tags: Access to Justice, Justice for All, Sliding Fee Scale

Organizations mentioned/involved: South Carolina Legal Services


DETAILS

Since an early age, the young attorney has been aware of the struggles that go along with limited access to legal aid — and over time, it’s a problem that’s never been far from her mind.

“When I was a kid, my dad couldn’t afford a lawyer when he was working through some custody issues. I stayed in a dangerous situation when I was a kid for about three years, while he scrapped together the money to get a lawyer to be able to actually get a custody hearing and get custody of me,” says Newman, who grew up off the grid in rural Montana. “I experienced this issue when I was four years old, but it just kept arising, and I really kept seeing it throughout the years. There were a few cases in particular when I was working at the court where it was sort of like my hobby to pick up cases out of the dust bin and say, ‘Let’s take a closer look at this.'”