Alaska Bar programs provide some legal help for low-income residents

The national Justice For All project this year granted the state a cash award to develop a plan for providing legal services to every state resident in need.

Audio, News Story (Alaska)

Leila Kheiry
KRBD (Ketchikan, AK)
August 29, 2017
READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Tags: Justice for All

Organizations mentioned/involved: Alaska Institute for Justice, Disability Law Center of Alaska, Alaska Legal Services Corporation

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When someone is charged with a criminal offense, they are constitutionally guaranteed a lawyer, even if they can’t afford one.

But, ABA President Darrel Gardner said, most people won’t ever be charged with a crime. It’s much more likely they’ll end up in court for a civil matter.

“Child custody issues, divorce issues, housing issues, employment issues, wrongful terminations — the gamut of what people are involved with in their day-to-day lives – and oft times end up in some sort of legal dispute,” he said. “And attorneys are expensive, so there are a lot of individuals out there who simple get inadequate or, as the studies have found, no (legal) assistance.”