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Legal News

: Legal Blog Watch

Tough Times for Legal Services

By Robert J. Ambrogi

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Today's Boston Globe describes the dramatic drop in funding that is forcing legal aid programs across Massachusetts to lay off lawyers, cut back office hours and turn away a growing number of people who need legal representation. The problem, of course, is not confined to Massachusetts. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that cutbacks in staffing for legal aid programs throughout the country were expected to reach 20 percent or more, even as requests for their services rose by 30 percent or more. This year, tens of thousands of people in Massachusetts who would otherwise qualify for legal assistance will not obtain it, the Globe reports, based on information provided by the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation. Greater Boston Legal Services, the region?s largest legal assistance agency for the poor, reduced its staff from 135 to 124 employees this year and is preparing to lay off at least 10 more in the fall. South Coastal Counties Legal Services Inc. is planning to lay off five lawyers. And the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts has reduced its staff from 42 to 31, cut benefits, and closed its offices on alternating Fridays. It's the economy, of course, that is causing...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).