43
Legal services absent for those who need them most, state bar assoc. president says
By Peter H. MILLIKEN
LIBERTY
Access to justice for all is a high priority for the Ohio State Bar Association, the organization’s president said here Tuesday.
“Legal services are not being provided to those who need them,” said John D. Holschuh Jr., OSBA president, during the annual luncheon meeting of the association’s District 13 at the Youngstown Country Club.
District 13 represents 439 lawyers practicing in Mahoning and Columbiana counties.
Due to funding shortages, four Ohio Legal Aid offices have closed within the last 18 months, and three out of four qualifying Ohioans are being turned away at Legal Aid offices, he said. “That is simply not right,” he added.
Legal Aid offices around the state, including those of Community Legal Aid in Youngstown and Warren, provide free legal representation to poor people in civil cases.
The Ohio Supreme Court will soon seek comments on two proposals to help fund Legal Aid, said Angela M. Lloyd, executive director of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation Inc. of Columbus, which funds the civil Legal Aid organizations around the state.
One of the proposals is a fee increase from $150 to $300 for out-of-state lawyers appearing in Ohio courts.
The other proposal is for a $50 optional donation to Legal Aid by lawyers as they renew their attorney registrations every two years.
Lloyd said the Legal Aid groups have been challenged by the growth in the low-income population that stemmed from the Great Recession and by recent low interest rates that have reduced Legal Aid funding from interest on clients’ fee payments held in lawyer trust accounts.
“Legal Aid helps us build strong communities. It helps people who want to be safe, stable and financially independent,” she said.
“It helps them to overcome barriers to employment,” get civil protection orders to protect them from domestic violence, get veterans’ benefits and fight foreclosure, she said.
The association honored the Youngstown-based U.S. Magistrate George J. Limbert for his 50 years as a lawyer and Atty. Eldon S. Wright of Youngstown for his 65 years as a lawyer.
Atty. Doralice T. Ricchiuti of Youngstown received the Ohio State Bar Foundation’s community service award for lawyers 40 and under.