North Miss. Rural Legal Services Shuts Down Tupelo Office, Administrative Law Unit Due to Funding
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Maridane Hewes
Source: The DM Online, “Legal services shuts down Tupelo office”
Date: October 24, 2011
The DM Online writes: “The North Mississippi Rural Legal Services recently made the decision to shut down its Tupelo office as a result of a lack of federal funding. The funding is administered by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The board of directors, which consists of 25 members, 15 of which are attorneys, governs the NMRLS and developed a committee of five staff members and five board members to decide how to react to the cuts in funding. The cuts total about $350,000. The committee decided to shut down the Tupelo office, as well as close the Administrative Law Unit, which handles matters like Social Security disability cases. They were also forced to lay off three staff members, none of which are attorneys. The only attorney affected will be the one at the Tupelo office, and he will be given the option to transfer to the West Point office. The NMRLS provides free legal services in civil cases to people who do not have the financial means to hire a private lawyer. There are now four offices that make it up: the main one that is located in Oxford, then one in West Point, Clarksdale and Greenville. They assist 39 North Mississippi counties all together. The Tupelo office covered ten of those counties, which will now be divided between the Oxford and West Point branch offices. ’Staying in Oxford will allow us to continue the relationship with the university law school’s clinical program,’ Executive Director Ben Cole said.”