Attorneys' Fee Awards
Laws that protect civil rights commonly include a critical enforcement tool: an award of attorneys’ fees. By providing attorneys’ fees, these laws encourage lawyers to help bring cases that benefit society as a whole.
The Brennan Center is dedicated to preserving attorneys’ fee award policies. In Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Association v. County of Albany, we persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to correct its earlier decision that had undermined attorneys’ fee awards in civil rights cases. In Dobbins v. Legal Services Corporation, we are fighting to restore the authority of civil legal aid lawyers to file claims for attorneys’ fee awards on behalf of low-income families.
The Brennan Center and allies filed an amicus brief emphasizing the importance of attorneys’ fee awards in enabling law firms to take civil rights cases and those cases benefiting low-income people.
Dobbins/Velazquez v. Legal Services Corporation
This lawsuit challenges restrictions on civil legal aid programs that receive some of their funding from the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC).
Common Sense Solutions for Civil Legal Aid
The Civil Access to Justice Act is a vitally important move at exactly the right time....
Arbor Hill—Is Three Times a Charm?
It’s unusual for any court to issue three versions of one opinion, but in Arbor Hill, a civil rights case involving an award of attorneys fees, the U.S. Court of Appeals is at three, and counting....
Reform Federal Civil Justice Policy to Meet the High-Stakes Legal Needs of Low-Income People
Voters called for a different approach to national policy. With the New Year, it is time for Congress to make that new approach happen....
Senate Appropriations Committee Votes to Repeal “Poison Pill” Restriction on Federal Legal Services
On June 25, 2009, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to lift the “LSC poison pill restriction” - the federal appropriations provision that encumbers up to $490 million in state, local, and charitable private contributions raised by legal services nonprofits that receive federal funding from the nation’s Legal Services Corporation (LSC).
Senator Harkin Introduces Civil Access to Justice Act
In today’s economy, there is a growing demand for civil legal aid representation. The Civil Access to Justice Act will significantly improve access to civil legal aid by removing severe litigation restrictions, increasing funding, and expanding law school clinics’ legal assistance.
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Review Restrictions on Funding for Lawyers for the Poor
Complying with this “physical separation requirement” is so expensive that virtually none of the 138 LSC grantees around the country comply.
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When Republicans gained control of both chambers of Congress in 1994, they promptly attacked the Legal Services Corporation, the federally financed program that assists poor people with civil legal problems. The result, on top of deep budget cuts, was a series of unwarranted restrictions that continue to hamper the effectiveness and efficiency of lawyers representing the indigent . . .
Reports from 21 States Identify Federal LSC Restrictions as a Barrier to Justice
Read what Access to Justice Commissions and justice planning reports have to say about the federal restrictions placed on LSC-funded legal services providers.
If You Gag the Lawyers, Do You Choke the Courts?
Article in Fordham Urban Law Journal examines restrictions on legal services lawyers that are particularly likely to cause such interference.