Fair Forums
Government benefits offices, public housing residences, and immigration detention centers; these are settings in which people interact with the government officials who make decisions that dramatically affect their lives. Many would welcome assistance—from an attorney or other advocates—as they negotiate their way through various pubic procedures. In many government facilities, however, existing rules prohibit lawyers and advocates from providing on-site information and advice.
The Brennan Center works to increase attorneys and advocates’ access to government facilities and to roll back rules that require people to go it alone, without the help they seek. Currently, we provide technical assistance to non-profit advocates who are working to establish help desks in government benefits offices in New York City through the Ready Access to Assistance Act. We have also sought to stop the New York City Housing Authority from urging unrepresented public housing residents to sign stipulations forfeiting their legal rights.
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).
The Brennan Center represented federal and state welfare benefits applicants and the advocacy organization, Make the Road by Walking, in a lawsuit against New York City to allow advocates to set up help desks in the public areas of benefits offices
Time to Let a Little Sunshine In
Sometimes, complex, intractable problems require complex, expensive solutions. So it’s particularly frustrating when government refuses to adopt a free, simple and proven method to address an important social issue
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....
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.
An Important Vote to Protect Charity Lobbying Rights
An article describing the legal services “poison pill” restriction and its relationship to more recent efforts to defund nonprofit advocacy work.
The Ready Access to Assistance Act
Editorial about offering help where it is needed appeared in the NY Nonprofit Press.