Bolstering collaboration to protect legal aid amid new challenges 

From disruptions in federal funding streams and capacity constraints to emerging legal hurdles, nonprofits are confronting new challenges and increased uncertainty. At Equal Justice Works (EJW), we’ve maintained our mission of ensuring the justice system works for all through many changes in the field of public interest law. And one way to navigate these challenges is by becoming more collaborative and creative in expanding opportunities to provide legal aid services. 

This spring, the U.S. Department of Justice terminated its Crime Victims Advocacy Program grants, which have long supported victims who lacked the resources to seek counseling, pursue justice, or exercise their legal rights. The grants had enabled us to fund 21 Crime Victims Advocacy Program Fellows who worked directly with victims. In just over two years, they supported over 2,500 people in 18 states with legal services, including crime victims’ rights enforcement and domestic and family violence matters. 

The cost of federal funding cuts to legal aid 

The loss of the Crime Victims Advocacy Program grants will have a very real human cost. For example, a 63-year-old woman who could no longer work—she was shot multiple times in a home invasion and suffered from PTSD and a major neurocognitive disorder—was denied disability payments until an EJW Fellow represented her. These EJW Fellows, along with hundreds of thousands of public servants, have now suddenly lost their jobs. At the same time, there are efforts to limit eligibility for student debt relief programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness. What would happen to people in need of legal aid if they, like some law students I’ve spoken to recently, decided to abandon their public service calling? 

When people cannot access affordable legal services, their civil legal needs go unmet, leaving the most vulnerable communities without vital assistance to protect their rights.  

Deepening collaboration to protect legal aid 

In the face of challenges like these, creativity and collaboration are key. Our projects are collaborative by nature, but we’re working even more closely with our funders and partners. Our various fellowship programs connect lawyers and community justice workers with legal aid organizations that need more capacity to meet community needs. The law firm and corporate sponsors funding fellows’ projects often provide pro bono assistance, adding more hands to get the work done.  

Our other projects mobilize cohorts of Fellows to focus on specific issues such as housing justice or disaster resilience, enlisting community organizers—alongside attorneys and law students—to represent people in need and develop policy fixes and programming to ensure residents can exercise their rights.  

Expanding the definition of public interest law 

As successful as our work has been, much more is needed. First, it’s beyond time that we expand the definition of public interest law, making it accessible for more civic-minded people. 

For every 10,000 U.S. residents living at or below the federal poverty threshold, there are only 2.8 paid legal aid lawyers. Bold investments in public service are needed to help people in small towns, big cities, and any community affected by economic precarity and the legal problems that follow.  

Law schools, law firms, and state and municipal courts all have a role to play in helping ensure access to legal aid by supporting public interest lawyers. For example, in addition to recruiting entry-level lawyers, EJW offers fellowship opportunities for non-lawyers. We recently recruited three justice worker Fellows to support the Economic Justice Initiative in Texas, which combines direct representation, new service delivery models, and technological solutions to help close legal service gaps for immigrants. 

Expanding opportunities for public interest lawyers 

Second, while EJW has traditionally prioritized support for entry-level lawyers, we’re expanding opportunities for current public interest lawyers seeking new career opportunities. This October, we’re opening up our annual Career Fair to industry veterans, such as former DOJ lawyers who recently lost their government jobs.   

And finally, we’ve long been a leader of the bipartisan PSLF Coalition, the only educational debt program specifically for public service professionals. Many people are financially barred from entering careers in public service, with law students of color graduating with twice the debt as their white counterparts. PSLF is a critical incentive for public servants, including public interest lawyers, which we will continue to fight for. 

While the political and legislative environments are ever changing, we will always need public service workers to power our society, run our public infrastructure, teach our children, protect our communities, and defend our legal rights. Only by working together can we ensure that public service endures. 

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