John Gear Law Office & Salem Consumer Law    503-569-7777
  • Welcome
  • What Can I Do For You?
  • Contacts and Directions
  • Law for Real People blog
  • Useful links
  • Oregon Admin Rules

The Crisis in Legal Aid (Essay reposted from Max Gardner)

12/27/2011

1 Comment

 
_   I have been working for months now on a project that has the potential to provide ample, sustainable, non-general-revenue funding for legal aid services so desperately needed by ordinary folks in Oregon these days, as Oregon and the feds keep cutting their support, and more and more people are ground up by the legal system simply because there is nowhere for them to turn.  Imagine if the $13 BILLION that the big banks made reinvesting money lent to them at near-zero interest by the Feds had gone to support legal aid services.

   (That's right, banks got huge piles of free money from the Feds at the Federal Reserve discount windows and then turned around and LENT that same money back to the federal government at interest, using the profits to pay bonuses that already exceed the pre-crash-year bonuses of 2007 and 2008.  Whoever said there is no free lunch meant "for real people" -- because the banks sure as hell have enjoyed a lavish free endless banquet at our expense.) 

     Stay tuned here this year, I hope to have good news on this front in 2012.  Meanwhile, a good essay by a top consumer lawyer. 

Equal Justice under the Law
An Essay by O. Max Gardner III
  • As consumer lawyers, we are trained to believe that our legal system should be fair - equal justice under the law - yes, the same law and the same order for all of us.  But, for those of us in the trenches doing mortgage defense litigation or representing consumers in bankruptcy cases, we all know that there has been one set of rules for us and another set of rules for the banks and the law licenses they rent. . . .

    The truth of the matter is that we have been playing on a field that has been tilted about 90 degrees in favor of the financial institutions for decades.  But, the truly astounding fact is that we are still playing.  We are still in the game.  And, somehow, someway, we score a few touchdowns now and then, hit a few field goals once in a while and sack the quarterback once in a while.  In fact, we have scored more points in the last year than in the last five years combined.  So, the bottom line for us as this year comes to a close is that there is hope.  We have made some real progress.  We have opened the eyes of many judges and many more trustees.  We have taken our true facts to the media and many reporters have seen the true light and have written about it.  David J. Stern is no longer in business and a lawyer by the name of Baum no longer has his truly scary foreclosure mill in New York.  And, we have accomplished all this while running either uphill or downhill on every single play.

    But the truly sad and indeed bad news for our system of justice is not directly related to us but to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who do not have any level of legal representation.  It is not fair and there is really no hope when an untrained and non-represented consumer must go into court alone.  As hard as the battle is for us, the trained lawyers, what about the family that goes before a judge alone in an effort to avoid a foreclosure on their home?  I mean these folks don't have chance in hell of winning.  I have a better chance of winning the Mega Millions or the Powerball lottery than these consumers have of avoiding the demurrer or the motion to dismiss.  The bottom line is that the right to have your day in court should not depend on whether those in need can afford to retain an attorney.  But this is how it is in our America.  Money talks and the rest of us walk right out of the courtroom with a signed dismissal order.  Civil legal assistance to low-income people has been available in the United States since 1967 but always with shoestring resources. 

    For many years, any mode of representation for the less affluent has fallen on our legal services programs.  But, the second Great Depression has hit beyond the families that legal aid organizations serve - it has also struck a severe blow to the organizations themselves and the funding they must have to do their work. On November 15, 2011, the United States Congress cut $56 million from the Federal Legal Services Corporation for next year.  As a result, federal support for the specific purpose of providing legal services to low-income people will drop by 15 percent in 2012.  But, the full picture is even worse. Federal legal services funds for all programs were already cut by hundreds of thousands of dollars this year....

    And, remember, this is not just about the unrepresented consumers or about the judges and trustees we deal with every day but about saving our system of justice and due process from the unprecedented level of fraud and the endless lies of the creditors and their lawyers.  In short, it is time for us to clean up the biggest national crime scene in the history of these United States of America.  Law and Order must be restored and our system of just must be preserved.  The torch is in the air and like it or not we are the only ones left to catch it!
Enter your Email:
Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz
1 Comment
Pattie H
7/20/2016 06:55:48 pm

Here, here!!!!! I can't believe how much I've lost, how much harrassment I've endured in trying to fight an unwinnable battle in what I used to believe was actually a "JUSTICE FOR ALL SYSTEM".
Now, I feel powerless and humiliated by those who are allowed to walk all over me. I've come to believe our country's claims of DEMOCRACY are just a lie, an image we hide behind, and chant its mantra to soothe our fears of the truth.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

      Subscribe to get occasional emails from John Gear Law Office.

    Subscribe to Newsletter
    Picture
    Picture

    Author

    John Gear is a Salem attorney in solo practice
    Since 2010, a values-based Oregon law practice serving Oregon consumers, elders, employees, and nonprofits.

    Categories

    All
    Advertising
    All
    Arbitration
    Autofraud
    Bankruptcy
    Borrowing
    Class Actions
    Consumer Law
    Consumer Protection
    Consumer Protection Class Actions
    Credit
    Credit Reports
    Debt
    Elders
    Employment
    Fairness
    Fdcpa
    Foreclosures
    Fundraising
    Games Car Dealers Play
    Great Stuff
    Health Care/Insurance
    I (heart) Liz Warren
    Insurance
    Lawyer Referral Service
    Legal Resources
    Lemon Law
    Life Planning
    Long-term Care Facilities
    Media
    Military Assistance Panel
    Modifications
    Mortgages
    N.A.O.
    Nonprofits
    Oregonadminrules
    OregonLaws.org
    Plain English
    Preparing For Departure
    Privacy
    Pro Bono
    Resources
    Right To Repair
    Safety
    Scams
    Strategic Planning
    Student Loans
    Tort Reform
    Training
    Used Cars
    Veterans
    Wage Garnishment
    Warnings
    Warranties
    Watchdogs
    Workplace

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

LAWYERLY FINE PRINT:

John Gear Law Office LLC and Salem Consumer Law; John@JohnGearLaw.com and SalemConsumerLaw.com.  My office is in Suite 208B of the Security Building in downtown Salem at 161 High St. SE, across from the Elsinore Theater, a half-block south of Marion County Courthouse, just south of State Street. There is abundant, free 3-hour parking on my block and throughout downtown Salem, and three free parking multi-story parking ramps in downtown Salem as well. 

I am only licensed to practice law in Oregon. This site may be considered advertising under Oregon State Bar rules.  I don't give legal advice on this site; don't interpret anything you read here as intended for your particular situation. Besides, I'm not your attorney unless we have met in person and you have hired me by entering into a representation agreement with me. While I do want you to consider me when you seek an attorney, you should not hire any attorney based on brochures, websites, advertising, or other promotional materials.  All original content on this site is Copyright John Gear, 2010-2019.

Photos used under Creative Commons from Tony Webster, brand0con, eirikso, Fibonacci Blue, Jirka Matousek, Rd. Vortex, rcbrazier - Brazier Creative, cogdogblog, marfis75, marcoverch, GWP Photography, byzantiumbooks, Mic V., notacrime, emrank, Family Art Studio, dotpolka, respres, Mark Cummins, a little tune, Insulinde, Bill Wards Brickpile, Roger Chang, AnthonyMendezVO, jonrawlinson, Andres Rueda, Franco Folini, inman news, Pictures by Ann, ph-stop, crabchick, Jilligan86, Elvert Barnes, p.Gordon, CarbonNYC, Digital Sextant, darkpatator, Neil T, rictic, Mr. Mystery, SeanC90, richardmasoner, www.metaphoricalplatypus.com, lindsayloveshermac, Santacreu, =Nahemoth=, ReinventedWheel, LadyDragonflyCC - On Vacation, See you all soon!, Mr. T in DC, Nisha A, markcbrennan, Celestine Chua, Furryscaly, smkybear, CarbonNYC, radioedit, Don Hankins, Henrik Hovhannisyan, CoreBurn, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, David Masters, SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent), SoulRider.222, amboo who?, robwest, Rob Ellis', floeschie, Key Foster, TechCocktail, That Other Paper, oskay, Muffet, rodaniel, Alan Cleaver, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Horia Varlan, xJasonRogersx, billaday, BasicGov, One Way Stock, mikebaird, Nevado, shalf