Momentum Grows for a Right to a Lawyer in Civil Cases

The burgeoning movement to guarantee representation in civil cases for low-income people who face loss of basic rights is the subject of the July–August 2006 special issue of Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy. The issue will be off the press at the end of this month.

Planned and written in collaboration with the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, and with an introduction by American Bar Association President Michael S. Greco, the special issue asks and answers:

• How are advocates in Maryland, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin promoting a right to counsel for low-income people in civil cases? What state law theories are they using? How are advocates in Canada working to guarantee counsel for low-income Canadians?
• What arguments for a civil right to counsel are available under the U.S. constitution? How much of a barrier is the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1980 decision in Lassiter v. Department of Social Services?
• What state laws already confer a right to counsel in civil cases?
• What questions did experts wrestle with in drafting a model statute establishing a civil right to counsel, and how did they resolve these questions?
• What right to counsel is under international law?

More than four decades after Gideon v. Wainwright established the right to counsel in criminal cases, what lessons can we draw from the implementation of that right?

These are just some of the questions that the Clearinghouse Review special issue tackles. To purchase a copy ($30 for nonprofit organizations; $60 for others), e-mail Nancy Carey or call 312.263.3830 ext. 223.

Poverty Action Report
July 2006