Dearth of legal assistance seen as demand for help rises

The New Hampshire Access to Justice Commission released its 2021 report on the civil legal needs of Granite Staters, and its findings reaffirm what was already known — poverty itself creates problems that require legal assistance.

“Low-income people, older adults, and people with disabilities frequently experience multiple legal problems at once,” the report states.

It finds heightened need in the areas of debt collection facing those with disabilities as well as housing issues and domestic relations.

The New Hampshire Access to Justice Commission was created by the New Hampshire Supreme Court with the purpose of implementing changes to improve citizens’ access to the courts. One of the commission’s duties consists of identifying and assessing current and future needs for access to justice in civil matters.

The needs assessment research team received input from nearly 1,000 people, including 540 people eligible for services from New Hampshire’s four civil legal aid programs.

The report, released Jan. 28, was the result of a year-long collaborative effort between the Disability Rights Center-New Hampshire, NH Legal Assistance, Legal Advice and Referral Center, Pro Bono and numerous volunteers.

In announcing the report’s release, New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice James P. Bassett said it confirms “the important role the Access to Justice Commission plays as we strive towards equal justice for everyone in New Hampshire.”

He thanked U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. LaPlante and Attorney Mark Rouvalis for their leadership on the commission and developing the report, along with New Hampshire Legal Assistance Executive Director Sarah Matson Dustin, “for seizing the initiative with energy and for guiding us through this process.”

Mattson Dustin said that in some ways the report confirmed what was already known by those working in the legal aid community.

“Areas in which the civil legal aid programs already focus — such as housing and family law — remain acute needs for the communities we serve,” she said, adding that the problem of finding enough legal aid to meet New Hampshire’s needs continues to be a problem moving forward.

“There’s just not enough legal aid to go around. We need to look at new strategies, such as clinics that can leverage the efforts of volunteer attorneys and law students, and new tools, such as the online programming we’ve quickly learned to deliver during the pandemic.”

According to the report, 20% of telephone survey respondents who had a household member with a disability had experienced problems with debt collection, compared to 9% of respondents who did not have a household member with a disability.

“We found that debt collection impacts people with disabilities more frequently than people without disabilities,” Mattson Dustin said. “The civil legal aid programs do not handle a high volume of consumer debt cases currently, and the report tells us that we need to look at expanding our work in that area. We also need to take a look at how we coordinate outreach across the whole legal aid network. We all share a goal of making the legal aid system easier to understand and access, and the report’s findings support making that goal a high priority.”

The study demonstrates that while economic insecurity, health and aging are not civil legal problems on their own, they are interconnected with various civil legal problems. According to the report respondents identified problems with health/aging as causing the most harm in their lives and came in second only to the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Sinking deeper and deeper’

One of the individuals featured in the report who was able to take advantage of legal aid was Diane.

According to the report, Diane, 73, said she prided herself on paying her bills on time, and that losing her nursing job during the Great Recession didn’t change that. While looking for new work, Diane used her retirement savings to pay for rent, utilities and groceries, then turned to her credit card when the retirement money was gone. When she couldn’t find another nursing job, Diane took a part-time, minimum-wage job through the Senior Community Service Employment Program, but eventually credit card debt forced her to contact legal aid for help.

“I had no money and no family to help me,” Diane said. “I was sinking deeper and deeper and couldn’t see my way out. The frustrating part of it was that I was dutifully looking for work and coming up against a wall.”

The bar association’s Pro Bono Referral Service paired her with a volunteer attorney who recommended she file bankruptcy. Diane initially resisted but is glad she took the advice.

“I was embarrassed,” Diane said. “But my lawyer told me I did not have to feel ashamed or embarrassed and helped me understand that bankruptcy was there for people like me who are in a pickle and need a new start. It is such a huge relief not to have that debt anymore.”

One of the conclusions of the study that “came through loud and clear,” according to Mattson Dustin, is the shortage of low-cost and no-cost legal help in NH and around the country.

She said the Legal Advice and Referral Center and the Pro Bono Referral Service plan to merge this year, with the merged program collaborating “even more closely” with NH Legal Assistance and the Disability Rights Council. “All of the legal aid programs need more funding to meet the demand for our services, but working together we can increase our collective impact.” This article is being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.