Trying Times : Law Firms for Needy Face Fund Cuts, Case Restrictions

Carmen Ramirez looks around her modest law offices and contemplates squeezing into half the space.

The library probably will have to go. Staff benefits may be reduced. Last, but not least, the number of cases will shrink significantly.

Poverty law in Ventura County is about to get a lot poorer.

Congress is midway through enacting a bill that reduces funding by a third to agencies that provide legal services to the poor for such things as resolving landlord-tenant disputes and employment issues.

In Ventura County, the two law firms that provide such aid on a full-time basis are bracing for major changes in the way they do business.

The issue is not just money, said Ramirez, executive director of Channel Counties Legal Services Assn. On top of the financial cuts, lawmakers are placing major restrictions on the types of cases poverty lawyers may pursue through the courts.

So Channel Counties--which nearly two decades ago forced the Oxnard School District to bus its children to provide educational parity for all races--may have to turn down more cases than it can accept.

“I think we’ve been effective,” Ramirez said, explaining why she believes legal aid firms such as hers have been targeted for drastic cuts. “Naturally, we have done some cases that really irritated people.”

Then, thinking back to times when angry landlords threatened her attorneys and one threw a brick through the office window, Ramirez smiles and says she longs for the old days.

“I’d rather have that than the restrictions,” she said. “I’ll take the bricks through the window.”

Channel Counties has six full-time attorneys with an $800,000 budget. The Oxnard office of California Rural Legal Assistance, with two full-time attorneys, has a $250,000 budget this year.

Although the latest attack on legal aid to the poor is considered by some to be the worst, such programs have had a rocky ride from the beginning.

Over the years both CRLA and Legal Services have angered various politicians at all levels of government, and Congress has responded by restricting its powers. Today, for instance, Channel Counties could not file the lawsuit that brought school busing to Oxnard.

But despite provoking the ire of governors and presidents, efforts to eliminate legal aid to the poor entirely have never been successful. The idea of giving poor people access to the courts has always had a certain level of bipartisan support, at least enough to keep the programs afloat.

The House of Representatives voted last month to cut Legal Services’ budget from $400 million to $278 million. With the cuts came new rules, such as no more class-action lawsuits against the government, and no pursuit of cases where attorney’s fees may be requested.

The Senate could vote on the bill next month, officials said.

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Ventura County’s two congressmen split their vote on the bill along party lines. Democrat Anthony Beilenson of Woodland Hills, who represents Thousand Oaks and voted against the bill, noted that Legal Services’ budget was included in a massive appropriations bill that covered funding for the U. S. Commerce, Justice and State departments.

“I don’t think anyone who voted on that bill was thinking about Legal Services at all,” Beilenson said.

Both Beilenson and Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) say they support the idea of providing legal aid for the poor. Gallegly voted for the bill that made the cut, but his spokesman said it was nothing personal.

“On balance he thought it was a package that he had to support, with an eye toward further reduction in government spending,” Gallegly spokesman James Maiella said.

Maiella said legal aid advocates who portray Gallegly as being against the program are wrong.

“He’s been very supportive of Legal Services’ mission in terms of providing legal services to the poor and ensuring fair access of everyone to the courts,” Maiella said.

“I think if there was any reason for him in the past to be critical of Legal Services, it would likely be in the areas of some of their more political advocacy activities. But in terms of their overall mission, to provide legal services to the poor, he’s very supportive of that.”

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Both Channel Counties and CRLA have been effective at grabbing headlines for some of their legal activities.

Channel Counties, for instance, has filed a lawsuit accusing the city of Oxnard of violating state law by failing to build enough low-income housing to meet the area’s demands.

CRLA has a sex-discrimination lawsuit pending against Nabisco over the company’s alleged restrictions on when women may use the restroom.

But while the big cases get the attention, legal aid officials say their work can make life better for one poor person at a time.

Ramirez said her firm represents a woman who has lived in the same house for more than 20 years and was threatened with eviction after her teen-age daughter moved back in with her. The eviction is based on the daughter’s bad credit rating, Ramirez said, adding that her daughter is not on the lease and does not pay the rent.

In another case, Channel Counties successfully represented a Simi Valley woman who refused to pay rent until the landlord removed the poisonous lead mixture he had used to repair her kitchen faucet.

And in another legal action, the firm won a four-year legal battle to get Social Security benefits for a mentally retarded man who had been a farm worker for 20 years.

“If we’re not around, who else is going to pay attention to this poor guy?” Ramirez said.

Under new regulations approved by the House, legal aid lawyers would not be able to take any of these cases.

Lee Pliscou, directing attorney for the CRLA’s Oxnard office, said the proposed restrictions show the underlying agenda of lawmakers to eliminate legal aid for the poor.

“It seems to say to me . . . we don’t want Legal Services,” Pliscou said. “It’s not that we want them but we can’t afford them. We don’t want them.”

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Carol Honsa, spokeswoman for the lobbying group National Legal Aid and Defender Assn. in Washington, said those who expect private attorneys to take the place of legal aid lawyers are being unrealistic.

“They can’t fill the gap--it’s an enormous gap,” she said.

Channel Counties last year helped 1,589 people with their legal problems, and nearly half of the time took no action beyond advising and counseling the individual. CRLA’s overall figure for last year was 601, Pliscou said.

Pliscou said that while cutbacks in legal aid reflect to a certain extent the current mood in America, there might be a price to pay down the road.

“We as a society in America have set up the court system as our arena for resolving disputes, and the legal service program . . . is part of what allows poor people access to that forum for resolving disputes,” Pliscou said.

“Poor people are still going to have disputes, and they’re still going to get them resolved,” he said. “No one wants to see disputes resolved by gun battles and riots.”