Legal Aid helps if you cannot afford to pay legal fees

By Mariam Msangi – Art in Tanzania internship

Human Rights

Legal aid assists people who cannot afford legal representation and access to the court system. It is regarded as central to providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel, and the right to a fair trial. Legal aid is provided by organizations established specially to serve the legal needs of the poor.

Legal aid assists people who cannot afford legal representation and access to the court system. It is regarded as central to providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel, and the right to a fair trial.

Importance of legal aid

Legal aid may be taken to mean free legal assistance to low-income people in any judicial proceedings before the Court, Tribunals, or any authority. It intends to provide free legal assistance to low-income people who are not able to enforce the rights given to them by law.

For those who cannot afford a lawyer, access to legal advice and assistance can not only empower a person to resolve their legal problem but also prevent that problem from negatively impacting the other aspects of their life.

-An advantage of using Legal Aid, if you qualify, is that it usually protects you from paying the other side’s costs if you lose the case. However, with Legal Aid, you must contribute to your legal costs. Is legal aid essential?

Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. It is regarded as central to providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel, and the right to a fair trial.

Types;

There are two types of legal aid: for civil and criminal cases. All applications for legal aid for criminal cases are means-tested. However, some applications for legal aid for civil cases are not means-tested, for example, care cases and Mental Health Tribunal cases.

Below is a summary of the types of free legal services that may be available in your state.

Public Defenders

If you have been arrested and charged with a crime, you may dread heading to court, especially if you do not have the resources to afford a lawyer. You may be entitled to obtain legal services without charge. However, under the United States Constitution, you have the right to free legal services for your criminal trial if you cannot afford an attorney of your own. Often, these attorneys are appointed by a judge from a public defender’s office when you are formally charged with criminal counts. This attorney will be assigned to your case for the duration of your criminal trial and your first appeal if you lose the initial criminal case. You can contact your local public defender’s office to learn more.

Legal Aid Clinics

If you think that you need to file a lawsuit to protect your interests but cannot afford a private lawyer, you may qualify for legal aid, often called legal services. Legal aid organizations and attorneys frequently receive funds from the government and are generally tasked with taking on cases concerning the poor and the low-income. However, because of their limited funding, legal aid societies and lawyers can usually only take on a select few cases. The lawsuits that legal aid attorneys normally litigate involve denying unemployment benefits, social security benefits, consumer credit issues, eviction, and other landlord-tenant lawsuits.

Before you begin looking to obtain services from a legal aid organization, make sure you are eligible. Often, legal aid organizations only take cases from those who make less than a certain amount each year. You can look in the phone book or contact a local bar association to get in touch with a legal aid society to see if you qualify for free legal services. Government funding to these organizations is usually limited, and because of this, they may not be able to take your case, or you may be in for a long wait.

Personal Injury Attorneys on Contingency

Many personal injury attorneys take cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you do not pay anything to the attorney up front, and the lawyer only gets paid if you get paid. Contingency fee arrangements are excellent for those with winning cases but no actual means of paying an hourly fee to an attorney.

A contingency fee basis works because you and your attorney will decide on a percentage amount of the reward that the attorney will get upon a successful lawsuit or settlement. This percentage is often in the 30-40% neighbourhood but can vary depending upon your state and the laws governing these arrangements where you live. Remember that this percentage does not cover the costs incurred by an attorney, such as filing and court fees. If your case goes to trial, however, and you are successful in your lawsuit, judges often award the costs of the lawsuit in addition to the judgment amount for your injury.

Pro Bono Services

Attorneys working in private practice and in firms often set aside a portion of their time to work on pro bono cases. As with community legal aid clinics, pro bono services typically are offered to individuals whose combined household income is less than 125 per cent of the federal poverty level. There are some exceptions to these income limits, which you must learn from each pro bono program.

Social Justice Organizations

Often you may find an attorney willing to provide free legal services if your case involves some social justice issue. Social justice issues are easy to spot as they will have implications that extend well beyond the scope of your case and include things like sexual harassment in the workplace or freedom of speech. For example, suppose you are attempting to sue your landlord for racially discriminating against you. In that case, you may be able to find an attorney willing to work for you on a pro bono basis, as this case may have a broader influence on the community than just your specific problem.

Law School Legal Clinics

You can find free legal services at many law schools’ legal clinics that provide free legal services to low-income clients by law students under the supervision of an attorney (usually a clinical professor). Generally, this type of pro bono work is offered in one or more particular areas, including family law, elder law, landlord-tenant issues, health care law, and financial assistance. Moreover, law students can provide a range of legal services, including, but not limited to, research and writing, drafting legal documents, client interviews, negotiation, and court preparation.

How can I get legal aid?
A person in need of free legal services can approach the concerned authority or committee through an application, which could either be made by sending in a written form or by filling up the forms prepared by the said authorities stating, in brief, the reason for seeking legal aid or can be made orally.

Where can we approach for any legal help?

Where should I approach to seek free legal services/aid? The Supreme Court Legal Services Committee for cases before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Each District Legal Services Authority, High Court Legal Services Committee, and State Legal Services Authority has a front office where an application can be moved.

Why is free legal aid essential?

Free legal aid ensures that citizens are not denied opportunities for justice because of economic or other disabilities. Legal services include rendering services in the conduct of cases or other legal proceedings before any court and giving advice on any legal matter.