Legal Assistance
Legal assistance and impact litigation can be an important pillar of a comprehensive asset building agenda. State and federal consumer protection laws need to be enforced, and low-income clients can often benefit from pro-bono legal counsel regarding a range of consumer law issues. Lawyers can help consumers defend themselves from debt collectors, enable low-income individuals to gain equal and fair access to credit markets, and protect the rights of homeowners in foreclosure and bankruptcy.
Resources:
American Bar Association - Find Legal Help
Description:
Although the ABA cannot help you directly, there are many people out there who can. This site will guide you to a list of resources in your state. Most legal issues are regulated by the law in the state where you live, or where the problem occurred.
Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy
Description: The Clearinghouse Review is an intellectual marketplace for legal aid lawyers and others to share ideas and plant seeds for legal and policy innovation. The journal, now in its thirty-sixth year of publication, has over 2,000 paid subscribers and a readership of over 6,000 that includes poverty law experts, community-based advocates, and attorneys participating in pro bono programs.
National Consumer Law Center (NCLC)
Description: NCLC offers regular conferences and trainings on consumer law issues. They also provide expert witness services and affordable consumer law consulting services for attorneys.
You can also visit the NCLC website to purchase their consumer law publications and guides, including: manuals detailing state legislation and case law in all 50 states, as well as federal laws, regulations, cases, agency interpretations, and letters; introductions for consumers and advocates to the most critical consumer issues, including predatory lending, debt collection, lemon laws, and immigrants' consumer rights; and books assisting housing and other counselors in protecting their clients' rights during home foreclosures and predatory lending practices.
You can also visit the NCLC website to purchase their consumer law publications and guides, including: manuals detailing state legislation and case law in all 50 states, as well as federal laws, regulations, cases, agency interpretations, and letters; introductions for consumers and advocates to the most critical consumer issues, including predatory lending, debt collection, lemon laws, and immigrants' consumer rights; and books assisting housing and other counselors in protecting their clients' rights during home foreclosures and predatory lending practices.
Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Description: In 1974, Congress established the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which is the single largest provider of civil legal aid for the poor in the nation. LSC does not provide direct legal assistance, rather it provides grants to 137 independent nonprofit legal aid programs with 918 offices that provide legal assistance to low-income individuals and families in every congressional district.
