Talk Justice, an LSC Podcast: The Argument from the Right for Civil Legal Aid
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Carl Rauscher
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WASHINGTON– Conservative and libertarian thought leaders share their perspectives on civil legal aid in the latest episode of LSC's “Talk Justice” podcast, released today. Jason Tashea, a member of LSC’s Emerging Leaders Council, hosts the conversation with guests Representative Tom Emmer (MN-6), Vice Chair of the Congressional Access to Legal Aid Caucus; Mark Levin, chief policy counsel at the Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor for the Right on Crime Initiative; and Thomas Berry, research fellow at the Cato Institute's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Conservatives and libertarians who support federal government funding for civil legal aid bring different perspectives on the importance of access to justice and possibilities for reforming the justice system to better meet low-income Americans’ civil legal needs.
Emmer notes that some conservatives are suspicious of access to justice initiatives because they fear that legal aid resources could be used to take advantage of the system, for instance, by securing undeserved welfare benefits or public housing.
“Those suspicions, quite frankly, are unfounded,” Emmer says. “In my experience, conservatives and liberals should be united in what is inherently a non-partisan goal of securing equal justice under the law for everyone.”
Emmer, Levin and Berry agree that limited resources pose one of the most significant barriers to securing equal justice. Rural Americans are hit especially hard, as many counties throughout the rural United States do not have a single lawyer.
“You’re at a disadvantage whether [you are] in the criminal or civil justice system if you don’t have the resources to have counsel,” Levin says.
Berry says loosening regulations on the unlicensed practice of law is a potential libertarian, free-market solution to the shortage of affordable legal assistance, and points to a recent New York ruling upholding the business model of Upsolve, which trains non-lawyers to provide limited legal advice to lower-income New Yorkers who face debt collection actions.
“It's always good to be questioning whether each particular restriction to license lawyers is really for the benefit of the general public, or whether there's some protectionist impulses that are maybe leading to a policy that is not in the best interest of the general public,” Berry says.
Emmer, Levin and Berry also discuss improving the efficiency of the civil justice system by increasing the focus on alternative dispute resolution and bringing court technology up to date.
“This is a complicated area,” Emmer says. “It’s going to require private solutions; it’s going to require public solutions—which is why I’m a big supporter of LSC—and it's also going to require our court system and bar associations to really start leaning in and envisioning what 21st-century legal practice [looks like], especially in the civil arena."
Talk Justice episodes are available online and on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple and other popular podcast apps. The podcast is sponsored by LSC’s Leaders Council.
The next episode of the podcast will feature NLADA President April Frazier Camara.