Civil Legal Aid and Business

Civil Legal Aid Is Vital to American Business

American businesses depend on a justice system that allows consumers, employees, and employers to access their rights and protections.

“Access to equal justice brings predictability and stability to the lives of both employees and customers,” said Teresa Wynn Roseborough, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, The Home Depot.

Civil legal aid is crucial to extending access to low-income Americans.

In April general counsel from 262 companies signed a letter urging Congress to increase funding for Legal Services Corporation, noting its importance to the business community: “The federal investment in civil legal aid brings our country closer to meeting its foundational promise of equal justice for all. It is also good for business. As corporate leaders, we understand that the stability of our communities directly impacts the success of our companies.”

The letter also recognized the importance of LSC-funded civil legal aid to corporate pro bono efforts: “The impact of LSC extends beyond the services its grants directly make possible. The reach of legal aid programs is significantly expanded because of their ability to build upon the foundation provided by LSC support to access additional resources, including from the private sector and businesses like ours. Corporate pro bono assistance is a valuable component of civil legal aid delivery systems, made possible by the structure and support network contributed by LSC grantees.”

Why is civil legal aid so important to business?

Businesses cannot prosper in a society without a smoothly functioning justice system.

“It is not only government, or individuals, or the tireless staff of legal-aid organizations who can be stewards of the arc of justice. Business has a stake in this work, too. If corporations are indifferent to, or seek to take advantage of, a rigged legal system, American society is not likely to fare well. This is the deeper business case for corporate engagement with, support for, and championing of legal aid.”

Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman and CEO, Merck & Co.

Business depends on a justice system that allows employees, employers, and consumers to access their legal rights—civil legal aid is crucial to this. Like healthcare, legal rights and protections don’t matter unless people can access them.

Businesses have a huge stake in social cohesion. It is a problem if people begin to feel that they don’t have a stake in our society or that the rules we were taught in grammar school about American values no longer apply. Without access to justice we face a lack of trust. Those who run businesses know that the most precious asset on our balance sheet is the public trust.

Civil legal aid makes the system work more smoothly. There are currently millions of cases in the system in which low-income litigants lack lawyers, and those cases slow down the system for everyone. Providing lawyers makes the system work better.

Access to civil legal aid also helps to maintain smoothly functioning and reliable workforce by helping workers deal with their legal problems and stay on the job.

Legal aid essential to making businesses competitive

“I think any of us who do business outside the U.S. know what a business advantage we have here. It is substantially easier to do business here than in many other parts of the world by virtue of the fact that you have a good judiciary. But it goes beyond that. It goes to the fact that you then have a citizenry that trusts the process and has confidence in the process.”

John F. Schultz, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Civil legal aid helps make the United States more competitive in the global economy by bolstering the rule of law. Investors and developers are reluctant to engage in countries where the rule of law is not strong and there is little faith in the courts or government.

This competitive advantage is often taken for granted. Compared to citizens elsewhere, citizens here generally trust our system. They trust the government. They trust the judiciary. And that makes all the difference when you’re trying to build businesses and when you’re trying to improve people’s lives.

The rule of law is also a foundation of the domestic economy-- people will not buy or invest if they are not sure their rights are protected and they have avenues of redress.