John Levi Addresses ABA House of Delegates 2025

ABA House of Delegates Written Remarks

Aug. 2025

Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman for giving me the privilege of speaking to the ABA’s House of Delegates, which as much as any event in the law, reminds us Mr. Chairman of who we are and of the purposes we serve.

I particularly want to thank out-going President Bill Bay for his staunch support of LSC, throughout his tremendous year leading the ABA. 

Let me also welcome the wonderful Michelle Behnke who will shortly take the ABA’s helm. We at LSC look forward to continuing our vital work with you, Michelle.

I also want to salute the remarkable service of two of our terrific LSC Board Members, also ABA leaders, here with us: Robert Grey and Frank Neuner, and a shout-out also to my longtime law firm Sidley Austin for its great support of me throughout.

It is, as always, an honor for me to address this historic House, the distinguished policy-making body of the ABA.
  
It was, of course, the ABA and its leadership that advocated for federal funding of civil legal aid even before LSC was established. 

Our nation’s extraordinary Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, during his ABA Presidency in 1964, strongly encouraged federal funding of civil legal aid, emphasizing the foundational significance of the mission that would become LSC’s:

"Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building--it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society. It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists…it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status."

Each year, at ABA Day—you, as LSC’s steadfast ally, organize and bring 50 state delegations of our profession’s leaders to the Capital to meet with members of Congress to urge our funding.  

The ABA has stood by LSC throughout these years and has worked closely with us and our grantees through your standing committees.

Fifty-one years ago in 1974, Richard Nixon signed the LSC Act to help “provide equal access to the system of justice in our nation” and to “provide high quality legal assistance to those who would be otherwise unable to afford adequate legal counsel.”

Fifty-one years later, they are still seeking that help and LSC and our grantees are working every day to provide it. In fact, during these five decades, our extraordinary network of providers has helped more than 80 million low-income Americans with their civil legal problems. 80 million!

LSC remains the nation’s single largest funder of civil legal aid, supporting 130 legal aid providers with over 900 offices in every county of every state, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories.

These services are as critical as they are urgent. Alarmingly, as we know from LSC’s 2022 Justice Gap Report, low-income Americans do not receive any or enough legal help for 92% of their substantial civil legal problems.

As attorneys, we understand that this shortfall in legal assistance has dire consequences. Recent studies show that people with legal representation are 6.5 times more likely to win their cases than those without.  And of equally great concern, they also show that in 50-75% of cases in State Civil Courts, one or both parties are unrepresented by counsel, affecting the orderly functioning of our state courts.

As we move from LSC’s 50th anniversary to our nation’s 250th next year, I am reminded of the compelling words of the great Judge Learned Hand, who nearly seventy-five years ago, admonished us that:

"If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice."

LSC and its grantees are doing their best to honor Judge Hand’s commandment, working to stretch their resources as far as they can go, and launching several special initiatives to try to narrow the nation’s justice gap. We have attempted to harness technology through the Innovations in Technology Conference and our Technology Initiative Grant Program, and our grantees lead the way in developing AI to provide assistance, particularly in high volume matters. We have worked to increase the role of private lawyers through the Pro Bono Innovation Fund. Many of our grantees are collaborating with healthcare providers through medical-legal partnerships. They have developed justice buses to reach underserved communities, they hold Veteran stand-down events to help many vets obtain hard-earned benefits, they have created disaster hotlines and are at the forefront of deploying (particularly in areas short of lawyers) trained paraprofessionals to handle high volume matters.  

A few weeks ago, LSC released a significant analysis on the economic impact of civil legal aid which found on average, these services return across the country, $7 for every $1 invested. Seven dollars for every one dollar spent!

Given the urgency of the country’s crisis in access to justice and our better understanding of the importance of investing in civil legal aid, our bipartisan LSC Board has unanimously voted to request $2.1 billion from Congress for LSC’s FY 2027 budget. This number reflects the true level of need for these vital services throughout our country.

As negotiations for LSC’s FY 2026 budget continue, the LSC Board is both concerned and heartened by what has occurred. In May, the Administration proposed to end LSC funding. This was an existential threat to our remarkable national network and our country’s ability to protect the promise of equal justice under law.

Just a few weeks ago, the House Appropriations Subcommittee included $300 million in funding for LSC in their proposed 2026 budget legislation representing a 46% cut from LSC’s FY 2025 funding level of $560 million.

Shortly thereafter, however, the Senate Appropriations Committee included $566 million in funding for LSC in their appropriations legislation – increasing LSC’s budget by $6 million.

We are encouraged to see continued strong bipartisan support for LSC in Congress. As negotiations progress, we hope that our legislators remember that civil legal assistance is critical for our justice system, and that this investment is vital for millions of Americans when facing life-changing legal problems.

As the great Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia powerfully observed ten years ago at LSC’s fortieth anniversary:

“The American ideal is not for some justice, it is as the Pledge of Allegiance says, ‘liberty and justice for all,’ or as the Supreme Court pediment has it, ‘equal justice.’  I’ve always thought that’s somewhat redundant. Can there be justice if it is not equal?  Can there be a just society when some do not have justice? Equality, equal treatment, is perhaps the most fundamental element of justice.”

Folks, fifty years ago, addressing this very ABA Meeting in Montreal, Canada, my father Edward Levi, as the 71st Attorney General of the United States, closed his remarks, outlining his approach to the issues facing the Department of Justice during that complex time. My father’s words apply with equal force to the issues we are confronting today, in helping to make our Country’s justice system more fairly accessible for all Americans, and I quote:

“Our hope is that we can meet problems with candor and some depth of understanding, informed by the history of our discipline, conscious of the ideals to be maintained, vigilant for the welfare of our society and the protection of human rights; in short, in a way which fits the best traditions of our profession”

No matter the challenges we face, as we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of our great country, it is essential that we, as stewards of our nation’s legal profession, work together to do everything we can to help our country keep faith with its founding promise of equal justice. It is on all of us to protect the rule of law and insist that equal access to justice extends to all Americans. And ladies and gentlemen of this historic House, if we do it “in a way that fits the best traditions of our profession,” we will be giving our Country the greatest present it could ever receive on the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of its founding.

Thank you very much.