Bar Groups Gear Up to Preserve Legal Services Funding (New York Law Journal)
New York Law Journal, March 20, 2017
Bar Groups Gear Up to Preserve Legal Services Funding
“New York bar groups are joining law firm leaders and the American Bar Association to stop President Donald Trump’s plan to defund the Legal Services Corp….City bar president John Kiernan in a statement Monday said no Congress or president has ever defunded the LSC entirely. LSC’s budget request for the upcoming fiscal year was $502.7 million—1/100th of 1 percent of the federal budget, according to the agency. Kiernan, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, said the city bar, through its pro bono and legal services committee and other committees, will be coordinating with other bar groups to lobby lawmakers in their home districts and in Washington, D.C. The bar also plans to coordinate large group communications with Congress and the president. ‘It seems plainly necessary to treat the proposal as the most serious threat to federal legal services funding in memory,’ Kiernan said. ‘We encourage our members to enlist the support of their employers and to press other bar associations or legal groups to which they belong to communicate their convictions on this important subject to our political leaders.'”
