Written Testimony by City Bar President John Kiernan at the Chief Judge’s Hearing on Civil Legal Services

SUMMARY

City Bar President John S. Kiernan provided testimony at the Chief Judge’s 2016 Hearing on Civil Legal Services in New York.  The testimony highlights the importance of providing legal services in the Judiciary Budget and is primarily directed to answering two questions:  1. What effects are these allocations of public resources for legal services having on the lives of poor people? and 2. What is the best way to proceed with provision of free legal services when existing allocations of resources for civil legal services remain insufficient to fill the need, and in particular how well do so-called unbundled legal services – provision of various forms of limited assistance short of full legal representations – serve existing needs?  

You can read the President’s oral testimony here.