Law agency that helps low income people faces budget cuts

SANDUSKY — The two-lawyer Legal Aid office in downtown Sandusky, which helps people who can't afford a lawyer, turns away about 80 percent of the cases that come through the door.The agency has to set priorities because of budget limitations, explain Kevin Mulder, executive director for Legal Aid of Western Ohio, and Carl Anderson, managing attorney for the Sandusky office.Here are examples of what Legal Aid attorneys do for the 20 percent of the cases they can accept:• Help victims of domestic violence obtain civil protection orders to keep themselves safe.• Help seniors to draw up advance directives for their health care when they become incapacitated, deal with power of attorney documents and obtain health care.• Represent parents seeking education for special needs students. Parents also can obtain help when their children have been expelled from school.• Help homeowners facing mortgage foreclosure, or tenants involved in serious disputes with their landlords. • Providing help with people facing immigration issues. All such services are provided for free.The agency's efforts have hit the news headlines because President Donald Trump, in a budget blueprint released a few days ago, proposed to eliminate all funding for the Legal Services Corporation, the main source of funding for Legal Aid offices such as Sandusky's.The budget doesn't mention the rationale for terminating Legal Aid funding, but it includes a short statement from Trump explaining that he is seeking a $54 billion increase in defense spending and wants $54 billion of cuts in domestic spending to avoid adding to the deficit.Speaking of his so-called "America First" budget, Trump wrote, "These cuts are sensible and rational. Every agency and department will be driven to achieve greater efficiency and to eliminate wasteful spending in carrying out their honorable service to the American people."The Legal Services Corporation received $385 million in 2016. Funding has fluctuated in recent years, from a high of $420 million in 2010 to a recent low of about $341 million in 2013.The president of the LSC, James Sandman, said on March 16 that he expects Congress will continue the program."I am optimistic that the bipartisan support we have enjoyed in Congress for more than four decades will continue for years to come," he said.U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, denounced Trump's effort to defund Legal Aid, calling it an attack on the principle of equal justice under law."My goodness, where would we have been without Legal Aid in the mortgage crisis?" she told the Register. "Legal Aid was the first place that we asked for help.""President Trump has been involved in a lot of litigation in his life," Kaptur said. "He probably owns an entire floor of lawyers in his own Trump Tower."The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that every American charged with a crime is entitled to a lawyer, even if he or she can't afford one.But there is no such guarantee of a lawyer for civil law cases, so Legal Aid was created in 1974 by Congress and signed into law by President Nixon."Our constitutional system is based on the concept that we're all treated equally under the law," said Leslie Murray, a Sandusky attorney who is on the board that advised Legal Aid.But to access the legal system, "you need to have an attorney advocating for you," she said. The Sandusky office of Legal Aid is part of Legal Aid of Western Ohio, which covers 32 counties in the western part of the state, including Erie and Ottawa counties. The Sandusky office serves Ohio, while Ottawa County residents mostly are served by the Toledo office. Legal Aid of Western Ohio has an annual budget of about $6 million, with $3 million coming from the Legal Services Corporation.A board drawn from all over the service area advises Legal Aid of Western Ohio and includes two Erie County members.One of those local board members, Hazel Foley, said Legal Aid plays a critical role in protecting both children and adults dealing with domestic violence.The civil protection orders that Legal Aid can help people obtain can stop an abuser from entering a person's home, school or place of employment and can order a person to stay away from children."It helps to keep them safe," she said. "That part of Legal Aid is extremely important."In 2016, Erie County's Legal Aid office handled 428 cases. Sandusky's office has two attorneys, Anderson and Denise Zinni, but it sometimes gets help from other Legal Aid attorneys.Each attorney tends to concentrate on a particular area of practice. Anderson focuses on helping domestic violence victims, while Zinni handles many cases involving education law, housing and elderly issues.Other Legal Aid attorneys who focus on government benefits such as Medicaid and Social Security often provide help in Erie County, and some local attorneys also volunteer their time.Legal Aid attracts attorneys who are idealistic and willing to live without the high pay and benefits they could get elsewhere, Mulder said.Anderson went to law school at Case Western Reserve University intending to work for Legal Aid. When he got his law degree, he went to work for a private law firm so he could afford to pay off his student loans, then joined Legal Aid when his debt was taken care of.Anderson said a hard part of the job is having to turn away many cases. In some cases, the office can at least offer advice and provide legal forms.He said he particularly regrets not being able to represent grandparents and other family members seeking custody of children affected by the ongoing opioid epidemic."If you focused on all the people we say no to, you would go nuts," he said.Reach reporter Tom Jackson at jackson@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @jacksontom.Denise Zanni, an attorney at law, looks though documents at the Legal Aid office in downtown Sandusky on Friday, March 24, 2017.Carl Anderson, a senior attorney, reads over a document while working at the Legal Aid office in downtown Sandusky on Friday, March 24, 2017.