The American Bar Foundation just published a provocative study which may answer one of the most troubling questions those of us who worry about courts and justice wrestle with: why do so many people not use lawyers for really serious problems? The Community Needs and Services Study tried to determine how frequently residents of a sample middle-American city (called Middle City) experienced problems that most of us would call “legal” but which the survey called “civil justice.” Survey participants reported from two to three different events in a given year which most of us would think would send a person to a lawyer.
The events studied included employment, problems with rental housing, problems with owned housing, money, debt, insurance, benefits, education, relationship breakdown, postbreakdown, personal injury and clinical negligence. Not surprisingly, poor people suffered more of these events than wealthier ones. Employment, rental housing, money, debt, insurance and benefits were about twice as likely to cause problems as the other categories. Sounds like the typical mix of consumer law problems.
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