The 2008-2009 Campaign year is off to a great start.  We look forward to meeting our goal again this year, thanks to the efforts of our donors and supporters. We will update this page throughout the year and let you know of our progress.

OUR MISSION                                                                                    
The Campaign for Equal Justice was established in 1991 and works to support 91 legal aid attorneys in 16 communities throughout Oregon.  Our mission is to champion access to justice for low-income Oregonians through education and by working to increase funding for legal aid.  We educate the community on the work being done by Oregon's legal services programs, and also on the great need for increased services.  Because only 20% of the legal needs of low-income Oregonians can be met with current resources, we work to increase funding through grants, foundation support, state and federal funding, and direct fundraising from private attorneys.  The Oregon legal community has responded generously, helping the Campaign to raise more than $13,700,000 over the last sixteen years.

WHO DO WE HELP?
Some Legal Aid Client Stories
If you are looking for legal assistance, please click here for a list of legal aid offices in Oregon.

Karri
Karri thought she might lose custody of her children, Austin and Colleen. Although she obtained a divorce from her abusive husband more than two years ago, he continued to visit the children, and those visits sometimes ended with violence against Karri. In an odd twist, Karri’s ex-husband accused her of physically attacking him. He filed for a restraining order and asked for full custody of Austin and Colleen. Sharon Brown, a legal aid lawyer in Hillsboro, agreed to represent Karri at the restraining order hearing. Brown’s questioning at the hearing established that the ex-husband had no grounds for a restraining order and revealed facts that helped the District Attorney successfully prosecute him on criminal assault charges against Karri. He is now serving a two year prison sentence. With the legal struggles behind her, Karri has now joined her children where they spent the summer with relatives. Karri has an offer of employment in her new location and is making a fresh start with her family.

Tara
Tara's abusive husband continually violated the restraining order she had obtained.  Tara felt the situation was dangerous and so she left a secure job and moved with her young son to another city.  When the Employment Department denied her claim for temporary unemployment benefits, she was cut off from the only means of support available during her search for a new job.  With the assistance of legal aid attorney Julia Olsen, she challenged the decision and the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed and remanded.  Tara also testified about her experiences before the state legislature this session, helping to refine a law that will make it possible for other women in her situation to receive their unemployment benefits so they can escape domestic violence.

Stephanie
When Stephanie and her three children left an abusive home, the Department of Human Services assisted them by providing childcare so Stephanie could work.  Five years later, with a fresh start in a new home and new schools for the children, DHS began garnishing Stephanie's paycheck in the belief that her unemployed husband should have provided childcare back then.  In fact he had been under a "no contact" order and could not have provided any help.  Stephanie could not afford both food and rent with the garnishment in place so she began working 12 hour shifts, often six days a week, that kept her apart from her children.  Legal aid attorneys helped Stephanie navigate the administrative system to stop the garnishment.  This helped Stephanie maintain the delicate economic balance that keeps her family in a stable and safe home.

For more Legal Aid Client stories from many Oregon offices, click here.

20% IS NOT ENOUGH; THE NEED IS GREAT
Oregon's legal aid programs provide free assistance statewide to thousands of low-income Oregonians.  Last year alone, legal services programs directly served over 20,000 low-income clients.  Thousands more were helped through legal aid pro se materials, self help programs and pro bono projects.

Legal aid representation is limited to high-priority needs: food, shelter, medical care, income maintenance and physical safety.  About 40% of the cases are family law cases, usually helping the victims of domestic violence.

Over 600,000 Oregonians live in poverty today. Almost half of them are children. Two thirds of legal aid clients are women, most of them mothers. They represent some of the most vulnerable members of our community. For them, access to justice is critical in providing a chance for a better life.

 A CALL TO ACTION:  What you can do to help legal aid in your community

· Understand how funding for legal aid works and support increased funding on both the state and federal level.  Supporting access to justice is a bi-partisan cause.

· Put your lawyer trust account funds with a "Leadership Bank".  These banks are committed to maximizing the rate of return on IOLTA accounts.  The interest from these accounts is distributed by the Oregon Law Foundation.  Contact the OLF to locate the Leadership Banks in your community.  www.oregonlawfoundation.org

· Do pro bono work through your local legal aid office.  Contact your local office.  Some offices provide direct referrals, others use pro bono lawyers to assist in case screening.  Remember that the offices are stretched and that administering pro bono programs takes office resources.  Please be patient.

Sign up to receive a weekly e-mail with available pro bono cases at: probonooregon-subscribe@mail.lawhelp.org.  Right now the list serves the Portland Metro area and Central Oregon.  Expansion plans are in the works.