Laurence Tribe, senior counselor for access to justice at the Department of Justice, spoke at the American Bar Association's 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco on August 9, discussing the key issues confronting the equal justice community, including the need for increased pro bono work, the establishment of a civil right to counsel, inadequate funding for the Legal Services Corporation and unbundling legal services to increase access to justice.

"The problems we face are not episodic, they're systemic," said Tribe. "Over half of those who qualify for and seek assistance from the 137 principal federally funded legal assistance programs must be turned away because the level of available funding is so low. Many of them have no other option, they simply become more vulnerable to injustice because they're poor."

"When only the wealthiest among us have their legal needs met," he said, "justice remains an unrealized ideal."
 

From: http://www.lsc.gov/press/updates_2010_detail_T259_R13.php