ISG’s Demonstrated Commitment to Indigents and an Equal Justice System for All
When clients work with ISG, they choose to help others while being helped themselves
Although ISG is a for-profit law firm, ISG is committed to helping the poor and needy obtain equal access to professional legal services on a case-by-case basis where resources permit such representation.
The Problem
The United States stands alone in the industrialized world in its lack of commitment to civil legal aid for the poor. For centuries England has had a system to provide counsel in civil cases. France and Germany enacted the right in the mid-1800s. Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have provided attorneys to the poor as a matter of right for decades. Each of these nations spends far more on legal aid for the poor than does the United States: England spends 10 times as much per capita, Canada and Sweden three times as much, and Germany and France more than twice as much.
The consequences that flow from lack of access to legal representation-avoidable eviction, unnecessary family instability, improper loss or denial of income-further exacerbate economic inequality and perpetuate racial disparities in income, wealth, and social status.
The legal system in our nation’s capitol faces a crisis that tests the very integrity of the judicial system. The District of Columbia Bar Association has found that one-fifth of residents in the District are denied meaningful access to justice because of poverty. There are nearly more than 100,000 people living in poverty in the District of Columbia. Despite pro bono services, non-profit legal aid programs, and law school clinics, it is estimated that 90 percent of the civil legal needs of the District’s poorest residents go unmet. Although our democracy is founded on the ideals of equality and fairness, those ideals are realized only to the extent that the least powerful in our society have counsel to enforce them.
As the Honorable Jack Weinstein instructed:
Equal access to justice is the sine qua non of a just society. Accessibility to the courts on equal terms is essential to equality before the law. If we cannot provide this Foundational protection through the courts, most of the rest of our promises of liberty and justice for all remain a mockery for the poor and the oppressed.
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