Doubtless there have been other stories like this, but multiple headlines on the same day start me wondering whether after the North American economic earthquake settles, we won't have very different local and community outreach for legal services and legal information:
In Mount Vernon Ohio in 2008, the law library board received $49,438 in revenue from penal fines and traffic fines. Due to the economy, those revenues dropped steeply in 2009, currently being down around 30 percent, with two months to go in 2009.
This shortfall has caused the law library to fall behind in its payments to LexisNexis, an electronic data company that provides access to legal research databases for $3,600 a month. The board found another supplier for data access, Westlaw, which is offering service for $2,267 per month, with the first payment starting one month after service begins.
In the proposed 2010 budget, the payments to Westlaw for access would make up the primary expense, at $27,204. An estimated $750 is included for a new computer capable of handling large data files. As the state mandates keeping some sort of law librarian to assist users, $1,200 is allotted for that, $600 for one year’s rent of the room in the county building, $3,400 for new books and updates to existing books, and $150 for supplies.
In New Jersey, another casualty — the law libraries in the Morris and Sussex County Superior courthouses.
Both libraries, which are open to the public and attorneys alike, will significantly be downsized in the near future for a savings of about $120,000, and their librarians will be reassigned to other court duties, said Michael Arnold, trial court administrator for the Morris-Sussex court vicinage.
In Connecticut, the Judicial Branch is preparing to close six of the its 16 law libraries and has released specific dates for the closing of three courthouses, saying that budget cuts have forced the branch’s hand.
Lest you think that this tale of woe is restricted to the rust belt, here is a link to today's Vancouver Courier, reporting: the Legal Services Society, which oversees legal aid throughout the province, will discontinue civil law legal advice programs, including LawLINE, in March 2010.
As of April 1, LSS will replace its regional centres in five communities with private lawyers who contract with the non-profit society to offer services available through the regional centres, including legal aid applications, duty counsel, representation of clients and community liaison. It will also expand its province-wide call centre for those who want to apply for legal aid by phone. Fifty-eight staff positions will be cut.
In March, LSS closed its Family Law Clinic in Vancouver that included family law lawyers who took on cases.
The needs will not disappear.
