Tennessee High Court Calls On Attorneys To Step Up In Effort To Ease Burdens On Legal Aid System

In Nashville, Tennessee, The Tennessean reports:

• The Tennessee Supreme Court is calling on every attorney in the state to step up and help out in the face of a mounting crisis in the legal aid system. More and more low-income Tennesseans are running into deep legal troubles — unemployment, bankruptcy, eviction, foreclosure, unpaid bills and predatory lending practices. And most of them are forced to navigate the courts alone and undefended because they cannot afford an attorney.

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• [T]his new initiative comes at the urging of the Tennessee Bar Association, Legal Services and a raft of other legal groups to call for more access to civil legal aid for those Tennesseans who need it most.

• "Equal justice under the law, if it means anything, it meant that we, as lawyers, ought to step up to the plate," said retired Chief Justice William Barker. "Even if you're a corporate lawyer and have never set foot in a courtroom, we can find something for you to do."

For more, see Lawyers urged to help the poor (Chief justice says too many forced to tackle legal troubles on their own).