LfA's purpose is to improve the practical skills of new lawyers and expand the availability of legal services for those who cannot afford lawyers . . .
WHAT WE DO
It’s no secret that society suffers from a justice gap: that is, a large unmet need for the assistance of lawyers. The lack of an entitlement to an attorney in civil cases leaves many people without legal help when facing serious legal challenges. For example, an astonishing 70 percent of Californians who go to family court don’t have a lawyer. Lack of legal representation is a burden to both those without counsel and to the courts. Legal aid organizations try to bridge this justice gap, but lack the finances to build the bridge to completion. With reduced government funding, public law offices, prosecutors, city attorneys, the attorney general, and public defenders are struggling to assure adequate legal services.
At LfA, we seek to create the framework and support to enable legal nonprofits and public law offices to increase their legal manpower while simultaneously providing new attorneys with practical training and valuable exposure to society’s unmet legal needs. In doing this, our program supports a new model for legal education and enables an expanded affordable pool of legal manpower to meet critical societal needs.
HOW WE DO IT
LfA provides a two-year fellowship program that comprises law students’ last year of law school and first post-graduate year. While most law students start their third year of law school sitting in the classroom, LfA 3L Fellows work at one of our partner legal offices full time and attend a classroom component at their law schools. Our Fellows are supervised by faculty and by the attorneys at our partner sites. After nine months of work with one of our partners, and after graduation, Fellows have a three-month break to take the bar exam and enjoy a vacation before returning to their fellowship placement for a full year. The LfA model fits comfortably with ABA law school accreditation requirements concerning minimum classroom training.
PARTNER WITH US
Our partner law offices act as worksites for LfA Fellows and are the backbones of our organization. We are actively enrolling nonprofit and government organizations to be our partners.
Our Fellows provide human capital to partner sites facing high volumes of work and shortages of manpower. LfA Fellows work at our partner sites for approximately 21 months, encompassing their last year of law school and their first year as newly-minted attorneys. Our Fellows provide much needed high quality staffing for our partner organizations.
While partner organizations must pay for the support of Fellows, LfA Fellows are very inexpensive compared to regular first-year attorneys. The payment to LfA fellows is approximately half of the fully allocated costs of a first year attorney within a given geographic region. One new attorney salary and benefits would thus put four Fellows into each partner office at one time: two third-year students and two new attorneys. We believe there will be a 3:1 productivity gain. Thus, LfA enables our partner offices to increase your overall manpower while staying within existing budgetary frameworks.
All of the funds paid for Fellows are expected to go toward their support in the form of salary and benefits for their first post-graduate year, as well as some scholarship aid for 3L LfA Fellows. LfA is seeking grants and philanthropic funds to support the central organization, as well as funds to support Fellows. LfA will also seek contributions from the legal and general community to help support Fellows to work for very low-budget organizations that are facing high levels of legal need.
Implementing our program and getting LfA Fellows into your office is a simple process. We encourage you to contact us to discuss our program and to become an LfA partner.
