JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE HEARINGS APPROPRIATIONS PART 21 6993 - 7303 2009 006993 C-/4&7 Post Office Box 1329 To: Appropriations CommMee^, New Haven, CT 06505 Telephone 203 865 1957 From: Sandra KoorejianvJ ^ Facsimile 203 562.9450 Date: 2/23/09 Hotline 203 789 8104 Re: Funding for Legal Services TTY 203 773 0192 endabuse@dvsgnh org htlpV/www dvsgnh org New Haven Legal Assistance Association (LAA) provides support to many victims of domestic violence that they won't receive anywhere else. For over ten years, LAA and Domestic Violence Services of Greater New Haven (DVS) have been in a partnership that has provided civil legal assistance to victims; joint advocacy by attorneys and our advocates; and cross-training to enhance each others' skills. Their work with victims with language barriers and immigrants has been exceptional. Our low income clients desperately need them because there is no one else to provide legal services that keep them and their children safe at home. Our services complement each other. LAA has worked with hundreds of our clients over the years. LAA attorneys not only possess the most up to date knowledge regarding victims' legal rights, they are also sensitive to victims' issues. They are clear about what the courts can and can't do in resolving matters and make good use of community resources. Their prompt availability gives our clients the encouragement they need to deal with the often confusing and intimidating court process. Communication between our offices has been fluid. The following case illustrates how our close collaboration helped a woman become and stay safe. "Claudine," (not her real name) called our hotline because she was being stalked by her former boyfriend, "Brad" (not his real name). Brad had been physically abusive and controlled her finances. She recently terminated the relationship, but he refused to stay away from her. DVS staff helped her prepare the temporary restraining order application and we referred her to a LAA attorney to represent her at the court hearings. In the meantime, DVS helped her change her phone number to an unlisted number and arranged to change the locks to her apartment for additional security. We explained to her that she would need to call the police if Brad attempted to contact her or came to her apartment. Brad didn't violate the order. He did sue her in small claims court, and LAA represented her in this matter as well. He lost. In the beginning, Claudine was very fearful of Brad, but as a result of the collaborative safety planning we did, and her involvement in a support group where she learned that she wasn't alone with this problem, she grew to trust the system and her confidence in her freedom grew. She was diligent about attending all hearings and stayed in touch with us about her situation. We helped her renew the restraining order at the end of six months. DVS and LAA worked together on Claudine's behalf for about eight months, during which time Brad did not Supported by CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence • CT Department of Social Services • Title Ill-Older Americans Act, Agency on Aging • United Way • icy Food and Shelter Program • Community Development Block Grants • Guilford Community Fund • Office of Victim Services, State of Connecticut Judicial Branch 006994 contact her. We encouraged her to call us if she needed us. She was appreciative of our help, and stated that she was looking ahead. We have not heard from her. LAA is unique and especially necessary during these difficult economic times as more and more victims find themselves out of work and unable to manage. They possess a blend of legal and social work skills that helps them engage clients quickly and serve them competently. Without LAA, there will be a huge gap in services for this very vulnerable population. 006995 _IIII sui^y 30 Bank Street J^r"^ ^^^ PO Box 350 MConnecticutX New Britain'CT 0605°-0350 . ... m 06051 for 30 Bank Street Bar Association * (860M Testimony of Livia DeFilippis Barndollar fax (860)223jM88 President of the Connecticut Bar Association House Bill 6365, An Act Concerning the State Budget for the Biennium Ending June 30,2011, and Making Appropriations Therefore Appropriation Committee February 23,2009 Senator Handley, Representative McCrory and members of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Judicial and Corrections, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to comment on House Bill 6365, An Act Concerning the State Budget for the Bienmum Ending June 30, 2011, and Making Appropriations Therefore. My name is Livia DeFilippis Barndollar. I am a Partner with the law firm Marvin, Ferro, Barndollar & Roberts LLC, in New Canaan. I am also the current President of the Connecticut Bar Association, the preeminent voluntary association of attorneys in Connecticut with over 9,000 members who practice in every, diverse area of the law The CBA has a great interest in appropriate funding for the Judicial Branch in general and for legal aid providers in particular The CBA urges the Appropriations Committee to increase funding for legal aid providers in the biennium budget ending June 30, 2011 over the SI million that has been appropriated in the last two fiscal years. The State's legal aid programs are facing their worst fiscal crisis in decades. I will leave it to others to testify about the specifics of that crisis. In summary, IOLTA, which has been the source of about 60% of legal aid funding in this State, is being hit by both the reduction in interest rates and economic activity. The 2007 the IOLTA program generated over $20 million but this year it may be about $4 million or less. The consequences are staggering: Legal aid attorneys and staff have already sacrificed by voluntarily accepting salary and benefits reductions Layoffs of attorneys and support staff have been unavoidable and unless there is a solution, additional terminations of attorneys and staff and reduction of salary and benefits to the surviving work force are inevitable I will also leave it to others to describe more precisely to this Committee how essential legal aid is to low income residents of Connecticut and to our state and society more generally. Our very system of justice is at risk without a sustainable civil legal aid system www.ctbar.org 006996 Delivery of legal services to the poor of this State at no fee should be a concern of each of us as citizens of Connecticut. Members of the bar of the State and of the CBA in particular have focused on ways to fill that need Every year hundreds of low income families receive free legal services from CBA members. Lawyers and law firms in Connecticut contributed about $800,000 in 2008, an increase over previous years. Lawyers donate their time to service on the boards of legal aid programs, to train legal aid lawyers, and to offer advice and assistance in areas outside the expertise of legal aid lawyers. The CBA has a standing Pro Bono Committee, chaired by the Vice President of the voluntary leadership each year and composed of judges, attorneys, academics from our area law schools and officers of nonprofit organizations involved in the delivery of legal services to the needy. In the past 18 months, that Committee has spawned a foreclosure prevention assistance program and a veterans assistance program. I wish that it were possible for me to identify for the Committee a concrete source of funding that could help solve this crisis. Unfortunately I cannot do so tonight. As CBA President, I appointed in January a special committee to work with Connecticut legal aid programs to assist them in this crisis and to study and make recommendations to the CBA House of Delegates on any policy positions or rule changes that we might adopt or sponsor that would help Our House next meets on March 9 and I will certainly report to the Committee if we adopt positions that will aid this Committee in its work We fully understand the harsh fiscal reality facmg the State of Connecticut, yet we still urge additional legal aid funding because it is such a critical need of the citizens of the State of Connecticut and to the functioning of the judicial system. The legal aid network in Connecticut does much more than confirm our society's commitment to equal access to justice... as important as that principle is. The services provided by legal aid attorneys mean that families will not unfairly lose their housing, that children, the disabled and the elderly will receive the benefits that are intended for them, that poor consumers will not be taken advantage of and that women and children will be protected from domestic abuse. Even in hard times, it is essential that we as a State guarantee these rights. 006997 TESTIMONY ATTORNEY PRISCILLA HAMMOND 'S , My name is Priscilla Hammond and I am an attorney specializing in Child Protection. My office is in East Lyme, CT. Carolyn Signorelli, the Chief Child Protection Attorney (CCPA) has designed an innovative and leading edge program to provide quality legal representation to our most vulnerable and needy population - abused and neglected children. I am a founding partner in a newly formed non profit law firm, Southeastern Connecticut Center for Juvenile Justice (SECCJJ). We are funded by the CCPA to implement Attorney Signorelli's vision of a multi-disciplinary approach to representing children. Our clients range in age from newborn to eighteen years old. Our clients include a four month old baby with cranial fractures, a two year old with unexplained bruising all over his body, a twelve year old psychiatrically hospitalized due to post traumatic stress disorder and aggression.