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The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a private, non-profit Corporation established by the United States Congress to seek to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by providing civil Legal Assistance to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it. The LSC was created in 1974 with bipartisan congressional sponsorship and the support of the Nixon administration, and is funded through the congressional appropriations process. LSC is one of the organizational descendants of the former Office Of Economic Opportunity . FUNDING AND TYPES OF WORK LSC is a private non-profit corporation with a board of directors appointed by the US President and confirmed by the US Senate. LSC was created by the LSC Act (citations at www.lsc.gov). The federal government provides over $300,000,000 for civil legal aid through LSC. The LSC Act contains certain rules and restrictions regarding what LSC grantees can do. LSC was strongly opposed by some political groups. LSC funding was at a high mark, in inflation adjusted dollars, in 1980, under chair , ISBN 0375407669. p. 133. who had been appointed at the end of 1977 by President Jimmy Carter . When President Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, he attempted to undercut the LSC, attempting to have Congress reduce funding on a national basis and tried to appoint lawyers to the LSC who were against financial aide for the poor. Rodham hired fellow Rose Law Firm associate Vince Foster to seek a restraining order against Reagan, with success; his nominees were prohibited from meeting with the Legal Service Corporation before confirmation. Rodham prodded Senate Deomcrats to vote against Reagan's conservative nominees. The nominees were rejected and Reagan was forced to name more moderate members. Subsequently President Reagan pushed through a huge funding cut and additional restrictions on LSC grantees. In 1996, when the Republican party took over Congress, LSC had its funded cut again and a new set of much more extensive restrictions were added to LSC grantees. As part of a comprehensive " Reform " of federal welfare laws beginning in 1996, Congress imposed restrictions on the types of work that LSC grantee legal services organizations could engage in. For example, LSC-funded organizations could no longer serve as counsel in class action lawsuits challenging the way public benefits are administered. Additionally, LSC grantees faced tightened restrictions on representing immigrants. However, non-LSC funded organizations are not subject to these restrictions. This has led the legal services community to adopt a two-track approach: LSC restricted counsel taking on individual clients but not engaging in class actions, and non-restricted counsel (using private donor funding) both taking on individuals as well as engaging in otherwise restricted litigation. Poverty lawyers in both tracks still work together where they can, being careful not to run afoul of LSC restrictions. According to LSC's 2005 report "Documenting the Justice Gap in America: The Current Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-Income Americans", all legal aid offices nationwide, LSC-funded or not, are together able to meet only about 20 percent of the estimated legal needs of low-income people in the United States . ''Documenting the Justice Gap in America: The Current Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-Income Americans'' , pages 4 and 9. Legal Services Corporation, September 2005. HEADQUARTERS By law LSC's headquarters is located in Washington D.C. In the 1970s and 1980s LSC also had regional offices. Now LSC has one office in Washington that administers all of LSC's work. LSC itself does not provide legal representation to the poor. The LSC grantee in Washington D.C. is Neighborhood Legal Services. NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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