Hybrid Help

"Judicare "for the poor

My husband used to beat me all the time," recalls Dorothy Harris, 23, of Huntington, W. Va. "He threatened to shoot me." Because she was poor, Harris could not afford to hire a lawyer. Then she discovered that there was a way of obtaining a divorce at no cost -- and thanks to Huntington Lawyer Mike Woelfel, a statewide legal aid program, and some federal funds, she is now divorced.

Legal help was long beyond the reach of most poor Americans. Since the mid-'60s, however, storefront offices staffed by full-time poverty lawyers have sprung up across the country to help alleviate the problem. Some programs, like the feder ally financed West Virginia Legal Services Plan (WVLSP), have added another dimension. Beyond providing staff lawyers, the West Virginia plan also enlists private attorneys to handle cases for poor people.

Woelfel, 27, is one of more than 700 such private attorneys on WVLSP'S roster for the so-called judicare program. Among them, they took on nearly a third of the program's 9,000 cases last year.

There is a nationwide trend toward involving the private bar more closely with legal help for the poor. But lively, sometimes acrimonious debate on the subject persists. Among the criticisms leveled by poverty-law veterans at participating private lawyers is that they tend to be less dedicated to poverty law and, especially in rural areas, too closely tied to the institutions that their indigent clients may be fighting. Judicare proponents counter by pointing out that private attorneys are widely dispersed, thus more familiar with the unique problems of citizens in their areas. Moreover, say the proponents, a client has more freedom to choose his lawyer, though attorneys have the right to turn down a case and often do. Such reluctance is understandable: an uncontested judicare divorce in West Virginia brings a $150 fee, compared with the usual charge of about $500.

The conflict may ease with the growing perception that both the private bar and poverty lawyers are needed. That will be the conclusion of a report expected next month from the Legal Services Corporation, a federally financed organization that is parceling out $303 million this year to a wide variety of legal assistance programs, including the WVLSP.

For all the argument over the pros and cons of judicare, there is agreement that too many of the nation's poor still go without legal help. As WVLSP Attorney John Kemp puts it, "The problem is choosing who will get help. It's like being in a lifeboat. We have more people in the water than we have seats in the boat. "

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