DC Law Students In Court Program
WISH LIST: $200: the average cost of assisting 1 person or family; $550: case-related investigation materials for 1 semester; $650: 1 month of litigation costs for clients unable to pay them
The need for affordable housing is probably the single biggest challenge facing poor people in the District, and the increase in foreclosures -- which displace renters -- has only intensified the problem. DC Law Students in Court comes at the issue in an innovative way. Acknowledging that 90% of landlords have attorneys and only 3% of tenants do, LSIC uses legal defenses to intervene in crises and prevent evictions. Homelessness prevention constitutes 80% of its work each year, with small claims and criminal cases rounding out the docket. And the idea just makes sense: law students from American, Georgetown, George Washington, Howard, and Catholic pair up with some of DC’s neediest citizens, whose incomes fall well below the poverty line. Many are women heads of households with young children or heads of extended families on public assistance or disability. The goal is to stabilize their living situations, teach them the value of asserting their rights, and create a group of young attorneys who will continue to help poor people throughout their careers. Now that's philanthropy at work.
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