CBA Record Feb-March 2018

Chicago Bar Foundation Report

The 2018 Investing in Justice Campaign Justice People Deserve, Not Just What They Can Afford

By Meredith Mazzuca, CBF Director of Marketing & Communications T here are moments in life that clearly determine our course. While, yes, the butterfly effect tells us that something as small as the shoes you wear one morning can alter human history, the line from cause to effect is often much more discernible in our daily lives. For some of the most vulnerable people in our community, these moments may happen in a courtroom. To Chicagoans who lack financial means, the outcome of a legal matter can mean the difference between shelter and home- lessness, between medical assistance and suffering, between productive work and unemployment, or between legal protection against domestic violence and continuing abuse. And the biggest factor in influencing that outcome? Proper legal representation. Lawyers and legal professionals have a unique understanding of the vast differ- ences for those who have legal representa- tion and those who do not. Studies con- sistently show that in contested matters in court, the outcome often turns on whether or not a person has representation: • Domestic violence survivors represented by an attorney can be 2.5 times more likely to successfully obtain a protective

order than those who do not have a lawyer. • Tenants facing eviction who were represented by a lawyer were six times more likely to win in court than unrep- resented ones. Generally, almost 90% of landlords are represented by a lawyer,

while less than 10% of tenants have representation. • The single greatest factor that affects whether an asylum seeker wins or loses in immigration court is whether the applicant has a lawyer. Over the course

20 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018