The civil justice community knows that civil legal aid providers are essential front-line responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s because in addition to health care needs, there is a surge of COVID-19 related civil legal problems flowing from lost jobs and housing, food insecurity, debt collectors, unemployment and other public benefits, bankruptcy, increased risk of domestic violence, and more. But not all state and local government policymakers know that legal aid providers must be there to mitigate the economic and related challenges that COVID-19 affected individuals and families experience as a consequence of unemployment, social distancing orders, and employment-related health/safety risks. When Congress passed the CARES Act and appropriated funds to help state and local governments address the fallout, they gave those government decision makers enormous discretion about how to spend billions of dollars. Join us on Friday, June 26th at 1:00 pm EST to hear how some legal aid leaders persuaded those government decision makers to fund help for the tsunami of legal issues that are already flowing from the crisis.

Panel Speakers:

• Shubi Deoras, Counsel/Director, ABA Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives
• Karen A. Lash, Practitioner-in-Residence and Director, The Justice in Government Project at American University School of Public Affairs
• James Bamberger, Director Washington State Office of Civil Legal aid
• Patrick Cicero, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network
• Stephanie Harris, Director of Development, Ohio State Legal Services Association

This free webinar is co-hosted by: The Justice in Government Project and ABA Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives, as part of the ABA National Meeting of State Access to Justice Commission Chairs: 2020 Webinar Series. For more information on this webinar series, please visit www.ambar.org/atjmeeting.