LSC Board Halts Enforcement of Attorneys’ Fees Rule 

President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010 (H.R. 3288) into law on December 16. The bill provides a $30 million increase to the Legal Services Corporation for Fiscal Year 2010.

The Senate sent the bill to the President after a 57-to-35 vote on December 13. The House approved the bill, 221 to 202, on December 10.

The bill provides $420 million for LSC. Of the total, LSC will distribute $394.4 million to the 137 LSC-funded nonprofit legal aid programs across the country.

"This additional funding will help every one of our programs promote equal access to justice and provide needed civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and families," LSC President Helaine M. Barnett said. “We greatly appreciate the support of the President and the Congress for making this funding increase possible. Many of our programs are overwhelmed with requests for legal assistance from low-income Americans because of these hard economic times, and this additional funding will help programs better serve their clients."

In addition to providing funds for the provision of civil legal assistance, the fiscal 2010 appropriation includes $3.4 million for technology grants that expand access to legal information, $1 million for a loan repayment program that helps new lawyers burdened with education-related debt, $17 million for administration and oversight of legal aid grants and $4.2 million for LSC’s Office of Inspector General.

The bill also lifts the statutory prohibition on the recovery of attorneys’ fees by LSC-funded programs. In light of that action, LSC’s Board of Directors voted on December 15 to suspend enforcement of LSC’s regulation prohibiting grantees from claiming, collecting or retaining attorneys’ fees. The suspension went into effect December 16, when the President signed the appropriations bill. A Board committee will consider what steps to take next after receiving an options paper from LSC’s Office of Legal Affairs.