The National Law Journal quotes Professor Deborah Rhode on the lack of funding for legal aid positions.

As law school graduations commence throughout the country, and the prophets of law school doom predict the end of lawyers and law schools, a paradox exists: Thousands of graduating law students are without jobs and yet tens of millions of Americans face their legal problems without a lawyer. To this paradox add another twist. Work for low- and middle-income people is rewarding, professionally and personally, if not financially.

The reality, however, is that only through increased financial support for legal services for low- and moderate-income people can we place this supply of eager recent graduates where they are most needed, and where they can have fulfilling careers.

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As Stanford Law School professor Deborah Rhode points out in her new book ²The Trouble with Lawyers,² 80 percent of low-income individuals and families and half of those of middle income face their legal problems without a lawyer because there isn’t enough funding to support free legal assistance on civil matters, like evictions and home foreclosures.