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Cathy Soto sought help from Iowa Legal Aid about 10 years ago. Now she volunteers for the organization's advisory board.
RICK CHASE / Courier Staff Photographer
RICK CHASE / Courier Staff Photographer
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Justice for all
By JEFF REINITZ, Courier Staff Writer
WATERLOO --- Cathy Soto's admirer of two years was having trouble taking no for an answer.
Soto tried to part ways with him after an argument during which she says he choked her with a phone cord. But the man kept returning.
"He was threatening me. Sometimes he'd just show up and try to get back together."
Soto recounted episodes that played out 10 years ago, when the single mother didn't know where to turn for help. Acting on a friend's recommendation, she finally contacted Iowa Legal Aid's office in Waterloo.
Staff members helped her set up a restraining order through the court system and told her how to strengthen the order when the man discovered a loophole and tried to contact her through mutual friends.
"I found that they were really helpful," said Soto, who now serves on local and state boards for the agency.
Soto was one of thousands of people assisted each year by Iowa Legal Aid, the agency charged with guiding people with limited means through civil and family courts. The agency is finishing its 30th year in operation.
While people charged with crimes are entitled to state-sponsored legal assistance if they can't afford a lawyer, no such guarantee exists for people caught in civil proceedings or who need an attorney to assert their rights in areas like housing, employment, health care and child custody. Iowa Legal Aid attempts to bridge that gap.
Statewide, the program helped more than 37,500 people during 2006. Still, the agency turned away thousands because of shortfalls in staffing and funding.
Anniversary
Before Iowa Legal Aid, court assistance for the poor in Iowa wasn't centralized. In some places, the local bar association or United Way funded programs. In other places, financial assistance came from the county government.
"It was a mishmash. It was a variety of things," said Dennis Groenenboom, executive director for Iowa Legal Aid in Des Moines.
That began to change shortly after 1974 when Congress passed the Legal Services Corporation Act. The measure spawned the predecessor of Iowa Legal Aid and its siblings in other states.
"What that did was set this goal of expanding legal aid to be available to low-income people in every county in the country," Groenenboom said. "That was the genesis of getting a unified system."
Legal Services Corp. of Iowa began in 1977 with the merger of assistance organizations in Waterloo, Dubuque, Iowa City and Council Bluffs. It changed its name to Iowa Legal Aid in 2003 after merging with the Legal Aid Society of Polk County.
With its limited resources, the agency gives priority to cases involving basic necessities, Groenenboom said. Topping the list are cases that cover:
--- Safety issues, such as domestic violence.
--- Shelter, including landlord-tenant disputes and home foreclosures.
--- Income support cases, like helping residents get and maintain Social Security benefits.
--- Health care.
"Justice is kind of the ideal, but the practicalities are very real to low-income people," Groenenboom said.
Some of the larger cases handled by the regional office involved predatory lending and fair housing, said Vivian Meyer-Betts at the Waterloo office.
In 2003, an attorney with the office took the University of Northern Iowa to court after a woman said the school discriminated against her because she used a helper dog.
"We've earned close to three-quarters of a million dollars for Black Hawk County, recovering county money that was spent to help litigants survive until they could get the Social Security benefits," Meyer-Betts said.
Low funds
Much like its clients, Iowa Legal Aid suffers from a lack of cash. Funding shortages have been an ongoing problem for the agency, most recently a result of the national Legal Services Corp. doling out funds for programs based on the 2000 census.
"We turn away hundreds of people a month just because of limited resources," Groenenboom said.
In fact, the organization turns down about 10,000 people a year statewide, according to Iowa Legal Aid statistics.
Helping bridge the gap are lawyers in private practice who donate their time.
"The need is there, and I think the attorneys do it to give back to the community," said John McCoy, a Waterloo attorney who raises money for the organization and offers pro bono assistance for some of its clients.
Lawyers can assist at a regional office or take specialized cases offered by the Volunteer Lawyer Project in Des Moines. More than 2,700 lawyers provide $1.9 million worth of free legal services to Iowa Legal Aid clients every year, according to the agency.
Meyer-Betts said recent changes in state law are also making it easier for low-income residents to advocate for themselves in court. The first came last year when the Iowa Judicial Branch issued fill-in-the blank forms to help troubled couples without children filing for divorce without the need for attorneys.
The forms --- 94 pages for the person initiating the action and 79 pages for the responding spouse --- are available at www.judicial.state.ia.us/Self_Help/Family_Law.
Also last year, the Iowa Supreme Court allowed lawyers to "unbundle" services. That means an attorney can prepare paperwork or offer other limited assistance for a client without having to sign on for the duration of the case.
Iowa Legal Aid's Waterloo regional office plans to host workshops later this year to explain the developments.
Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.
Soto tried to part ways with him after an argument during which she says he choked her with a phone cord. But the man kept returning.
"He was threatening me. Sometimes he'd just show up and try to get back together."
Soto recounted episodes that played out 10 years ago, when the single mother didn't know where to turn for help. Acting on a friend's recommendation, she finally contacted Iowa Legal Aid's office in Waterloo.
Staff members helped her set up a restraining order through the court system and told her how to strengthen the order when the man discovered a loophole and tried to contact her through mutual friends.
"I found that they were really helpful," said Soto, who now serves on local and state boards for the agency.
Soto was one of thousands of people assisted each year by Iowa Legal Aid, the agency charged with guiding people with limited means through civil and family courts. The agency is finishing its 30th year in operation.
While people charged with crimes are entitled to state-sponsored legal assistance if they can't afford a lawyer, no such guarantee exists for people caught in civil proceedings or who need an attorney to assert their rights in areas like housing, employment, health care and child custody. Iowa Legal Aid attempts to bridge that gap.
Statewide, the program helped more than 37,500 people during 2006. Still, the agency turned away thousands because of shortfalls in staffing and funding.
Anniversary
Before Iowa Legal Aid, court assistance for the poor in Iowa wasn't centralized. In some places, the local bar association or United Way funded programs. In other places, financial assistance came from the county government.
"It was a mishmash. It was a variety of things," said Dennis Groenenboom, executive director for Iowa Legal Aid in Des Moines.
That began to change shortly after 1974 when Congress passed the Legal Services Corporation Act. The measure spawned the predecessor of Iowa Legal Aid and its siblings in other states.
"What that did was set this goal of expanding legal aid to be available to low-income people in every county in the country," Groenenboom said. "That was the genesis of getting a unified system."
Legal Services Corp. of Iowa began in 1977 with the merger of assistance organizations in Waterloo, Dubuque, Iowa City and Council Bluffs. It changed its name to Iowa Legal Aid in 2003 after merging with the Legal Aid Society of Polk County.
With its limited resources, the agency gives priority to cases involving basic necessities, Groenenboom said. Topping the list are cases that cover:
--- Safety issues, such as domestic violence.
--- Shelter, including landlord-tenant disputes and home foreclosures.
--- Income support cases, like helping residents get and maintain Social Security benefits.
--- Health care.
"Justice is kind of the ideal, but the practicalities are very real to low-income people," Groenenboom said.
Some of the larger cases handled by the regional office involved predatory lending and fair housing, said Vivian Meyer-Betts at the Waterloo office.
In 2003, an attorney with the office took the University of Northern Iowa to court after a woman said the school discriminated against her because she used a helper dog.
"We've earned close to three-quarters of a million dollars for Black Hawk County, recovering county money that was spent to help litigants survive until they could get the Social Security benefits," Meyer-Betts said.
Low funds
Much like its clients, Iowa Legal Aid suffers from a lack of cash. Funding shortages have been an ongoing problem for the agency, most recently a result of the national Legal Services Corp. doling out funds for programs based on the 2000 census.
"We turn away hundreds of people a month just because of limited resources," Groenenboom said.
In fact, the organization turns down about 10,000 people a year statewide, according to Iowa Legal Aid statistics.
Helping bridge the gap are lawyers in private practice who donate their time.
"The need is there, and I think the attorneys do it to give back to the community," said John McCoy, a Waterloo attorney who raises money for the organization and offers pro bono assistance for some of its clients.
Lawyers can assist at a regional office or take specialized cases offered by the Volunteer Lawyer Project in Des Moines. More than 2,700 lawyers provide $1.9 million worth of free legal services to Iowa Legal Aid clients every year, according to the agency.
Meyer-Betts said recent changes in state law are also making it easier for low-income residents to advocate for themselves in court. The first came last year when the Iowa Judicial Branch issued fill-in-the blank forms to help troubled couples without children filing for divorce without the need for attorneys.
The forms --- 94 pages for the person initiating the action and 79 pages for the responding spouse --- are available at www.judicial.state.ia.us/Self_Help/Family_Law.
Also last year, the Iowa Supreme Court allowed lawyers to "unbundle" services. That means an attorney can prepare paperwork or offer other limited assistance for a client without having to sign on for the duration of the case.
Iowa Legal Aid's Waterloo regional office plans to host workshops later this year to explain the developments.
Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.
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