美府縮減預算 民事法扶遇困

游思麗

Room 607 at Bronx County Courthouse in New York isn't a typical courtroom. The judge's bench is empty, and the jury box, too. A fax machine stands where a court reporter might otherwise sit, and filing cabinets line one of the walls.
紐約布朗克斯郡法院607室跟一般的法庭不太一樣。法
官、陪審團的座位都空蕩蕩的；速記員的座位，放著
一台傳真機；檔案櫃佔據了一面牆。
A dozen homeowners and bank lawyers sit waiting for their cases to come up. When they do, they walk to one of two desks set up at opposite ends of the cavernous room to talk not to a judge but to a court attorney.These are foreclosure conferences: When a bank wants to foreclose on a home whose owner is behind on mortgage payments, in New York the case has to come here, to court. The purpose of a foreclosure conference is to try to reach an agreement to modify the loan and prevent the foreclosure.
幾位屋主和代表銀行的律師坐著等待。輪到自己的案子時，他們上前到深邃房間另一端的兩張桌子之一，和法院指派的律師（公設律師），而不是法官談話。這些都是法拍屋的會談：當屋主無法付款，銀行想要對抵押房屋執行時，在紐約他們都必須到法院來。這樣的法拍會談目標是要試著達到修改貸款條件以防止法拍房屋之協議。
Home foreclosures have soared in the US in recent years —first, because of the prevalence of subprime loans, and then because high unemployment and underemployment have caused more homeowners to fall behind. Last year, banks started foreclosure proceedings for nearly 3 million homes nationwide.
近年來美國法拍屋的數量爆增。次級房貸盛行、高失業率以及不充分就業造成愈來愈多屋主無力償還貸款。去年，銀行對全國3百萬間房屋展開強制執行程序。

LIMITED RESOURCES
有限的資源
In the US, the right to a lawyer paid by the state applies only for criminal cases, not civil cases like foreclosures. Though hundreds of organizations nationwide provide civil legal aid, these do not come anywhere near meeting the demand for such services. Across the US, civil legal aid providers serve only about one-fifth of the needs of low income Americans. New York City's largest civil legal aid provider, the Legal Aid Society, which has 1,400 employees, including 800 lawyers, can only help one out of every nine people who visit its offices seeking help.
在美國，州政府只會在刑事案件花錢幫當事人請律師辯護，強制執行之類的民事案件不包含在內。雖然全國數以百計的組織提供民事法律協助，這些提供的服務仍然遠遠不及於需求。這些法律協助只能滿足低收入美國人的民事法律案件需求的五分之一。紐約市最大的民事法律協助組織，紐約法律扶助協會（Legal AidSociety）有1,400名職員（包括800名律師），也只能協
助上門的每9人中的1人。
Moreover, the struggling economy over the past few years has exacerbated the problem: On the one hand, demand for civil legal aid has grown because of a rise in problems such as debt, foreclosures, and welfare needs.On the other, the major sources of funding for legal aid— federal and state grants, and IOLTA funds (special lawyers' accounts that pay interests toward civil legal aid)— have shrunk.
除此以外，過去幾年的經濟困難造成問題惡化：一方面，由於債務、法拍、福利需求造成民事法律協助的需求上升；另一方面，法律扶助的主要經費來源：聯邦以及州政府補助以及IOLTA基金（特約律師帳戶提供民事法律扶助孳息）萎縮。
In the latest blow, on Nov. 17 2011, Congress slashed $56 million in funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the congressionally-mandated agency that funds 136 civil legal aid providers nationwide. LSC funding pays for about 44 percent of civil legal aid in the US and is the single largest source of funding for these services. $56 million represents 15% of its budget.
更糟的是，2011年11月17日，國會刪除了法律服務組織（LSC）5千6百萬美元的預算。法律服務組織為國會設立的組織，負責補助全國136個法律扶助組織。法律服務組織的經費補助佔了美國民事法律協助的44%，是全美民事法律扶助服務單一最大經費來源。5千6百萬美元則佔了法律服務組織預算的15%。
Among the nonprofits that will lose funding is Legal Services NYC, New York's second-largest legal aid provider.
喪失經費補助的非營利組織中包括了紐約市法律服務（Legal Services NYC），紐約第二大法律扶助提供組織。
Legal Services NYC has suffered a wave of cuts. It lost 4 percent of its budget in 2011 and hundreds of thousands of dollars for 2012. It will also lose 20 percent of its LSC grant for 2013 and 2014 under changes to the government's formula for distributing LSC money. Now Congress' decision to cut LSC grants by 15 percent will mean even less funding.
紐約市法律服務面臨一波經費刪減。2011年，該組織的預算少了4%；2012年則少了數十萬美元。由於政府分配法律服務組織（LSC）補助的計算方式變動，補助紐約市法律服務的經費在2013年、2014年預計將減少20%。而國會刪減法律服務組織補助的15%代表的是其預算將雪上加霜。
Jill Siegel, a lawyer at Legal Services NYC, says the cuts are devastating not only to her organization but to the communities it helps. Legal Services NYC handles everything from foreclosures to wrongful（譯註一） cancellation of welfare benefits and child custody battles in domestic violence cases. Considering how complex the legal system is, navigating any of these proceedings without the help of a lawyer is like running an "obstacle course," she says.
紐約市法律服務的律師Jill Siegel表示，經費刪減對於該組織以及該組織協助的社群傷害甚大。紐約市法律服務處理的案件類別包括法拍、非法終止社會福利、家暴案中的孩童監護權等。她表示，要在這麼複雜的法律體系裡，不靠律師進行任何一項上述程序就像是跑
「障礙賽」一樣。
Siegel is the deputy project director at Legal Services NYC's Bronx division. The Bronx is New York City's poorest borough— and one of the poorest areas of the entire
United States.
Siegel擔任紐約市法律服務布朗克斯分部的計畫副主任；布朗克斯是紐約市最貧窮的一區，也是全美最貧窮的區域之一。

FORECLOSURES
法拍
At Bronx County Courthouse, in a small office next-door to Room 607, Legal Services NYC offers free legal counsel to low-income homeowners who risk losing their homes. Though the home ownership rate in the Bronx is low, the foreclosure rate here is high. The banks almost always have lawyers, but most of the homeowners don't.
布朗克斯郡法院607號房旁的一間小辦公室裡，紐約市法律服務提供可能失去房屋的低收入屋主免費法律諮詢。雖然布朗克斯的房屋所有率低，但是此區的法拍率卻很高。銀行幾乎都會聘請律師，但是屋主幾乎都沒有聘請律師。
Justin Haines, the director of the office, says foreclosure is "all about power dynamics."（譯註二）The loan conditions that banks offer are often so complicated that even lawyers have difficulty deciphering them. Without legal aid, homeowners are less likely to successfully negotiate a better loan.
該分部的主任Justin Haines表示，法拍就是「權力遊戲」。銀行設定的貸款條件常常複雜到連律師都不太容易搞懂。沒有法律扶助，屋主不太可能洽談到比較好的貸款條件。
This is true in most civil legal matters. In a 2009 report on the US "justice gap" — the number of Americans who need legal counsel but cannot afford it — the LSC presented
studies indicating that litigants with legal counsel fare better than those without.
民事法律案件中，這樣的現象隨處可見。關於美國的「正義的差距」—需要法律諮詢卻負擔不起的人數—法律服務組織（LSC）在2009年的報告中，指出有法律諮詢的訴訟當事人比沒有法律諮詢的當事人遭遇較好。
But Haines' office is understaffed and can only represent a small portion of the homeowners who ask for help. In most cases, the office only helps homeowners prepare papers to represent themselves in court.
但是Haines辦公室人手不足，僅能代理尋求協助的大量案件中的少部份案件。大部分案件中，辦公室僅能協助屋主準備文件在法院自行訴訟。
"I wish I had three times as much staff," Haines said. His office employs three full-time attorneys and two paralegals, and is unlikely to hire more anytime soon. It originally received state funding as part of a government program to prevent foreclosures, but last year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo cut the program. Legal Services NYC was only one of many nonprofits that lost funding.
Haines說：「真希望我有3倍的人力。」他的辦公室目前聘僱3名全職律師、2名法務助理，近期不太可能再新聘職員。該組織先前獲得州政府計畫補助以防止法拍，但是去年紐約州長Andrew Cuomo裁撤了該計畫。紐約市法律服務只是眾多喪失補助的非營利組織之一。

HOUSING COURT
住宅法院
The situation is similar at Housing Court, where landlords and tenants go to resolve rent and eviction disputes.
住宅法院的狀況也相去不遠；房東房客在這裡解決房租爭端或房屋收回訴訟。
At Bronx Housing Court, on a typical day, the courtrooms and hallways are packed with tenants waiting their turn before a judge. Sometimes the line to enter the courthouse winds out the door and along the front of the building.
布朗克斯住宅法院一般來說，法庭和走廊都擠滿了房客，等著輪到他們面對法官。有時進入法院的隊伍蔓延至門外、繞著建築物。
While the vast majority of the tenants do not have legalcounsel, the opposite holds true for the landlords.
絕大多數的房客都沒有委任律師，房東則相反。
"The landlords pay $150 an hour for a lawyer," said WandaSalaman, director of Mothers on the Move, a local nonprofit in the Bronx. "The tenants can't afford that."
布朗克斯當地的非營利組織Mothers on the Move執行長Wanda Salaman表示，「房東花每小時150元的代價聘請一名律師，房客付不起這樣的價錢。」
Residents in the area often come to Mothers on the Move for advice on eviction cases, and Salaman refers them to legal services providers for help.
當地居民常常到「Mothers on the Move」尋求關於房屋收回案件的建議，Salaman轉介這些居民至法律服務提供組織尋求協助。
Haines previously worked with such cases at the Housing Court office of the Legal Aid Society, New York's other main provider of civil legal aid. He spent most of his time asking the court to cancel unfair contracts between tenants and landlords. Some landlords compel tenants to sign agreements that they cannot read and do not understand, under threat of eviction. What the tenants, many of whom do not speak English, do not realize, is that in New York, their landlords cannot evict them without a court order, and getting a court order takes months. Judges will usually cancel any agreements that clearly violate the tenant's rights, but most tenants do not realize this, let alone know how to ask for this in court.
Haines先前在紐約法律扶助協會（紐約市另一個提供民事法律扶助的組織）的住宅法院辦公室處理這樣的案件。他花大部分的時間要求法院撤銷房東、房客之間不公平的契約。一些房東要脅收回房屋，迫使房客簽下他們看不懂或無法理解的契約。許多不說英文的房客不知道的是，在紐約，他們的房東沒有法院同意不能收回房屋，而取得法院同意通常需要好幾個月。法官通常會撤銷明顯危害房客權利的契約，但是許多房客並不知道這點，更別說要在法院主張此項權利。

WELFARE
福利
Likewise, having an advocate can make all the difference in public assistance cases. To receive public assistance (also called welfare), an individual or family must meet certain criteria and follow strict regulations for attending work training and other meetings. When the city government believes that a family or individual has violated welfare regulations, such as by skipping meetings, it suspends or cancels the benefits. But a 2010 study by the Urban Justice
Center, another New York legal aid provider, found that 86 percent of the city’s decisions to cancel benefits were incorrect. Many cancellations are the result of simple clerical errors by the Human Resources Administration, such as forgetting to write down that someone attended a meeting.
同樣的，有訴訟代理人在社會救助的案件中會造成相當不同的結果。要獲得社會救助（或稱福利），個人或家庭必須符合特定條件以及遵守參與工作訓練以及其他會議的嚴格規定。如果市政府認定某家庭或某人違反福利規定，例如缺席會議，就會暫停或取消福利。但是2010年都市正義中心（Urban Justice Center，另一個紐約的法律扶助組織）報告指出，市政府取消福利的決定中，有86%是錯誤的。許多取消福利的原因是人力資源局（Human Resources Administration）的辦事員工作失誤，例如忘了記錄某人曾參加會議。
Welfare cancellations can be appealed, but winning the appeal without a lawyer is tricky. Unfortunately, few legal aid providers have staff dedicated to helping with these appeals.
取消福利的決定可以被申訴，但是要在沒有律師的狀況下贏得申訴不容易。可惜的是，沒有多少法律扶助組織有專職處理該類申訴的職員。
Legal Services NYC has a small office in the Bronx dealing with welfare cases, but the office is severely understaffed. "We have to decide which cases would be more difficult for an unrepresented person," said Maryanne Joyce, a lawyer at the office. Joyce specializes in second appeals at Bronx Supreme Court（譯註三）.
紐約市法律服務在布朗克斯設有一間小辦公室，專門處理福利案件，但是辦公室人手嚴重不足。該辦公室的律師Maryanne Joyce表示，「我們必須決定哪些沒有律師的案子對當事人來說比較困難。」Joyce專門處理在布朗克斯法院的申覆案件。

TARGETED AND NON-TARGETED FUNDING
特定及非特定經費補助
Compared with other forms of civil legal aid, Joyce said resources for welfare cases are especially limited because much funding for legal aid comes from targeted programs.
One example was New York's budget for foreclosure prevention. Government programs like this offer funding for specific forms of legal aid — usually for causes with strong public support, like homeownership. Helping welfare recipients is not a popular cause.
Joyce表示，由於大部分法律扶助經費補助都是來自特定計畫，跟其他民事法律扶助比起來，處理福利案件的資源特別有限。一個例子為紐約預防法拍的經費預算。此類的政府計畫針對特定法律扶助補助經費——通常為擁有強力公眾支持的訴訟理由，例如房屋所有權。協助社會福利案主不是很受公眾歡迎的訴訟理由。
"It's not an area that people find compelling," said Joyce, whose unit has just two staff lawyers and one paralegal. "So it's not easy to fundraise."
部門只有２名律師以及１名法務助理的Joyce表示，「這不是人們覺得重要的領域，所以要募款不容易。」
This is why the LSC is so important. LSC funding is nontargeted. That means Legal Services NYC can apply LSC money where it's needed most, as long as it serves the population that qualifies for legal services under LSC regulations. Clients must fall below the income threshold of 125 percent of the national poverty line, or about $28,000 per year for a family of four.
這就是為什麼法律服務組織很重要：該組織的經費補助性質為非特定。也就是說，紐約市法律服務只要遵照法律服務組織規定服務需要法律扶助的人民，就可以向法律服務組織申請急需的經費。當事人收入必須低於全國貧窮線的125%或一家四口的家庭一年收入約2萬8千萬元。

IOLTA FUNDS
IOLTA基金
Another key source of funding is IOLTA (interest on lawyers trust accounts), a system of collecting interest on special bank accounts to pay for civil legal aid. But IOLTA funds — or, in New York State, IOLA (interest on lawyer account) — have suffered in recent years, too.
另一個關鍵的經費來源為IOLTA基金（律師信託帳戶的利息），該基金為自特約銀行帳戶收取孳息以提供民事法律協助經費。但是IOLTA基金，或者紐約州的IOLA基金（律師帳戶利息）近年來也面臨損失。
IOLTA programs, which exist in all 50 states, work like this: When a client entrusts his lawyer with funds, if the amount is too small to earn interest, the lawyer holds the money in an IOLTA account. The account gathers interest by holding small sums of money for many clients. IOLTA programs fund civil legal aid providers without costing taxpayers, lawyers, or clients a dime. In most states, lawyers are required to participate in the program.
全美50州的IOLTA計畫如下運作：當一名客戶將資金交給律師託管時，如果資金不多、無法產生孳息，律師會將資金存入IOLTA帳戶。該帳戶收納許多客戶的小額資金而後孳息。IOLTA計畫提供資金給法律扶助提供組織，不花納稅人、律師、客戶的錢。許多州都要求律師加入該計畫。
Back in the heady days of the real estate boom, IOLTA accounts were doing exceedingly well. "I started in 2005," Haines said, referring to his previous job at the Legal Aid Society. "And in 2007, we were all dreaming, finding the holes in our work." The Legal Aid Society was busy expanding and improving its services.
在不動產榮景期間，IOLTA帳戶表現相當不錯。Haines談到先前在紐約法律扶助協會的工作時表示，「我從2005年開始工作；2007年，我們都在夢想能找到我們工作中的漏洞。」紐約法律扶助協會那時忙著擴充和改進服務。
Then the market collapsed. IOLA, which supports around 70 legal aid organizations, held $32 million in 2008. A year later, it held $6.5 million. Legal aid providers found themselves struggling just to maintain the same level of services. To mitigate the crisis, the New York state judiciary injected funding. For 2010-2011, it provided $15 million.
市場衰退後，2008年擁有3千2百萬美元、補助近70個法律扶助組織的IOLA，一年後只剩6百5十萬美元。各個法律扶助組織都很勉強地盡力維持相同水準的服務。為了減輕危機，紐約州司法部門投注了經費。2010至2011年，州司法部門總共投入了1千5百萬美元。

COST-EFFICIENCY
成本效益
At a protest outside Manhattan Supreme Court in November, lawyers, homeowners and state senators called on Governor Cuomo to reinstate funding for foreclosure prevention services. A resident of Brooklyn spoke in tears about how a flood ruined his home, but his insurance company would not pay for the damage until a legal aid lawyer helped him.
11月曼哈頓法院外的一場抗議中，律師、屋主以及州參議員要求州長Cuomo恢復補助法拍預防服務。一名布魯克林的居民哭訴，在法律扶助律師協助之前，保險公司拒絕理賠因水災受損的房屋。
The demonstrators' message to the governor was simple: Cutting state funding for legal aid does not save money in the long run.
抗議者對州長的訴求很簡單：刪減法律扶助經費長期下來不會節省經費。
In 2008, the IOLA office released a study of the direct financial benefits that result from legal aid programs in New York. Benefits include, for example, saving money on homeless shelters by helping tenants avoid eviction from their apartments. In total, the office concluded that $200 million worth of legal aid produced $430 million in economic benefits and savings.
2008年，IOLA辦公室公佈報告，指出因紐約法律扶助計畫而獲得的直接財政利益。這些利益包括，幫助房客免於房屋被收回而節省花在收容所的經費。總的來說，投注2億美元到法律扶助服務，創造了4億3千萬美元的經濟效益和儲蓄。
In the case of foreclosures, Haines says legal aid pays off because foreclosures reduce the city's tax base and lower the property value of the neighborhood.
Haines表示，法拍的案例中法律扶助也有經濟實益。因為法拍會減少稅基，也降低該社區的房地產價值。
Foreclosures also increase homeless shelter costs, since many families that land in debt and lose their homes end up in emergency shelters. Homelessness is currently at its worst in New York City since the 1930s: More than 40,000 people are homeless, and about 10 percent of them lost their homes through foreclosures. The city is required by court order to provide emergency shelter for all homeless families and individuals.
由於許多負債、失去房屋的家庭最後待在緊急收容所，法拍也造成收容所成本提高。目前紐約市無家可歸的人數是1930年代以來最高的：超過4萬人無家可歸，其中10%因為法拍而無家可歸。市政府被法院要求必須要提供無家可歸的個人或家庭提供緊急收容所。
Legal aid supporters say Governor Cuomo should have factored in these costs before deciding to cut funding for the state's foreclosure prevention program. State Senator Adriano Espaillat said compared to the losses in tax revenue and property value caused by foreclosures, spending $25 million on the program "is a drop in the bucket."
法律扶助的支持者認為州長Cuomo在決定刪減州法拍預防計畫的經費前，應該要考量這些成本。州參議員Adriano Espaillat認為，跟法拍造成的稅收損失和房價下跌比起來，花在預防計畫上的2千5百萬美元「簡直就是滄海一粟」。
At the protest in November, one demonstrator held up a sign that summed it up like this: "Every home saved = a stronger economy."
11月的抗議中，一名抗議者舉起牌子，寫著：「住者有其屋，經濟一定強（Every home saved = a stronger economy）」。