Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation commissioned a legal needs study among low-income people living in Massachusetts. This study was the first in approximately ten years and was conducted by surveying 1800 households over the phone whose income was under 125% of the poverty guidelines and 200 additional households whose income was between 125% and 184% of the poverty guidelines. The study sought to identify the types of legal needs experienced by low-income households in the previous year as well as how these low-income households attempted to resolve their legal problems. The major findings of the study are as follows:
Massachusetts experienced a growing incidence of legal needs
Households took no action to address 45% of their legal needs
Legal assistance was infrequently used
Specific population segments had legal needs that differed from the overall population
Regional legal needs throughout the state varied only slightly
Since its publication, this study has been beneficial in bolstering support for funding legal services in the Massachusetts state legislature as well as providing individual programs with more focused statistics on local legal needs. Massachusetts' state planning body has also found this legal needs study particularly helpful as it continues to make policy recommendations for the statewide delivery of legal services. To learn more about this study, access the full study as a PDF document below.
Contact Information:
Lonnie Powers Executive Director Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation 11 Beacon Street, Suite 820 Boston, MA 02108 Phone: (617) 367-8544 Fax: (617) 367-8815 lpowers@mlac.org
LSC:
America's Partner for Equal Justice 
4.8mb) 