The Campaign for Legal Aid

Equal Access to Justice for All

 "Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court Building. It is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society."
- Lewis Powell, Jr., during his tenure as President of the American Bar Association

The Campaign for Legal Aid

The Campaign for Legal Aid was launched by West Virginia attorneys in 2002 with the goal of making legal services the primary focus of charitable giving in the legal community.  Since the inception of the Campaign for Legal Aid, more than $1 million has been raised to support the quality programming provided by Legal Aid of West Virginia.

In recent years Legal Aid has experienced significant cuts to important funding sources.  The fact of the matter is that funds raised through the Campaign for Legal Aid plug the holes created by funding cuts in program budgets. 

Your contribution to the Campaign for Legal Aid, and contributions of others like you, will help ensure that as other funding decreases, programming and services for West Virginians most vulnerable citizens is maintained.  Simply put, you will help to ensure that low-income West Virginians will have access to justice. 

In these desperate economic times -- Legal Aid of West Virginia needs your support more than ever.  Please contact a Campaign Committee member or Legal Aid to make your contribution!

The Need for Support

Ensuring access to justice, regardless of a persons ability to pay an attorney, represents a major challenge for the justice system. Consider:

The poor population of West Virginia numbers over 328,000 person, fully 18% of the state's population. Almost 1 in every four children live in households where the income falls below the poverty line.

More than 31,000 elderly people live in poverty in West Virginia.

There is only one legal aid lawyer for every 6,500 poor persons in West Virginia. This compares to about one attorney for every 320 persons in the general population.

The American Bar Association estimates that tens of thousands of low-income households in West Virginia will face at least one or more problems annually where legal intervention would help, but for which no legal help is available.

Each year LAWV is able to help only about 6% of those low-income people eligible for legal assistance, simply because it lacks the resources to do more.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"
- Dr. Martin Luther King

The Need for Justice

Annually, LAWV helps more than 10,000 individuals and families through the work of attorneys and advocates.  Your contribution to the Campaign for Legal Aid will ensure that the thousands of West Virginians who are just one crisis away from complete ruin, will have a fighting chance!

Won’t you help Legal Aid fight… 

·         For a young mother and her two children to secure protection from her violent and abusive spouse.

·         For a severely disabled child to receive critical medical care.

·         For a woman with a terminally ill husband to understand the benefits she was entitled to so that she could keep her children in their home and feed them upon her   husband's death.

·         For a young mother to stay in vocational training so that she could learn the skills to find a good job and move off of welfare.

·         For a man with a mental illness living in Sharpe Hospital to briefly leave the hospital to attend his beloved mother's funeral.

·         For a younger woman living in a nursing home because of multiple medical needs, including early dementia, to be protected from financial exploitation by her husband, who was trying to take away her claim to any of her assets.

LAWV provides desperately needed legal help to the poorest members of our society. Over 80% of LAWV clients are women, most with children. Many of LAWV's clients have jobs - they are the "working poor." A substantial number are elderly and many are disabled. Without LAWV, they would have no where else to turn, finding themselves unable to cope with the complexities of our justice system.

Seeking Justice.  Changing Lives.

To watch the Campaign for Legal Aid video click here.

Contact Us

Campaign for Legal Aid
922 Quarrier Street
Charleston, WV 25301
(304) 343-3013 ext. 2154

"Never has there been a wider gulf between the need for legal services and the provision of legal services. All over the country, people are being forced into the street for lack of a lawyer."
- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor