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3 Cardozo Pub. L. Pol'y & Ethics J. 699 (2004-2006)
Why People Who Face Losing Their Homes in Legal Proceedings Must Have a Right to Counsel

handle is hein.journals/cardplp3 and id is 709 raw text is: WHY PEOPLE WHO FACE LOSING THEIR HOMES IN LEGAL PROCEEDINGS MUST HAVE A RIGHT TO COUNSEL Andrew Scherer* To no one will We sell, to no one will We deny or delay, right or justice. -Magna Carta (1215)1 The right to be heard would be, in many cases, of little avail if it did not comprehend the right to be heard by counsel. -Powell v. Alabama (1932)2 Everyone needs a place where they can live with security, with dig- nity, and with effective protection against the elements. Everyone needs a place which is a home. -Nelson Mandela (2003)' Executive Director, Legal Services for New York City (ascherer@lsny.org; 646-442-3606) The author is indebted to Laura Abel of the Brennan Center on Justice at New York University Law School, who co-authored the discussion of social science research in New York City in this article and whose comments on the remainder of the article were enormously helpful, and to Jonathan Siegelbaum of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, for his legal research on potential bases for appointment of counsel in civil cases under New York law. The author also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Sharon K. Samuel, a second year student at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, for her helpful research assistance and the assistance of Blossom Lefcourt, Senior Articles Editor of the Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal, for her thorough and very helpful editing of a series of drafts of this article. The author takes inspiration for this article from members of growing movement to advo- cate for the right to counsel in civil litigation on the national and local levels. A National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, comprised of legal services, legal aid and other public interest lawyers, private attorneys and academics, has been organized by Debra Gardner of the Public Justice Center of Maryland and Deborah Perluss of the Northwest Justice Project. A New York City group of advocates, focused on the right to counsel for tenants in Housing Court, has been organized by Lisa Rubin of N.Y. City Councilmember Alan Gerson's office at the council member's behest, with much of the work shouldered by Laura Abel of the Brennan Center. The energy, determination and wisdom of the advocates involved in these efforts will, I am confi- dent, lead to monumental advances toward equal justice for all. 1 Magna Carta § 40, in A.E. DICK HowARD, MAGNA CARTA: TEXT AND COMMENTARY 45 (U. Pr. of Virg. 1998) (1964). 2 287 U.S. 45, 68-69 (1932). 3 Nelson Mandela, Foreword to NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON HOUSING RiGHTS xvii (Scott Leckie ed., 2003).

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