“Right to Counsel for Low-Income Tenants”
Monday, February 25, 2019
PRESENTED BY THE Philadelphia Bar Association’s 2019 Chancellor’s Forum
Recent Report Recommends $3.5 Million Annual Investment to Provide Legal Counsel for Low-Income Tenants at Risk of Eviction
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Philadelphia Bar Association, the oldest association of lawyers in the United States, announced today that this year’s first annual 2019 Chancellor’s Forum will bring together Philadelphia city leaders for a discussion centered around, “Right to Counsel for Low-Income Tenants.”
After commissioning an in-depth report, Economic Return on Investment of Providing Counsel in Philadelphia Eviction Cases for Low-Income Tenants, finding that the City of Philadelphia would save $45.2 million annually by investing $3.5 million to fund counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction, the Philadelphia Bar Association has publicly called on city leaders to provide a right to counsel for all Philadelphia residents facing eviction - regardless of income.
"We strongly urge our elected governmental leaders in the city of Philadelphia to help combat our eviction crisis by providing low-income tenants facing the loss of their homes with access to counsel. Funding counsel for low-income tenants has been proven to be one of the most effective measures in combatting homelessness due to eviction. We look forward to the budget process and to being a resource on this critical issue for our city," said Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Rochelle “Shelli” M. Fedullo.
WHAT: Philadelphia Bar Association’s 2019 Chancellor’s Forum - A discussion of how everyone in
our city should have the right to counsel regardless of income.
The forum will provide a detailed overview of the recent report’s findings and explore strategies to bring Philadelphia into the national right-to-counsel movement.
WHERE: Philadelphia Bar Association, 1101 Market St., 11th Floor Conf. Center
WHEN: Monday, March 11, 2019, 12 p.m. (lunch & registration at 11:30 a.m.)
WHO: Neil Steinkamp, Managing Director, Stout Risius Ross, LLP
Rasheedah Phillips, Managing Attorney, Housing Unit, Community Legal Services
Ethan D. Fogel, Dechert LLP.
Eva Gladstein, Deputy Managing Director for Health and Human Services, City of
Philadelphia
Moderated by Catherine C. Carr, Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Civil
Gideon and Access to Justice Task Force
The Philadelphia Bar Association’s 2019 Chancellor’s Forum is part of the 10thAnniversary celebration of the Civil Gideon and Access to Justice Task Force whose mission is to investigate and consider all aspects of an effective system, “civil Gideon” refers to a growing national movement to provide legal counsel, as a matter of right and at public expense, to low-income persons in civil legal proceedings where basic human needs are at stake, including involving shelter.