A tale of two offices: Adaptation strategies of selected LSC agencies

Between 1995 and 1998, restrictions placed by Congress led to many changes in the activities and organization of law offices funded by the Legal Servi ces Corporation (LSC). The impact of these restrictions was intensified as a result of significant funding cuts. Congressional restrictions and fundin g cuts differentially affected two LSC-funded offices. one of the two offic es, more oriented than the other toward "cause " litigation, split into two unequal parts, the larger of which-refusing LSC funding-intensified its pu rsuit of cause litigation. The other office found a way of delegating cause litigation, while preserving its standard program of client representation If the LSC critics had hoped, as many claim, to diminish effective represe ntation of generic legal needs of the indigent, they did not succeed in one of the offices and had limited success in the other.