Legal Action of Wisconsin helps people facing eviction, victims of domestic violence, and people seeking pardons that can make them employable again. | Getty Images Creative

Often, people don’t realize their struggles have a legal component that a lawyer could help address in a civil suit.

But then, when they choose a civil recourse, it’s a rude awakening for many to learn that in civil court, the State is not obligated to provide them with an attorney if they can’t afford one, as it is obligated in a criminal case.

“I think that comes as a surprise to people,” said Rachel Fox Armstrong, Communication Director for Legal Action of Wisconsin, a nonprofit and the sixth largest law firm in Wisconsin, whose mission includes helping people who have a civil claim but can’t afford an attorney.

Qualifying for help from Legal Action of Wisconsin can be the game changer for many people. The group has helped Wisconsinites avoid illegal evictions that would have made them  homeless, helped obtain restraining orders to protect against domestic violence, and requested pardons that make people employable again.

The nonprofit operates mainly in the lower 39 counties of the state.

Applicants qualify if their income is equal to or less than 200% of the poverty level, or about $40,000 per year for a  family of four.

“There’s roughly a half-million in our state who would qualify for our services,” said Armstrong.

The group receives over 26,000 service requests annually but has to turn down most due to a lack of funding, but it still manages to serve 10,000-plus people each year.

Legal Action has 130 staff members, including 80 attorneys, and a network of 100 volunteers, primarily lawyers.

In 2024, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services produced a report on a year of monitoring restraining order requests in Dane County Circuit Court. The study found that those represented by an attorney were 74% more likely to obtain a restraining order than those representing themselves.

In court, some judges are not very patient with people who try to navigate the legal system without knowing the specific protocols or procedures.

“A lot of judges appreciate when we’re in the room because our legal system was really developed by attorneys for people with attorneys to navigate,” said Armstrong. People who show up to represent themselves in court often don’t know how the process works, and can slow things down for judges, who have to explain things, she said. “ It can be hard for them to figure out really how to administer justice when someone can’t work through the issue the same way a lawyer could in that situation.”

Armstrong said even opposing party attorneys want the other side to have legal representation so that procedures run smoothly.

Legal Action of Wisconsin focuses on housing, employment, warrants, public benefits, family law and consumer finance.

 “Our housing work is about protecting safe and affordable housing, and that in civil court is things like evictions, repairs, security deposit issues, mortgage foreclosure,” said Armstrong. 

The organization also often helps students with criminal record correction, obtaining pardons, and reinstating driver’s licenses.

Legal Action will also assist impoverished people who cannot pay a court debt by appealing to the court.

The group also helps clients obtain and keep public benefits for which they qualify. 

In the area of family law, Legal Action focuses primarily on victims of domestic violence.

“Our work can involve orders of protection, but it can also involve things like divorce or child support, or things that come along with someone who’s leaving domestic violence or trying to recover from that,” said Armstrong.

The non-profit also helps those facing consumer finance problems such as debt collection, medical debt collection, and consumer debt defense. In addition, Legal Action works on cases of wage garnishment, bankruptcy and  repossessions. The group also runs  a tax clinic that helps file disputes with the Internal Revenue Service.

Legal Action also has projects to serve  farmworkers and older adults, especially those facing financial and other abuse, and veterans. It also offers re-entry assistance for those being released from incarceration, including obtaining help receiving public benefits and other assistance that facilitates success on the outside. 

Impact of a pardon

For over a decade, Nick Fatsis of Madison has been steadily improving his education and work experience. However, there have been notable career roadblocks when potential employers do a background check and discover he has felony convictions stemming from forgeries he committed in 1982.

On his behalf, a friend anonymously approached Law for Learners, a service to students in several Wisconsin colleges for which Legal Action of Wisconsin acts as the primary service provider.

“I think that somebody who had known me for a while and knew all the changes that have been going on in my life in a positive way, kind of did that for me,” he said of the person who connected him to Legal Action of Wisconsin.

His criminal record, said Fatsis had “pigeonholed” him, preventing him  from advancing in his career. He would be able to gain entry-level jobs, but when he had a chance at a promotion, his criminal record ended up killing opportunities.

It wasn’t just career advancement that was being stifled –  his self-esteem was also damaged with that criminal record always reminding him of his past, regardless of the good he had done in society working for non-profits, including  JustDane Inc., where he helped -others with a criminal record avoid the stigma and other pitfalls that could derail  their progress. He also  worked as the director of men’s transitional housing for St. Vincent De Paul, helping men in a sober living center re-enter society after  prison and jail.

“It definitely affected my self-image of, you know, the image of myself, my self-esteem always felt like, even though I had done all the sentencing stuff, which included quite a long time of probation, I just never felt like the slate was cleaned, you know, I always felt like that was always hanging over my head,” he said.

Megan Sprecher, an attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin who focuses on the Student Legal Aid Project, worked with her team — a pro-bono volunteer attorney, a law student intern, and an undergraduate intern — to draft the application and gather documents for Fatsis’s pardon.

“We do this type of case for those students or prospective students so that they can get into their program, stay in their program, graduate, and then ultimately get a job in their career of choice,” said Sprecher, “and a job that’s actually going to help them support themselves and their family.”

Fatsis said obtaining his pardon encouraged him to pursue a bachelor’s degree at Southern New Hampshire University, where he will graduate this summer.

Fatsis was asked if he ever would have pursued a pardon by himself.

“Not at all,” he said. “Not only because of how intimidating it would have been for me, but just not knowing that it was even a possibility.”

Sprecher said anyone without legal knowledge can apply for a pardon, but it is a daunting task that can quickly become discouraging. Legal Action of Wisconsin has received several requests to help those who have begun the process but have gotten stuck.

“Often when I see the application, there are parts that just aren’t filled out,” Sprecher said. “They (applicants) are confused about the process. People are worried about what to say and if they are saying the wrong things.”

Financial impact

Armstrong noted a 2023 study by the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, “Economic Impact of Civil Legal Aid in Wisconsin.” The study found that every dollar spent on civil legal aid resulted in an economic benefit of $8.40 to the Wisconsin economy, helping to save on social services expenses, improve personal income and create stability.

“There’s just so many ways it helps the overall economy,” she said.

In particular, the study revealed the following economic impact:

•       $18 million in cost savings for governments, charities, lending institutions and others preventing crisis situations.
•       $73 million in direct economic benefits for disadvantaged households.
•       $14 million in direct return to health care providers.
•       $71 million economic multiplier impact for Wisconsin communities from dollars entering Wisconsin that are spent throughout the state, leading to revenue for businesses, which translates to jobs for Wisconsin workers.

Budget shortfalls

But for all the advantages of investing in civil legal aid, Legal Action of Wisconsin has had $1.3 million in federal Victim of Crime Acts (VOCA) cut from its budget as VOCA dollars are drying up for several agencies around the state and the nation, and funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) under the Biden Administration is also at an end.

“So we’re looking at, you know, a million plus dollars cut just to us that funded a lot of that domestic violence work, restraining order work we were talking about, and that’s going away,” said Armstrong, “and we have other federal funders that are warning us in this new administration we’ll be seeing major cuts, and so we’re hoping to expand our reach into more of those private donors and foundations, state funding, all these other buckets, because those federal buckets are really declining, and the need for our services just keeps rising.”

“It’s tough right now,” she added, “and then we’re seeing increased competition for the money that is out there, so the grant landscape has gotten a lot tougher because we’re all really in the same boat, all of us nonprofits.”

Not helping to relieve budget concerns, Armstrong said, most states fund civil legal aid, but Wisconsin does not.

 “In our state, we don’t have a line item in the state budget for civil legal aid even though our neighboring states do, and most states do, so we’re pushing for that,” she said.

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