Right to Counsel in Civil Cases Gets a Boost from the Governor

• Jurisdiction: California,United States
• Citation: Vol. 11 No. 2009 Pg. 03
• Publication year: 2009
• Pages: 03
• Year: 2009
• topic: Civil Rights,Family Law,Public Sector Law

California Bar Journal 2009.

CBJ - November 2009 #03. Right to counsel in civil cases gets a boost from the governor

California Bar Journal
November 2009

Right to counsel in civil cases gets a boost from the governor

Governor Schwarzenegger has signed into law the nation's first "Civil Gideon" statute, which provides a lawyer to people who cannot afford one in civil cases related to critical basic human needs.

The pilot project, AB590 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, expands to some civil cases the right to counsel that is already granted in criminal cases, as spelled out in the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Gideon v. Wainwright. The law, which creates a six-year pilot project that takes effect July 2011 and is paid for with court fees, is called the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act, after Schwarzenegger's father-in-law, who helped build the nation's legal services programs in the 1960s.

"I think this legislation is exceptionally important," said Feuer, who had firsthand experience with the legal needs of the poor as executive director of Bet Tzedek legal services in Los Angeles. "If you steal a box of Twinkies from a 7-11 and you're arrested, you're entitled to a lawyer. If your house is...