LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
COMMENTS ON THE OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL'S SEMIANNUAL REPORT
TO THE CONGRESS FOR THE PERIOD
OCTOBER 1, 2000 - MARCH 31, 2001
MAY 31, 2001
FOREWORD
I am pleased to transmit the comments of the Legal Services
Corporation ("LSC" or "Corporation") Board of Directors ("Board")
regarding the Semiannual Report of LSC's Office of Inspector
General ("OIG") for the six-month period of October 1, 2000 through
March 31, 2001.
LSC's Board recognizes the value of the Inspector General
function and remains committed to working with the OIG to achieve
our goal of providing high quality legal assistance to the poor of
our nation. We note, in particular, our support of the OIG's work
to strengthen LSC recipients' compliance efforts and Case Service
Reporting, which has resulted in increased accuracy in the
documentation of the performance of LSC recipients.
Douglas S. Eakeley, Chairman Legal Services Corporation May 31,
2001
MESSAGE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
During the reporting period, LSC made continued progress in its
State Planning Initiative. Building State Justice Communities: A
State Planning Report from the Legal Services Corporation, issued
in March 2001, highlights the state planning successes of 18 states
in developing coordinated plans to increase resources and services
to clients statewide.1 The report shows the variety of ways in
which these states have strengthened their equal justice systems,
providing models and inspiration for others. All 18 states improved
access to justice for low-income people, strengthened the quality
of legal services delivered by programs,2 and forged new and deeper
bonds among stakeholder partners in each state's civil justice
community.
Since 1998, LSC has restructured legal services programs in 24
states, and the number of LSC grant recipients has decreased from
269 in 1997, to 167 anticipated grantees (Basic Field and Native
American grants) in calendar year 2002.
LSC's State Planning Initiative is premised on the belief that
LSC-funded programs must:
?? function as a concerted, coherent, closely coordinated legal
assistance delivery system;
?? include other equal justice partners in the creation and
implementation of this coordinated delivery system;
?? develop additional resources to expand legal services;
?? incorporate the views of clients and key partners in making
major decisions about
how to design and implement a comprehensive system of high
quality legal services;
and
?? target legal services resources to achieve the greatest
measure of equal justice for clients and economically disadvantaged
people.
LSC's ultimate goal in this regard is to help grantees create
state communities of justice - integrated and coordinated legal
services delivery systems which
1 California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maine,
Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, West
Virginia.
2 'Programs', 'recipients', and 'grantees' are used
interchangeably in this report to refer to recipients of LSC
funding.
comprehensively improve grantees' delivery of services to
clients. LSC has made significant progress in this effort and
continues to assist recipients in improving the quality of legal
services nationwide.
To further its goal of expanding recipients' use of technology,
LSC is proceeding with its second round of Technology Initiative
Grants, it has consulted with grantees on the selection of case
management software which will accommodate merger-related
technology needs, and it has provided continued technology training
to recipients.
BACKGROUND
Legal Services Corporation
The Legal Services Corporation is a private, non-profit
corporation established in the District of Columbia by the Legal
Services Corporation Act of 1974, as amended ("the LSC Act"), 3 to
provide financial support for legal assistance in civil proceedings
to persons unable to afford legal services. LSC is governed by an
eleven-member bipartisan Board of Directors appointed by the
President of the United States with the advice and consent of the
Senate. The Board appoints LSC's President, who serves as the
Corporation's chief executive officer, subject to general policies
established by the Board.
The 1988 Amendments to the Inspector General Act of 1978 ("1978
Act") required LSC to establish an Office of Inspector General
("OIG") and extended specific provisions of the 1978 Act to LSC.
Accordingly, such an office was established by and for LSC. The
Inspector General is appointed by, reports to and serves under the
general supervision of LSC's Board of Directors.
Funding and Grant-Making Activities
LSC received a Congressional appropriation of $330 million for
FY 2001, with which it made grants to 207 programs to provide free
legal services to indigent persons across the country. Of the funds
received for FY 2001, $7-million will be used for client self help
and information technology.
3 42 U.S.C. ? ? 2996-2996l.
MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES
During this reporting period, LSC continued its efforts to
improve the efficiency of its competitive grant award system and
the effectiveness of the delivery of legal assistance by its
initiative for statewide planning and coordination of legal
services. The Corporation continued to demonstrate its ability to
ensure both compliance with program rules and regulations, and the
maintenance of high quality legal assistance to eligible
clients.
Strategic Directions
LSC continues to implement its five (5) year Strategic Direction
Plan ("the Plan"). Adopted by the Board of Directors on January 28,
2000, the Plan commits LSC to dramatically enhance the impact of
legal services programs throughout the nation by improving access
to legal services while enhancing their quality. The Plan
emphasizes LSC's State Planning Initiative, as well as the
increased use of technology, as significant strategies for
expanding access to, and availability of, civil legal services
throughout the United States. LSC is developing performance
measures to assess the ongoing effectiveness of its strategic plan,
and will undertake pilot projects in up to five programs in
2001.
Competition and State Planning
LSC's primary goals for the calendar year 2002 grants
competition are to refine the Request for Proposal ("RFP"),
simplify the applicant process for competing for LSC grants, and
obtain applicant information essential to maintaining a quality
legal services delivery system.
Several refinements have been incorporated into the RFP for 2002
funding, including: questions on applicant staff diversity; staff
recruitment and retention strategies; staff training; and applicant
strategic planning. RFP inquiries on technology are streamlined and
incorporated into the RFP form for technology, which allows LSC to
assess the technological capacities of the delivery system. The RFP
was also modified to obtain more comprehensive information on
sub-grantees that receive twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the
LSC grant award, and sub-grantees that deliver a full range of
services to a specific geographic area within the applicant's
service area. Evaluation weights assigned to RFP topics have been
restructured to correspond with the modifications made to the
RFP.
LSC continues to make the most use of available technology. The
RFP is fully electronic and is available from the Internet at
www.ain.lsc.gov. The technology used to capture and evaluate
information in response to the RFP permits LSC to compile and
assess key information about the delivery system at the program,
state, regional, and national level.
LSC continues to provide technical assistance to grantees in
many areas of state planning including, but not limited to,
development and implementation of state plans, resource
development, and mergers. During this reporting period, LSC
retained consultants to assist planning efforts in Florida, North
Carolina, New York, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Technical assistance contracts supported resource development
activities in Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska and the District of
Columbia. In March, LSC organized and sponsored a national 2-day
training on mergers attended by 90 participants.
These efforts have resulted in the development of additional
resources for civil legal services, new and more efficient ways of
providing legal information and advice to low-income persons, and
more effective and economical structures to assure equal justice to
greater numbers of Americans.
Technology Efforts
LSC is in the process of reviewing and awarding its second round
of Technology Initiative Grants ("TIGs"). It has received 95
applications with total grant requests of over $19-million, for
projects totaling $36 million. Twenty-three of these requests are
for implementation of statewide web site templates developed in the
FY 2000 grant competition. If funded, these projects would provide
the potential for half of the states to provide clients with legal
information and pro se resources on a statewide basis.
LSC continues to provide assistance to former recipients of
TIGs. In October 2000 and March 2001, LSC hosted meetings of TIG
recipients to discuss the administration of the grants.
Additionally, LSC has created a web site for the collaboration of
TIG recipients.
At the Equal Justice Conference ("EJC") held in March 2001 in
San Diego, LSC and the Project for the Future of Equal Justice held
the second Case Management Software pre-conference. The primary
goal of this gathering was to address issues generated by LSC's
State Planning Initiative and resulting mergers. At the meeting,
representatives from LSC and TIG recipients discussed the creation
of central databases for a program, region, or state, using various
applications such as WAN, SQL or Citrix.
During the reporting period, LSC provided technology training at
the Southeast Projects Directors meeting; the Committee On Regional
Training for Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia; the Indiana Access
to Justice Conference; the EJC; the National Legal Aid and Defender
Association; and the Management Information Exchange. It also
provided assistance to several states with the development of
statewide technology plans. Finally, in October 2000, LSC, in
conjunction with the National Center for State Courts, the State
Justice Institute, and the Open Society Institute, convened a
conference of representatives from legal services, state courts,
bar associations, and other community partners to forge
collaborations to advance pro se efforts in eight states.
Program Visits
To assure the provision of high quality legal assistance to
eligible clients, LSC's Office of Program Performance ("OPP")
instituted a written protocol for conducting program reviews. LSC
published a Program Review Guide to aid staff and consultants while
conducting on site recipient reviews. All program reviews are
conducted to enhance the purpose of the Corporation's Strategic
Direction Plan. The on site visits are conducted for the purpose of
program monitoring and development, to solve problems, and to
develop new strategies for expanding access and enhancing quality
of services to clients.
Ten programs were chosen for visits in 2001. One visit was
conducted in April; one is scheduled for May; two are scheduled for
June; two are scheduled for July; and one is scheduled for
September. Dates for three additional visits will be selected in
the near future.
'The Results Project'
'The Results Project' is aimed at gauging, for the first time,
the type and volume of work, other than the handling of cases, in
which LSC-funded programs engage. LSC has long noted that its
programs provide referrals and community legal education, engage in
outreach, and work cooperatively with other groups to address the
needs of the LSC client community. LSC recognizes that this work
entails great effort and produces significant results. 'The Results
Project' will enable LSC to describe and quantify that work. LSC
has endeavored to minimize the burden on programs in the collection
of this information through the design of a carefully developed
data collection instrument, the collection of information only once
a year, and through efforts to modify existing case management
systems to allow for collection of this information.
The project attempts to identify the number of people served by
the following types of work, and obtain descriptions of programs'
efforts and of successes.
?? Referrals; ?? Community legal education presentations; ??
Community legal education materials, articles and web sites; ?? Pro
se clinics, distribution of pro se materials including the
technologically enhanced
approaches; ?? Indirect services such as training to other (lay)
service providers and collaborative
service delivery models; and ?? Other services such as mediation
and alternative dispute resolution work.
The draft of the instrument to collect this information was
tested by 22 programs. LSC is in the process of reviewing the test
results in order to make appropriate improvements. Regular data
collection is scheduled to begin July 1, 2001.
Diversity
To better serve clients and strengthen program staff and
leadership sensitivity to client communities, LSC has convened a
series of conferences on diversity. These conferences will enable
program staff to examine the degree to which gender, race,
ethnicity and age have adversely affected the ability of some
clients to obtain critical legal services from LSC recipients. The
first conference was held on March 31, 2001 in conjunction with the
2001 Equal Justice Conference, and others are planned later in
2001.
Client Conference
In April 2001, just beyond the reporting period, LSC held a
three-day conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania, entitled "Creating
Client-Centered State Communities of Justice". The conference
provided a forum for the exchange of ideas about methods by which
the legal services community can better empower, strengthen and
enhance the lives of legal services clients. It convened client and
community advocates, as well as legal services staff who embrace
the concept of client-centered legal services.
Sixteen (16) conference papers were written by legal services
leaders across the country on topics that enhanced and enlightened
the conference discussions. The conference was attended by a
diverse group of more than seventy (70) individuals, comprised of
clients and client advocates, members of the bench and the academic
community, LSC board members and staff, and national partners.
Conference participants reflected a true cross section of the
country, with clients and advocates attending from more than
twenty-eight (28) states. As part of the participant solicitation
process, applicants were asked to commit to lead and participate in
at least one statewide activity that will promote positive, lasting
change in the client community.
LSC will publish a report on the conference in June 2001. The
report will capture the ideas, recommendations, and strategies from
the conference and serve as a possible guide to help clients and
advocates facilitate client-centered legal services delivery in
their communities.
Characteristics of Model Intake Systems
As a part of its effort to encourage and promote innovative
procedures, LSC is producing a listing of draft characteristics of
ideal telephone intake, advice, and referral systems. LSC and its
OIG have, for many years, been committed to promoting these
systems. In arriving at the draft characteristics, LSC staff
considered a variety of documents describing standards for intake
systems, including those published by the ABA and AARP. LSC also
solicited input from leaders in the area of intake systems and
presented the draft characteristics during a workshop on "Best
Practices" at the March ABA/NLADA Equal Justice Conference.
In early May 2001, shortly beyond the reporting period, LSC's
Office of Program Performance ("OPP") notified programs that it was
accepting comments to draft characteristics of a telephone intake
advice and referral system. The Draft Characteristics were posted
on the LSC Recipient Information Network and were sent to all
program directors via electronic mail. After considering comments
from recipients and advocates, OPP intends to publish the
characteristics in a Program Letter and use them as the best
practice standard when evaluating programs' intake systems.
Program Mergers/Consolidations
In anticipation of many program mergers or consolidations due to
the reconfiguration of service areas for 2002, LSC, along with the
National Legal Aid and Defender Association and the Management
Information Exchange sponsored a "Making Mergers Work" workshop
during the March ABA/NLADA Equal Justice Conference. Approximately
70 participants examined the practicalities of mergers and
consolidations; considered ways in which new service area
configurations can better serve clients; prepared for the
challenges of joining different program cultures and emerging with
an effective larger organization; and talked with peers about the
specific opportunities and problems they face. LSC staff presented
a session on LSC program requirements for mergers and
consolidations.
The Office of Program Performance has revised internal
procedures for handling program mergers/consolidations. LSC grant
conditions require that programs obtain LSC approval of a merger or
consolidation before LSC will allow the transfer of the grant from
one program to another. LSC's internal procedures for clearing
mergers and consolidations involve the work of several offices
within LSC including the Executive Office, the Office of Inspector
General, the Office of Compliance and Enforcement, the Office of
Legal Affairs and the Office of Information Management, with the
Office of Program Performance having primary responsibility for the
clearance process.
Shortly beyond the reporting period in May 2001, the Office of
Program Performance held a special telephonic conference for 2002
grant applicants involved in mergers/consolidations. This session
focused on how programs should complete grant applications, and the
new grant application requirements for applicants which anticipate
sub-granting part of the LSC grant during the grant year.
Rulemaking Activities
During the reporting period, LSC issued a revised final rule on
recipient fund balances, 44 CFR Part 1628. Under the final rule,
published on November 7, 2000, recipients will be permitted to
carry over fund balances of 10% or less; will be able to seek LSC
approval for carryover balances of between 10% and 25%; and will be
generally prohibited from retaining fund balances of over 25%,
except in three very limited and especially compelling
circumstances. The exceptions would be where the fund balance
overage results from the receipt of insurance proceeds; real estate
sale proceeds; or proceeds received as a result of a lawsuit in
which the recipient was a party. The new rule became effective on
December 7, 2000.
In addition, LSC has begun conducting a thorough review of LSC's
regulations. This project is consistent with the five-year
strategic plan, "LSC Strategic Directions 2000 -2005" which, among
other things, requires reviewing LSC's regulatory compliance
requirements for efficiency, unnecessary duplication and burden,
and implications for the delivery of high quality, appropriate
legal services. As part of this project, LSC solicited public
comment via notices published in the Federal Register and on the
LSC Website in November 2000. The review effort is still underway
and a final report is expected to be presented to the LSC Board for
consideration in June 2001.
TABLE 1
Management Report on Office of Inspector General Audits of
Grantees Issued With Questioned Costs For the Six Month Period
Ending March 31, 2001 TABLE 2
Management Report on Audit Reports Issued During The Six Month
Period Ending March 31, 2001, With Recommendations That Funds Be
Put to Better Use By Management Agreed to in a Management
Decision
