The American Bar Association
Legal Needs Study

The ABA Study consists of:

• A survey done for the ABA Consortium on Legal Services and the Public by the Institute for Survey Research at Temple University, and

• An analysis of survey results performed by the Consortium with the assistance of Albert H. Cantrell and a group of advisors, many with extensive legal services experience.

Survey information was collected via a) telephone interviews of 1,525 persons from low income households and 1,259 persons from moderate income households, and b) face-to-face interviews of 300 persons in households that did not have telephones. "Low income" households were defined as households whose income did not exceed 125% of poverty (See note 1). "Moderate income" households were those whose income was above 125% of poverty but below $60,000 per year. Interviews were conducted between February and July, 1993, in both English and Spanish; 5% of the interviews were conducted in Spanish (2).

Participants in the survey were a representative sample of all US households with incomes below $60,000. As is the case for all census based surveys, persons who are not counted in the census (chiefly, those in institutions—state hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, etc.—and on active military duty) were not included in the survey. Homeless people were included, at least to some extent: 11% of the households interviewed by telephone, and 25% of the households interviewed face-to-face, reported being homeless or "doubling up" (temporarily living with another family) in the year preceding the date they were interviewed.

Three reports present, analyze and comment on the results of the survey:

According to the ABA survey, 47% of low income households have one or more active legal situations (3).

The 47% rate is prevalence—the total number of active needs, regardless of when the need occurred. The ABA Study also contains data on incidence—the number of active problems that originated during the last 12 months. Because prevalence more accurately reflects the situation faced by households with legal needs, prevalence data is used in this document (note 4).

Chart 1: Low Income Households with Legal Needs

Low income households with legal needs had an average of 2.3 legal situations each (note 5). This compares to 2.0 legal situations per moderate income households with legal needs (note 6).

Table 1 shows the kinds of legal needs found in low income households (note 7).

These findings are similar to those from other surveys, with two exceptions:

1. The "community and regional" category did not appear in earlier surveys. This category contains such needs as a) environmental hazards that pose a threat to health or safety or reduce property values; b) location of an undesirable public facility (e.g. a prison or a sewage treatment plant) in a neighborhood; c) inadequate municipal services; and d) ineffective police protection.
2. The prevalence rate for "public benefit problems" is higher in other surveys. The Institute for Survey Research rechecked survey questionnaires to verify that the figure shown was correct; it was. The proportion of public benefit recipients in the sample was almost exactly the same as the proportion of benefit recipients in the US population (note 9).

The legal needs of moderate income families were strikingly similar to those of low income families. Moderate income families reported significantly more needs for only three categories: employment; personal and economic injury; and wills estates and personal directives. Low income households reported significantly more needs only in the public benefits category (note 10).

The households with the most legal needs were clustered just below, and just above, 125% of poverty (note 11).

Chart 2 shows the ways low income households with legal needs respond to legal needs.

Chart 2: Low Income Households: Response to Legal Needs

Table 2 shows low income households’ satisfaction with the results obtained by their response to a legal need (note 12):

Table 3 shows the same information, but by type of legal need (note 14):

The highest rates of dissatisfaction were in community/regional: 71%; employment related: 67%; and health/health care: 64%. Three of the categories with the highest rates of satisfaction are family/domestic; personal/economic injury; and wills/estates. As will be seen in Table 9, low income households with these needs are the most likely to have the assistance of a lawyer.

Table 4 shows the reasons low income households were dissatisfied with the outcome of their actions (note 16).

Moderate income households were significantly less dissatisfied with the outcomes obtained: 54% were satisfied with the outcome (compared to 38% of low income households) and 38% were dissatisfied (compared to 53% of low income households) (note 17). The differences can be attributed to:

"Unmet need" can be defined in two ways (note 18):

This section provides additional detail on what happens when legal needs of low income people enter the justice system.

Chart 2 showed that 31% of all legal needs in low income households are taken into the legal/judicial system. As Table 5 shows, 68% of those needs were taken to an attorney (note 19).

Legal needs shown as "taken to a court or hearing body without an attorney or mediator" includes some pro se litigants (people who represent themselves in court without an attorney), but the proportion of pro se litigants can not be determined from the ABA Study. It is likely that most of the people in this category simply went to their local courthouse to seek assistance; the vast majority did not receive any help (note 20).

Of the needs taken to attorneys, about three quarters involved a private attorney, and about 25% were handled by a legal services program (note 21).

Most low income households represented by a private attorney pay a fee for legal assistance (note 22).

Chart 3 shows the information in Tables 5 through 7 in graphical form.

Chart 3: Low income legal needs in the legal/judicial system

Table 8 shows the distribution of attorneys by category of legal need (note 24). (In all categories not shown, less than 1% of legal needs have a lawyer).

Chart 4 summarizes the information in Table 8.

Chart 4: Percent of all legal needs with a lawyer

Chart 4 confirms what many have long suspected—low income households use attorneys in the same way as others: for family matters, for personal injury, and for wills and estates (which is not shown on the chart, but ranks third in frequency of use of attorneys).

The fact the private attorneys handle about three times more legal needs than legal services attorneys is the most surprising finding in the ABA study. Actually, a little analysis shows that this situation is not at all surprising. Consider the kinds of needs that low income households most often take to attorneys: family/domestic, personal/economic injury, and wills and estates. Personal/economic injury are fee generating cases that cannot be handled by legal services attorneys. Because of the very high demand for family/domestic assistance, legal services programs generally restrict representation to situations in which abuse has occurred. And many legal services programs do not handle wills and estates.

Second, consider how low income persons made contact with their private attorney:

In essence, nearly three-quarters of low income people with an attorney obtain those services because they knew the attorney, or because they have a friend who knew an attorney. This also helps explain the large amount of pro bono assistance provided by private attorneys (see Table 7).

1. The US Census Bureau determines the official rate of poverty ("100% of poverty") each year.

2. For full information on the methods used to select and adjust the sample, see the Appendices of Low-Income Legal Needs and Moderate Income Legal Needs.

3. Low Income Legal Needs, Table 4-1, page 19.

4. Incidence rates are used to project future demand for legal services.

5. Low Income Legal Needs, Table 4-2, page 19.

6. Moderate Income Legal Needs, Table 4-2, page 19.

7. Adapted from Low Income Legal Needs, Table 4-3, page 21. The percentages shown differ slightly from those in the ABA reports. The ABA reports track "legal situations"—the occurrence of a legal need in a low income household. Some legal situations, such as a marital dispute, generate two legal needs. This document shows legal needs, rather than legal situations.

8. See Appendix E, "Glossary" in Low-Income Legal Needs for a list of the specific issues in each category

9. The survey first determined if the respondent received any of 7 public benefits (Social Security or SSI; Medicare; Medicaid; "welfare for families or individuals"; Food Stamps; or "any other government-administered benefit program". If the respondent answered that the household receive one or more benefits, he or she was then asked whether the household had experienced any problems applying for, getting, or keeping a benefit; been required to pay back money; been denied information to challenge a ruling or been unable to get a hearing; been treated unfairly in a hearing; or experienced "other serious difficult[ies]".

10. For a chart comparing the prevalence of legal needs in low and moderate income households, see Agenda for Access, Chart 6, page 23.

11. For a discussion of the needs of groups just below and above the 125% limit, see Agenda for Access, page 24.

12. Low-Income Needs, p. 58. Does not add to 100% because "Can’t say/pending" data omitted from table.

13. Column does not add to 100% because some households responded in more than one way.

14. Ibid.

15. A range rather than a specific figure is shown because the sample for this legal need was too small to permit use of a single statistic. The range shows the "95% confidence level"; that is, there is a 95% probability that the number of satisfied people falls somewhere between 44% and 64% of all people who did something related to wills, estates or advanced directives.

16. Low-Income Needs, p. 59.

17. See Moderate Income Legal Needs, Table 5-14, page 56.

18. For a more complete discussion of unmet need, see Agenda for Access, page 6.

19. Low Income Needs, p. 52.

20. From Lonnie Powers, who served as an advisor to the ABA Consortium during analysis of the data. Lonnie was very clear that only a small part of the 19% shown in the table are pro se litigants.

21. Agenda for Access, p. 26.

22. Low Income Needs, Table 5-12, page 56.

23. If situations in which a private attorney provides free initial consultation but does not agree to take the case are included, then the percentage of pro bono is 48%.

24. Total needs from Comprehensive Findings, p. 20. Needs with a private or legal services attorney, from Agenda for Access, p.27.