Legal-Aid Groups Suffer Due to the Economy

The economic meltdown and lower interest rates are resulting in a steep decline in funds for legal-aid nonprofit groups, reports the Associated Press.

Such groups depend on contributions from interest on money that lawyers hold in trust for their clients. Nationally, those funds added up to about $370-million last year, but advocates say that figure could drop by as much as 50 percent in 2009.

Some legal-aid groups have already begun cutting workers and reducing their caseloads, resulting in less assistance for their poor, elderly, and minority clients, reports the news service.