MALS was formed here more than 30 years ago. Today, 14 staff attorneys, 26 office workers and 21 University of Memphis third- year law students work out of rented offices in the old Claridge Hotel building at 109 N. Main. Offices are spartan. There are no lush rugs or stylish furniture. The large table in the conference room is simple varnished wood. Offices are small and mostly plain, except for the eclectic mix of pop art, African statuary and neon that adorns litigation director Webb Brewer's space. Brewer, who has been at the agency 20 years, said there is a need for lawyers of all stripes to help with the problems of the poor. "The private bar could meet more of the need through pro bono work, but there are still cases that involve the systemic problems for low-income people that we would need to do," said Brewer. "The legal system marketplace just doesn't serve low-income people too well, except in fee-generat-ing type cases," Brewer said. "If a poor person gets run over by a bus, an attorney might take that case because they might be able to recover part of the damage award as attorney fees. But so many of the cases we handle have to do with basic rights and a decent life. There is just no profit motive." Larry Pivnick, law professor at the University of Memphis Law School and director of political programs at MALS, said Legal Services is a great learning laboratory for law students. "There are thousands and thousands of people who have problems that never get an opportunity to appear in court," Pivnick said. "Some people may not be particularly articulate. Courts have rules that clients don't always understand." Brewer said a major focus of the agency's work involves housing. "Although a lot of our work is grant-driven, we find that the lack of safe and decent affordable housing and the prevalence of predatory lending are the biggest problems in our client population," Brewer said, referring to clients such as James.

Question: "What type of cases does MALS usually handle?"

Response: "Law students"
OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

A: no

The letterhead on correspondence still bears the Bexar County Legal Aid name, even though the organization is no longer. Texas Rural Legal Aid - known for its fearless and sometimes controversial advocacy of the poorest of the poor - last week took over four other corporations serving the legal needs of the indigent in Southwest Texas, including the one in Bexar County. The new 68-county legal aid organization has yet to be named and stretches from El Paso to Corpus Christi, Harlingen to Austin. The leader for the super-sized law firm has big plans. "I'm more interested in looking at what we as advocates can do to address the serious problems of poverty than the number of cases we close," said David Hall, the TRLA executive director. In the Rio Grande Valley, Hall's attorneys set up separate groups to assist small-business owners and residents with low-interest loans and legal representation. They also operate a legal arm that assists migrant workers from Texas to Kentucky. Now, Hall said, he wants to make services to the poor more efficient by working with law students who will handle less complicated legal matters, allowing licensed attorneys to take more "high impact" cases to court. "What we need to do is handle cases as efficiently as we can, leveraging the amount of time of the lawyer that goes in there and maximizing the number of people that they can help at one time," Hall said. His plan is to place the 110 attorneys on staff in teams working on specialized legal issues. He wants to expand the law clinic it already has with St. Mary's University Law School to involve students at the University of Texas Law School. The law students at St. Mary's interview potential clients, assist them with filling out legal documents and answer the telephones for the legal hotline, freeing up TRLA lawyers to handle the complicated cases, Hall said. By the end of September, Hall said all the attorneys working with the poor in the 68county area will be placed on the same computer network so they can pass cases to the best available attorneys. Last year, board members on the former Legal Aid of Central Texas and Bexar County Legal Aid resisted the merger, saying that the mergers were done illegally and without the input of board members. They also argued that Hall's litigious style hampered their ability to garner funds from Congress. TRLA generated controversy in 1996, when its attorneys challenged the rights of 800 military personnel to vote in Val Verde County elections by absentee ballot after a former Ku Klux Klan member won a county commissioner post. Brendan Gill, the former executive director of the Bexar County group, said he has since come to see the merger as a positive move for South Texas. "I always knew there were good points to merging, just as I knew that there were bad points," Gill said.

Question: "What are the functions of Hall's firms in the Rio Grand Valley?"

Response: "Addressing the serious problems of poverty"
OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

A: no

New York (CNN) -- Three defendants pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiring to defraud a Holocaust reparations organization out of $57.3 million, according to court documents. Genrikh Kolontyrskiy, Moysey Kucher and Dora Kucher, all of Brooklyn, helped produce and process some of the thousands of fraudulent applications for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany that are under investigation. The organization, also known as the Claims Conference, distributes more than $400 million a year from funds provided by the German government to victims of the Holocaust. "Our efforts to hold to account all of the individuals who participated in defrauding an organization that exists solely for the purpose of aiding victims of Nazi atrocities continues," said Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement. The defendants aided in defrauding two funds managed by the Claims Conference, the Article 2 Fund and the Hardship Fund, of $45 million and $12.3 million, respectively, according to court documents. The Article 2 Fund makes monthly payments of around $400 to survivors of Nazi persecution who make less than $16,000 per year "and either lived in hiding or under a false identity for at least 18 months," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's office. The Hardship Fund pays a one-time payment of $3,500 to "victims of Nazi persecution who evacuated the cities in which they lived and were forced to become refugees." Kolontyrskiy, 80, knowingly processed fraudulent applications for payment while employed with the Article 2 Fund, according to court documents. Moysey Kucher, 66, and Dora Kucher, 58, recruited individuals to provide identification documents that were used to prepare fraudulent applications for both funds, in exchange for money paid out to the false applicants, according to court documents. Jesse Siegel, Kolontyrskiy's attorney, said his client was by no means a major instigator, but he takes responsibility for his actions.

Question: "What did the material contain?"

Response: "Holocaust reparations by Europe"
OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

A:
no