The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a private, nonprofit, federally funded corporation that helps provide legal assistance to low-income people in noncriminal (i.e., civil) matters. The LSC is governed by an 11-member board appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, of whom no more than six members may be of the same political party. The primary responsibility of the LSC is to manage and oversee the congressionally appropriated federal funds that it distributes in the form of grants to local legal services providers, which in turn give legal assistance to low-income clients in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and Micronesia (which includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau). The federal government has administered a program of legal services for the poor since 1966. Originally, the program was administered through the Office of Economic Opportunity, a now-defunct agency that had led the War on Poverty in the mid-1960s. In 1971, President Nixon proposed establishment of a separate corporation to deliver legal services to insulate the program from political pressure. Authorizing legislation was enacted in 1974 ( P.L. 93-355 ), and the LSC came into existence the following year. In 1977, the LSC was extended through FY1980 ( P.L. 95-222 ). Although Congress has not reauthorized the LSC statute since FY1980, it has continued to fund LSC every year, and has included legislative language affecting LSC activities in the annual appropriations laws. The LSC does not provide legal services directly. Rather, it funds local legal services providers, referred to by the LSC as "grantees." Grantees may include nonprofit organizations that have as a purpose the provision of legal assistance to eligible clients, private attorneys, groups of private attorneys or law firms, state or local governments, and certain sub-state regional planning and coordination agencies. During 2015, the LSC funded 134 local programs in 812 offices employing about 4,591 attorneys. Each local program is governed by its own board of directors, of which a majority are attorneys and one-third are eligible clients. Local programs establish their own priorities and financial eligibility criteria subject to the LSC limits that stipulate that clients served may not have household income that exceeds 125% of the federal poverty guidelines, with limited exceptions for some household incomes of up to 200% of those guidelines. Each local program must spend an amount equal to at least 12.5% of its basic grant to encourage private attorneys to provide pro bono legal aid to the poor. Since 1996 ( P.L. 104-134 ), LSC grantees (i.e., legal services agencies/providers/programs) have been selected on a competitive basis. Under the LSC's competitive process, legal services providers in every jurisdiction bid to become the LSC grantee for a designated service area in a state. Pursuant to its 1998 State Planning Initiative, the LSC has sought to streamline its delivery system. During the competition process, the LSC evaluates applications according to established quality standards and awards grants to those providers judged best qualified to provide high-quality legal services in accordance with applicable legal requirements. Federal regulations (Title 45 C.F.R. Part 1634) stipulate the procedures to be followed in awarding LSC grants. Grants are made for one to three years. Multi-year awardees must submit reports and grant renewal forms as part of the annual grant renewal process. Before the implementation of the 1998 State Planning Initiative, LSC grantees often were unaware of other LSC grantees in the state. Work and training collaborations and other cooperative endeavors were rare among LSC grantees in the same state, and practically nonexistent among LSC grantees in other states. Further, most legal services programs only had superficial relationships and minimal contact with law firms and local judges. In anticipation of reduced federal funding, the LSC first encouraged and later directed grantees to form partnerships with the judiciary, private bar associations, and with each other. The 1998 State Planning Initiative was the means by which the LSC sought to ensure that LSC funds were efficiently and effectively used to provide legal services to poor persons in all areas of the states and jurisdictions. Pursuant to the 1998 Initiative, the LSC made participation in statewide civil legal services delivery systems a condition of receipt of LSC funding. It is generally agreed that poor persons in need of legal assistance have benefitted from the LSC's statewide delivery system approach. The LSC has done this by requiring federally funded legal services providers to coordinate their work with other persons and organizations within a state, including groups historically considered funding "competitors" (other nonprofit organizations and non-LSC legal services programs) or "unlikely partners" (judges, legislators, bar leaders). Since its inception, the legal services program has been controversial, and Congress has imposed restrictions on activities of local attorneys. The authorizing statute contains restrictions against lobbying; political activities; class actions except under certain conditions; assisted suicide activities; and cases involving abortion, school desegregation, and draft registration or desertion from the military. Additional restrictions have been included in appropriations laws each year. Under the current appropriations law, LSC grantees may not engage in partisan litigation related to redistricting; attempt to influence regulatory, legislative, or adjudicative action at the federal, state, or local level (however, a few activities are permissible using non-LSC funding); attempt to influence oversight proceedings of the LSC; initiate or participate in any class action suit; represent certain categories of aliens; conduct advocacy training on a public policy issue or encourage political activities, strikes, or demonstrations; engage in litigation related to abortion; represent clients in eviction proceedings if the eviction was based on drug-related activities; represent federal, state, or local prisoners in litigation; participate in efforts to reform a federal or state welfare system; or solicit clients. LSC grantees must establish priorities, and staff must agree in writing not to engage in activities outside these priorities. Federal law prohibits the LSC from receiving nonfederal funds, and grantees are prohibited from receiving non-LSC funds, unless the source of funds is told in writing that these funds may not be used for any activities prohibited by the LSC Act or the appropriations law. Legal services provided through LSC funds are available only in civil matters to individuals with household incomes of less than 125% of the federal poverty guidelines. The LSC places primary emphasis on the provision of routine legal services. Legal services cases deal with a variety of issues, including family-related issues (divorce, separation, child custody, support, adoption, spousal abuse, child abuse or neglect); housing issues (landlord/tenant matters, foreclosures); welfare or other income maintenance program issues (Supplemental Security Income, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, unemployment compensation benefit claims); consumer and finance issues (debt collection, bankruptcy); and other issues such as health coverage and employment matters. During 2015, legal services attorneys closed 755,774 cases. Family issues such as divorce and separation, custody and visitation, domestic abuse, and child support were the substance of 31.9% of cases handled by field offices; housing issues, including eviction cases, comprised 28.3% of cases; income maintenance issues represented another 10.6% of cases; and consumer finance comprised 10.3% of cases. Issues related to health coverage (4.2%), employment (3.1%), individual rights (2.5%), juveniles (1.9%), education (0.8%), and other miscellaneous categories (6.4%) comprised 18.9% of cases (see Figure 1 ). Most of the cases handled by LSC are resolved through advice and referral. In 2015, 14.9% of cases were resolved in court, primarily because they involved family law issues (e.g., protective orders, child support, etc.) in which court action was required by state law. In addition to the cases closed in 2015, LSC grantees helped self-represented (i.e., pro se) litigants obtain the information they needed to pursue their lawsuits, disseminated legal services materials in communities and gave discussion forums, referred clients to appropriate services, and provided mediation assistance. According to the LSC data for 2015, LSC clients were of all races and ethnic groups. LSC clients included the working poor, veterans, family farmers, people with disabilities, battered women, women seeking divorces or child support, and victims of natural disasters. In 2015, 70% of LSC clients were females and 30% were males. Approximately 81% of LSC clients were between the ages of 18 and 59, almost 17% were age 60 or older, and 2% were under age 18. In 2005, LSC staff were directed by the LSC to document the extent to which the civil legal needs of low-income persons were not being met. In 2009, the report was updated. The 2009 report confirmed the findings of the earlier report. The LSC found that (1) 50% of potential clients requesting legal assistance were denied assistance because the LSC did not have the resources to help them; (2) at least 80% of persons who were eligible for LSC services did not get access to either a legal services attorney or a private attorney (pro bono or paid) when they need such assistance; and (3) there was one legal services attorney for every 6,415 low-income persons—the comparable number for the general population was one attorney for every 429 persons, a difference of 15 to 1.