FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AG
FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1995                              (202) 616-2777
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
    ATTORNEY GENERAL RENO WARNS AGAINST CONGRESSIONAL EFFORTS
         TO UNDERMINE LEGAL SERVICES FOR POOR AMERICANS

    Congress Considers Defunding LSC After Decades of Success


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the Senate Labor and Human Resources
Committee met today to debate the future of the federal Legal
Services Corporation, Attorney General Janet Reno released the
following statement:

     "For more than 20 years, the Legal Services Corporation
     and legal services attorneys have filled a huge void in
     our legal system -- by providing legal advice and
     representation to those who urgently need it and cannot
     afford it.

     "There is no getting around the fact that functioning in
     our society today means coping with the intricacies of
     our legal system.

     "Simple decency demands that we have an equal chance to seek
     the protection of our laws.  Without basic legal services, the
     poor are denied the promise of 'Equal Justice Under the Law.'

     "When it comes to keeping that promise, there is simply
     no alternative and no acceptable substitute to the
     representation that the LSC provides in every county of
     every state.  I urge the Congress to keep this in mind as
     it takes up this critical issue."

     House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich has proposed
eliminating the Legal Services Corporation.

                               ###

95-357