Case Statistics

Of our 401 open cases as of August 2021, the following is a breakdown of our clients’ ethnicity:

Our Services are Critical

A 2018 civil legal needs study conducted by the Oregon Law Foundation reported the following statistics:

Legal Problems are Widespread
75% of survey participants live in a household that experienced a legal problem in the previous 12 months.

Legal Problems Multiply
5.4 legal problems were suffered by the typical low-income household in Oregon in the last 12 months

The Need for Legal Aid Outpaces Resources
84% of people with a legal problem did not receive legal help of any kind.

Barriers to Justice: A 2018 study measuring the civil legal needs of low-income Oregonians. https://olf.osbar.org/lns/

Access to CNPLS is essential to the safety net of our community.  Safe and healthy communities are those that support attorneys who assist in breaking the cycle of poverty; stabilizing and strengthening families’ capacity to care for their children; fighting consumer fraud; obtaining safe and affordable housing; protecting elderly and vulnerable persons from abuse; enforcing civil laws; and assuring affordable access to civil justice, advocacy, intervention and representation.

CNPLS programs have always been the primary source of civil legal assistance available to low income Oregonians.  The need for legal structure in preventing or solving personal, family or financial was recognized “the greatest unmet community need” in Jackson County: Health and Human Services Needs Assessment Study, Chapter 7, page 51, March 1990.

The paramount result of our services is access to equal justice as a personal and societal benefit.  If the elderly and economically disadvantaged citizens of our community lose access to the justice system, they will lose their rights and community standards for fair play will deteriorate.  Because of the advocacy and representation of CNPLS, more than 1,200 low-income residents of Jackson County were able to access the justice system last year.