Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, R-Monmouth and Mercer, a member of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, issued the

following statement on the committee's legal services hearing:

"There is a conundrum in how our state funds legal services because it is highly dependent on an interest-bearing

account that is tied to the economy and the real estate market. That problem is compounded because when the housing market

crashes, people find themselves facing evictions, foreclosure or other legal predicaments. It's a nasty pendulum that means

there are fewer dollars available when people need the most help."

"There is a clear need to find a recession-proof way to fund legal services and we take advantage of every
opportunity to use our time wisely to find constructive solutions to this crisis, but that's not what occurred today. Another

day pointing fingers in Trenton did not help a single person gain access to justice.

"We need to find innovative solutions of permanent revenue streams to this crisis, such as using volunteer lawyers or

recent law school graduates, or perhaps impose a criminal fee on the ones who drive people to the legal system in the first

place, such as slumlords, spousal abusers or predatory lenders."