Mission Statement
It is the mission of the Oregon State Bar Legal Services Program:
To fund an integrated, statewide system of legal services centered on the needs of the client community as identified in the Mission Statement of the OSB Civil Legal Services Task Force Final Report, May 1996;
To use its oversight authority to work with Providers to insure that the delivery of services is efficient and effective in providing a full spectrum of high-quality legal services to low-income Oregonians; and
To work to eliminate barriers to the efficient and effective delivery of legal services caused by maintaining legal and physical separation between providers of general legal services to low-income Oregonians in the same geographical area, while maintaining Providers' ability to offer the broadest range of legal services required to serve the needs of clients.
OSB Civil Legal Services Task Force Final Report, May 1996, Appendix I, Page 1 & 2
"Legal services programs exist to ensure that institutions and organizations created to serve public interests and needs, particularly governmental and civic institutions, treat individuals equally no matter what their economic situation. This is not a radical notion; it is the cornerstone of American concepts of justice and fair play.
The mission of Oregon's statewide legal services delivery system should continue to be centered on the needs of its client community. It should be expansive, recognizing that equal justice contemplates more than simply providing a lawyer in every family law or unlawful detainer case (though it certainly includes this goal as well). This mission must contemplate lawyering in its broadest sense, acknowledging that the interests of low income clients can only be served if the delivery system is dedicated to providing full and complete access to the civil justice system in a way that empowers this segment of the population to define, promote, and protect its legitimate interests. As such, the mission must be to:
Protect the individual rights of low income clients;Promote the interest of low income individuals and groups in the development and implementation of laws, regulations, policies and practices that directly affect their quality of life;Employ a broad range of legal advocacy approaches to expand the legal rights of low income individuals and groups where to do so is consistent with considerations of fundamental fairness and dignity; andEmpower low income individuals and groups to understand and effectively assert their legal rights and interests within the civil justice system, with or without the assistance of legal counsel."