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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, DC— The ��è��Ƶ (��è��Ƶ) today released its 2010 Annual Report, highlighting efforts by the nation’s single largest funder of civil legal assistance to promote equal access to justice.

“��è��Ƶ-funded programs address the civil legal needs of victims of domestic violence, veterans returning from abroad, disabled individuals, families facing foreclosure, and other low-income Americans,” ��è��Ƶ Board Chairman John G. Levi writes in the Annual Report. “Every day, the lawyers and staff at these programs work hard to ensure that clients are treated with fairness in the resolution of their legal problems and that low-income Americans have a place to turn for help in managing their civil legal needs.”

In 2010, ��è��Ƶ-funded programs closed 932,406 civil legal aid cases, including more than 321,000 cases involving family law issues, such as domestic violence, and more than 235,000 cases involving housing matters, such as evictions.

��è��Ƶ President James J. Sandman writes in the Annual Report that “��è��Ƶ is the bedrock on which our national system of access to civil justice stands—and its foundation for the future. . . . I can think of no more important objective of our legal system than to provide meaningful access to justice.”