Legal Aid lays off 15
CHARLESTON (AP) — West Virginia Legal Aid is cutting back, laying off 15 case handlers and closing its Logan County office.
Executives tell the Charleston Gazette the reductions are in response to federal budget cuts that could create a $1.2 million deficit for the program by next year.
Legal Aid provides lawyers for low-income citizens who cannot afford to hire private attorneys. Aid attorneys represent clients in domestic cases, landlord disputes and bankruptcy proceedings.
The closing of the Logan office will force the group’s Charleston branch to pick up services from that county as well as Mingo County.
The cuts also are expected to strain offices all over the state.
Legal Aid served 24,000 West Virginians in 2010 alone.
