Legal Aid sees many more foreclosures

Yvette Stackhouse sees many people who are facing foreclosures or evictions in a weak economy, as residents have lost textile and other manufacturing jobs.

When people come to Legal Aid of North Carolina Inc., they are facing a crisis and need help quickly, Stackhouse said.

"They are facing a deadline," she said. "Whether it is a foreclosure or an eviction, they are in an emergency-crisis mode when they walk in the door."

Stackhouse was recently appointed as the agency's managing attorney for its Winston-Salem office. Her agency provides free legal services to poor people in such civil cases as foreclosures and evictions.

She has seen the number of foreclosure cases increase from 25 a week to 50 a week.

"We have been inundated," she said.

Stackhouse received her law degree from the University of Richmond in 1993. She attended the Wake Forest University School of Law as a visiting third-year student in 1992. She got her bachelor's degree from Hampton University in Hampton, Va., in 1980.

Legal Aid has 12 staff lawyers, nine paralegals and four law clerks. Twenty more lawyers works pro bono.

The agency conducts clinics to help people represent themselves in some situations.

Its clinics deal with landlord-tenant disputes, Medicaid, inmate re-entry, child custody and divorce. Through those clinics and staff members speaking to local organizations, the public is becoming more aware of Legal Aid's work, Stackhouse said.

She said that those efforts should help her agency raise money. It will conduct its first fundraising campaign this year.

"Five hundred thousand dollars to $1 million would be a wonderful goal, but we are starting from scratch," she said. "I'm not sure what our goal should be in this community."

Most of the agency's clients appreciate the help they receive, Stackhouse said. Clients send thank-you notes and call to express their appreciation.

"I have seen grown men cry when they know they will get Social Security disability or unemployment benefits," she said.

Legal Aid turns away eight out of every 10 cases because of lack of staff and resources, according to an October 2007 article in North Carolina Lawyers Weekly.

"We can always use more money and more attorneys," Stackhouse said. "If I had it my way, I would take more cases, but we don't have the resources. We turn away too many people."

John Hinton can be reached at jhinton(at)wsjournal.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com