Non-Profit Corporation

RAJ is committed to providing relief to underserved and underprivileged members of Wisconsin’s east-central rural community, particularly to residents of Waupaca, Shawano, Portage, and Waushara Counties. 

Several private and state organizations in Wisconsin provide legal services to indigent residents. However, Wisconsin residents who earn too much to qualify for free assistance but who cannot afford a full-price attorney are often left without adequate legal representation. The federal poverty line (FPL) does not delineate those who can afford all necessities and others; yet, most legal assistance programs in Wisconsin are limited to those who live at or near the FPL. The cost of living is high in the United States, and many of those living below the FPL are closer to absolute poverty than relative poverty. Relative poverty often occurs at income levels several hundred percent higher than the FPL, in that many families have no savings and one unexpected setback can prove financially ruinous. 

This problem is compounded in rural communities, where sparse assistance resources are stretched increasingly thin, and where access to legal counsel of any type is limited by a dearth of attorneys. 

Individuals without legal representation generally are left to fend for themselves. The consequences of criminal and civil legal action may affect the social, political, and economic well-being of pro se individuals, and such consequences may not be readily apparent at the time of adjudication. Furthermore, pro se individuals may unknowingly forfeit their rights, accept plea bargains without professional advice, or fail to pursue appropriate legal remedies. In response to these problems, some Wisconsin counties provide assistance for pro se litigants. However, resources are limited, and county departments and personnel spend time under these programs educating pro se litigants and helping them to fill out forms. Overall, the court system is negatively affected by longer wait times and increased need for revisions when individuals lack legal counsel.   

RAJ is committed to providing reduced-rate legal representation to clients whose needs are not met by currently existing programs and who otherwise lack affordable access to legal counsel. RAJ assists the functionally impoverished in protecting and defending their legal rights in both civil and criminal matters, with the duel aims of decreasing the financial burden of legal representation on disadvantaged rural Wisconsinites and of decreasing the burden of unrepresented litigants on the Wisconsin court system.