In a majority of U.S. states, there is fewer than one legal aid attorney for every 10,000 low-income Americans who qualify for legal aid. That must change. 

Take any issue in American society - whether drug use, income inequality, or homelessness - and you will find that lack of education is among the central causes. Attorneys play a key role in maximizing children's educational opportunities. 

Throughout the United States, tenants face eviction without the assistance of counsel. Legal representation can literally mean the difference between a warm bed and a wet bench. 

Unlawful searches; censorship; discrimination; police brutality. While the Constitution protects against these and other government abuses, relief is not automatic.  We need public interest lawyers to continue to stand with the aggrieved and fight to protect our fundamental liberties.  

All too commonly, veterans find that legal obstacles stand between them and the benefits to which they are entitled. With the assistance of counsel, our veterans can more easily access both service and non-service connected benefits. 

Our current campaign finance system creates a number of perverse incentives, forcing our elected officials to focus more on fundraising than governing.  Impact litigation will be critical to reversing that trend. 

We must ensure clean and healthy communities - especially for those that live closest to sources of pollution.  Sadly, that often requires litigation, and the attorneys fighting those battles need our support. 

Gun violence plagues the United States in particularly dramatic, and tragic, fashion. Even the most reasonable of efforts to reduce it are met with well-organized and well-funded resistance. There may be no simple solution for gun violence in America, but at the very least, we need attorneys to defend the constitutionality of laws and policies that can reduce it.  

Limiting women's access to healthcare causes significantly more problems than it solves. No woman should be denied access to safe and affordable healthcare - those who are should have an advocate who will stand by their side. 

Members of the immigrant community are particularly susceptible to civil rights abuses. In 2013, over 80% of those deported did not have a hearing before a judge. And roughly 70% did not have legal representation. 

Mass incarceration; police militarization; rampant recidivism. Our criminal justice system is failing us. Attorneys are among those who must lead the fight for reform.  

Human rights and humanitarian law are relatively new and still evolving. Their need is sadly, but abundantly, apparent. We must support the attorneys working to innovate in this space and improve the mechanisms that exist to protect fundamental human rights worldwide. 

Voting rights are under attack nationwide as states pass laws designed to make it harder for Americans - especially minorities, the elderly, students and the disabled - to exercise their fundamental right to vote. 

1 in 4 women in the United States will experience severe physical violence by an intimate partner in her lifetime. That is a national crisis. Access to legal assistance is one of the biggest indicators of whether a survivor will be able to leave her abuser and find safety.