About Civil Right to Counsel
*RTC = Right to counsel
The right to counsel is a critical safeguard in the civil legal system, particularly for people involved in complex basic human needs cases such as those involving shelter, child welfare and custody, sustenance, safety, or the ability to remain in the United States.
What is a right to counsel?
A right to counsel is a government commitment, established in the law and publicly funded, guaranteeing legal representation for all eligible people facing the loss of their basic human needs in a civil case.
- A LAW | A right to counsel is codified as a local ordinance, state statute, court rule, or found in caselaw. A right to counsel is not just a legal services services program, even if everyone is getting a lawyer.
- GOVERNMENT FUNDED | A right to counsel is a public obligation for the government. A right to counsel cannot be permanently funded by private sources or solely rely on pro bono or volunteer legal services.
- PROVIDE FULL REPRESENTATION | A right to counsel means that an attorney-client relationship is formed and the lawyer provides the representation necessary to ensure the best possible outcome.
- OBJECTIVE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA | A right to counsel applies to an objectively defined group of people. For example, the law provides that the right to counsel applies only to households with children. A right to counsel does not necessarily have to cover all people but eligibility is not a discretionary decision by a court or legal services provider.
A fraught U.S. Supreme Court history with civil right to counsel (RTC) means that advancing civil RTC happens incrementally – issue by issue, city by city, state by state. As a result, whether a person has the right to counsel in a particular civil case still largely depends on the state and the type of case. See our Civil RTC Status Map.
A 2026 survey found that 79% of U.S. adults perceived injustice in the legal system and 49% said race affects whether courts provide fair justice or not.
Equal Justice Works | Unequal and Unjust: Public Perceptions of Justice
Access to legal services without a right to counsel
Without a right to counsel, if a person can’t hire a lawyer, legal representation and assistance options in civil cases—even incredibly severe cases—are limited. There may be a legal aid provider or pro bono program that can provide legal assistance or representation. If neither is an option, people must navigate the civil legal problem they are facing on their own.
Pro bono programs
Depending on the area, there may be a pro bono program available to provide legal assistance or representation. Pro bono attorneys volunteer to provide legal services. Similar to legal aid, access to services may be limited by case type, eligibility requirements, and capacity. These programs depend on the volunteerism of attorneys in the area.
Civil legal aid
As the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) reported in 2022, 53.6 million individuals have incomes low enough to qualify for federally funded legal aid. However, of 1.9 million civil legal issues brought to LSC-funded programs, 1 in 2 must be turned away due to a lack of resources.
To be fully represented by a legal aid provider, most people have to surpass:
- Eligibility requirements (income, immigration status, residency, case types);
- Provider prioritization standards, discretion, and/or merits-based determination; and,
- Provider accessibility, availability, capacity, and available resources.
“Low-income Americans did not receive any or enough legal help for 92% of their civil legal problems.“
Legal Services Corporation, The Justice Gap: The Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Low-income Americans. (2022)
Pro se or unrepresented
Millions of people navigate complex civil cases each year on their own. Going pro se (unrepresented) or “representing oneself” can be especially precarious in cases where a court can determine debt, remaining in one’s home, or access to one’s children. The consequences of losing critical civil cases can be compounded by long-lasting problems:
- issues with employment and schooling,
- negative impacts on mental and physical health, and/or
- reliance on public but deeply under-resourced medical care, shelter, and benefits systems.
In addition, there is solid evidence indicating that families of color, families headed by women, children, and the elderly are disproportionately suffering these consequences.
Eviction cases involve one of the most imbalanced representation scenarios for civil cases. The NCCRC’s review of existing studies shows that without a right to counsel, on average, only 4% of tenants are represented nationwide, compared to 84% of landlords.
As of 2015, at least one party was unrepresented in 3/4 of civil cases.
In its Landscape of Civil Litigation of State Courts report (2015), the National Center for State Courts explored representation rates for civil plaintiffs and defendants by surveying approximately 900,000 cases (152 courts in 10 counties around the country between 2012-2013). Richard Zorza’s Access To Justice Blog has more analysis of this data.
A civil right to counsel guarantees legal representation when it matters most.
A right to counsel is a game changer for our civil justice system. An ever-growing body of research underscores the benefits of civil legal representation, not just for individual litigants but also for communities, the “opponents,” and the courts.
In 2015, Professor Rebecca Sandefur compiled a comprehensive meta-study of prior representation impact studies. The study shows that litigants with lawyers were anywhere from eight to over 200 times more likely to win their civil case than those without counsel and anywhere from twice to nearly five times more likely to prevail than those who received the assistance of a nonlawyer advocate.
