Facts & Figures

Currently in Texas, there are more than six million people who qualify for legal aid.¹
      
To qualify for legal aid, an individual must not earn more than $13,613 per year. A family of four must not earn more than $27,938 per year. ²
      
There is approximately one legal aid lawyer for every 11,512 Texans who qualify. ³
      
Due to a lack of resources, only about 20-25 percent of the civil legal needs of low-income and poor Texans are being met. ³
      
Legal aid organizations help more than 104,000 low-income Texas families each year with their civil legal needs.4

The average starting salary for a public interest attorney is $46,000 per year. Most new law school graduates carry $86,000 or more in student loan debt. ⁴

According to the State Bar of Texas Survey of 2009 Pro Bono Report, Texas attorneys’ estimated the sum total of hours was estimated to be 2.24 million to 2.56 million hours of free legal or indirect services to the poor performed . ⁵

 
In 2010, Texas attorneys donated more than $887,000 through the State Bar of Texas dues collection for the provision of civil legal aid for low-income Texans.⁵

Download the Facts and Figures document.

^{Sources:
1 U.S. Census Bureau
2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
3 American Bar Association PERLS report.
4 Texas Access to Justice Foundation
5 State Bar of Texas}