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What good are laws in protecting your rights and liberties if you can’t afford a lawyer? There’s no constitutional guarantee to an attorney in any civil case—cases outside of criminal law.
And yet, a person's personal safety, security, and independence can hinge on matters of civil law.
In a complex system like ours, without an attorney it’s often hard to know when the law is on your side, let alone how to argue your case or follow procedures to ensure your protection. Too often, people with limited means are shut out of meaningful participation in Wisconsin’s legal system.
The Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Inc. (WisTAF) exists to address this issue. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation established in 1986 by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, we are the leading state-based funder of legal aid in Wisconsin.
For over three decades, WisTAF has awarded and overseen millions of dollars in grants ($58.7 million to be precise) to organizations throughout the state. Our investment helps the most vulnerable residents in every Wisconsin county to access services that open the door to the justice system—including advice and representation from attorneys.
With this access, clients can pursue the legal outcomes needed to realize stability, health, and self-sufficiency, in turn benefitting our state as a whole.
Would you like to help? Here's you can support civil legal aid.
Partnerships at work
Big goals aren’t achieved in isolation; we are actively engaged in creating and improving a wide range of important collaborations. WisTAF wishes to thank its many partners from Wisconsin’s financial institutions, practicing attorneys & judges, and state government on the funding side, to grantee agencies and individual providers on the service side for their part in this great collaborative effort.
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