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Southern Poverty Law Center
Georgia Litigation Project
The Southern Poverty Law Center has established the Georgia Litigation Project to promote poverty law and civil rights litigation and advocacy efforts in this state. The goals of the Project are to (1) help support significant cases that otherwise might not be brought because of financial constraints, (2) fill some of the gap created by cut-backs and restrictions recently imposed on Legal Services Programs, and (3) support important public education efforts regarding civil rights issues.
The Board of the Georgia Litigation Project has established the following flexible funding priorities: litigation addressing welfare reform; access to health care; issues affecting public education; police misconduct litigation; and cases affecting the rights of women, minorities or children. The Board will consider requests for support outside these priorities as well, and desires that the litigants and issues selected reflect the racial, gender, cultural and geographic diversity of this state.
The Project will fund out-of-pocket expenses for selected cases (generally up to a maximum of $10,000 per case), with a priority on those cases broadly affecting the rights of Georgians. In the event the case is settled or the plaintiff prevails, the expenses would be repaid to the Project. In limited cases, grants for attorney's fees up to $5,000 may also be available.
Persons interested in applying for funding from the Project should submit the following information in writing to Brian Spears, 1126 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30306:
- A brief description of the case;
- A statement describing the importance of the case and how it will serve the public interest;
- An explanation of why it would be difficult to bring the case without the Project's assistance;
- A copy of the retainer agreement;
- A detailed statement of the estimated cost of the case; and
- The responsible attorney's resume and significant litigated cases.