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MLSC submits $200K budget request for FY 2022
The Micronesian Legal Services Corp., a non-profit organization that provides legal services to the indigent community, has asked the House of Representatives for a budget of $200,000 for fiscal year 2022.
MLSC Marianas Office directing attorney Jane Mack and MLSC board director CNMI representative Robert T. Torres told House Speaker Edmund V. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) that their budget request will allow them to maintain their current staff and hire an additional staff attorney.
Mack and Torres said this will allow their office to increase case load acceptance to meet the growing demand for legal aid.
They said that personnel salaries, office support for the delivery of services and administrative expenses for the daily operations in order to maintain their office in the Marianas is also factored into the request.
MLSC provides legal assistance in civil matters at no charge to those unable to afford a private attorney.
They had 33 cases pending in Superior Court as of June 30, 2020, of which 24 were for plaintiffs and nine were for defendants.
MLSC’s central administrative office is on Saipan. It has offices throughout Micronesia, including Palau, in each of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and the newly established office in Guam.
MLSC is governed by a 10-member board of directors, with at least one director representing each of the regions in which they have offices. Robert Ruecho from Yap is the board president.
