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A former Supreme Court Justice and 500 more lawyers are asking the Florida Supreme Court to raise Florida Bar dues by a hundred dollars a year. The money would be used to fund legal aid for the poor, which has fallen from 44 million to just 6 million since the recession. The decrease is due to falling interest earnings on money held for clients. Former Justice Raoul Cantera said afterward without court intervention, more people will be living on the streets.

“We’ll have further cuts in funding for legal services. There will be fewer lawyers to represent people who can’t afford a lawyer who deserve social security benefits, that deserve staying in their houses and apartments, who deserve veterans benefits but aren’t getting them, creating more homelessness. And then they’re going to be a charge on the public” says the former Justice.

The fee hike is being opposed by the Florida Bar. Attorney Barry Richard says taking care of the poor shouldn’t be up to just lawyers who donated thousands of hours and millions of dollars already. Richard says society must answer a fundamental question.

“Whether as a society were going to start saying we’re going to have little segments of society that are responsible to take care of the needy. Farmers take care of food for the needy, Doctors provide free medical care, or whether we’re going to step up pas a society and do what we should do, which is every citizens who can afford it provides the money through taxation” says Richard.

The state’s high court was sympathetic and urged both sides to compromise. Last week, the Chief Justice created a Commission to study legal access for all. A ruling from the court is expected early next year.