On February 12, 2025, the Public Interest Community Conversations series hosted a discussion on the critical role of civil legal services and their impact on economically vulnerable communities, featuring Emma Sholl, Lead Attorney of the Health and Benefits Practice, and Zaria Walker, Health Benefits and Education Attorney from the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands.
The conversation, moderated by Beth Cruz, Assistant Dean of Public Interest, offered a root-level perspective on the fundamentals of civil legal advocacy work conducted daily in Tennessee.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Sholl and Walker discussed their day-to-day responsibilities, significant case work, and how legal aid attorneys manage the professional and emotional realities of representing clients living in crisis.
Day-to-Day Work in Civil Legal Aid
Sholl introduced the role Legal Aid plays within the national legal services infrastructure. The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands is part of a network of roughly 130 legal services programs across the U.S. Their clients, who live at 125% of the federal poverty limit or below, receive free civil legal aid, with limited flexibility depending on grant funding and individual client circumstances.
Walker noted that Legal Aid’s services span multiple areas, including housing, immigration, family law, and consumer matters. She noted that consumer unit cases generally involve situations where “contracts go wrong,” including disputes related to car purchases and home repair.
The Health and Benefits unit works on Social Security disability (SSI/SSDI) cases, SNAP (food assistance) and Families First (cash assistance) matters, Medicaid applications and appeals, and special education advocacy. They emphasized that this work contrasts sharply with the courtroom-heavy image many students associate with litigation. Much of their work is research and writing. “We’re often arguing about law rather than facts,” explained Walker.
What Drew Them to Civil Legal Aid
Sholl first encountered civil legal aid through a college course taught by a Legal Aid attorney. The course focused on the history of poverty law and public benefits programs, but she was most intrigued by the opportunity to work directly with the attorney on a case as part of the class.
“I didn’t know a lot about public benefits programs, but through that course, I was able to work with her on a child special education matter and a child Social Security disability case,” Sholl recalled. She noted how striking it was that, years later, she is still working on the same kinds of cases. Sholl was and continues to be drawn to the intersection of social justice, government programs, and medical documentation, which ultimately confirmed her aspiration to work in the civil legal aid field. “Legal Aid was my first job out of law school, and I’ve been there ever since. I just loved it. I have found the cases very rewarding, and the people we get to work with are just the best to work with,” Sholl said.
Walker took a different path to civil legal aid. “I knew I wanted to help people, but I didn’t really know what that looked like,” Walker explained. Broader public events and social context shaped her decision to pursue law. She recalled watching the verdict in Michael Brown Jr.’s case in the lobby of her dorm during freshman year, citing that moment as a turning point that solidified her decision to attend law school.
Walker spent her law school summers in Big Law firms and determined that private practice did not align with her long-term goals. As a fellow at the Center for Law and Education in Boston, she trained advocates and assisted in school discipline hearings, deepening her commitment to education-related advocacy and ultimately leading her back to work at Legal Aid in Tennessee.
Walker draws motivation from the need for this type of specialization, especially in cases targeting special education programs. “If we’re not there, no one is there,” she said.
The Access-to-Justice Gap: Why Systems Built for “Self-Help” Still Require Lawyers
Sholl and Walker discussed the difference between the perception and reality of public benefits systems designed to be navigable by individuals without legal assistance. They stressed that while many processes are theoretically navigable without counsel, they often become unworkable due to challenges such as extensive documentation demands and day-to-day constraints of clients.
“It’s supposed to be designed for everyday people to understand, but it’s more complicated than people realize,” Walker explained. She noted that even as an attorney, learning how these systems function took her a significant amount of time, directly underscoring how unreasonable it is to expect unrepresented individuals, often managing multiple crises, to navigate the systems efficiently. Walker provided examples of how routine verification requests can become insurmountable when clients lack reliable internet access, a stable phone, transportation, or even familiarity with tools such as faxing.
Sholl added that clients frequently face multiple barriers simultaneously, including language access issues and extensive proof requirements to demonstrate eligibility. Having a lawyer assist in this process allows clients to address several difficulties at once.
Difficulties: Chronic Underfunding and Attorney Well-Being
Sholl identified chronic underfunding as the most persistent threat to civil legal aid. Even as need continues to grow, funding levels have not kept pace with inflation, leaving organizations in a constant state of triage. She also acknowledged the difficulty of turning down cases with merit because of limited attorney capacity.
“As much as you want to help, you can only do what you can do,” Walker added. She also noted that while there are times when Legal Aid cannot resolve all a client’s obstacles, “if we can take one issue off their plate, it frees them up to survive everything else.”
They also addressed secondary trauma and how civil legal aid lawyers cope mentally and physically. Walker explicitly described a set of boundaries she developed in law school and has maintained in practice, which included turning her phone to Do Not Disturb after hours and reinforcing a guiding principle of doing what she can, without measuring herself against the totality of a client’s circumstances. Both speakers also reflected on solidarity and privilege, acknowledging the structural reality that, as lawyers, they can return to stable housing, food, and rest, while many clients cannot. Sholl emphasized that ethical representation nonetheless requires keeping client agency central. “They are leading the case. We are following their lead,” she said. This means that while attorneys may have opinions, clients ultimately guide the case and define the desired outcome.