CHEYENNE -- Without free legal aid services, "poor people don't get justice," says Jennifer Winters of Cheyenne.

Winters, a former client of Legal Aid of Wyoming, is a new member of the organization's board.

Winters, 39, is a single mother with a 12-year-old daughter. She underwent a double lung transplant 10 years ago because of a genetic condition and cannot work due to a weakened immune system.

"It's sad that for financial reasons you don't get access to quality representation," she said. "It should be there for everybody, not just for people who can afford it."

Legal Aid of Wyoming is headquartered in Cheyenne. Winters said she was fortunate to receive help with her divorce from Ray Macchia, the director of Legal Aid of Wyoming, who handled her drawn-out case to the end.

Winters strongly favors the Access to Justice Commission's attempt to set up a statewide legal service program.

Headed by Wyoming Supreme Court Justice James Burke, the commission plans to ask the Legislature this winter for a one-time appropriation of $500,000 to set up a statewide system and for a $10 to $15 increase in filing fees in the district and circuit courts to run it.

Either the Wyoming Bar Foundation or a new nonprofit group would run the new statewide program for low-income people.

The commission has held public hearings in Cheyenne and Evanston so far in an effort to assess the need.

"You hear some of the same stories," Burke said last week. "There's an overall sense of helplessness."

"We ought to be able to say, 'Here's a phone number,'" he added.

The commission was established by order of Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Barton Voigt on Dec. 16, 2008, about two months after Wyoming Legal Services (WLS) shut down.

A private non-profit organization, WLS had been the primary provider of legal services to Wyoming's low-income population for decades.

The decision to relinquish its federal grant came after the Government Accountability Office and the Legal Services Corporation's Office of Compliance and Enforcement said the Wyoming program failed to adhere to regulations.

A new provider, Legal Aid of Wyoming, is currently operating on a $660,000-per-year federal grant.

Burke said the federal legal services grant never was intended to be the entire solution to helping low-income people with their civil legal problems.

Also, the income guidelines are too high, Burke said

The Legal Aid office has had to turn down a sizeable percentage of people who call for help because they cannot meet the guidelines for the federal program, Burke and other commission members said.

Many of these people then file pro se, to act as their own attorneys. Often, they do not understand the court rules, miss a court deadline and lose their case.

"I think it's a state problem," Burke said.

Burke said he is unsure whether the Legislature has ever been asked to set up such a statewide system.

Macchia said his office has been flooded with calls since it started taking cases in February.

"To date we are closing in on close to 900 cases, or people, who have applied for services with our program and that's across the state," he said.

Legal Aid also has an office in Casper with a secretary but no attorney yet.

The organization is getting an office on the Wind River Indian Reservation that will cover Lander and Riverton.

Macchia, an attorney, is one of five staff members in the Cheyenne Legal Aid office.

"What we're trying to do is provide services to people who need access to the civil justice system," said Tony Ross, a Cheyenne lawyer, legislator and commission member.

These cases include domestic relations, guardianships and elder law cases that people can't handle by themselves, he said.

"This would ensure stability in what has recently been a very fluid situation in Wyoming," he added.

The Legislature will have to decide, he said, how the request will fit in with a tight new budget.

Attorneys currently perform pro bono work -- free legal help -- and that will continue, Ross said.

Another commission member, Leigh Anne Manlove, former executive director of the Wyoming State Bar Foundation, said the commission wants a statewide, high-quality program, which will require more money.

"We wanted to go into the local communities and find out what the unmet needs are," Manlove said. "Each community has its own challenges."

The next commission hearings are on Thursday at the Riverton City Hall; on Nov. 9 in Casper, and on Nov. 10 in Gillette.

Contact capital bureau reporter Joan Barron at 307-632-1244 or joan.barron@trib.com