 What too many people fail to recognize is that publicly funded civil legal representation pays for itself many times over. At our hearings, the most telling testimony was counterintuitive in nature. It came from business leaders, bankers, property owners, health care providers, and government and community leaders who stated again and again that increasing access to legal assistance benefited their own institutional performance and financial bottom lines. We created a public record that justified the funding of civil legal services as making good economic sense for our state. Our task force concluded that there is a total return to New York of close to $5 for every dollar spent to support civil legal services.