‘Break that vicious cycle.’ Lessons as public defender key to Toussaint Romain’s new role
As Toussaint Romain settles into his role as Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy’s new chief executive, the clients he represented for a decade as a criminal public defender are never far from his mind.
When clients used to walk into his office, he could anticipate all the economic and civil matters that might have led them to his door.
A past eviction, revoked driver’s license or unresolved immigration issue often lingered in a client’s history, threatening their economic stability.
Romain joined the nonprofit legal firm and advocacy organization in mid-May as its new CEO, a role he was drawn to as a way to tackle these upstream legal issues that often trap low-income people in cycles of poverty and thwart economic mobility.
“Folks are desperate. They have criminal records, can’t get jobs, don’t have housing,” he said.
Romain, who was most recently deputy general counsel for Appalachian State University and spent a decade as a public defender in Mecklenburg County, said returning to Charlotte for this role continues the work he’s fought for his entire career — providing essential access to legal representation and resources for vulnerable residents to achieve upward mobility.
“We’re really trying to break that vicious cycle by providing the resources, legal information and legal advice” that people need, he said.
The center covers more than a dozen areas of practice, including immigration, consumer protection, tax and wage theft disputes, driver’s license restoration and criminal record expungement.
Romain draws a clear connection between CCLA’s civil work and the clients he represented as a public defender.
“I saw the consequence of (my clients) not getting that support through my criminal work,” he said. “Most robberies occur out of desperation.”
Lack of employment opportunities, housing and access to health care are significant threats to someone’s ability to provide for their children, Romain said.
“Out of those civil needs not being met, they result in criminal behavior,” he said. “Seeing that client in front of me, knowing that if certain civil legal issues (had been taken care of) for that person, they wouldn’t have been in my office.”
A greater need
Last month, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy moved into a new office on Albemarle Road, along with Legal Aid of North Carolina, which moved into offices next door. Together, the two organizations are the largest source of civil legal representation for local low-income residents.
While some of the services the two organizations offer differ slightly, their missions largely overlap: to provide legal help for some of Mecklenburg’s most vulnerable residents, including people with disabilities, those at risk of losing their homes and victims of domestic violence, wage theft or financial fraud.
Romain sees an enormous need for this work, especially in the shadow of a pandemic that wreaked financial havoc on low-income families. It fuels the mission, he said, to provide “safety, economic security and stability for the most vulnerable in our community.”
While some 300,000 Mecklenburg residents would qualify for CCLA’s services based on their income that falls below the federal poverty line ($27,750 for a family of four), the nonprofit has the capacity to see around 4,000 clients a year, Romain said.
The nonprofit, which is funded by grants and donations, could do more of that work with additional funding, he said.
Unlike with criminal charges, Americans do not have the constitutional right to an attorney for civil cases like evictions or immigration hearings. But those who do have a lawyer fare much better, research shows
Some 71% of low-income families experience at least one civil legal issue a year, according to Legal Aid. In three-quarters of those cases, they do not have an attorney.
Romain became more publicly recognizable when he walked alongside protesters during the Keith Lamont Scott protests in 2016, trying to keep peace and recognizing the outpouring and pain and anger after the death of another Black man at the hands of police.
It became one catalyst to drive larger conversations about economic inequality, affordable housing and upward mobility. He saw the result for those who have been denied those opportunities and access.
An interaction with a former client stays with him. The young man — “a kid,” Romain said — was facing a marijuana possession charge for smoking at a playground. Romain recalled asking him: What were you doing smoking somewhere you were likely going to get caught?
“His words to me were, ‘Mr. Romain, what else is there for us to do? Where else is there for us to go?’ That really resonated with me,” he said. A year later, Romain saw that man on the news after he’d been arrested on murder charges.
Stories like these fuel his drive “to help our folks get through to the other side — the better side — to a place where they get to choose the kind of life they want to have.”
For more information about the services CCLA provides, visit charlottelegaladvocacy.org.
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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