Some agencies that, in the best of times, had to turn away half of their qualified applicants are facing ever more wrenching choices about whom to represent, decisions that Steven Banks, chief attorney for New York City’s Legal Aid Society, compared to those in “a MASH unit in a war zone.” Legal aid can represent only one of every seven people seeking help in the city, he said.

Image Zoe K. Cronin, right, meeting with a client, La Toya Haughton, and Allison Ahern, left, an intern. Credit... Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

In East Texas, where thousands of people whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Ike last fall are contesting federal denials of aid, and some are living in tents, the regional legal service budget of $16 million is expected to decline to $4 million this year. Paul Furrh, director of Lone Star Legal Aid, said his group was already overwhelmed.

Low-income defendants in serious criminal cases have a constitutional right to a lawyer. But there is no such right in civil cases, even though the consequences  losing a home or custody of a child, failing to obtain a protective order quickly  can be just as life-altering.

Federal appropriations for the Legal Services Corporation, the largest source of money for aid groups, have declined over time. This year’s level of $350 million is, when adjusted to inflation, down more than one-third from its peak in 1994. Many states provide a supplement, but they are also in a brutal fiscal squeeze.

Over the last three decades, every state has adopted a program drawing interest from trust or escrow accounts. Called Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts, or Iolta programs, they have been a godsend for struggling legal aid groups, providing $212 million in 2007, according to the American Bar Association.

But as a result of the collateral damage from the free-falling interest rate, the Massachusetts budget for civil legal services has been cut to $19 million this fiscal year, from $27 million; the Boston branch expects to lay off up to one-fifth of its lawyers and paralegals in coming months. People with legal troubles and little money, like Jim Vedrani, 53, of Amesbury, Mass., have found themselves on their own.

As a technician fixing boat motors, Mr. Vedrani earned a right to unemployment benefits when he was let go. Then he took a job working on a farm, but quit after seven weeks because of what he called extreme emotional abuse by his supervisor. “He took every chance to humiliate me in front of others,” he said.