ABA commission’s recommendations seek to close the access-to-justice gap

As expected, the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services delivered plenty of recommendations for how the bar can close the gap in access to justice in America, while steering clear of the most contentious issue: alternative business structures.

Oct 1, 2016 1:40 AM CDT

Can the access-to-justice gap be closed? These recommendations might make it possible

As expected, the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services delivered plenty of recommendations for how the bar can close the access to justice gap in America, while steering clear of the most contentious issue: whether alternative business structures—most notably nonlawyer ownership of law firms—should be permissible. After two…

Aug 6, 2016 8:35 PM CDT

These states have the best and worst civil access to justice

Washington, D.C., provides the best civil access to justice while Mississippi provides the worst, according to new findings by the National Center for Access to Justice. The “Justice Index” findings are based on access regardless of income, language ability, or physical or mental challenges, according to a press release (PDF)…

May 12, 2016 6:15 AM CDT

William Hubbard speaks about the importance of technology in expanding access to justice

His term may have expired, but William Hubbard continues to champion the work of one of his primary initiatives as president of the ABA: The Commission on the Future of Legal Services. Hubbard took part in a spirited question-and-answer session at ABA Techshow on Thursday and spoke about his reasons…

Mar 17, 2016 2:15 PM CDT

Professor Tanina Rostain has her students developing access-to-justice apps

Professor Tanina Rostain has made a 180-degree turn in her work on the ethics of lawyering. For nearly 20 years she pushed to reform organizational pressures that increasingly had lawyers bending and breaking rules on behalf of corporate clients. (Think dodgy tax shelters.) Now she’s focused on the essence of…

Sep 23, 2015 9:00 AM CDT

Tech companies fight Justice Department over access to data

Apple, Google and Microsoft want to reassure customers that they are fighting the U.S. government’s access to data, resulting in conflicts with the U.S. Justice Department. The New York Times has a report that says the conflicts “reflect heightened corporate resistance, in the post-Edward J. Snowden era.” In one case,…

Sep 9, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Lawyers need to move beyond ‘access to justice’ to close the legal services gap

By many measures, lawyers’ “access to justice” initiatives are entirely ineffective: • A study (PDF) from the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services found that high-volume state courts are at “saturation level” of pro se litigants. • According to the 2012-2013 World Justice Project’s Rule…

Sep 1, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Avvo founder tells lawyers to ‘get rid of UPL’ if they want innovation and access to justice

Corrected: At the close of the first day of the ABA’s House of Delegates meeting, the House’s Committee on Issues of Concern presented talks that were “intended to be provocative.” The talks, entitled “Issues of Concern to the Legal Profession” in the day’s program, grew out of the research of…

Aug 3, 2015 8:45 PM CDT

Immigration and access to justice will be hot topics as ABA Midyear Meeting opens in Houston

Midyear meetings of the ABA tend to focus on the administrative business of the association and many of its entities, but when this year’s meeting opens on Wednesday in Houston, there also will be some notable substantive topics on the agenda. Immigration, access to justice for persons of modest means…

Feb 4, 2015 9:10 AM CST

They’re No Hacks: Technology takes center stage as a tool to improve access to justice

Oct 1, 2014 1:40 AM CDT

As we honor the past, we need fresh thinking to ensure access to justice for all

Sep 1, 2014 10:00 AM CDT

Part of access to justice gap is that Americans don’t know when to seek legal help, says study

Corrected: The findings of a study released Friday by the American Bar Foundation provide additional evidence of a serious gap in access to legal services for many Americans. But those findings also suggest that the reasons for the gap can’t be blamed entirely on the usual suspects. Using a list…

Aug 8, 2014 6:28 PM CDT

‘Hackcess to Justice’ teams will devise new tech to improve access to justice

As the ABA Annual Meeting gets underway in Boston, teams of law students, lawyers, and computer programmers will be gathering at nearby Suffolk University Law School to help solve a problem that continues to vex many in the legal community: While advances in technology have helped increase the availability of…

Aug 5, 2014 8:00 PM CDT

How can we apply New Normal principles to increase access to justice?

Before law school, I worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the Democratic senator from New York. That job exposed me to a lot of interesting experiences, none perhaps more so than in the winter of 1980-1981, after Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter and took office as President. The initial days of…

May 8, 2014 5:14 PM CDT

Aggressive action—not tinkering—is required to resolve the access to justice crisis

There is a deep access-to-justice crisis in this country—but the legal profession gets a failing grade for its response to it. Consider this: • More than 61 million people eligible to receive legal aid—for such fundamentally important matters as avoiding the foreclosure of their homes or losing parental rights—are not…

Feb 6, 2014 3:00 PM CST