Join the bar in improving
access to justice
By Craig Holden
President, State Bar of California
Imagine that you and your children are asleep when the floor
drops out from under you. You and your bed fall from the second story to the
basement as the building collapses, causing serious injuries.
When this happened to a single mother in Los Angeles, thankfully
a legal aid group was there to help. Inner City Law Center negotiated a
settlement with the landlord for her and other building tenants. After a two-month
stay in a hotel, a $100 per diem and $17,000 to assist with relocation, the
woman and her family are now living in a safer building.
I bring up this story to remind you that unfortunately,
there are countless other folks in our state who need legal help, but don’t
have the means to pay for it. Fortunately, we as lawyers are in a unique
position to change this equation by joining the Campaign for Justice.
The campaign’s goal is to increase funding for legal
services, which declined significantly when one source of funding tied to
interest rates, IOLTA revenue, fell from a high of $22 million to a low
of $5 million, where it has been hovering for the last few years.
All lawyers in California had an opportunity to donate to
the Justice Gap Fund when paying their annual fees. Anyone can also donate online.
Even if you can’t afford a monetary contribution, there are other
ways to get involved, such as volunteering your time pro bono to someone of
poor or modest means. You can find out more about the Campaign for Justice by
visiting the website: www.caforjustice.org.
If you’d like to volunteer but don’t know where to start,
the State Bar’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services has
compiled resources
on its web page.
I’d also like to tell you about some of the other things the
State Bar of California has been involved with to help improve access to
justice.
This month’s issue of the California Bar Journal features
one such initiative – the Modest Means Incubator program. Using $185,000 in
grant funds, the California Commission on Access to Justice was able to
distribute seed money to projects that will train lawyers to create sustainable
law firm practices providing affordable legal services primarily to low and
moderate-income people.
Late last year, the State Bar Board of Trustees adopted new
training requirements for new lawyers, including the mandate they provide 50
hours of pro bono or reduced-fee legal services within the first year of admission.
The plan – which also helps young lawyers develop practical skills as they
enter the profession – requires rule changes that must be approved by the
California Supreme Court and the California Legislature before it would be
gradually phased in. But I’m encouraged by the commitment the bar has shown to
make a real difference in this effort.
Together, we can make sure that the people of our state can
count on the legal system to be there for them when they need it most.