January 2000 ATJ Board Report

January 31, 2000
Chief Justice Richard Guy
Temple of Justice
P.O. Box 40929
Olympia, WA 98504-0929

Richard Eymann, President
Washington State Bar Association
601 West Maine Ave., Suite 801
Spokane, WA 99201

RE: Six-Month Report of the Access to Justice Board

Dear Chief Justice Guy and President Eymann:

On May 18, 1994, the Supreme Court entered an order establishing the Access to Justice (ATJ) Board for an initial evaluation period of two years. The formal work of the ATJ Board began in November 1994. On November 21, 1996, the Court, on the recommendation of the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors (BOG), reauthorized the ATJ Board for an additional five years, having found that it had successfully completed its initial evaluation period. The Court ordered the ATJ Board to continue to file evaluative reports every six months with the Court and the BOG. This Report and attached Exhibits constitute the fifth six-month report, and the completion of the first three years under the new Order, and document the ATJ Board's activities since the last formal Report to this Court and the BOG on April 18, 1999.

BACKGROUND

ATJ Board Mission, Members, Structure and Staffing<:

The ATJ Board continues to track and evaluate its progress under the directives of the Court's Order, and continues to refine its mission, through the mechanisms it has established to so do: thes Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Services for Low Income People in Washington State, the annual Access to Justice Conferences and our annual ATJ Board retreats.

This Court, on the recommendation of the BOG, appointed three new members to the ATJ Board in May 1999: Christine Allen (at-large member); Julian C. (Pete) Dewell (at large member); and Pamela Feinstein (Pro Bono Community).

Attached a current list of ATJ Board Committee chairs and members (Exhibit 1). Volunteer participation in ATJ Board Committees and related activities includes:

state and federal judges, administrative law judges, private and government attorneys, law librarians, court clerks, courthouse facilitators, paralegals, legal services and volunteer attorneys, legal services staff members, law students and faculty, mediators, LAW Fund and Legal Foundation of Washington representatives; and state agency staff.

The ATJ Board has eleven permanent working committees (see specific ATJ Board Activities, below, for descriptions), an Executive Committee and interim committees addressing issues related to the Courthouse Facilitator Program and the BOG's proposed Definition of the Practice of Law. Additionally, the ATJ Board is in the process of launching a Family Law Access to Justice Task Force, described more fully below. The new Council on Public Legal Education, also described more fully below, is yet another initiative developed through the collaboration of a broad-based group of stakeholders convened by the ATJ Board. The ATJ Board continues to coordinate closely with the activities of the WSBA Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee on efforts to promote and support pro bono work by lawyers, and to secure adequate funding for this state's civil legal services programs.

The Access to Justice Programs at WSBA (ATJ Board, Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee, the Greater Access and Assistance Program - GAAP, the Emeritus Program and state support functions) are now under the umbrella of "Justice Programs" within the Office of the Executive Director. The staffing and administration of the soon-to-be-launched Council on Public Legal Education also falls under the Justice Programs umbrella. Justice Programs staff include: Joan Fairbanks, Justice Programs Manager; Sharlene Steele, Access to Justice Programs Liaison; Joyce Raby, Justice Programs Communication and Technology Specialist; Laurie Rosenfeld, Public Legal Education Manager; and Leslie Johnson, Justice Programs Coordinator (Exhibit 2).

Meetings:

The ATJ Board met six times since our last Report. Attached str the Agendas from the May 21, June 25, September 17-18 (annual retreat), October 29, December 3 and January 21 meetings (Exhibit 3).

II. ATJ BOARD ACTIVITIES

A. Overview: The ATJ Board's commitment to state planning as a mechanism for developing an integrated and coordinated legal services delivery system led to the extensive evaluation and revision of the Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Services to Low Income People in Washington State (adopted on September 16, 1999) (see discussion below ) (Exhibit 4). At our annual retreat in September 1999, the Board focused on how best to implement the extensive number of recommendations generated by the revised State Plan, as well as the cumulative recommendations from the 1999 Access to Justice Conference (see discussion below). The result was a list of priorities for 2000 (Exhibit 5).

At the national level, the ATJ Board and many of its activities – in particular its state planning process – continue to be showcased as models.

The Legal Services Corporation Board of Directors held its September 1999 meeting in Seattle for the purpose of visiting the Northwest Justice Project, Washington's statewide LSC grantee and federal partner in this state's Access to Justice Network. Reaction to NJP's accomplishments, the CLEAR program and the quality of client service was summarized by LSC Board Member Bucky Askew as "first-rate legal services." The ATJ Board, WSBA and LSC co-hosted a reception and dinner in honor of LSC's 25^th Anniversary (Exhibit 6).
The ATJ Board is completing its Washington State Equal Justice Training Manual, funded last year by the Open Society Institute to be used by the national legal services network and those individual states who wish to replicate, where appropriate, Washington State's innovative approaches to state planning, legal services funding, technology, and other initiatives.
At least one state, Oregon, modeled its statewide conference this past year after Washington's Access to Justice Conference. ATJ Network members were featured speakers.
ATJ Board member , Judge Paul Bastine, was part of an eight-person delegation selected to attend the November 1999 National Conference on Pro Se Litigation, sponsored by the Open Society Institute, the American Judicature Society and the State Justice Institute.
The Washington State Bar Association received the prestigious ABA/NLADA Harrison Tweed Award in August 1999 "[i]n recognition of the outstanding leadership and commitment demonstrated through its contributions to planning and implementing a comprehensive, integrated statewide system for providing civil legal services for the poor, rendering for its community a vital public service to the credit of the profession. And helping to make real the American ideal of Equal Justice for All." The ATJ Board made the nomination. A delegation of nearly 20 Washingtonians attended the award ceremony in Atlanta (Exhibit 7).
Chief Justice Richard Guy and Immediate Past President of the WSBA Wayne Blair, were invited to make a presentation to the ABA's Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (SCLAID) on the success of the Washington State model at its August 1999 meeting in Atlanta.
The ATJ Board received a $10,000 grant in October 1999 from the Legal Services Corporation to conduct an assessment of Northwest Justice Project's CLEAR program. This assessment will become part of a national Open Society Institute-sponsored study of statewide and regional hotline systems, which will focus in particular on results for clients.
Technology consultant Richard Zorza visited Washington State in October 1999. He gathered information about the efforts of Washington State for an information technology project he is undertaking as a consultant for the Open Society Institute. Washington State will be a pilot site for the project.
Oregon's equal justice community invited Washington State's Access to Justice Network to participate in a joint study of the legal needs of low income people. Although the invitation was declined because of time constraints, the two states pledged to continue to find a way to develop and share this information.
The ABA's Section of Litigation asked the ATJ Board to survey legal services providers in Washington State to assist the Section in planning a workshop at its Spring 2000 Section meeting that would be useful for Washington State's Access to Justice Network. A workshop on domestic violence is planned for early April 2000.
Members of Washington State's Access to Justice Network are frequently tapped to serve as panelists at national conferences (e.g., May 1999 ABA/NLADA Equal Justice Conference, August 1999 ABA Annual Meeting, and November 1999 National Legal Aid and Defender Association Conference). They also are asked to participate in the development of new national and state-based model initiatives through the Project on the Future of Equal Justice and the Legal Services Corporation.
ATJ Network members have made presentations on "the Washington experience" this past year to groups in Washington, D.C. and Oklahoma who are attempting to develop integrated and coordinated statewide civil legal services delivery systems.
The Washington "model" was highlighted in Roadmaps, published by the ABA's Coalition for Justice and Committee on State Justice Initiatives.

Within the State of Washington, there continues to be a growing recognition that the ATJ Board is a mechanism for "coordinating, improving and advancing civil access to justice for low and moderate income state residents," as contemplated by this Court's Order. Increasingly, organizations, committees and individuals are contacting the ATJ Board and its committees for assistance, counsel and input on a wide variety of topics and issues. Examples of these (since April 1999) include the following:

In anticipation of action by this Court on the BOG's Definition of the Practice of Law, the ATJ Board has established a working committee of Board members and other interested parties to develop a proposal to assist the Court in its deliberations (Exhibit 8).
The BOG has asked the ATJ Board to be responsible for implementing Continuing Strategic Goal #7 of WSBA's new five-year Long-Range Strategic Plan, Raising the Bar, adopted by the BOG on September 10, 1999. Strategic Goal #7 directs WSBA to continue to provide leadership and support to programs and initiatives for the benefit of access to justice. As reported in Raising the Bar, "[m]embers believe that the WSBA has made great strides in addressing access to justice issues over the past several years. It should continue to provide leadership and initiative to improve access to justice for all citizens."
The BOG also has invited the ATJ Board to participate in the implementation of Strategic Goal #5 of its Long-Range Strategic Plan: "The WSBA will address in an appropriate way members' current concerns about external influences and market pressures that impact the delivery of legal and law-related services, such as unlicensed practice of law and multidisciplinary practice."
ATJ Board member , Judge Marlin Appelwick, is Co-Chair of the new Council on Public Legal Education. This formation of the Council was a recommendation of the Public Legal Education Workgroup, which in turn was a recommendation from the 1998 Access to Justice Conference. The Council is being developed on the model of the ATJ Board.
ATJ Board Chair, Judge T.W. "Chip" Small, is serving on the Board of Judicial Administration's new Public Trust and Confidence Committee.
Seattle University School of Law's new Access to Justice Institute has invited the ATJ Board to co-sponsor its May 19, 2000 symposium on the unauthorized practice of law.
The law schools have asked the ATJ Board to support, and comment on, SB 5953, an act relating to a loan repayment and conditional scholarship endowment program for attorneys who provide legal services in public interest areas of the law.
The Washington State Gender and Justice Commission and the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission have asked members of the ATJ Board and its committees to participate in a pilot training program for judges: When Bias Compounds: Insuring Equal Justice for Women of Color in the Courts.

Additionally, the ATJ Board continues to work to institutionalize a variety of methods to increase awareness of, and appreciation for, the important work being done in Washington to improve the justice system:

Regular six-month written reports and at least one annual presentation to the Supreme Court and the Board of Governors;
ATJ Board presence at all BOG meetings;
ATJ Board presence at semi-annual WSBA section and committee chair meetings;
Annual meeting with the Supreme Court;
Letters to every new WSBA member about the role of the legal profession in preserving and expanding access to the justice system;
Use of WSBA's Bar News (Exhibit 9) and other media, including a new Access to Justice Department in the Bar News, for pertinent articles;
Nomination/support of key people/organizations for awards and recognition (e.g., Heller Ehrman for John Minor Wisdom Award; Susan Daniel for WSBA Pro Bono Award; Claude Pearson for Charles Dorsey Award);
Annual briefing on access to justice for WSBA presidential candidates;
Annual briefing on access to justice for new BOG members and WSBA section and committee chairs;
Continuing to reach beyond the "usual suspects" to involve new people and organizations on the ATJ Board committees and as liaisons at the ATJ Board meetings;
Support of funding efforts and appropriate legislation.

B. ATJ-Coordinated State Planning Process: The ATJ Board's first significant project was the development in 1995 of its Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Services to Low Income People in Washington State (State Plan), at the request of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). Using the guidelines set out in the Hallmarks of an Effective Statewide Civil Legal Services Delivery System (Hallmarks), the ATJ Board developed 18 recommendations for reconfiguring and supporting Washington's delivery system so as to preserve access for low income clients to a full range of advocacy and services. Although the legal services provider network has been responsible for much of the State Plan's actual implementation, the ATJ Board and its committees continue to perform critical coordination and oversight functions (see below), as contemplated by this Court's Order, and in accord with the vision of a statewide civil legal services delivery system articulated in the Hallmarks. Additionally, the ATJ Board, through its annual Access to Justice Conferences (see below), has created a mechanism for institutionalizing an ongoing statewide planning process that involves the entire Access to Justice Network.

In mid-1998, the ATJ Board, through its State Plan Evaluation Committee, began a process to determine how well the State Plan was working and to consider which aspects, if any, should be rethought. After an extensive and inclusive process, documented in the April 1999 Report to this Court and the BOG, the Board presented its draft revised State Plan and recommendations to the participants at the June 25-27, 1999 Access to Justice Conference in Wenatchee. The ATJ Board adopted its final revised Plan for the Delivery of Civil Legal Services to Low Income People in Washington State at its annual retreat on September 16 (Exhibit 4). The following day the revised State Plan was formally submitted to the Legal Services Corporation Board of Directors at its meeting in Seattle. The ATJ Board is developing a detailed plan for the implementation of the new and revised recommendations.

Following is the status of the implementation of the 1995 State Plan's key recommendations since the April 1999 Report to this Court and the BOG, and a discussion of key aspects of the revised State Plan.

The clear message from ATJ "stakeholders" to the 1999 evaluation of the 1995 State Plan was that, while the architecture of the statewide delivery system is sound, the implementation at the local and regional levels in some areas of the state is less than uniform. In response, the revised State Plan recommends Phase II Planning, which will focus on enhancing integrated local and regional civil equal justice delivery networks. Some regional initiatives are underway, e.g., the Southwest Region hosted its second annual Access to Justice Conference in September 1999, and the Eastern Region is working with a consultant on a regional plan.
Two statewide legal services programs have now been in operation for nearly four years (Exhibit 10).
Columbia Legal Services (CLS) is a full-service, statewide legal services program dedicated to ensuring that a full range of legal services is available to all of Washington's low income population, in particular, vulnerable and hard-to-serve special needs populations that face unique barriers to the justice system. CLS operates out of seven regional offices around the state. Its primary funding sources include the State of Washington, the Legal Foundation of Washington and LAW Fund donations.
The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) is the federal partner in the statewide Access to Justice Network. NJP's goal is to assist as many eligible low income clients as possible, either directly or through efficient and effective referrals. NJP operates out of nine regional offices throughout the state. Principal funding is from Congress through the Legal Services Corporation, which regulates the types of cases that may be handled and the types of representation that may be provided.
The state's Volunteer Attorney Legal Services Programs (Exhibit 10) continue to enjoy stable financial support. Under the revised State Plan, underwriting for a portion of these programs' operating funds will be transferred from the Northwest Justice Project to Columbia Legal Services. The ATJ Board and the Washington State Bar Association continue to devote significant resources to these programs. In addition to the technology staffing and support described below (see ComTech Committee), ATJ Board staff directs WSBA's new Emeritus Program and the activities of WSBA's Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee, and the ATJ Board provides assistance with developing legislation and rule-making designed to create incentives for attorneys to volunteer.
A key component of the State Plan is to utilize, wherever possible, available and emerging technologies to establish intake and referral systems. This has been accomplished through NJP's CLEAR Project (Coordinated Legal Education, Advice and Referral), that now serves as the primary point of access for low income clients to speak with an attorney or advocate in every county in the state, with limited assistance available in King County. NJP has developed a very extensive web site (http://www.nwjustice.org/), featuring the Law Center that provides hundreds of legal education brochures for online reading and downloading. CLEAR and the web site are viewed as national models. The web site received its one-millionth hit in October 1999. The ATJ Board has been awarded $10,000 by the Legal Services Corporation to conduct an assessment of CLEAR, focusing on the quality of services and the results for clients.
Another key component of the State Plan is to utilize existing and emerging technologies to provide expansive geographic coverage and maximize local legal services delivery capacity and presence outside of principal urban centers. In addition to the services provided through CLEAR, the ATJ Board's Communications and Technology Committee (ComTech), in cooperation with NJP, CLS, the Legal Foundation of Washington, the Office of the Administrator for the Courts, and others, have made major strides toward implementing Washington State's Equal Justice Communications and Technology Vision (Exhibit 11) (see ComTech Committee, below). The revised State Plan significantly expands the recommendations for ongoing and prospective technology initiatives, many of which are being pursued currently by the ComTech Committee, the legal services providers, the Office of the Administrator for the Courts, and WSBA's Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee.
The 1995 State Plan encourages the coordination of scarce resources to provide technical assistance and training for staff and volunteer attorneys, and charged Columbia Legal Services with primary responsibility for state support, training and technical assistance to all persons involved in the delivery of legal services to low income clients. This past year, CLS hosted several statewide training events, including Domestic Violence, Supervising Lawyers in a Legal Services Setting, and a New Lawyer Training. The revised State Plan recommends a significant role for the ATJ Board in coordinating statewide training, in partnership with CLS, and expands the reach of training beyond staff attorneys to volunteer attorneys and non-attorney advocates.
The State Plan provides that legal services-related entities that engage in fundraising activities do so cooperatively so as to maximize the total number of dollars raised and made available in the delivery system. The revised State Plan establishes a resource investment protocol, which charges all major civil equal justice funding entities with ensuring that new resources are strategically invested, and funding reductions allocated, in accordance with the protocol. The ATJ Board's Resource Development Committee is reorganizing for the purpose of supporting the implementation of those recommendations (see Resource Development Committee, below).
The revised State Plan includes a significant new set of initiatives to encourage private attorney involvement, and formally acknowledges that volunteer attorney programs and volunteer attorneys can and must be full partners in the effort to meet the unmet civil legal needs of low income people in this state. The list of proposed initiatives includes the completion of the implementation of the Volunteer Attorney Legal Services Action Plan (VALS Action Plan) (Exhibit 12), the establishment of targeted statewide volunteer attorney panels, and assistance from the Supreme Court in recruiting volunteer attorneys.
The revised State Plan includes a new section on access to the courts, self-help and preventive education to reflect the great strides that have been made the past five years by several ATJ Board Committees (Education, Systems Impediments, Status Impediments, ComTech), NJP's CLEAR program and web site, the courthouse facilitator programs, and the anticipated benefits from the new Council on Public Legal Education. The recommendations include new and expanded roles for courthouse facilitators, lay domestic violence advocates and other non-lawyers.

C. ATJ Board Committees: The ATJ Board now has eleven active working committees (Exhibit 1) that are addressing the priorities established by the Supreme Court's Order. The ATJ Board continues to work to seek the active involvement of key individuals and entities not currently participating in access to justice-related activities and initiatives in Washington State.

1. Access to Justice Conference Planning Committee: (Colleen Kinerk, Chair) The fourth annual Access to Justice Conference was held on June 25-27, 1999 at the Wenatchee Convention Center (Exhibit 13). The Conference, "Building the Bridge to Justice," featured a plenary session for ATJ and Bar Leader Conference participants during which representatives from all components of the legal system (bar leaders, courts, providers, etc.), constructed a bridge for clients who try to navigate the justice system. Conference keynote speakers included Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Guy, Legal Services Corporation President John McKay and Utah Court of Appeals Judge Judith Billings. Conference workshops focused on the need for representation of disparate client groups with unique legal issues (e.g., battered women, grandparents raising grandchildren, people with disabilities). California Court of Appeals Justice Earl Johnson, Jr. participated on a panel exploring the establishment of a civil Gideon, hosted by the ATJ Board's Jurisprudence of Access to Justice Committee. The Moderately Talented, Yet Plucky, Repertory Theatre of Justice produced another blockbuster performance, "The AX-ess Files: Justice is out There" (Exhibit 14). The 1998 ATJ Conference recommendations were reviewed and updated (Exhibit 15). Participants' expenses were kept to a minimum thanks to the generous support of an impressive number of sponsors (Exhibit 16). Significantly, TVW attended the entire ATJ Conference, and aired the taped plenary sessions and workshops frequently during the two weeks following the Conference.

The 2000 Access to Justice Conference will be part of Celebration 2000, September 13-16 in Spokane, in conjunction with the Annual Judicial Conference, the Bar Leaders Conference, the WSBA and other law-related organizations.

2. Accountability Standards Committee: (Jim Bamberger, Chair) The ATJ Board established this committee to determine what, if any, role the Board should play in building a statewide institutional accountability system. In October 1999 the ATJ Board adopted the Civil Equal Justice Performance Standards (Exhibit 17), prepared by the committee after circulation for comment to providers of civil legal services in Washington State. The Standards are designed to measure grant performance for all providers in a way that will be meaningful to all funding entities, including the Legal Services Corporation, Legal Foundation of Washington, the State of Washington and others. There are six standards which encompass the benchmarks needed for a quality program and which are responsive to the Hallmarks and the State Plan. The committee's next task is to develop a plan for their implementation.

3. Communications and Technology (ComTech) Committee: (Robin Lester, Chair) This committee was established in response to the ATJ Board's decision that it should play a significant coordinating role with respect to the myriad technological-related projects/expertise in the state. ATJ Communications and Technology Specialist Joyce Raby was hired by WSBA in April 1998 to staff this effort, which rapidly has evolved into several major initiatives developed in response

to the Washington State Equal Justice Communications and Technology Vision (Exhibit 11), and which are set forth in the Goals for the ATJ Board ComTech Committee (Exhibit 18). At its October 29, 1999 meeting, the ATJ Board was fortunate to have the opportunity to host a visit from Richard Zorza, a consultant and planning partner for the National Strategy for Nonprofit Technology in New York City, who was visiting Washington State on behalf of the Open Society Institute to learn about this state's access to justice-related technology initiatives. Richard's current project is to develop a national web accessible menu of legal information for poor and middle income people. The menu would be structured around problems with children, work, home, etc. rather than organized by substantive areas of law (evictions, public benefits, etc.). A person visiting the web site would select a word (e.g., children); another menu would further describe the types of problems related to children; and by entering a zip code, the person could find the relevant legal information and resources. He indicated that Washington State has been selected as a pilot site for this national project. After an extensive presentation on 14 current initiatives by members of the ComTech Committee and others, Richard Zorza congratulated the ATJ Board and other presenters, noting that Washington State is doing most, if not everything, he advises should be done to utilize technology to enhance the delivery of legal services to low income people. Those initiatives include:

Statewide Technology Upgrade : Since the April 1999 Report to this Court and the BOG, every member of the legal services provider network has access to a computer, appropriate software and the Internet, a goal the ComTech Committee has been pursuing for two years. The ComTech Committee has developed new minimum hardware and software standards for the entire legal services provider network, so that all programs can communicate effectively and so that work can begin on the long-term strategy of exchanging information about clients over the Internet. The standards include the types of computers programs will accept as donations or that are purchased, and the expectation that all programs will be connected to the Internet and are using e-mail. With the generous assistance of a $50,000 donation by the Legal Foundation of Washington, the volunteer attorney legal services programs all have computers. Columbia Legal Services has installed a wide-area network. The software standard has taken the form of compatible case management software with a common data definition statewide so that every client record can be tracked and maintained in the same way, thereby facilitating the compilation and analysis of statewide statistical information gathered from every program. Since the last Report to this Court and the BOG, Symantec donated $5,000 in anti-virus software for the volunteer attorney programs, and Novel donated Groupwise and Novel 5.0 to the Northwest Justice Project.

Online Interactive Forms Project: The goal of this pilot project is to enable pro se litigants to create their own documents online to obtain domestic violence protection orders. The Office of the Administrator for the Courts has obtained a legislative appropriation of $100,000 to develop online interactive forms in partnership with the ComTech Committee and the state's domestic violence community. This "document assembly" software prompts the pro se litigant with a series of questions that, when answered, result in the production of a form which meets the mandatory form requirements, and which can be filed immediately in court. The pilot will be conducted in both a rural and an urban county, with the assistance of courthouse facilitators and domestic violence advocates. After the

project has been evaluated, the goal is to put these forms onto the Internet for the benefit of pro se litigants and their advocates throughout the state. The ATJ Board is pursuing additional funding from Microsoft in the form of a revised proposal (Exhibit 19), to implement the project statewide by providing hardware, software and Internet access to those community and advocacy groups that provide services to battered women. The project will commence in January 2000.

Access to Justice Web Page: The WSBA Web Site now hosts an Access to Justice page (www@wsba.org/atj). There are two entry points: one for the public looking for legal assistance; the other for WSBA members and others looking for volunteer opportunities and information about access to justice-related initiatives and activities. Features include a map of Washington (by selecting a county, the computer pulls up available legal resources in that county); a user-friendly computer manual written by ATJ Communications and Technology Specialist Joyce Raby; a section for volunteers on "ways to participate;" and a publications section.

MIS Pro Bono Project: The ComTech Committee is encouraging law firms to lend their information technology staff to volunteer attorney legal serves programs as part of the firms' pro bono commitment. The goal is for firms to work with small programs throughout the state on technology planning and related projects.

Technology Bill of Rights: ComTech has begun work on a technology bill of rights, a project which arose from a concern that there may be those who will be left behind because of their inability to access new and existing technology. The goal is to develop a framework for evaluating the accessibility and potential problems of new technology. The first step will be the development of a draft document that will be circulated and discussed at the September 2000 ATJ Conference.

Listservs: To improve communication and facilitate the dissemination of information, WSBA hosts listservs for the volunteer attorney legal services programs, specialized legal services providers, the ATJ Board, each of the ATJ Board's committees and the Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee.

Additional collaborative efforts: The ComTech Committee is working closely with WSBA's Pro Bono and Legal Aid Committee on a pilot project that will link corporate legal departments with rural volunteer attorney legal services programs utilizing videoconferencing technology. The goal is to enable and encourage volunteers in attorney-rich Seattle to represent low income clients in rural parts of the state where there are few attorneys. The ComTech Committee is exploring ways to collaborate with WSBA's Electronic Communications Committee (EC2) on projects as diverse as web site innovations to electronic filing of documents. The ComTech

Committee also has invited representatives from the new Council on Public Legal Education to join the committee to facilitate collaboration on compatible projects.

Education Committee: (Professor Helen Donigan, Chair)

This committee's members include representatives from organizations that are involved either directly or tangentially in access to justice-related activities with an educational focus, e.g, judicial education, law schools, CLEAR. The committee functions like the ATJ Board in that it attempts to coordinate educational efforts around the state to avoid duplication of effort. Its target groups include lawyers, law schools, the judiciary, and elected officials.

The Education Committee is in the process of re-focusing its priorities, primarily due to the establishment of the new Council on Public Legal Education (see below). The Education Committee has pledged to work closely with the Council, including taking the lead, when appropriate, on relevant projects.

Following are the Education Committee's activities since the last Report to this Court and the BOG:

Judicial Education:

1. Judicial College: After three years of presenting educational seminars on Dealing with Pro Se Litigants, the Office of the Administrator for the Courts informed the Education Committee that it was revamping its Judicial College agenda and had removed the course. The Education Committee will continue to work with OAC to incorporate access to justice-related training events in this and other judicial educational events (Exhibit 20).

The Judicial Role in Ensuring Justice: Ethical Mandates and Constraints: This course was presented for the first time in May 1999 at the District/Municipal Court Judges Association Conference (Exhibit 21). The course provided a forum for the discussion of how strictly court rules and procedures should be enforced, considering the impact on the fairness of trial results and how active the judge should be in assisting pro se litigants and incompetent counsel. It also included an analysis and interpretation of the applicable provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Judges and Litigants: Communication is a Two Way Street: This course was presented at the Superior Court Judges Association Conference in April 1999 (Exhibit 22). It was a skill building program that explored ways to improve communication between judges and litigants, particularly litigants appearing pro se, those with limited language or English skills, and those with different cultural backgrounds, in an effort to make sure cases are presented adequately for just results. The course included small and entire group problem solving and role playing.
When Bias Compounds: Insuring Equal Justice for Women of Color in the Courts: Members of the Education Committee will participate in this pilot project to educate judges, sponsored jointly by the Washington State Gender and Justice Commission and the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission.

Law Students: An initial meeting of law students from the state's three law schools was held at the 1999 Access to Justice Conference in Wenatchee. The goal was to explore ways both law students and faculty can contribute to current access to justice-related efforts in the state, and initiate their own projects. A second meeting is scheduled for the 2000 Access to Justice Conference.

Judicial Screening: The committee continues to consider how to improve judicial screening procedures to ensure that only those with a demonstrated commitment to access to justice serve in our state's judiciary.

5. Equal Justice Coalition: (Diane Tebelius, Chair; Wayne Blair and Travis Sines, Co-Vice Chairs) The Equal Justice Coalition (EJC) was established by the ATJ Board in January 1995 at the request of the WSBA, legal services providers, and members of the private bar, to respond to threats by Congress and the Washington State Legislature to cut funding for civil legal services. The EJC continues to be extremely successful in developing a broad-based nonpartisan network of equal justice supporters around the state who understand and support the need for permanent and stable funding for civil legal services. The EJC also continues to be a national model. Former EJC Chair and Seattle attorney John McKay is serving his third year as President of the Legal Services Corporation.

Despite the best efforts of this Court, the Board of Governors, the EJC and other civil equal justice supporters, the 1999 state legislative initiative to increase funding for legal services by $10 million biannually failed. There is no legislative strategy for the 2000 session, in part because Columbia Legal Services will obtain funding through savings from people who have left welfare under TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). This does not preclude seeking additional significant funding from the legislature in 2001, as the TANF monies are insufficient to provide the necessary capacity to provide for a minimally adequate level of support for the civil equal justice network.

On the federal level, the Northwest Justice Project has been approved for three years of funding from the Legal Services Corporation at a slightly lower level than its current grant. NJP has experienced flat funding for the past few years and, factoring in inflation, is operating as "close to the bone" as it can.

The EJC sent a team to Washington, D.C. on June 20-22, 1999 to meet with Washington State's Congressional delegation about the need for additional funds for civil legal services. The team consisted of Chief Justice Richard Guy, Immediate Past WSBA President M. Wayne Blair, Spokane attorney Bill Hyslop, NJP Executive Director Patrick McIntyre and NJP client-eligible Board member Chris Pazen. Attorney General Christine Gregoire attended several of the meetings.

The newest EJC initiative is "Summer of Justice," a four-month educational campaign that will travel to every county in the state to raise public awareness of, and support for, the need for civil legal services. The campaign will culminate in September at Celebration 2000 in Spokane. A Spokane car dealer has donated a

used van for the initiative and the EJC is recruiting volunteer drivers. To raise money, the EJC has published a cookbook, "Cooking up Justice" which is available for $9.95. It contains recipes submitted by members of the ATJ Network, including Chief Justice Guy, both U.S. Senators, Attorney General Christine Gregoire, numerous judges and many others (Exhibit 23

Since the last Report to this Court, the EJC has published three issues of its newsletter, Justice at Work (Exhibit 24), which is sent to more than 3,500 supporters. The EJC currently is revising JAWS (Justice at Work), a very popular and highly touted binder designed to educate elected officials and others about the civil equal justice crisis in Washington State.

In anticipation of the Summer of Justice and the 2001 state legislative session, the EJC continues to recruit team captains and EJC member organizations.

6. Jurisprudence of Access to Justice Committee: (Leonard Schroeter, Chair) The mission of this committee is multifaceted: to compile a data base on the jurisprudence of access to justice; to publish significant law review and other articles; to assist the courts in identifying significant access to justice issues; to convene forums to discuss these issues; and to provide assistance to ATJ Board committees and other groups in identifying constitutional bases for their proposals/activities.

Central to the committee's activities is a workshop at the annual Access to Justice Conference. "Right to Counsel in Civil Cases: Why Not?" was the theme of this year's workshop. Panelists included California Court of Appeals Justice Earl Johnson, Jr., who has written extensively on the concept of a civil Gideon, and Justice Richard Sanders. Leonard Schroeter wrote a significant and well-received paper for the Conference (available through the Access to Justice Board and on the WSBA Web Site, www.wsba.org/atj/publications).

Leonard Schroeter has written a series of articles on the jurisprudence of access to justice, which have been published in the Bar News (Exhibit 25).

Media Committee: (Amanda Brothers, Interim Chair)

The Media Committee grew out of an Equal Justice Coalition Media Work Group, established to improve media relations, dissemination of information and message development. Work Group members, acknowledging the expanding media needs of the greater Access to Justice Network, asked the ATJ Board at its June 1999 meeting to create a new ATJ Board Media Committee. Currently in its formation stage, this new committee will focus on the following initiatives: developing and coordinated the legal services messages both internally and for the media; improving communication among the ATJ Network members about pending issues, media contacts, etc.; developing media contacts statewide; establishing and maintaining an ongoing media contact data base; and maintaining a clipping file. Plans include seeking participation by the new Council on Public Legal Education with the goal of a joint ATJ/PLE Media Committee.

8. Resource Development Committee: (Barbara Clark, Chair; Greg Dallaire, Chair as of March 31, 2000) The ATJ Board is administered by the Washington State Bar Association which provides, staff, funding for meetings, and

other administrative support. Given the exponential growth in the ATJ Board's activities, this committee oversees the solicitation of additional funds for those activities. The committee was successful in its request for $65,000 from the Open Society Institute to develop a Washington State Equal Justice Model Training Manual, which will be published in the spring of 2000. The committee is expanding and refocusing its mission to be responsive to the resource investment protocol outlined in the revised State Plan.

9. Status Impediments to Access to Justice Committee: (Hon. Anne Ellington, Chair) This committee is charged with identifying and removing impediments to the justice system for people whose status (e.g., disability, language, physical isolation) makes it difficult or impossible to meaningfully access the justice system.

The committee, in a joint effort with WSBA's Court Improvement Committee, has completed tabulated a survey of physical barriers in Washington State courthouses (Exhibit 26). The next step in the process is to determine how to obtain funding for needed improvements.

10. Systems Impediments to Access to Justice Committee: (Hon. U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno, Chair) This committee is charged with identifying judicial, legislative and administrative impediments to access to justice and recommending and implementing, or delegating the implementation of, proposed changes in those systems. In May 1997 the committee completed its initial Report which identified 13 impediments and made 18 separate recommendations for addressing them. As a result of this Report, Chief Administrative Law Judge Art Wang and members of his staff have been working closely with the committee and others to implement many of these recommendations.

Committee member Howard Graham has taken the lead in developing and proposing legislation to amend the Equal Access to Justice Act to award payment of attorneys' fees for successful representation of persons in administrative hearings who are recipients of state services. Both the ATJ Board and the WSBA supported the proposal during its unsuccessful first try during the 1999 legislative session. A compromise bill (PSSB 5260) passed in 1999 established an Equal Access to Justice Task Force to study and review the provision of attorneys' fees for qualified parties at administrative hearings. A new bill, SB 3519, now before the legislature (Exhibit 27), is being supported by both the ATJ Board and WSBA.

The committee is undertaking an analysis of current administrative procedures from an access to justice perspective to determine whether changes are appropriate. The first step in this process was the development of a questionnaire, Impediments in the Administrative Process of Public Programs that Appear to Deprive Low and Moderate Income Persons of Meaningful Access to Justice (Exhibit 28). It has been sent to all legal services advocates, all state administrative law judges, bar leaders and attorneys who practice administrative law. A re-worked and simplified version of the survey is being developed for distribution to all advocates at the Department of Health and Human Services and client groups.

11. Telephone Access Committee: (Susan Daniel, Chair) This committee was established in early 1995 in response to a Board of Governors'

request for a recommendation about the advisability of a telephone advice hotline for moderate income people. The committee developed a proposed plan that included the establishment of a for-profit advice and referral hotline and modest means panels developed by the Washington Young Lawyers Division (YLD). The ATJ Board presented its final Report and Recommendations to the Board of Governors in early 1998, which included a number of options for WSBA involvement in the project. The Board of Governors rejected the options of developing, operating, funding or sponsoring a hotline, choosing instead to adopt a set of model Standards for Legal Advice Hotlines Operating in Washington State (Exhibit 29).

The ATJ Board and greater ATJ Network are re-visiting the original proposal and looking at the possibility of establishing a not-for-profit hotline, the income from which would support the equal justice network. Two significant initiatives are underway: (1) LAW Fund has provided seed money to pay for a statewide feasibility study and business plan to determine how a not-for-profit hotline could be run in Washington State, whether it would generate adequate revenues to make it worth doing, and whether it is realistic given the goals of this community. (2) The Board of Governors appropriated $20,000 for the development and support of modest means panels throughout the state modeled on the Young Lawyers Division's GAAP (Greater Access and Assistance Program) project. WSBA's ATJ staff will work with YLD to establish these panels, which in turn will receive direct referrals from CLEAR and the proposed hotline, if established (Exhibit 30).

D. ATJ Board-Launched Initiatives: The strength and value of the ATJ Board is its proven ability to convene broad-based groups of individuals around issues they care deeply about. Through its committee structure and ATJ Conferences, the Board continually seeks to expand the ATJ Network and to empower efforts to institutionalize significant change. Two examples are the Council on Public Legal Education and the Family Law Access to Justice Task Force – both "launched" by the ATJ Board and designed to be independent of the Board.

Council on Public Legal Education: (Co-Chairs Judge Marlin Appelwick and Judith Billings). The Council was the primary recommendation from the Public Legal Education Work Group, organized by the ATJ Board Education Committee in response to a 1998 Access to Justice Conference recommendation to develop a statewide plan for public legal education. The Work Group met monthly between November 1998 and June 1999, when it presented its report and recommendations to the Access to Justice Conference participants in Wenatchee. Both the ATJ Board and the BOG unanimously voted to accept the Final Report of the Work Group, REINVENTING THE REPUBLIC; a Proposal for Public Legal Education, which included the establishment of a broad-based Council on Public Legal Education. The Council on Public Legal Education, whose proposed membership includes representatives from the courts, the bar, the education system, the community and the media (a final list is pending) will formally begin its work on February 29, 2000. The Council's mandate is broad-based and includes educational initiatives directed at the low and moderate income populations in Washington State. The Council will be administered by the Washington State Bar Association.
Family Law Access to Justice Task Force: (Co-Chairs Judge Paul Bastine and Alden Garrett) Issues around family law are presenting enormous problems for the courts, legal services providers and pro se litigants, and continue to be raised in discussions related to access to justice. The ATJ Board established a small working task force, chaired by ATJ Board member Scott Smith, to determine the best vehicle for addressing these issues. As a preliminary step, the task force developed and distributed a survey to collect information about the key issues (Exhibit 31). In early March 2000 the ATJ Board will launch a new Family Law Access to Justice Task Force whose mission is to recommend improvements in the availability and delivery of family law legal services, assistance and information in Washington State for low and moderate-income people, including pro se litigants. The final list of members is pending.

NEXT STEPS

The ATJ Board celebrated its fifth anniversary following its May 18, 1999 meeting. All current and former ATJ Board members attended the event, which recognized outgoing ATJ Board members, ATJ committee chairs and others who have made significant contributions to the work of the ATJ Board over the past five years.

Having assumed responsibility for implementing the ambitious and extensive revised State Plan, many of the Access to Justice Conference recommendations, and a portion of WSBA's Long-Range Strategic Plan, the ATJ Board is facing a focused and comprehensive agenda for the next two years under this Court's Order.

The ATJ Board continues to welcome your feedback on, and involvement in, its activities and initiatives. Partnerships with the judiciary and the bar are essential to the work of the ATJ Board and the greater Access to Justice Network. Your continuing support of the ATJ Board is a valued asset.

Thank you for your support of access to justice.

Very truly yours,

Judge T.W. Small, Chair

Access to Justice Board

Cc: Justice Gerry L. Alexander

Justice Bobbe Bridge

Justice Faith Ireland

Justice Charles W. Johnson

Justice Barbara A. Madsen

Justice Richard B. Sanders

Justice Charles Z. Smith

Justice Philip Talmadge

WSBA President-Elect Jan Eric Peterson

WSBA Governor Dale L. Carlisle

WSBA Governor James E. Deno

WSBA Governor Jenny A. Durkan

WSBA Governor Daryl L. Graves

WSBA Governor Stephen John Henderson

WSBA Governor Walter Krueger

WSBA Governor Richard J. Manning

WSBA Governor Stephen T. Osborne

WSBA Governor John T. Powers

WSBA Governor Lindsay T. Thompson

WSBA Governor Victoria L. Vreeland

WSBA Executive Director M. Janice Michel