July 1996 Report

July 10, 1996
Chief Justice Barbara Durham
Temple of Justice
P.O. Box 40929
Olympia, WA 98504-0929

Edward F. Shea, President
Washington State Bar Association
Shea & Kuffel
1816 N. 20th
Pasco, WA 99301

Dear Chief Justice Durham and President Shea:

On April 18, 1994, the Supreme Court entered an order establishing the Access to Justice Board (ATJ Board). In part, that Order provided for evaluative interim reports every six months to the Supreme Court and the Board of Governors regarding the work of the Access to Justice Board. This report and attached exhibits complete the formal reporting process under the ATJ Order, and document the ATJ Board's continuing significant progress toward satisfying the Court's six directives.

The first six-month report, dated November 28, 1994, covered the appointment of the ATJ Board members, the hiring of ATJ Board staff and the first ATJ Board meeting on November 21, 1994.

The second six-month report, dated May 25, 1995, described the range of activities undertaken by the ATJ Board in response to the six directives delineated by the Supreme Court.

The third six-month report, dated September 12, 1995, was submitted early to coincide with the fall Judicial Conference in Vancouver, Washington on September 11-13, 1995. That report documented the progress in the activities undertaken by the ATJ Board from May 25 to September 12, 1995 responding to the Supreme Court's six directives, with a particular focus on the directive to secure adequate funding for the civil justice system.

Meetings: The ATJ Board has met monthly since its first meeting on November 21, 1994. For budgetary reasons, all but one meeting has been in Seattle. We have attached the Agendas from the September 15, October 13, November 17, and December 1, 1995 meetings; and the January 19, February 16, March 15, April 5, May 24 and June 28 , 1996 meetings (Exhibit A).

ATJ Board Mission and Structure: We have attached the ATJ Board's Priorities and Activities, which is updated monthly to track the activities undertaken within each of the ATJ Board's priority areas (Exhibit B). We also have attached the revised ATJ Board Committee structure (Exhibit C), and a list of current ATJ Board members, Committee Chairs and Liaisons (Exhibit D). Since the September 12, 1995 Report, the ATJ Board has created three additional committees: Systems Impediments to Access to Justice, Status Impediments to Access, and Jurisprudence of Access. The ATJ Board Funding Committee is now the ATJ Board Resource Development Committee. The ATJ Board currently has ten active working committees (see "Specific ATJ Board Activities" for descriptions). ATJ Board member Judge Susan Agid resigned from the ATJ Board in March 1996. The WSBA Board of Governors has recommended to the Supreme Court the appointment of the Honorable Frances James Gavin to fill the Board for Judicial Administration designated seat vacated by Judge Agid. The WSBA Board of Governors also has recommended to the Supreme Court reappointment of ATJ Board members Paul L. Stritmatter, Kenneth H. Davidson, and Phyllis Selinker for additional three-year terms. Those recommendations have been followed.

Overview: During the ATJ Board's first 18 months of activity (November 1994 - June 1996), it has set new standards for the delivery of civil legal services both statewide and nationally, and has become a national model for states looking at effective ways to coordinate, develop and implement access to justice activities for low and moderate income people. Indeed, the ATJ Board has been show-cased at recent national conferences and meetings (e.g., October 1995 ABA Bar Leader Conference in Phoenix, November 1995 National Legal Aid and Defender Association Annual Conference in New Orleans, April 1996 ABA Pro Bono Conference in Phoenix), and in numerous national publications (e.g., ABA Center for Pro Bono Exchange, The State Planning Assistance Network's (SPAN) Guide to Legal Services Planning). Significantly, the ATJ Board's Equal Justice Coalition has been cited by the American Bar Association as one of the most effective statewide efforts for the preservation of federal funding for legal services.

The following narrative provides the Court with a clear understanding of all that the ATJ Board has accomplished since its September 12, 1995 Report. Attached are a number of exhibits that document these activities:

ATJ-Coordinated Statewide Planning Process: The ATJ Board spent most of its time between August 1995 and November 1995 developing its Plan for Delivery of Civil Legal Services to Low Income Persons in Washington State (Exhibit E). All states were directed by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to undertake and complete such a process by November 1, 1995 in anticipation of drastic cuts in federal funding, and the anticipated imposition of severe restrictions on advocacy and use of federal funds. The ATJ Board solicited the participation of more than 165 access to justice "stakeholders," including civil legal services providers, volunteer attorney legal services providers, judicial associations, the WSBA, local, specialty and minority bar associations, law schools, paralegal associations and private attorneys. Seventy-four stakeholders made formal presentations, submitted written remarks and/or attended the September, October and November planning meetings. Using the guidelines set out in the Hallmarks of an Effective Statewide Civil Legal Services Delivery System (attached to Exhibit E), the participants developed 18 recommendations for reconfiguring Washington's delivery system so as to preserve access by low income clients to a full range of advocacy. Key recommendations, as implemented, include the following:

On January 1, 1996, Evergreen Legal Services, Puget Sound Legal Assistance Foundation and Spokane Legal Services Center merged into one statewide program, Columbia Legal Services. This merged program will operate with non-LSC funds so as to be able to continue to provide a full range of legal services without Congressionally-mandated restrictions

A new separate single statewide entity, Northwest Justice Project (NJP), was awarded the statewide Legal Services Corporation grant to establish and maintain a statewide staffed service delivery presence and assume primary responsibility for providing financial and other support to the state's volunteer attorney legal services programs.

The Northwest Justice Project has established CLEAR, a Coordinated Legal Education, Advice and Referral System, that utilizes a statewide 1-800 number and sophisticated intake and referral computer software to provide "one stop shopping" for low income clients (Exhibit F).

The Plan provides for continued financial support for the state's volunteer attorney legal services programs consistent with available resources.

The Plan provides for cooperative fundraising by Legal Aid for Washington Fund (LAW Fund) and other legal services-related entities to maximize the total number of dollars available for equal justice activities.

Copies of the Plan were distributed to all the "stakeholders," and the Plan was summarized and distributed through the Equal Justice Coalition network (Exhibit G).

Equal Justice Coalition: 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 legal services funding (Exhibit H). The ATJ Board reported to you in September 1995 that the Legislature had restored the full $4.8 million appropriation for legal services, due largely to efforts of the nonpartisan EJC and its statewide phone/fax network of "EJC Teams." Although the EJC also did an excellent job garnering support by Washington State's Congressional delegation for preservation of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), Congress reduced FY 96 LSC funding from $400 million to $278 million. In response, the Washington State Legislature on March 7, 1996 approved a $1 million supplemental appropriation for legal services to partially offset the federal reductions. (This funding cannot be expended, however, until an alternative dispute resolution agreement is signed by Columbia Legal Services, the Washington Growers' League and the Northwest Justice Project). The EJC was instrumental in obtaining this appropriation.

The EJC continues to focus its efforts at both the state and Congressional levels, with the goal of educating the legislators that legal services is a model public private partnership, whose partners include a broad cross-section of the legal community. The EJC has sent a total of five separate teams to Washington, D.C. to meet with Washington State's Congressional delegation. Its publication "Justice at Work" (Exhibit I) continues to evolve as an educational tool for state and Congressional legislators and now includes a Washington State Corporate Counsel for Legal Services letter signed by corporate counsel from 42 major Washington State corporations, a letter signed by 141 members of Washington State's judiciary, a Managing Partner letter signed by 29 managing partners of major Washington State law firms, and other significant letters of support. The EJC also sends out periodic newsletters (Exhibit J) to a large mailing list of supporters. The American Bar Association and many other states continue to recognize the excellent work of the EJC. In addition to utilizing its materials and strategies in the battle to preserve the Legal Services Corporation, the ABA has called upon EJC Steering Committee members to participate in national media training and strategic planning sessions. The ABA also selected Washington State for a special targeted strategy to engage ABA members in the fight to save LSC (Exhibit K).

Telephone Access Committee: After nearly one year of study, the ATJ Board's Telephone Access Committee, the Washington Young Lawyers Division, the King County Bar Association, and the King County Young Lawyers Division, are finalizing a coordinated proposal for a "WSBA Legal Advice Hotline" (Exhibit L) to be presented in the fall to the WSBA Board of Governors. The project is designed to provide the moderate income population with low cost legal advice and low cost direct representation. This Hotline will interface with CLEAR, the statewide intake, referral and advice system run by the Northwest Justice Project for low income people, creating the first unified statewide system of access and representation for low and moderate income people in the United States.

Education Committee: The ATJ Board's Education Committee consists of representatives from organizations that are involved either directly or tangentially in access to justice-related activities (Exhibit M). This Committee will function like the ATJ Board in that it will coordinate educational efforts around the state to avoid duplication of effort. It also will support current educational efforts, identify gaps in education, and develop ways to fill those gaps. The target groups include attorneys, the judiciary, students and the public (including elected officials). With respect to specific educational efforts, the ATJ Board and its individual members have continued to pursue educational opportunities locally, statewide and nationally. The ATJ Board's Priorities and Activities chart (Exhibit B - Section D.) documents these efforts. Significant activities since the September 12, 1995 Report include:

"Access to Justice: the Current Crisis" - an ATJ Board workshop at the annual Superior Court Judges Conference on April 26, 1996 (Exhibit N)

Presentations to governing boards of eleven volunteer attorney legal services programs on the ATJ Board's Plan

Regular presentations to the WSBA Board of Governors

Letters to every new WSBA member about the role of the legal profession in access to justice (Exhibit O)

ATJ Board representation at national conferences (National Legal Aid and Defender Association, ABA Pro Bono Conference, ABA Bar Leader Conferences)

Use of WSBA Bar News, Judicial News and and other media (Exhibit P)

Nomination of key people for national awards (e.g., Judge Paul Bastine for the ABA Pro Bono Publico Award, Robert Kaplan for the ABA National Public Service Award, Attorney General Christine Gregoire for the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award) (Exhibit Q)

Access to Justice Conference Committee: The ATJ Board is coordinating the planning of Washington State's first annual Access to Justice Conference, to be held in Chelan on October 4, 5 and 6, 1996. Workshops will focus around specific roles that each of the access to justice "partners" will play in furthering the goal of access to justice for all (Exhibit R). These partners include the organized bar, the judiciary, legal services and volunteer attorney legal services providers, and the law schools. A "wrap-up" session will generate a conference report which will summarize the roles of the partners and set forth short and long-range goals of each partner and the access to justice community as a whole.

Systems Impediments to Access to Justice Committee: This Committee is charged with identifying judicial, legislative and administrative systems impediments to access to justice and recommending and implementing necessary changes in those systems. Chaired by Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno (Exhibit S), the Committee has begun its task by collecting and reviewing all relevant reports prepared over the years by local, state and national legal and non-legal bodies. This necessary first step will avoid duplication of effort, create a "clearinghouse" for these materials, and enable the Committee to review existing recommendations. The second step is to prepare a written report with the Committee's recommendations. The final -- and long term steps -- are to implement these recommendations and/or delegate their implementation to the appropriate body or bodies. Steps one and two will be completed by April 1997.

Status Impediments to Access Committee: This Committee will coordinate closely with the Systems Impediments to Access to Justice Committee to make and implement recommendations that will facilitate access for those with status impediments. These impediments include, but are not limited to, race, gender, language, immigrant status, disability and geographic isolation.

Jurisprudence of Access Committee: Currently there is no definitive legal data base on the subject of "access to justice." Jurisprudence of Access Committee Chair Leonard Schroeter has been compiling one on his own for some time, and recently has begun to coordinate those efforts with national organizations. The purpose of this Committee is to complete this task and to continue to update the data base. In this way, the ATJ Board can stay current on the developing law in this area and will be in a position to assist the courts in identifying and briefing significant access to justice issues.

Voluntary Attorney Legal Services Committee: The ATJ Board has been active in assisting the WSBA's Legal Aid Committee in implementing the WSBA's Volunteer Attorney Legal Services (VALS) Action Plan. In that role, it has participated in the Legal Aid Committee's private bar campaign (Exhibit T); supported the Legal Aid Committee's proposal to the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Board for adoption of a rule giving MCLE Ethics credit for certain types of pro bono work (Exhibit U); taken on the task of coordinating the Access to Justice Conference at the request of the Legal Aid Committee; and in general provided a forum for discussion of the role of the organized bar and the judiciary in encouraging voluntary service by lawyers.

Courthouse Facilitator Committee: Recognizing the critical role that the courthouse facilitators play in access to the justice system, the ATJ Board has established a committee to support the development and expansion of this program statewide. The ATJ Board assisted in the development of a funding proposal to the State Justice Institute to provide additional informational resources to pro se family law litigants, and has made presentations at state and national conferences promoting the project.

Limited Practice Officer (LPO) Rule: The ATJ Board garnered support for adoption by the Supreme Court of amendments to APR 12(h) and 12.1 (the LPO Rule), and is working closely with the Legal Foundation of Washington to ensure the Rule's successful implementation. The ATJ Board is grateful for the Supreme Court's leadership in adopting amendments to APR 12. The additional monies realized from the successful implementation of the LPO Rule are critical to ensuring the continuation of our state's legal service delivery system pursuant to this Court's directive to the ATJ Board to secure adequate funding for the civil justice system.

Resource Development Committee: The ATJ Board is administered by the Washington State Bar Association, which provides staff support and $6,000 annually for meeting expenses. Given the exponential growth in ATJ Board activities, it has become necessary to look for additional sources of funding. In an effort not to compete with Washington State's direct service providers for limited funds, this Committee currently is seeking support from national foundations.

The origins of the ATJ Board can be traced to Ada Shen-Jaffe's "Circles Chart," which graphically demonstrates by overlapping circles the overlapping efforts in access to justice-related efforts. The ATJ Board was charged by the Supreme Court with coordinating these efforts "to ensure continuity and focus." The ATJ Board has taken its "traffic cop" role very seriously, and has sought at every opportunity to integrate existing duplicative efforts and to prevent the formation of new ones. To that end, the ATJ Board has operated in a highly inclusive manner, encouraging attendance at its meetings by all interested persons, widely publicizing its activities, and affirmatively seeking out individuals and groups with innovative ideas and encouraging them to become part of the coordinated statewide effort. We believe that these efforts have been very successful, and that the ATJ Board currently is viewed statewide and nationally as the "effective mechanism" for coordinating, improving and advancing civil access to justice envisioned in this Court's ATJ Board Order.

The ATJ Board continues to welcome your feedback on our activities and looks forward to continuing to expand its role in access to justice efforts in Washington State.

Very truly yours,

Paul L. Stritmatter, Chair
Access to Justice Board

cc:
Justice Gerry Alexander
Justice James Dolliver
Justice Richard Guy
Justice Charles Johnson
Acting Chief Justice Barbara Madsen
Justice Richard Sanders
Justice Charles Smith
Justice Phil Talmadge
WSBA President-Elect Tom Chambers

A ATJ Board Meeting agendas

B ATJ Board Priorities and Activities

C ATJ Board Committee Structure

D ATJ Board Members, Committee Chairs and Liaisons

E Plan for Delivery of Civil Legal Services to Low Income Persons in Washington State w/Hallmarks of an Effective Statewide Civil Legal Services Delivery System

F Description of CLEAR

G Letter and "Justice at Work" describing the new Plan

H Lists of EJC Steering Committee Members and Member Organizations

I "Justice at Work"

J "Justice at Work" Newsletters

K Letter from ABA President Roberta Cooper Ramo

L WSBA Legal Advice Hotline Proposal

M Education Committee Roster

N Superior Court Judges Conference Program

O ATJ Board letter to new WSBA members

P Articles and newspaper clippings

Q Nomination letters

R Draft Access to Justice Conference agenda

S Systems Impediments to Access to Justice Committee Roster

T "For the Good of the Public"

U Letter from ATJ Board and proposed MCLE Ethics Rule