MINUTES
Access to Justice Board
November 30, 2001
Washington State Bar Association
Present: ATJ Board members Chair Michele Jones, Dwight William, Chris Crowell, Pam Feinstein, Pete Dewell, Scott Smith; ATJ Board committee chairs and members Leonard Schroeter, Ada Shen-Jaffe, Debi Perluss, Sue Encherman, Barbara Clark, Erin Hyppa, Don Horowitz, Rebecca Mordini; Liaisons Judge Janet Garrow (District and Municipal Court Judges Association), Denice Patrick (Washington Women Lawyers); Staff Joan Fairbanks, Sharlene Steele, Leslie Johnson, James Kim, Pam Inglesby.
Minutes
The Minutes were approved as written.
Approval of Civil Equal Justice Resolution 2001
The Resolution, which is attached, was approved with amendments. It will be sent to the Governor as part of the EJC’s strategy to avoid a proposed 15% cut in state funding for civil legal services. Other justice system partners – the BJA, the Board of Governors, Washington Association of County Clerks and others -- are submitting companion resolutions.
Status of Civil Equal Justice Funding Task Force and Civil Legal Needs Study
The Supreme Court has finalized and approved an order establishing the Civil Equal Justice Funding Task Force. It is anticipated that WSBA and AOC will jointly staff the Task Force, which will administer the civil legal needs study. To date $45,000 has been raised to fund the study: $10,000 for the Legal Services Corporation; $15,000 from the state Department of Community Development; $20,000 from the State Department of Aging and Adult Services. Additionally, at least five WSBA sections and the King County Bar Association are considering supporting the study. On December 6 Judges Chip Small and Greg Tripp, Ada Shen-Jaffe and Jim Bamberger will make a formal request to the Supreme Court for an additional $50,000 toward the study, which will cost an estimated $100,000. The ATJ Board has been asked by the Chief Justice to assist the appointing entities in identifying potential Task Force members. The ATJ Board Executive Committee has put together a list, which the ATJ Board members discussed at length. [Update since the meeting: The Supreme Court has allocated $50,000 for the civil legal needs study, bringing the total amount raised to $95,000.]
Implications of Ninth Circuit IOLTA Decision
Barbara Clark invited everyone to attend the event on December 11 to thank pro bono counsel on the case. The ATJ Board will write a letter of thanks to counsel.
The ATJ Board had a wide-ranging discussion about the implications of the November 14 en banc Ninth Circuit decision, which held there had been no taking and no just compensation owed. It remanded the case to the U.S. District Court to consider First Amendment issues. The Washington Legal Foundation has 90 days in which to enter an appeal. In a similar case, a Fifth Circuit three-judge panel reached the opposite conclusion. The Texas IOLTA program is awaiting word on a request for re-hearing. Depending on the outcome of these proceedings, the question becomes whether the Supreme Court will review one or both cases.
Status of Practice of Law Board
Scott Smith reported there will be a public hearing on December 17 at the WSBA offices hosted by the Washington State Bar Association Practice of Law Board Implementation Committee. He noted there is one lay member, Larry Kenney, added recently at Scott’s suggestion. He urged ATJ Board members to encourage participation at the hearing by those who can speak to the importance of significant non attorney participation on the Practice of Law Board representing a variety of disciplines. He also encouraged them to urge qualified candidates to apply for the Board. He will send everyone an e-mail reminding them of the hearing, which will include information about the hearing and the link to the WSBA web site that describes the Board and the process of selecting its members.
Updates
Debi Perluss reported that the Civil Gideon Work Group has begun meeting again and she is serving as chair, at least on an interim basis. The Work Group has been gathering resource information and is now moving to the next step, which is to contact others who may be able to assist in the effort to develop strategies. The Work Group will be sponsoring a session on Civil Gideon at the June ATJ Conference. She also reported that the Legal Services Corporation has asked NJP to do a self-evaluation of the State Plan, due March 11. NJP will be staffing the self-evaluation, but suggested that the ATJ Board be involved in a visible way in the process. She suggested that at least one person be identified to work on the initiative. Pat McIntyre will provide Michele with the information
Don Horowitz reported on the status of the Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights. There is now a full complement of committee co-chairs: Outreach – Sudha Shetty and Ron Ein; Judiciary – Justice Rich Guy and Judge Tom Wynne; Opportunities and Barriers – Judge Chip Small and Stephanie Delaney; Jurisprudence – Judge Dennis Sweeney, Greg Sweeney, Anita Ramasastry (vice-chair). The project’s Steering Committee, which includes the co-chairs, met on November 17. Early products are in the works: an Access to Justice check-list/audit and a survey of procedural law. There will be an all-committee meeting on January 25. He also reported that WSBA has hired James Kim to staff the project.
Pete Dewell reported that he has prepared a summary of cases for the Civil Gideon Work Group and has been doing research on other bills of rights. He also is representing a woman pro bono in Snohomish County’s whose case may be appropriate for Civil Gideon consideration.
Rebecca Mordini thanked everyone for attending/supporting the Justice Jam, held on October 26. Over 150 people attended. Speakers included Laura Contreras speaking about the Amigas Unidas Program, a volunteer-based program for victims of domestic violence in Yakima; and John McKay. Entertainment was provided by Func Pro Tunc.
Michele Jones reported that she, Scott Smith, Jim Bamberger and Joan Fairbanks conducted a three-hour orientation session on November 29 for the seven new members of the Board of Governors. She reported that Justice Bridge would like the ATJ Board to appoint a liaison to the Judicial Information System (JIS) Committee. Don Horowitz and Dwight Williams agreed to share the appointment. She also reported that Chief Justice Alexander has asked the ATJ Board’s Education Committee to provide input into the Fall Judicial Conference.
Dwight Williams reported that he has been appointed to the ABA Commission on IOLTA, and in that capacity will serve as liaison to the ABA Commission on Loan Repayment and Debt Forgiveness. He has been assigned to a committee responsible for drafting information for states interested in starting programs. He will contact UW Assistant Dean Paula Littlewood, who has chaired an effort the past few years to establish a state loan repayment assistance program. Michele Jones reported that state Senator Kohl-Wells is interested in bringing the bill forward at the upcoming legislative session.
Joan Fairbanks reported that Judge Chip Small is making a presentation to the BJA on behalf of the ATJ Board about the proposed family law facilitator rule. The hope is that the BJA will adopt it. On December 1 the BOG will be considering the proposed courthouse facilitator rule and the proposed rule on unbundled legal services. [Update since the meeting: Both the BJA and the BOG approved the family law facilitator rule; the BOG also approved the rule on unbundled legal services.]
Pam Feinstein reported King County will fund the Unemployment Law Project in 2002, but has cut all funding for the Eastside Legal Assistance Program and Legal Action Center. The Equal Justice Coalition is exploring avenues for addressing the problem, including trying to understand the rationale for funding only one of the three programs.
Denice Patrick reported that the Washington State Trial Lawyers has voted to seek a $120 increase in the filing fee to support mandatory arbitration in King County. Len Schroeter will follow up with WSTLA to get additional information that can be shared with the ATJ Board. She also reported on a bankruptcy reform proposal that will, among other things, raise the cost of filing bankruptcy and otherwise negatively impact low income people. Denice encouraged people to contact their Congressional representatives to call their attention to these issues.
Barbara Clark reported on the status of the initiative to address Inclusion, Diversity and Multi-cultural Competence as a Justice System Imperative. She distributed a bibliography prepared by Ada Shen-Jaffe regarding these issues and encouraged people to notify Ada if they had additions to the list. Barbara also reported that the ATJ Board’s Resource Development Committee, chaired by Greg Dallaire, had its first two meetings. The Committee is looking at the current distribution of resources and the history of the development of resource allocation in Washington State.
Web site discussion
Demonstration of www.LawHelp.org: Sue Encherman gave an on-line demonstration of LawHelp.org. (developed by ProBono.net), which will be the template for a statewide web site funded by LSC through a $50,000 Technology Innovation Grant (TIG) awarded to the Northwest Justice Project. All providers will be able to post their own information on LawHelp.org without relying on a web master, and in fact will be able to customize their own web sites. The ATJ Board’s ComTech Committee has put together a working subcommittee to develop and coordinate content for the web site. Of the $50,000, $10,000 will go to ProBono.net to support its help in setting it up and to pay for the hosting of the web site for the first year. The other $40,000 will pay for a web content coordinator for one year. An additional $250,000 TIG grant from LSC will support two circuit riders (one located in Seattle) that will travel to the states that have adopted the ProBono.net model to assist in establishing the web site and to assist with training. She made reference to a hand-out distributed with the materials. The state web site will have both a client and advocate side. Much of the energy will go toward the development of the advocate side since NJP already has an extensive web site with legal resource information. After the first year, there will be a maximum $5,000 annual statewide fee to be paid to ProBono.net for ongoing support. The web site will be able to support listservs and will be able to run reports on usage of the various components.
Demonstration of ATJ Web Site (www.waaccesstojustice.org): ATJ Technology Specialist Rebecca Elder gave an on-line demonstration of the current ATJ web site which is hosted on the WSBA web site. She noted it is now fairly basic, and described it as “a billboard sitting on a lonely road.” Currently under consideration are resource centers on media and messages, fundraising, and pro bono information. A domain name has been purchased, the site will live on its own server at WSBA, and it will be in a format that can utilize data bases. She showed the ATJ Board some web sites with interesting and useful features as examples of the functionalities to consider. She is interested in making it more dynamic. Since this is the ATJ Board’s web site, she encouraged people to think about what they would like the site to contain as well as functionalities. There was discussion about where information about each program should reside, who the audiences are, how to make it easier to find the access to justice site on the WSBA home page, and the importance of avoiding duplication with LawHelp.org.
Demonstration of PLE Gateway Web site: WSBA Public Legal Education Manager Pam Inglesby gave a power point presentation on the proposed PLE Gateway Web Site. The ATJ Board is a test audience for the presentation, which has been developed to educate the legal and education communities about the project. A domain name has not yet been selected. The very broad purpose of the web site is to be a resource for everyone in Washington State to find answers to law/government-related questions, find law/government-related resources, and to become more informed and active citizens. The web site will be designed to function like a library, and will link to all other relevant web sites in the state and nationally. The PLE web site will be used as a “laboratory,” in consultation with the ATJ Technology Bill of Rights Committee, to ensure that it is as accessible as possible. PLE has developed a partnership with the University of Washington, which has agreed to develop the technological aspects of the web site. The PLE Council committees will be developing much of the content. The Council has received $25,000 matching grant from the Allen Foundation to develop the web site, which has been matched by the University of Washington’s donation of a full-time project coordinator. Additionally, ATJ-TBOR has offered to donate hardware and software as needed. The long-term funding vision is a public television model for attracting financial support. She distributed a written version of the power point presentation and encouraged people to submit comments/suggestions to her.
Pam also called everyone’s attention to the Council for Public Legal Education’s proposed new web site (www.plecouncil.org). Target audiences include: (1) people involved with the Council or who have an interest in the Council (e.g., funding or media people); (2) teachers looking for law-related lessons plans, links, etc.; (3) people wanting resources to do public legal education on their own or as a member of a speakers bureau.
*ACTION ITEMS*
(includes items carried over from 10-26-01 meeting)
IDM Guidelines
The ATJ Board established a small committee (Ada Shen-Jaffe, Pat McIntyre, Scott Smith) to develop a formal resolution with proposed steps on implementation which in turn will be brought back to the ATJ Board after its committees and the Council on Public Legal Education have had a chance to consider it.
Principles & Goals (deadline: 1-11-02)
Dwight Williams will chair a committee to re-draft this document. Committee members are Judge Garrow, Ada Shen-Jaffe and Scott Smith.
Non-lawyer ATJ Board members (deadline: asap)
The ATJ Board Executive Committee will develop a recruitment strategy to be considered by the Board.
9-11 Resolution
ATJ board staff will distribute the resolution as suggested.
IOLTA counsel
The ATJ Board will write a letter of thanks to counsel.
JIS liaison
The ATJ Board will write a letter to Justice Bridge appointing Dwight Williams and Don Horowitz as co-liaisons to the JIS Committee.
LSC self-evaluation
Debi Perluss will send the letter to Michele Jones so the ATJ Board can consider the nature of its involvement
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Fairbanks
Justice Programs Manager
