THE BAR BULLETIN • Monday, October 10, 2016 • Financial News & Daily Record • Page A-3
PROTECTING RIGHTS • PURSUING JUSTICE PROMOTING PROFESSIONALISM
The future’s so bright, we have to wear shades
The positive outlook on the justice gap crisis by Sarah Sullivan Chair of The Florida Bar Public Interest Law Section Instead of a maudlin and depressing bully pulpit sermon about why the legal profession should participate in the Access to Justice movement, I am choosing positivity. But don’t get excited just yet. I’m still going to discuss the current state of our law profession. Odds are if you are reading this, you are part of the solution and I am preaching to the choir. But I can’t help but take advantage of the opportunity to share my passion with my personal stump speech about solutions to unmet legal needs and underserved populations. Here are the facts: • Nationally, 80 percent of litigants access the court system without an attorney. • Less than 0.5 percent of Florida licensed practicing attorneys are full-time legal aid attorneys. • For the Bar cycle ending in June 2015, Florida attorneys reported completing 1,703,461 hours of pro bono service and donated $5,198,645 to The Florida Bar to fund free legal services for the poor. Those statistics might sound promising, until you consider that while the time donated per attorney (16-20 hours) meets The Florida Bar’s modest 20-hour requirement, it is less than half of the 50 hours recommended by the American Bar Association.
Monetary donations paint a more bleak picture. Total donations per attorney are approximately 15 percent of The Florida Bar’s aspirational donation of $350. Making pro bono hours mandatory is controversial, so the expectation that our justice gap will be solved through private Bar donations of time and money is elusive, if not futile. The ABA, Florida Supreme Court and Florida Bar are open to solutions. While Washington State pioneered the first Access to Justice Commission in 1994, the ABA substantially grew the Access to Justice movement with the assistance of the National Center for State Courts over five years ago when it funded innovation grants and set the framework for expansion of state-sponsored Access to Justice Commissions. Florida followed suit in November 2014 when Chief Justice Jorge Labarga established the Commission on Access to Civil Justice. The June 2016 final report recommended the commission become permanent. Justice Labarga not only founded the commission, but has gained national recognition for the vigor with which the group investigated, identified and framed possible solutions to Florida’s justice gap. The commission does not act within a vacuum. Collaboration with Florida Bar leadership, its members and the state Supreme Court proved
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Sullivan essential to implementation of new ideas. The commission engaged in the study of justice gaps and 201516 Florida Bar President Ramon Abadin pushed his platform of innovation, technology and progress for the profession. Surveys on gender inequality and wage disparity prompted reinvigoration of the Standing Committee on Diversity and Inclusion as well as current Florida Bar President William Schifino’s creation of the Committee on Gender Bias’ charge to examine gender and diversity within the Bar. The significance of addressing these issues as a profession is related to Access to Justice as highlighted in the ABA’s Report on the Future of the Legal Profession’s August 2016 findings that “public trust and confidence in obtaining justice and in accessing legal services is compromised by bias, discrimination, complexity and lack of resources … the legal profession does not yet reflect the diversity of the public, especially in positions of leadership and power.” The ABA calls on all mandatory and voluntary Bar associations to contribute to diversification among our ranks to improve the public’s perception and reality in accessing the justice system. The Joint Board Committee on Professional Ethics and Technology and the Commission on Access to Civil Justice proposed rule changes to The Florida Bar Board of Governors that passed overwhelmingly in July. Major changes include eliminating the term “lawyer referral service” and replacing it with “qualifying providers” and removing the necessity for malpractice insurance while participating in a qualifying provider network. The rules address only forprofit lawyer referral services, the new online companies offering legal help, legal directories and similar operations, but do not affect not-for-profit referral services operated by The Florida Bar or voluntary Bar associa-
tions such as The Jacksonville Bar Association. Other changes to rules include permission for qualifying providers to charge a technology or advertising fee, but maintaining the fee-splitting prohibition between the service and the attorney. Qualifying providers remain prohibited to direct or influence the case or the lawyer’s judgment. The policy supporting these changes includes maintaining the integrity of the legal profession while acknowledging the growth of global online matching services, providing access to justice for underserved populations and providing employment opportunities and/or connecting prospective clients with young lawyers. There is an unlimited market out there for low-cost legal services, but the resistance to building low-cost legal services into a sustainable business plan poses one of the largest barriers to private attorneys embracing this opportunity. The Florida Bar’s Practice Resource Institute gives the young entrepreneurial law graduate a map in its February article, “New Attorney/New Firm,” on how to successfully access lowerand middle-income clients. The article said “innovation must come from the ingenuity of the young attorney who is driven to succeed.” The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division recognizes the major shift in the legal market and has addressed it by educating our Bar in how to cater to emerging client needs with the website: startmyfloridalawfirm.com. Innovations abound in our own backyard. The Commission on Access to Civil Justice Subcommittee on Access to and Delivery of Legal Services, in its final report dated May, proposed the development of a statewide online triage system pilot project. The pilot, to be launched soon, involves Jacksonville Area Legal Aid partnered with the Clay County Clerk’s office as a clearinghouse to connect with other legal entities, including lawyer referral services. This program will incentivize lawyers to participate by potentially providing opportunity for low-fee unbundled legal issues while matching unrepresented litigants with affordable legal services. The future is indeed bright, even if uncertain. Necessity, need and sustainability catapult our traditionally precedential profession into the future. Where and how we innovate shall be defined by our creativity and our commitment to filling our justice gap. Will you join me?
Need for family attorneys continues By Kathy Para The JBA Pro Bono Committee chair The Jacksonville Area Legal Aid Family Law Group information clinics offered in Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties provide legal advice to those in need throughout Northeast Florida. The events offer worthwhile volunteer opportunities to attorneys and help to people who otherwise would have none. Attendance has increased each year since the program was established, from 311 in 2011 to more than 450 in 2012 and nearly 600 in 2013. In 2014, more than 700 people were served. Now, the number of people served annually is more than 800. In the clinics, attorneys are able to provide their expertise free of charge, with one or two attorneys leading each clinic. Topics change each month and cover dissolution of marriage; paternity, timeshare and custody; and child support modification. Clinics have been offered since 2011 in Duval County thanks to the assistance and leadership of attorney Marla Buchanan. Clay and Nassau counties started clinics in 2012, thanks to attorneys Lisa Dasher and Valerie Faltemier, respectively. Duval clinics are at the JALA offices Downtown, while Clay and Nassau clinics are at the Clay County Public Library and the Nassau County Courthouse. In addition to the clinics offered in the 4th judicial Circuit, the St. Johns County JALA office offers assistance to pro se family law litigants in the 7th Circuit. Each year, JALA receives thousands of family law requests and questions, but staff and volunteer attorneys are not able to represent all meritorious matters. The Family Law Group information clinics provide education, empowerment and encouragement to people who will resolve their matters while representing themselves. The clinics provide each participant with a packet that includes pro se forms, information on how to get additional forms and guidance on where and how to file a case. Sincere thanks are extended to the attorneys who have donated their time to schedule, organize and present information at these clinics: Valerie Faltemier, Lisa Dasher, Rusty Mead, Jonathan Zisser, Aaron Irving, Rachel Rall, Stacey DeVall, Christie Guerrero, Chanda Rogers, Bruce Landrum, Bruce Talcott and LaRae Hendrix. Also, Laura Gapske, Roger Cruce, Joseph Wiggins, Michelle Pro
bono continued on
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