N ew Mexico Access to Justice Update on Justice for All Strategic Action Plan

New Mexico Commission on Access to Justice

Update on Justice For All Strategic Action Plan

The New Mexico Commission on Access to Justice interrupted its work on implementation of its 2019 Justice For All Strategic (JFA) Action Plan to focus on the various civil legal needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission has held biweekly meetings to gather information from Legal Service Providers about COVID-related challenges facing low and middle income New Mexicans, including evictions, foreclosures, access to medical care, unemployment, and obtaining federal stimulus payments. The Commission has made recommendations to the Supreme Court about staying evictions during the pandemic and has worked with Metro Court and the City of Albuquerque to develop a settlement facilitation program to assist landlords and tenants in stayed evictions cases. With regard to remote court hearings, the Commission has worked with legal services providers and courts to identify barriers to technology access and ways to ensure access such as identifying and making recommendations about free wifi hotspots and modifications to court procedure to ensure SRLs do not receive defaults if they are not able to connect to hearings due to technology challenges. Commission staff has also provided technical assistance to court selfhelp centers around the state as they transition to remote service delivery including telephone legal clinics. The Commission has also examined the need for funding to update on-line resources for persons facing legal problems.

Beginning this summer, the Commission will continue to work on implementing its Justice for All strategic plan, which was designed to ensure that all New Mexicans have effective assistance with essential civil legal needs. Many of the Commission’s JFA action items are well-suited to helping low- and middle-income New Mexicans address their civil legal needs during the pandemic, including using technology to help people access courts remotely, assisting the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Supreme Court in developing a court navigator program to help selfrepresented litigants, and increased public awareness about civil legal services for people who need these services.