Welcome to the 2008 Summer Issue of The Judges' Journal. Members of the Judicial Division can browse any of the articles listed below or click here to download the complete issue. If you are not a member of the Judicial Division, please feel free to read the three complimentary articles below. Individuals interested in viewing archived and completed issues of The Judges' Journal may join the Judicial Division.

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Table of Contents

Judges Promote the Bar's Core Value of Access to Justice (complimentary)
By H. Thomas Wells Jr.
The ABA president elect considers the calling of the legal profession and dedicates his presidential year to the issue of access to justice for all.

"And Justice For All": When Will the Pledge Be Fulfilled? (for JD members only)
By Justice Earl Johnson Jr.
A veteran of California’s Court of Appeal describes the daunting task judges face when litigants lack counsel. Justice, he says, should not be a matter of charity or good luck. Ethics, history, and laws here and abroad mandate the right to counsel.

The Reality of Poverty: Reflections on Access to Justice (for JD members only)
By Justice Cruz Reynoso
A former California Supreme Court justice and lifelong advocate for the poor detects a new vigor "to seek after justice." But still: the most serious impediment to justice is poverty. Public policy must be reinvigorated by the ideals of an earlier time.

Access to Justice in New York City (complimentary)
By Edwina F. Martin
Twenty percent of New Yorkers—two million people—live in poverty. Few have access to the legal system. Legal Services NYC reports from the trenches.

Large Recording Companies v. The Defenseless: Some Common Sense Solutions to the Challenges of the RIAA Litigations (for JD members only)
By Ray Beckerman
The age of the Internet heralds new access to justice challenges. Thousands of poor and working-class people are sued by the RIAA for allegedly improper downloading. Most appear pro se.

Self-Represented Litigants: Challenges and Opportunities for Access to Justice (for JD members only)
By Bonnie Rose Hough and Justice Laurie D. Zelon
Judges can provide innovative leadership in the courtroom and in the community on the issues raised by the ever-increasing numbers of litigants without lawyers.

Mobilizing Judges, Lawyers, and Communities: State Access to Justice Commissions (for JD members only)
By Chief Justice Karla M. Gray and Robert Echols
The creation of state access to justice commissions has constituted one of the most important legal developments of the past decade, and judges are the single most important factor in their success.

The Charge of Equal Justice (complimentary)
By Professor Gene R. Nichol
In this time of national self-examination, we must become engaged as citizens who believe that our virtue as a nation is still in the making and who strive to make real the promise of democracy.

Join the Green Movement (for JD members only)
By Judge Herbert B. Dixon Jr.
A typical lawyer uses 100,000 sheets of paper per year. Don’t be one. Judge Dixon shows how you can join the ranks of lawyers going green.

Judges’ Responsibilities to Pro Se Litigants (for JD members only)
By Marla N. Greenstein
The judge who engages the unrepresented litigant in the courtroom to ensure the process is understood and the proceedings are fair is the judge the Model Code has always envisioned.

Coming in Fall 2008: Access to Justice, Part II

Authors Include:

• Laura Klein Abel, deputy director, the Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, and Judge Lora J. Livingston, 261st Civil District Court, Austin, TX
• Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson
• New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice John T. Broderick
• Terrance J. Brooks, division director, ABA Division of Legal Services
Georgetown University Law Professor Peter B. Edelman
• Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Deborah G. Hankinson
• Robert O. Saunooke, member, Judicial Division Tribal Courts Council Stephen B. Scudder, counsel for the ABA’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service