Delivery Committee to Hold Hearings on Technology
The Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services is seeking input at a series of hearings on the use of Internet technology to provide legal services. In addition to current usage of technology, the Committee is examining sources of Internet-based legal services, the benefits and determents to consumers who use legal services online, emerging methods of providing online legal services and the current state of policies governing this usage. Details are at www.abanet.org/legalservices/delivery/techhearings.html. To testify or submit materials, email .
Who Are We
The Delivery Committee has the mandate to improve the delivery of legal services to the public, with a concentration on those of moderate income. For details on the Committee's activities, view the Informational Report to the House of Delegates.
Committee Roster - Read about the members of the Delivery Committee, its Advisory Council, liaisons and Staff.
Projects, Policies, Innovations and Access
2008 Brown Award Given at Midyear
The 2008 Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access was presented to the Chicago-Kent College of Law for its Center for Access to Justice & Technology. The presentation was made at the ABA Midyear Meeting. The Center is dedicated to making justice more accessible to the public through the use of the Internet in teaching, legal practice and public access to the law. The Committee also honored California lawyer M. Sue Talia for her decade of teaching principles of limited scope representation, or unbundled legal services. Sue has given more than 100 presentations around the country to lawyers, judges and court personnel. Details of award recipients are found here.
Blueprint Project encourages lawyers to teach Access to Justice
If you have ever thought about teaching a class to help the next generation of law students understand issues involving unmet legal needs and the methods designed to meet those needs, the Delivery Committee has created an online technical assistance resource to get you started. The web site identifies the need for Access to Justice courses, links to syllabi of courses around the country and provides contact information to faculty with experience creating and teaching these courses. The blueprint on teaching access to justice is the latest in a series of online resources encouraging replication of initiatives to improve delivery of those of low and modest incomes. Click here for more information about the Blueprints Project.
Pro Se/Unbundling Resource Center Updated
The Delivery Committee's Resource Center provides information to policy-makers charged with the task of advancing the response to pro se litigation. The center includes reports, articles, books, cases, ethics opinions and self-service sites in its effort to serve as an online technical assistance resource to bar leaders, the judiciary and court administrators.
White Paper on Unbundling Available (PDF)
The Delivery Committee has issued a white paper examining rules that clarify the role of lawyers who assist self-represented litigants, entitled An Analysis of Rules that Enable Lawyers to Serve Pro Se Litigants. The paper discusses recently adopted provisions of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, as well as several rules within the states' ethics codes and rules of procedure. Issues include document preparation, limited court appearances and withdrawal procedures and proper communications between lawyers and pro se litigants. The paper is designed to assist policy-makers assess the issues and includes a checklist of factors to consider.
Report on Unbundling Available
The ABA Litigation Section Modest Means Task Force has issued The Handbook on Limited Scope Legal Assistance. The handbook provides direction for both policy-makers and practitioners. It includes case studies of lawyers providing limited assistance as part of their practices, methods to maximize client services and an analysis of the applicable ethics issues. An extensive appendix includes state rules, checklists and sample client agreement forms.
The Report on the Hearing on Access to Justice is available (PDF)
The 2002 Hearing on Access to Justice included 15 speakers and resulted in strategies to overcome impediments to the barriers preventing people from obtaining legal services. The Report on the Hearing on Access to Justice (PowerPoint) is also available.
Innovations in the Delivery of Legal Services (PDF)
A booklet outlining creative ways lawyers are providing legal services. Collaborative lawyering, micro-niche practices and unbundling are among the ideas advanced in this publication. Links to additional resources are provided to further details.
Web Site Guidelines Adopted
The Best Practice Guidelines for Legal Information Web Site Providers were adopted by the ABA House of Delegates in February 2003. The guidelines were promulgated as a joint project between the Delivery Committee and the Law Practice Management Section's eLawyering Task Force and co-sponsored by the Business Law Section and Consortium on Legal Services and the Public. The guidelines are intended to give direction to all entities that give legal information over the Internet.
Hotline Standards Available
For direction on the establishment and operations of hotlines, see the Standards for the Operation of a Telephone Hotline Providing Legal Advice and Information (PDF), adopted by the ABA House of Delegates in August 2001.
Online Consumer Guide Advances Access
Findlegalhelp.org provides consumers with a guide to legal help on the Internet. Connections to resources for free legal assistance, lawyer referral services, self-help material and legal information are readily available from a wide variety of sources linked to from findlegalhelp.org - a one-stop shop for consumer legal needs.
