Legal Malpractice Carrier Offers Podcast on Limited Scope Representation

The Wisconsin Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company has released a podcast on limited scope representation. In the podcast, Diane Diel, Wisconsin family law attorney and former State Bar President, discusses the benefits and risks associated with limited scope representation. To listen, click here.

Maryland Aims to Increase Access for Self-Represented Litigants

In its Interim Report and Recommendations, the Maryland Access to Justice Commission has outlined several recommendations meant to increase access to justice for self-represented litigants. These recommendations include endorsing the practice of limited scope representation, supporting the use of court based self-help centers, and gathering additional data on self-represented litigants. The report also includes a white paper on limited scope representation in Maryland and a survey that will be distributed to self-represented litigants.

Bar Leader Toolkit Looks at the Delivery of Legal Services

The latest edition of the American Bar Association’s Bar Leader Toolkit focuses on the delivery of legal services. The toolkit offers information that helps lawyers think about options for providing legal representation other than full-service, and includes resources from the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services. Click here to view the toolkit.

State-of-Art Help Center Lends a Legal Hand to Pro Se Litigants

Samuel Newhouse of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports on the new Supreme Court Help Center located in Brooklyn, New York. At the state-of-the-art Help Center, pro se litigants can receive free advice and guidance as they navigate through the legal system. Clerks and volunteer attorneys are available to assist litigants, and computer workstations are available so that litigants can access online resources.

Trained Librarians Help Those Who Can’t Afford a Lawyer

A report by Danielle Kaeding of Wisconsin Public Radio discusses the Public Library Initiative, a court-sponsored program aimed at meeting the legal service needs of self-represented litigants. As part of the initiative, court staff will offer training to public librarians so that librarians can then assist self-represented litigants within Wisconsin. The program will help to alleviate the strain on court staff, as the courts struggle to meet the needs of an increasing number of self-represented litigants.

Updated White Paper on Unbundling Available

The Delivery Committee has issued a revised 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.

Pro Se Divorce is on the Rise

An article featured in Virginia Lawyers Weekly and written by Peter Vieth reports that more people in Virginia are representing themselves in divorce proceedings. The article offers possible explanations for the increase and also discusses a project that will make basic forms available to Virginians seeking an uncontested divorce.

Law Clinic Focuses on Unbundling

The University of Florida Levin College of Law sponsors an innovative clinic that offers unbundled services to otherwise self-represented litigants. Legal Skills Professor Peggy F. Schrieber teaches and supervises interns enrolled in the Family Law Pro Se/Unbundling Advice Clinic, who learn how to provide unbundled services such as advice, document preparation and limited appearances. Through the clinic, interns determine the legal needs of their self-represented clients and then represent them on a limited basis in the Eighth Judicial Circuit Family Court.

More Latest Developments

Tech Hearing Report Coming Soon

The Committee has completed hearings on the use of technology for the delivery of legal services and is now preparing a report on policy issues that need to be examined. To listen to the presentations, click here.

The Virtual Courthouse receives 2009 Brown Award

An exemplary model of online dispute resolution was selected to receive the 2009 Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Boston. The Award is presented by the Delivery Committee each year to a program that provides affordable access to justice in innovative ways. This project illustrates the capacity of ODR to provide arbitration and mediation for the full range of legal disputes in ways that are quick and affordable. Those who turn to the Virtual Courthouse are not constrained by time or location. They merely need Internet access.

Three additional nominees were selected to receive meritorious recognition.

• The Community Legal Resource Network at the CUNY School of Law operates an Incubator for Justice, providing practice management support, mentoring and facilities that foster law practices oriented toward representing people in underserved communities.
• Heisler, Feldman, McCormick & Garrow, PC, a Massachusetts law firm, represents only low and moderate income tenants, consumers, employees and victims of discrimination in litigation on a fee-shifting basis. Clients never pay for the services.
• Have Justice – Will Travel is a nonprofit organization that provides legal services as part of a holistic endeavor to end domestic violence in rural Vermont.

Click here for additional information about these programs and the Brown Award.

Innovations Guide Provides Help to Lawyers in the New Economy

Looking at client outreach differently, unbundling services, using technology more cost-effectively and exploring niche markets are ways that can help improve a law practice in difficult economic times. Examples of innovations in these areas are included in the Delivery Committee’s Guide to Innovations.

The Committee also offers a training program on this topic. For more information, contact . If you have other innovative ideas, please pass them along so they can be included in future material.

Teaching Access to Justice

Interested in teaching access to justice at law school, but you don’t know how to get started? The Delivery Committee provides online technical assistance through its Blueprints to Access Series. You can view course objectives, retrieve syllabi, contact those who are teaching these classes at various law schools.

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.

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.