Access to Justice, New and Noteworthy Items Around the Web

Today’s blog post is a look at resources around the Web. What services exist for those in need of civil legal aid? Who is working in Texas and across the nation to provide these services, and what can be done to further their cause? What alternatives to traditional legal aid already exist and which efforts are most successful? Do law schools, legal clinics, and incubator programs have a role to play? How can technology be employed to help self-represented litigants navigate the justice system? And what is driving this increasingly dire need for legal services to the poor? What can be done to help?

The Harris County Law Library has compiled this brief list of resources to help answer these questions. We invite you to explore the topic further. We will update this list with subsequent blog posts in the near future, making sure to provide the latest coverage about this growing area of concern.

Organizations - Texas

Texas Access to Justice Foundation

TexasLawyersHelp.org

TexasLawHelp.org

Texas Legal Services Center

LegalAidResearch.org

Organizations - National

National Center for Access to Justice

National Coalition for a Right to Civil Counsel

National Legal Aid and Defender Association

Public Welfare Foundation

Self-Represented Litigation Network

Recent Media Coverage

Access to Justice: Is Civil Gideon a Piece of the Puzzle?

The Defenders: What does the future of legal services for the poor look like?

How to Solve the Housing Crisis: More Lawyers

Lawyers: Bulwark against Inequality and Gentrification?

Legal Aid With a Digital Twist

One More Way the Courts Aren’t Working for the Poor

States Look to Provide Lawyers for the Poor in Civil Cases

Recently Published Reports

Blazing a Trail: The Fight for Right to Counsel in Detention and Beyond

The Justice Index 2016

Miranda Monday: Mirandizing Family Justice

Throughout the month of May, the Harris County Law Library is celebrating Law Day and the historic Miranda v. Arizona ruling of 1966. This decision, which established our right to remain silent when questioned by the police, is a cornerstone of our freedom and, for the last 50 years, an essential safeguard in guaranteeing procedural due process under the law.

Commemorating this decision and the fundamental rights it guarantees, including the protection against self-incrimination, is important. We at HCLL are committed to safeguarding justice and to reducing the barriers that impede equitable outcomes. We embrace all efforts that increase access to the legal system, especially for those in the greatest need, and we fully support any initiatives that improve expediency and fairness in the delivery of legal services. One such effort, which is slowly making a foothold in Texas, is the Family Justice Center initiative. (Bexar County, Hays County, and Tarrant County all have well-established FJC programs.)

Originating in San Diego, the Family Justice model was designed to increase efficiency and eliminate fragmentation in the delivery of legal services for victims of family violence. According to the program's design, combining governmental and community-based agencies under one roof allows for greater efficiency and better coordination of services, resulting in more effective intervention strategies for those in need of domestic relief.

At the same time, however, those who provide intervention services, including police, prosecutors, social workers, safety advocates, and medical personnel, are required to report any instances of violence, leading to a very problematic conflict of interest: the same duty that obligates these professionals to report abuse also grants them de facto authority to open criminal cases against the perpetrators, ostensibly in the best interests of their clients, but often in opposition with the confidentiality to which their clients are entitled.

A brilliant article by UC-Irvine law professor Jane K. Stoever explores this very conflict and raises the need for extending Miranda-like protections to those involved in the FJC system. Her article, "Mirandizing Family Justice," is worth a careful read. In academia, journalism, and politics, much has been written on the expansion of Miranda rights to civil matters.  As discussed in a previous Miranda Monday post, these protections are typically limited to criminal situations despite recent arguments in favor of the need for civil safeguards. 

 

ACCESS TO JUSTICE: ONLINE RESOURCES FOR BRIDGING THE JUSTICE GAP

Last fall, the Obama administration established the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable or LAIR, a federal initiative designed to close the justice gap for those in need of legal assistance. Subsequently, the Access To Justice movement has been gaining momentum and garnering the attention of both state and local governments as well as the national media. In addition to this effort, a number of other organizations have taken up the cause for those in need. Among these organizations are the following:

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

The Justice Index (2016)

LegalAidResearch.org

National Center for Access to Justice

National Equal Justice Library

National Legal Aid and Defender Association

Voices for Civil Justice

White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable Toolkit

Miranda Monday: National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”

These are the basic rights afforded to all Americans arrested for a criminal act. Once requested, an attorney must be provided before any further questioning can proceed. This is not the case, however, when the legal matter is civil in nature. Neither the Courts nor the Constitution guarantee one's right to legal representation in most matters related to child custody, eviction, probate, divorce, immigration, or any number of other civil or family issues. Organizations like the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel are calling attention to the increasingly dire need for legal representation in civil cases. Everyone will require the services of a lawyer at some time in his or her life, and access to legal counsel should not be impeded by an inability to afford representation.