Statewide, Regional, and Local Access to Justice (A2J) and

Self-Represented Litigant (SRL) Collaborations between

Law Librarians AND Courts, Bar Associations, and Legal Aid Organizations

A work in progress: updated December 22, 2014

Corrections and additions are welcome:
lawlibrary@co.washington.or.us

WHAT IS THIS LIST? Brief descriptions of collaborative A2J programs between public
law librarians AND courts, legal aid organizations, and state or local bar associations.

I do not include librarian-only or lawyer-only A2J initiatives. I list collaborative

endeavors only, i.e. law librarians working WITH their state’s lawyers and judges on
Access to Justice and Self-Represented Litigant self-help programs.

A list of national lawyer and law librarian A2J programs can be found at the end of
this report.

STATE (MLIS-JD A2J) DESCRIPTIONS

AZ ARIZONA: The Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education, a 501c3
organization created by the Arizona State Bar in 1978, is holding forums at
several locations around the state for input on the structure and membership of
an Access to Justice Commission. Ad hoc committees include library, attorney
and public members.

The Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education is continuing its
mission of promoting access to justice for all Arizonans. They are continuously
working to bring together various interests and/or potential partners to
support, advertise and promote Access to Justice projects. The activities of the
foundation are documented in their quarterly reports which can be found at the
website (http://www.azflse.org/).

In 2013 and 2014, a selected group of public librarians in Maricopa County, the
state’s largest county, are participating in Access to Justice training (Law4AZ).
They are learning about the legal sources available to all Arizonans and learning
the local or statewide sources they can direct library users to for additional
assistance.

CA CALIFORNIA: California State Bar Civil Justice Strategies Task Force, a 20

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member group comprised of distinguished jurists and practitioners, now
includes John W. Adkins, Director of Libraries, San Diego Law Library (via a
competitive application process):
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/AboutUs/BoardofTrustees/CivilJusticeStrategiesTaskF
orce.aspx

California Commission on Access to Justice: The Commission has been a

nationwide leader in the Access to Justice movement. Their website for more
info:
http://cc.calbar.ca.gov/CommitteesCommissions/Special/AccesstoJustice.aspx

The Council of California County Law Librarians (CCCLL) is an appointing entity

to California Commission on Access. Marcia Bell, San Francisco Law Library, is
the CCCLL representative to the Commission. The State Bar of California has a
legal services/access to justice center and the staff from that group acts as staff
for the Commission, among other duties
(http://calbar.ca.gov/AboutUs/CenteronAccesstoJustice.aspx)

Each year (for about the last 7 years) the California Administrative Office of the
Courts has held a Statewide Conference on Self Represented Litigants where
County Law Librarians have joined Court-based self-help center attorneys and
staff on Presentation Panels.

California Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Providing Access and

Fairness makes recommendations for improving access to the judicial system,
fairness in the state courts, diversity in the judicial branch, and court services
for self-represented parties:
http://courts.ca.gov/accessfairnesscomm.htm#tab26415. California Rules of
Court Rule 10.55 states that this committee’s membership must include at least
one “county law librarian or other related professional” and the current person
in that slot is Kim Tucker, Sonoma County Public Law Library.

County law librarians may be involved in efforts to develop or improve access

to justice in their communities. For example, one is a member of the local Self-
Help working group which includes court, local government, legal aid
organizations, and community members.

There is also a Judicial Branch-wide Self Help Center, available at:

http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp.htm

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 There’s also Justice Corps: http://www.courts.ca.gov/programs-justicecorps.htm

An “Ask a Law Librarian” live online real-time reference chat service

(coordinated by California Council of County Law Libraries (CCCLL) found online
at the California Courts Self-Help Center http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp.htm.
Ten County Law Libraries have committed “Ask Now” volunteers to cover the 8-
5 workweek every week since 2002:
http://www.247ref.org/portal/access_law3.cfm

Participating “Ask a Law Librarian” libraries include Bernard E. Witkin California

State Law Library, Fresno County Law Library, LA Law Library, Orange County
Public Law Library, Placer County Law Library, Riverside County Law Library,
Sacramento County Public Law Library, San Bernardino County Law Library, San
Diego County Public Law Library, and San Francisco Law Library.

DE DELAWARE: In 2013 the Delaware Law Librarians launched an "Ask a Law

Librarian" chat service which is featured on the front of the Delaware Judiciary
Website, as well as the public library website and the Law Libraries webpage.
http://courts.delaware.gov/

This chat service offers real-time chat for two hours, several days a week. All
other questions are answered within 24 hours. This reference service was
developed through the collaborative efforts of the County Law Libraries and the
Delaware Division of Libraries. Delaware's "Ask A Law Librarian" question
volume has tripled over the last year . It is manned by Sussex County Law
Librarian, Leah Chandler; Kent County Law Librarian, Patricia Burris; and New
Castle Law Librarian, Alda Monsen."

Delaware law librarians are assisting with a newly formed A2J committee
(comprised of attorneys, members of the public, and the judiciary) to identify
and improve pro se services state-wide. Several law librarians have been invited
to serve on the A2J committee. They are currently working on new initiatives
such as "Lawyers in the Library" and a possible self-help center to be located
within the law libraries.
http://courts.delaware.gov/forms/download.aspx?id=72048
For further information, please contact Leah Chandler by email
leah.chandler@state.de.us or via phone 302-856-5483.

HI HAWAII: The State Law Librarian currently participates in statewide A2J in an

advisory capacity. The Judiciary will partner with Legal Aid Hawaii and the State

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 public library system to educate/promote/expand on a self-help interactive
court forms initiative. SJI grant funds support this project.

See also the Hawaii Justice Commission: http://www.hawaiijustice.org/

IL ILLINOIS: "Madison County law librarian appointed to high court’s Access to

Justice Commission," August 22, 2014, by RECORD NEWS: “County law librarian
and pro bono coordinator for the Third Circuit Pro Bono Committee Betsy
Mahoney has been appointed to the Court Guidance and Training Committee
of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission. The Illinois
Supreme Court formed the commission to address the issues faced by those
attending court who do not have attorneys and those for whom English is not
their primary language." (Source: http://madisonrecord.com/news/266001-
madison-county-law-librarian-appointed-to-high-courts-access-to-justice-
commission)

Article X of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules was adopted in 2012: Illinois
Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice. The Kane County Law Library
& Self Help Legal Center Director, Halle Cox, sits on the Court Guidance and
Training Committee of the Commission on Access to Justice as well as on the
Commissions Expungement/Sealing Subcommittee of the Standardized Forms
Committee.

The Kane County Law Library & Self Help Legal Center Director also is Chair of
the Access to Legal Services Committee of the Kane County Bar Association,
created and administers the “Lawyer in the Library” program where local
attorneys and retired judges assist the public in a pro bono capacity, and is
President of the Kane County Bar Foundation as well as chair of their
Beneficence Committee that awards grants to local legal aid programs.

KY KENTUCKY: The State Law Librarian currently chairs the Public Services
Committee for the KY A2J Commission. (2014)

Kentucky State Law Library partners with legal aid societies and public libraries
in on future grants from LSC. Members of the KY team have given
presentations on Libraries and Access to Justice initiatives at the 2013 EJC and
the 2014 TIG conference (http://tig.lsc.gov/).

Public Services Committee (f/k/a Library and Pro Se), chaired by Commissioner
(& State Law Librarian) Jennifer Frazier reported on several matters: a proposed

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 rule change for corporate counsel, library trainings and development of pro se
handbook.

First, the rule change will allow corporate in-house counsel admitted under the
limited admission certificate to do pro bono work. The rule passed the
Commission, has been endorsed by the Kentucky Bar Association, and has been
submitted to the Kentucky Supreme Court rules committee.

Second: Law library training initiatives: In partnership with the Kentucky

Department of Libraries and Archives (KDLA) and Legal Aid Society in Louisville
(LAS), the Public Service Committee organized 5 regional trainings for public
librarians to assist pro se patrons. Grant monies were available to provide
lunches. Supreme Court justices supported the events by encouraging state
librarians to attend. The trainings focused on what constituted the
unauthorized practice of law, where to find resources online, demonstrating the
new triage tool designed by LAS and conducting a reference interview without
crossing into legal advice. The programs were all well received and one session
was recorded and will be available online through the KDLA website for future
viewing by public librarians. This project was the main focus of the committee
and took a great deal of time.

The third initiative of the Public Service Committee is the development of a pro
se brochure that gives information about the courts and court proceedings to
individuals proceeding without an attorney. The brochures were to be
distributed in the fall for comments and edits to judiciary and circuit court
clerks.

ME MAINE: Lawyers in Libraries program collaboration:

http://lawyersinlibraries.org/

MD MARYLAND: Maryland People’s Law Library: A legal information and referral

website, managed by the Maryland State Law Library, and within the Judiciary.
It is updated and maintained by an extensive pro bono/volunteer partnership
of private attorneys, librarians, state government employees, law students and
faculty, legal services attorneys, and others.

Maryland law librarians serve on the Maryland Access to Justice Commission

http://www.mdcourts.gov/mdatjc/ and of various working committees,
including for self-represented litigants and public education. They held a
successful and well-attended 2014 Access to Justice Conference, with librarian

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 and lawyer representatives from Maryland several other states:
http://llamonline.org/lri2014/2014-lri-program-handouts/

MA MASSACHUSETTS: The website www.masslegalhelp.org links to the

Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries Chat service:
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/libraries/services/ask.html. Law librarians answer
questions generated from the Massachusetts Legal Services website.

The project came about as part of Massachusetts Legal Services participation in

a Gates Foundation funded conference in Texas on how the legal community
can work with the librarian community on Access to Justice Commission
collaboration program.

Law librarians are also on Access to Justice Commission (A2J) Working Group
for Technology and Websites and Working Group for Probate & Family Courts,
a Self-Help Materials Task Force and the Information Center Task Force.

The Trial Court Law Libraries work with the public libraries doing training, site
visits, etc. so that most public libraries know to direct legal questions to the
Trial Court Law Libraries or our website www.lawlib.state.ma.us

MI MICHIGAN: In 2010, Michigan Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly convened a Task

Force, including 90 people from the bar, libraries, law schools, bench, i.e. a cross
section of the entire legal community. From that Task Force the Michigan Legal
Help program was born. It is supported by a cross section of the Michigan legal
community: http://michiganlegalhelp.org/

Michigan now has one centralized website for all SRLs, (family, landlord-tenant,
expungement, consumer law help, etc.) The website has Toolkits (decided on
6th grade reading level, plain language). It mirrors language people use when
they come up to CLL reference desk. Information people get is targeted to their
local resources, to their geographic location.

Toolkit includes legal self-help topics, articles, videos, checklists, but not yet
forms, since there are no court-approved forms (this facet of the service is
under development).

The Michigan Court Administrative Office is working on approved forms for

family and family-related legal issues. They have partnered with Law Help
Interactive. (Similar to Turbo-tax services.) The State does accept these forms

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 from Law Help Interactive. They are structured for simple matters. The website
goes directly to Hot Docs.

MN MINNESOTA: Minnesota Statewide Law Library-Self-Help Center Workgroup

report: http://mn.gov/lawlib/StatewideLLReport.pdf

Central Minnesota Legal Services received a LSC TIG award to develop legal aid-
library collaborations. This included a statewide webinar series conducted in the
fall of 2012 to train librarians about online legal resources, including resources
available from law libraries: http://www.lawhelpmn.org/resource/public-
libraries-access-to-justice-project. In addition, the State Law Library now helps
to staff the LiveHelp service on the LawHelpMN.org website, which is housed at
Legal Services State Support.

Has a Statewide Self Represented Litigant (SRL) Service Center Manager who
manages the development and delivery of statewide services to educate and
assist self-represented litigants, and enhancing public access to justice and the
efficiency of court operations. It includes managing a centralized “virtual” Self
Help Center that provides services to litigants statewide through web content,
email and telephone support, as well as over-seeing the day-to-day operations
of the 4th Judicial District’s (Hennepin County) two walk-in Self Help Centers,
located at the Hennepin County Government Center and Family Justice Center.
There are offices in both the Hennepin County Government Center in
downtown Minneapolis and the Minnesota Judicial Center in Saint Paul and
provides work direction and supervision to multiple attorneys and other staff
positions and reports to the Director of Court Services.

MT MONTANA: The State Law Librarian is on two subcommittees for the Montana
Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission.
http://courts.mt.gov/supreme/boards/a2j/default.mcpx. These subgroups are:
Self-Represented Litigants:
http://courts.mt.gov/supreme/boards/self_represented_litigants/default.mcpx
Communication and Outreach

Within the Self-Represented Litigant Subcommittee, the State Law Librarian is

heavily involved with form production.

The State Law Librarian is also involved with the local bar association efforts to
create a pro bono legal representation clinic in the state law library and serves
on several committees for Montana Legal Services. She also serves on several

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 committees for the Montana State Bar with the goal of providing legal
materials to individuals other than attorneys. She also works in a variety of
capacities to bring legal information to public libraries in Montana and their
self-represented patrons.

NE NEBRASKA: Has a Pro Se committee headed by the Supreme Court. Committee

is comprised of lawyers, judges, Legal Aid, the Nebraska Bar and a law librarian.
http://supremecourt.ne.gov/2554/nebraska-supreme-court-implementation-
committee-pro-se-litigation

NM NEW MEXICO: The State Law Librarian is co-chair of New Mexico's Access to
Justice Commission's Pro Bono Working Group.

The New Mexico Supreme Court Law Library collaborates with New Mexico
Legal Aid and other organizations to provide technical support at law fairs
including pro bono consultation via Skype.

The New Mexico Supreme Court Law Library is beginning to train public
librarians to provide limited legal information and is working to facilitate
collaborations between public libraries and the Access to Justice Commission.

OR OREGON: The Clackamas County Bar Association (CCBA) is working on a

partnership with Legal Aid Services of Oregon (LASO), the Clackamas Service
Center (CSC), and the Clackamas County Law Library to create and coordinate a
pro bono project. LASO would screen and schedule potential clients and CCBA
attorneys would provide pro bono services. The pro bono project will serve
vulnerable Clackamas County residents living at below 125% of the Federal
Poverty Income Guidelines. Contact: Jennifer Dalglish, Clackamas County Law
Librarian: http://www.clackamas.us/lawlibrary/

TX TEXAS: County law librarians serve on the Texas Access to Justice Commission
Self-Represented Litigants Committee and Uniform Forms Task Force:
http://www.texasatj.org/

Texas Legal Services Center's (TLSC) Self-Represented Litigants' Project has four
components: 1) installing two self-help workstations in the Lubbock County
Law Library; 2) producing a self-help video giving self-represented litigants
basic information such as how to file documents with the clerk's office and
what happens in an uncontested divorce hearing.

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 TexasLawHelp.org is a website dedicated to providing free, reliable legal
information to low-income Texans. It is part of a broader effort within the
national legal aid community to use technology, specifically the Internet, to
enhance and expand the delivery of legal aid. In 2013, the website attracted
more than 815,000 unique visitors, with 5,900,000 pages viewed.

A Travis County Law Library reference attorney drafts and updates the family
law forms on the TexasLawHelp website. A library paralegal translates the
family law resources. The law library tech services supervisor maintains the
TexasLawHelp family law forms page. A short-cut to the page is
FreeTexasForms.org

The Legal Services Corporation provided initial funding for the website.
TexasLawHelp.org is a program of the Texas Legal Services Center (TLSC). TLSC
is a non-profit law office founded in 1977 whose mission is to improve the
quality of advocacy and expand availability of legal services for low-income
Texans. The website is also supported by the Texas Access to Justice
Foundation, Travis County Law Library, and Pro Bono Net. In 2006, TLSC, the
Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation, and the Travis County Law Library
collaborated to form a non-profit organization called the Partnership for Legal
Access (PLA). The PLA was the recipient of a $364,000 grant to develop and
promote TexasLawHelp. The Law Library managed the grant funds, and
development and translation of forms for the website.

The Texas Law Help website now has interactive forms, the Supreme Court
approved divorce forms, and videos. The Texas Court Help website:
http://texaslawhelp.org/

Two Travis County Law Library staff members service on the Texas Access to
Justice Commission committees. The manager service on the SRL committees
and forms committee. The library reference attorney serves on the rules
committee. The former director of the Smith County Law Library, Cristy Arscott,
and the late director of the Collin County Law Library, Lori Bull Dodds, served
on the SRL committee.

UT UTAH: The Utah State Courts has a Standing Committee on Resources for Self-
Represented Parties that consists of representatives from the courts (the law
library, judges and court clerks), legal aid agencies, attorneys, the state bar, and
the community.

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 This was a court initiative to respond to the problem of self-reps overwhelming
the courts.

https://www.utcourts.gov/resources/reports/docs/ProSe_Strategic_Plan-
2006.pdf

VA VIRGINIA: The State Law Librarian serves on the Virginia Access to Justice
Commission (comprised of members of the judiciary, private and public
lawyers, law professors and judicial branch staff)
http://www.courts.state.va.us/programs/vajc/home.html, and law librarians are
members of various Commission working committees, such as the Access for
Self-Represented Litigants and Public Relations/Communication/Education
Committees.

WA WASHINGTON: The Justice Without Barriers Committee is a standing

committee of the Washington Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Board. Law
Librarians serve on committees and panels of the ATJ Board:
http://www.wsba.org/atj

See also Equal Justice Coalition http://www.ejc.org/

You can find this chart at this website:

http://www.co.washington.or.us/LawLibrary/TrainingAdvocacy/public-law-libraries-
selected-readings.cfm)

MORE Law Librarian and Lawyer A2J RESOURCES:

• Resource List: Access to Justice—Crossing Borders Together—a Report of the

AALL SCCLL Special Committee:
http://www.aallnet.org/sections/sccll/meetings/2014-Access-to-Justice-
Program/Access-to-Justice-Report-Resource-List.pdf

• SCCLL: http://www.aallnet.org/sections/sccll

• SCCLL 2014: http://www.aallnet.org/sections/sccll/meetings/2014-Access-to-

Justice-Program

• SCCLL Law Libraries and Access to Justice White Paper (2014) (PDF):
http://www.aallnet.org/mm/Publications/products/atjwhitepaper.pdf

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• SRLN: http://www.srln.org/

• SRLN: Self- Represented Litigation Network, Law Library Subgroup. “Library

Self-Help Programs and Services: A Survey of Law Library Programs for Self-
Represented Litigants, including Self-Help Centers, April, 2014, Survey and
Report at http://selfhelpsupport.org/surveys

• Zorza blog: http://accesstojustice.net/

• Pro Bono Net: http://www.probono.net/ and

http://www.probono.net/learningcenter/

• Pro Bono Net produced a four-part national webinar series on the role of
libraries in access to justice and legal aid-library partnership models.
Recordings and materials from the 2012 series are posted here:
http://www.probono.net/librarywebinars

• Self Help Support: http://www.selfhelpsupport.org/

• List of Law Libraries Serving Prisoners:

http://www.aallnet.org/sections/sr/residents/Prisoner-Letter-Database.html

• ABA A2J blog: http://abaatj.wordpress.com/

• ABA Resource Center:

http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_aid_indigent_defendants/initiatives/
resource_center_for_access_to_justice.html

• ABA A2J blog: http://abaatj.wordpress.com/

• AALL State, Court, and County Law Libraries (SCCLL):

http://www.aallnet.org/sections/sccll.

• States and U.S. Territories with Statewide A2J Commissions, as of December

22, 2014: Source:
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_aid_indigent_defendants/initiatives/
resource_center_for_access_to_justice/state_atj_commissions.html

1. Alabama Access to Justice Commission

2. Alaska Fairness and Access Commission

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 3. Arizona Commission on Access to Justice
4. Arkansas Access to Justice Commission
5. California Commission on Access to Justice
6. Colorado Access to Justice Commission
7. Connecticut Access to Justice Commission
8. District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission
9. Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice
10. Hawaii Access to Justice Commission
11. Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission
12. Indiana Commission to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services (Supreme
Court Order)
13. Kansas Supreme Court Access to Justice Committee
14. Kentucky Access to Justice Commission
15. Maine Justice Action Group
16. Maryland Access to Justice Commission
17. Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission
18. Mississippi Access to Justice Commission
19. Montana Access to Justice Commission
20. Nevada Access to Justice Commission
21. New Hampshire Access to Justice Commission
22. New Mexico Commission on Access to Justice
23. New York Task Force to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services
24. North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission
25. Oklahoma Access to Justice Commission
26. Puerto Rico Advisory Commission for Access to Justice
27. Rhode Island (in process of formation)
28. South Carolina Access to Justice Commission
29. Tennessee Access to Justice Commission
30. Texas Access to Justice Commission
31. Vermont Access to Justice Coalition
32. Virgin Islands Commission on Access to Justice (in process of formation)
33. Virginia Access to Justice Commission
34. Washington State Access to Justice Board
35. West Virginia Access to Justice Commission
36. Wisconsin Access to Justice Commission
37. Wyoming Access to Justice Commission

Other State ATJ Entities:

1. State Bar of Georgia Access to Justice Committee

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 2. Louisiana State Bar Access to Justice Committee
3. State Bar of Michigan Standing Committee on Justice Initiatives
4. Minnesota State Bar Association Legal Services to the Disadvantaged
Committee
5. Oregon Access to Justice Coalition (Legal Aid / Oregon State Bar)

This report was compiled by Laura J. Orr, JD, MLS

Law Librarian, Washington County Law Library
111 NE Lincoln St; Hillsboro, OR 97124
Phone: 503-846-8880
Email: lawlibrary@co.washington.or.us
WCLL URL: http://www.co.washington.or.us/lawlibrary
Oregon Legal Research Blog: http://www.oregonlegalresearch.com/

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