projects to suggest for them. Of course, we should be working on them every day:(with higher dollar limits), consumer-friendly and effective, lead the fight to
to the poor and that improving self-help resources (both for litigation andtransactional legal needs) is the only meaningful way to make access aBar associations who are serious about improving access to the legal system could help fund, tailor and produce, in their own states and locales, self-help programs similar to the online and courthouse resources available in California and Nevada, Local bar groups could also recruit and train volunteers for hands-on assistance in programs similar to those in Duluth, MN, and Santa Clara, CA. [plus Portsmouth, MA], where lawyers help persons with legal problems represent themselves. Much more can and must be done.(Jan. 2004) that every member of the public — not merely the poor — hasthe right to represent himself or herself in our courts, whenever that is feasible,
- NYSBA’s brochure telling the public “he who represents himself
has a fool for a client,” and the Massachusett’s Bar Ass’n insisting every litigant needs a lawyer just will not do. Which reminds me of the quote from Edward Day Parsons: “He who pleads his own case may have a fool for a client; but it’s more probablethat he who employs a lawyer will have a knave for an attorney.”Make “unbundling” an effective tool for making legal services cost-effective and allowing consumers a more central role in solving their own legal problems.about the concept)instead on improved self-help technology.give consumers the next name on the list, with no more information than youcan find in the phone book.That should hold you for suggestions, but feel free to email me for more. Meanwhile,let me leave you with two quotes:If it weren’t for lawyers, we wouldn’t need them.. . . . Williams Jennings Bryan
Ninety percent of our lawyers serve 10 percent of our people. We areover-lawyered and under-represented.. . . Jimmy Carter2004.
May 2, 2005
towards a better Law Day
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