f/k/a . . .

If bar leaders are inspired by Ben Cowgill’s excellent post today proposing that

lawyers use Law Day for “self examination, not self-congratulation,” I have some 

projects to suggest for them.  Of course, we should be working on them every day:

Instead of blocking efforts to make Small Claims courts meaningful

(with higher dollar limits), consumer-friendly and effective, lead the fight to

bring small claims into the 21st Century.  (See HALT’s small claims project

and my SuperSize Small Claims article.)

 

  Realize that pro bono will never be adequate to get legal services

to the poor and that improving self-help resources (both for litigation and

transactional legal needs) is the only meaningful way to make access a

reality.  See our post on NY’s doomed pro bono efforts, where we said:

Bar 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.

“tinyredcheck”  Acknowledge, as the New Hampshire have done in Challenge to Justice, 

(Jan. 2004)  that every member of the public — not merely the poor – has

the right to represent himself or herself in our courts, whenever that is feasible,

and “Our obligation is to give these citizens the help they want, need and deserve.”

(see our post)

• 
  
  
  

  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 probable

  
  

  that 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.

(e.g., get necessary rules and sample agreements in place, and tell the public

about the concept)

 

  Stop the phony and annoying public relations campaigns.  Spend the money

instead on improved self-help technology.

 

  Improve Lawyer Referral Services — in most states, they do little more than

give consumers the next name on the list, with no more information than you

can find in the phone book. 

 

  Get more nonlawyers on your disciplinary panels.  See HALT’s accountability

project.

 

Read about and emulate Sol Linowitz.

That should hold you for suggestions, but feel free to email me for more.  Meanwhile,

let me leave you with two quotes: a

If it weren’t for lawyers, we wouldn’t need them.

                                       Williams Jennings Bryan

                                            [click for a cartoon concurrence by Wiley] 

 

Ninety percent of our lawyers serve 10 percent of our people. We are

over-lawyered and under-represented.

                                            Jimmy Carter

 

p.s.  Does any one know why the White House hasn’t issued a Law Day proclamation this

year?  Or did I miss it?  Last year, Pres. Bush did issue such a proclamation, on April 30,

2004.