Oregon Legal Research Blog‘Jim Greiner Asks “What is Access to Justice For?”’
Direct links to Greiner posts:
Part 1: “What’s access to justice for? Let’s get more philosophical. In a hurry,” by D. James Greiner, 3/23/15, Harvard Law & Policy Review blog.
Articles Tagged with Access to justice
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Access to Justice & Kindness: Oregon Lawyers Pay Up
Put those lawyer jokes aside (but not all of them and not forever): Most of the lawyers I know, serve, and witness in action practice random acts of kindness every day. Here are two recent stories that have hit the news about Oregon lawyers:
Lawyer Jeff Bradford
This article is from the Oregonian:
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Position Announcement: JD/MLS/A2J Public Services Attorney (Seattle, WA)
King County (Seattle, Washington) Law Library: Position Announcement: Public Services Attorney (link to full job description)
Excerpt: “The Public Law Library of King County is proud to announce a new full-time, benefit position of Public Services Attorney with the Law Library. The candidate will not only work on as a part-time reference services librarian but will develop policies and procedures to create an Access to Justice Center in the Law Library. The ideal candidate will have a minimum of three years of practice and an active membership with the Washington State Bar Association. A master’s degree in library science and family law experience (or other areas that are commonly needed by a self-represented litigant) are preferred….” [Link to article.]
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Why Do Solos and Small Law Firms Bear the Burden of Access to Justice?
Read this interesting blog post and discussion (in the Comments).
“Future Fridays: Hey, ABA – Why Do Solos and Smalls Bear the Burden of Access to Justice?“ By Carolyn Elefant, at MyShingle, November 7, 2014.
And this one:
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No Death Goals (Volvo) and Access to Justice?
“Could Volvo’s No Death Goal Show The Way for Access to Justice Innovation,” February 1, 2015 by Richard Zorza
‘I recently discovered that Volvo Cars has set a zero death goal for its new cars by 2020.
“Our vision is that no one is killed or injured in a new Volvo by 2020,” the chief of governmental affairs is reported to have sad. Whether or not they actually achieve the specifics of that goal is less important than the fact that by setting such a goal, and doing so publicly, they change their whole system from thinking day to day, or year to year, to where they really want to be. (More on the vision here.) Interestingly, it turns out that a bit less than 20 years ago Sweden set as a goal that “Nobody should be killed or seriously injured within the road transport system” so this is also an example of corporate culture following governmental policy.
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U.S. 19th out of 99 in Latest Access to Justice Ranking
“Too many shut out of justice, ABA president says:
Wlliam C. Hubbard, president of the American Bar Association, calls it “the justice gap.”
Deep down, all Americans believe they have a right to their day in court. They probably don’t envision that might mean a day in court with no lawyer on hand to guide them through it. But that’s the reality for an increasing number of people, perhaps one reason the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index ranks the United States only 19th out of 99 countries on access to justice ….” [Link to full article.]
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Ambrogi LawSites Marathon: Brave New World of Legal Information Delivery!
If one, or more, of these posts at LawSites doesn’t rock your lawyer or law librarian world, you might want to rethink your career choice:
‘Hackcess’ Winners to Teach MIT Course on Access to Justice
Launching Today: ‘Legal Hero’ Provides Fixed-Fee Legal Help to Small Businesses
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The Law Decoded: Virginia (beta test)
A lot of “law & tech” endeavors often widen the gap between the legal haves and have-nots (think “digital dead end“), but this Law Decoded project (in progress) shows real promise, in addition to having a high cool factor, which never hurts. And even if it stalls, the intention, to make the law truly readable and “accessible” to all, should never be forgotten or lost in that legal-tech forest where you find a plethora of fancier A2J endeavors.
“Discover the Code of Virginia: THE LAWS OF VIRGINIA, FOR NON-LAWYERS.
Virginia Decoded provides the Code of Virginia on one friendly website. Inline definitions, cross-references, bulk downloads, a modern API, and all of the niceties of modern website design. It’s like the expensive software lawyers use, but free and wonderful….” [Link to Virginia Decoded.]
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Law Libraries and Access to Justice, AALL Special Committee on Access to Justice 2014 Report
LAW LIBRARIES AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE, A Report of the American Association of Law Libraries, Special Committee on Access to Justice, July 2014
“AALL’s new white paper, Law Libraries and Access to Justice: A Report of the American Association of Law Libraries Special Committee on Access to Justice, is now available on AALLNET. The white paper is the work of AALL’s 2013-14 Access to Justice Special Committee, chaired by Sara Galligan, and explores how all types of law libraries – including private; state, court, and county; and academic – contribute to the ATJ movement.
As AALL Past President Steven P. Anderson noted in his introduction, “As the principal providers of legal information, law libraries are an indispensable part of the services that can be provided to those with legal needs. Law libraries make “The Law” available, and law librarians serve as guides to finding the most relevant legal information.” The white paper explains the myriad ways law libraries can contribute to the administration of an effective ATJ system and successfully work with others on the front lines of ATJ.” [Link to a PDF of the full Report.]
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Project Nanny Van (Open Law Lab)
Project Nanny Van: a legal service design
“Project Nanny Van is an excellent new example of creative legal service design…this mobile van that [goes] to locations where nannies might be congregating, and provides them with resources about their legal rights — as well as other resources to empower them.”
See more Open Law Lab ideas.