January 21, 2005

ACCESS TO JUSTICE COMMISSION
Minutes of Meeting held

January 21, 2005

The Access to Justice Commission met on January 21, 2005 at the office of the Colorado Bar Association beginning at 12:05 p.m. Present in person were:  Judge JoAnn Vogt (Chair), Pamela Gagel, Darla Benford, Ilene Bloom, David Butler, Justice Gregory Hobbs, Judge Barney Iuppa, James Peters, Elizabeth Steele, Judge Daniel Taubman, and John Zakhem.  Present by telephone were William Alexander, Jonathan Asher, Aaron Clay, and Lynne Sholler.  Present as guests were Charles Turner, Kathleen Schoen and Michelle Miller.  The meeting was joined at approximately 1:10 p.m. by Constance Talmage and was joined by telephone at approximately 1:30 p.m. by Judge Angela Arkin.

1.            New Members.  The Chair introduced and welcomed the new members of the Commission, who are Ilene Bloom, James Peters and Elizabeth Steele.  The other members and guests briefly introduced themselves.

2.            Minutes of Last Prior Meeting.  The minute of the meeting held November 13, 2004 were approved.

3.            2005 Meeting Dates.  After discussion there was agreement that the remaining five meetings in 2005 would be held at the Colorado Bar Association at noon on the second Friday of every second month.  The resulting dates are March 11, May 13, July 8, September 9, and November 11, 2005.

4.            Committee Reports.  Reports were made by Ilene Bloom, Education Committee Chair, Barney Iuppa, Courthouse Committee Chair, Elizabeth Steele on behalf of Meredith McBirney, the Resource Committee Chair, and Aaron Clay, Pro Bono Committee Chair.

a)            Education Committee:  An offer has been made by Bar/Bri Colo to provide $3,000 in funding for bar review course scholarships to be made available to persons undertaking to work in public interest jobs following passage of their bar examinations.  Ms. Bloom solicited suggestions for consideration by the Education Committee in deciding how this should be established and administered.  A number of suggestions were made which Ms. Bloom said would be taken into account.  Chuck Turner said that the Colorado Bar Association would be willing to work with the Education Committee in processing applications for the grants. 

Ilene Bloom described a possible initiative to help non-profit organizations which assist low income persons to deal with legal issues with which they may be presented.  Several suggestions were made concerning sources of information and assistance and identifying potential duplicating activities by others.

Courthouse Committee:  Judge Iuppa said that this Committee would meet immediately following the Commission meeting.  There followed a brief discussion concerning issues which might be considered by the Courthouse Committee.

Resource Committee:  Elizabeth Steele reported that this group proposes to meet with Michael Valdez  The suggestion was made that this Committee might be a potential vehicle to obtain money for small projects which the Commission might approve.  No specific potential project was cited.  It was pointed out that the Commission could not itself receive and disburse money without becoming a formal entity with a Section 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.  Doubt was expressed by one member whether the Commission should become involved even indirectly in any specific project requiring money.  Ms. Steele said that the Resource Committee would consider the question.

Pro Bono Committee:  Aaron Clay expanded upon the minutes of this Committee’s meeting held on January 19, 2005, copies of which had been made available to members of the Commission.  The Pro Bono Committee meets every two months.  Their primary objective during 2005 is to reach those areas of the State of Colorado in which no local Access to Justice Committee has yet been organized and to spur activity by such Committees formed, but not yet active.  As part of the geographical extension, there will be a meeting in La Junta on February 4, 2005, with the objective of getting a Committee organized and active in the Arkansas Valley.  In addition, Lynne Sholler reported on the video project which the Access to Justice Committee in Durango is developing to help pro se litigants understand the court system.  There was a consensus that this and other video projects are worth pursuing, in addition to the Colorado Women’s Bar video already being developed.  No conclusions were reached as to priorities or as to how these objectives could be carried out.

b)            Descriptions of Committee Activities:  It was agreed that the Committees should consider and present proposed descriptions of their own activities for review and action at the next meeting of the Commission.  It was recognized that the Resources and Pro Bono Committees have already prepared such descriptions which could be considered, as they are or in modified form, at the next following meeting of the Commission.  The revised descriptions will be published on the Commission website.

c)            Committee Membership:  All continuing Commission Members already serving on Committees will remain on the same Committees.  Ilene Bloom and Elizabeth Steele will continue as members of the Committees on which they were already serving before joining the Commission.  Jim Peters will join the Pro Bono Committee.  David Butler will work with a Pro Bono project described below, but reserve judgment on his longer term Committee assignment.  A list of the revised Committee memberships will be posted on the Commission website.

5.            Chair’s Report.  The Chair called the group’s attention to various technical assistance questions asked by the Amistad Legal Clinic in Boulder  Kath Shoen and others provided suggestions which Judge Vogt will pass onto the Clinic.  Judge Vogt also mentioned an article in the January Colorado Lawyer officially authored by herself, Aaron Clay and Daniel Taubman, but for which she gave primary credit to Kath Schoen.  She also mentioned her own article which will appear in the February Colorado Lawyer describing new Rule 260.8 relating to CLE credit for work on pro bono cases.  Justice Hobbs raised the question whether the adoption and the announcement of Rule 260.8 could be tied together with a push within law firms to give chargeable hour credit for pro bono hours in order to more nearly meet the aspirational goal of 50 hours per year contained in Rule 6.1.  A group including Justice Hobbs, Judge Taubman, David Butler, Jim Peters, Ilene Bloom, Connie Talmage and John Zakhem agreed to examine the feasibility of using Rule 260.8 in an initiative with law firms to seek a better response to Rule 6.1.

6.            Access to Justice Commission Website.    The easiest way to find Access to Justice information is to click on About the CBA and then “Bar Sponsored Programs” and, under that, “Access to Justice.”  Michelle Miller went through the various items of information which can be found under that heading.  She informed the members present that all are signed up for the Access to Justice ListServe.  It was agreed that a link from the Colorado Judicial Branch web page would also be established.  Before each meeting hereafter, Michelle will send an e-mail to Commission members with the agenda, minutes of the last prior meeting and other relevant materials attached thereto.  She will also ensure that these materials can be accessed on the website.

7.            Requested Endorsement of Project.  The Chair brought to the Commission’s attention the request of Crossroads Safe House in Larimer County for a letter of support from the Commission in connection with its request for funds from the Department of Justice.  There followed a brief discussion of whether the Commission should undertake to write letters of support for various projects around the state, including concern about the amount of due diligence that might be required and the number of requests which might be received.  The Chair, Pam Gagel and David Butler will put together a proposed future policy to handle such requests.  The Chair asked Mr. Butler to provide historical information concerning past letters of support from the Commission for various initiatives as a background for discussion.

Upon motion the meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

David Butler, Secretary