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July 8, 2005

Access to Justice Commission
Minutes of the Meeting Held
July 8, 2005

 

 

            The Access to Justice Commission met on July 8, 2005 at the office of the Colorado Bar Association beginning at 12:00 Noon.  Present in person were Pamela Gagel, David Butler, Ilene Bloom, Justice Gregory Hobbs, Judge Barney Iuppa, Meredith McBurney, Elizabeth Steele, Constance Talmage, John Zakhem, James Peters, and Ryan Call.  Present by phone were William Alexander, Jonathan Asher, Judge Angela Arkin, and Aaron Clay.  Present as guests were Greg Martin, Kathleen Schoen, Michelle Miller and Sarah Quicksall.

 

1.  Minutes of the Last Prior Meeting. 

The Minutes of the Meeting held May 13, 2005 were approved.

 

2.  Committee Reports.

 

A. Resource Development. 

  • As of last legislative session, the $500,000 used for domestic violence issues was put back into the state budget. 
  • Meredith McBurney is meeting with Colorado legislators, and is finding that issues surrounding access to the legal system have more support than originally thought.  Meredith and Ilene Bloom will meet to discuss combining the efforts of the Education Committee and the Resource Committee to develop informational materials. Meredith and Ilene will talk to CBA lobbyist Michael Valdez to find out if the materials can be distributed at the CBA’s Legislative Policy Committee’s annual educational session, and if there might be an opportunity to present at the session.
  • Jim Peters volunteered to contact legislators that he knows. 
  • Meredith discussed the success of the CBA at ABA Law Day in Washington this spring.  Next year, the commission would like to prepare for Law Day earlier.
  • Congress maintained current Legal Service Corporation funding for the next fiscal year.  Representative Beauprez voted against a late amendment to cut Legal Services funding.

B. Courthouse.  Judge Iuppa reported on the use of interpreters in the courts.  There is uniform availability for criminal cases throughout the state.  For civil cases and small claims, there is a federal law that requires access to an interpreter.  Melinda Hibner-Gonzales is continuing to work on these issues at SCAO.  Interpreters from around the state are meeting to finalize an outline on how to comply with the regulations for access and interpreters.  Greg Martin pointed out that the CBA provides sign language interpreters for attorneys who call and request them.

 

C. Justice Hobbs’ Ad Hoc. 

 

  • Law firm pro bono project: Ilene provided the latest revision of the pro bono policy.  The next step is to select law firms to vet the program.  Connie will circulate a list.  Dave Butler, John Zakhem, and Ilene Bloom volunteered to meet with the chosen law firms. 
  • LexisNexis E-filing Project: The committee is researching the amount of money Colorado Legal Services spent on e-filing in the past year.  Until recently only state district courts required e-filing.  The 18th JD and the 4th JD are piloting county court e-filing.  The committee will coordinate with SCAO on the form and content of the in forma pauperis status waiver. 
  • In response to ideas raised by the ATJ conference in Austin, TX, Justice Hobbs stated that he did not think the court would be willing to use attorney registration funds toward provision of legal services.

D. Education. 

  • At their last meeting, the Education Committee made the final revisions to its mission statement.  Also, they discussed projects for each aspect of the mission statement. 
  • One area they want to concentrate on is educating the bar on Access to Justice issues.  One way they will accomplish this is to publish a quiz in the Colorado Lawyer addressing access issues.  Ilene requested that commission members submit questions for the quiz, and that they cover different areas of the state. 
  • The Education Committee is looking at how to disseminate more information to bar members and recent graduates.  One possibility is to provide information at CBA Presidential Visits. 

E. Pro Bono. 

  • The commission approved the change of name of this committee to “Local ATJ Support Committee.” 
  • The committee would like to schedule a summit for the local ATJ committees to share ideas. 
  • Members of the committee are meeting with the Weld County Bar Association on August 16, 2005
  • The ATJ website has been updated: all the local committee activities can be accessed from the main ATJ page, and also continue to be listed on the Pro Bono (now Local ATJ Support Committee) Committee page. 
  • The committee is gathering information about the video projects across the state.  The committee will explore how this information could be best used. Greg Martin expressed some concern with past problems of video information becoming outdated and the public relying on inaccurate information.

3. Chair’s Report.

A. Golf Tournament.  On August 26, 2005, the law firm of Doyle Zakhem Suhre & Lilly, LLC will host their annual charity golf tournament.  This year, they offered to designate the Access to Justice Commission as the beneficiary of net proceeds.  The Commission accepted the offer.  The money will be donated to the Legal Aid Foundation.   The commission can suggest how the funds will be expended.  John Zakhem requested that each commissioner sign-up a foursome and attain a sponsor for the tournament. (It was understood that participation by judicial officers is limited by the Code of Judicial Conduct.).  The ATJC will have a table at the tournament with materials.

 

B. Code of Judicial Conduct: Proposed Canon 9 encourages retired judges to volunteer on pro bono cases.

 

C. Annual Retreat.  The annual retreat will be hosted by the CBA on Fri. Nov. 11, at 11 a.m.

 

D. Projects for Student Intern.  Commissioners were asked to define any projects clearly and submit them to Norma-May Isakow, Associate Director of Career Services, (nisakow@law.du.edu).  She will solicit DU law students through the DU website.

 

E. Moyers DVD.  Bill Moyers produced a DVD on the benefits of handling pro bono cases for the Texas ATJ Commission.  Ilene will look at ways to incorporate this DVD into the Education Committee’s projects.

 

F. Staffing.  The Commission wished Michelle Miller the best in her pursuit of a law degree.  Kate Arganese is the new Project Coordinator for Local Bar Relations and Access to Justice.  Her contact information is: karganese@cobar.org and her phone is: 303-824-5333.

 

4. Other Business.

 

A.  Elder Law Grant.  Kath reported that her department received one of the ABA 2005 Partnership in Law and Aging grants.  One component of the project is designed to encourage civil law attorneys to handle financial exploitation of the elderly cases. She is working with the local bars and MVL.  The first training is October 7, 2005, for Adams and Broomfield counties.  Kath will continue updating the commission on the project.

 

B. NEXT MEETING: Sept 9, 2005, at Colorado Bar Association