October 1, 2004

Minutes of the Meeting of the Access to Justice Commission 

October 1, 2004

The Access to Justice Commission meeting was held at the Colorado Bar Association (CBA) meeting room on October 1, 2004.  Chair David Butler called the meeting to order at 12:10.

Members present at the CBA offices included Jon Asher, Dave Butler, Barney Iuppa, Sue Parenteau, Dan Taubman, JoAnn Vogt and John Zakhem.  Bill Alexander, Angela Arkin, Aaron Clay and Meredith McBurney were present by telephone.  Also present were Greg Martin and Michelle Miller from the CBA, and guests Ilene Bloom & Lauren Saine.

1.       The minutes of the July 23, 2004 meeting were approved with one correction. 

2.       CBA staffing report

The Chair introduced Michelle Miller from the CBA, who explained the new Access to Justice and Local Bar Relations Department.  The CBA recently combined two departments including the Public and Legal Services and the Family Violence Program to form the new department, which will serve as the staff connection for the Access to Justice Commission. Kath Schoen serves as the Director while Miller is the Program Coordinator. 

3.       Education Committee Report

          The Committee met on September 29^th.  The minutes of that meeting were distributed. There are several action items pending for the Committee, including the in-house counsel pro bono project, law school public interest project and pro se education materials.  Jo Ann Vogt asked the Commission to provide a letter of support for the public interest program spearheaded by Norma-May Isakow.  This project seeks to match law firms, judges and others with law students at the DU public interest program.  Additionally, a public interest website is being established.  The Commission approved a motion for a letter of support for this project. Vogt also described the Lend-a-Law Student program at CU, indicating that faculty advisor, Norm Aaronson has students available to work on pro bono projects.  Last, Vogt described a section of the report from the Commission on Families in the Colorado Courts.  The report from this Commission makes recommendations to various problems in the family law area and the courts.  Vogt suggested that the ATJ join forces with the Commission on Families with regard to recommendation #64, which suggests a video taped seminar on “How to Select An Attorney”.  There are many people working on videotapes of similar nature.  Molly French from Colorado Legal Services (CLS) indicated she could integrate the video onto the CLS website.  A short discussion was held about the use of videotapes, who uses them and how they can become outdated quickly or be too specific for use by different jurisdictions.  The suggestion was made to look into a medium that can be updated without too much difficulty. 

Vogt suggested the ATJ further explore coordination of efforts with this group, starting with making a list of what projects we might develop together.  Angie Arkin agreed to be the liaison.

4.         Continuing Mandatory Pro Bono Report

The Commission held a lengthy discussion regarding our position on voluntary or mandatory pro bono work and/or reporting.  Greg Martin reminded the Commission that the CBA Board of Governors voted against a mandatory pro bono policy, which remains the official position of the Board of Governors, thus the CBA cannot move an agenda contrary to the Board.  The CBA strongly believes that local committees are the key to moving this issue forward for discussion.  A dialogue surrounding the fact that the Colorado Supreme Court members are currently not supportive of a change in the rules regarding mandatory pro bono resulted in further discussion about the proposed change to allow CLE credit for pro bono, which could take effect in January of 2005.  It was decided the Commission needed more information regarding what is already taking place in the pro bono community.  The Commission suggested the following steps:

·         Gather information for pro bono statistics.  Jon Asher agreed to contract COLTAF to ask for a comparison of figures from five years ago and the most recent statistics

·         Review the effects of the new CLE for pro bono rule change

·         Compile a list of people who can provide further input with regard to how much pro bono work is actually taking place in Colorado

·         Ask the Pro Bono Committee to get involved on the local level to establish a dialogue with the local ATJ Committees

5.         Local ATJ reports

The Commission discussed the need for annual reports from the local ATJ Committees. The report will be used for several purposes, including distributing information to the Bar Association and to the “Colorado Lawyer”.  Additionally, this information will be shared to help others around the state, both in forming new committees and in providing the local committees with new ideas and a list of projects already in place to help avoid duplication of efforts, such a videos on the same topic. 

6.         Planning for November 19^th meeting

            The Chair asked the Commission members to suggest topics for the next meeting. Topics already on the agenda include further discussion of mandatory pro bono, the organizational structure of the Commission and Committees and new initiatives for the future. Butler also asked that the seven outgoing Commission members whose terms expire in December advise him whether they will consider re-nomination for another term. He appointed a nominating committee to consider nominations to present to the various appointing entities.  The committee will consist of Connie Talmage, JoAnn Vogt, Dave Butler, Jon Asher and John Zakhem. 

7.         The meeting was adjourned at 1:40.  The next meeting will be held on November 19, 2004 at 12:30 p.m. at the CBA office. Please plan for approximately 3 hours.

Respectfully submitted,

Sue Parenteau

Secretary