May 4, 2007

May 4, 2007
Minutes

Present: Connie Talmage, Bill Alexander (on phone), Jon Asher, Fred Baumann, Ilene Bloom, Dave Butler, Inga Causey, Greg Hobbs, Simon Mole, Jim Peters, Janet Price, and Dan Taubman

Guests: Charlie Garcia, Julie Lambert, Greg Martin, Cheryl Law, and Kathleen Schoen

Chair’s Report:
1. Welcome Julie Lambert, State Court Administrator’s Office, and Charlie Garcia, co-chair of Public Information Committee
2. New chairs of Public Information Committee are Inga Causey and Charlie Garcia.

Minutes of March 2 meeting approved.

Statewide ATJ Hearings: The Commission discussed whether to conduct Access to Justice hearings around the state.  Other states have found these a venue for the Commission and policy makers to learn more about the need for legal services and to discover what initiatives are occurring around the state.  It was proposed:

1. The initial hearings will be in locations with a local access to justice committee. 
2. The Commission may ask a Colorado Supreme Court justice, a local judge, a local Colorado legislator, and a member of the Federal Congressional Delegation to participate as panel members for the hearings.
3. The topics covered by the hearings might include:  the need for legal services, stories of clients who have been served and the local pro bono activities (ATJ committee and pro bono coordinator) in the district.
4. The local hearings would be undertaken in conjunction with a plan for increasing funding for legal services, including additional funds for Colorado Legal Services and funding for other projects (expansion of pro se support).
5. We need to consider whether the effort should be coordinated with the CBA Courts Committee’s new project to establish speakers bureaus around the state (to get judges into the community and educate the public in advance of another possible amendment 40).  The Court Committee will also coordinate with the speakers network created by the Judicial Advisory Council as part of the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Merit Selection of Judges.

Action Steps for ATJ Hearings:
1. Inga Causey and Charlie Garcia, as chairs of the Public Information Committee, will draft a description, goals and timeline for the hearings.
2. Dan Taubman will ask the local ATJ committees to recommend jurisdictions to hold the first several hearings.
3. Simon Mole will discuss with the Courthouse Committee the types of legal services that might be appropriate topics for the hearings, including additional support for pro se parties.
4. Fred Bauman and the Resources Committee will meet with Gerry Marroney, the State Court Administrator, as a follow up to the earlier meeting between Fred, Gerry, Justice Mullarkey, Justice Hobbs, Jon Asher and Connie Talmage.  The meeting will be to work with Gerry on possible funding ideas for the 2008 legislative session.

Committee Reports:

Supreme Court Pro Bono Initiative Committee:
• Greg Hobbs reported that 34 of the 42 firms that participated in the Supreme Court’s Pro Bono pledge in 2006 reached the goal of an average of 50 hours per attorney of pro bono service in 2006.  Chief Justice Mullarkey presented those firms with a certificate of recognition on March 16, 2007.  Forty six (46) firms are part of the pro bono pledge and the Committee is now contacting additional firms to encourage them to participate
• Greg Hobbs reported that Colorado Rule of Professional Conduct, Rule 6.1 is being repealed and re-enacted with the following changes of interest:
1. Add a new sentence at the beginning of the rule: “Every lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay.”
2. Renumbering of the comment to Rule 6.1 into 11 subparagraphs.
3. Dropping one paragraph in the present rule entitled “Model Code Comparison.”
4. Deleting the word “Publico” from the phrase Pro Bono Publico Service.

Second Season of Service
• This Committee, chaired by Judge Vogt, drafted a new rule:  Rule 223: Pro Bono/Emeritus Attorney, which would permit retired attorneys to provide pro bono services without maintaining an active license and paying the annual license fee.
• The Colorado Supreme Court is requesting public written comment on the new rule until June 1, 2007.  All comments will be given to the Second Season of Service Committee for response.  (See attached final version at http://www.courts.state.co.us/supct/rules/2007/2007(08)%20(New).doc.)
• The Commission voted unanimously to support adoption of Rule 223.

Courthouse Committee: Simon Mole reported that the committee is reviewing issues of access by pro se litigants.  After review and discussions with district administrators and the State Court Administrators Office, the Courthouse Committee will report its findings to the Commission.

Local Access to Justice Support Committee:  Dan Taubman distributed the minutes (see attached minutes at http://www.cobar.org/group/display.cfm?GenID=10454&EntityID=dpwaj) of the Local ATJ Support Committee meeting on April 18, 2007. 

Public Information Committee: The Public Information Committee will work on the statewide hearings as discussed above.

Resource Committee:  Fred Baumann reported that COLTAF is continuing to explore the issue of comparability of interest rates for trust accounts.  The Resource Committee will wait for further information from COLTAF before taking any action on this issue and will defer making any proposal for consideration by the Commission until additional data is collected.

Presentation to Standing Committee on Family Issues
Simon Mole reported that he is preparing information to present to the Colorado Supreme Court’s Standing Committee on Family Issues on the provision of services to low and middle income people who do not qualify for legal services.  This presentation is June 15, 2007.

The Colorado Lawyer Series: The Colorado Lawyer publishes a quarterly column on Access to Justice:
• Dan Taubman is submitting an article on “Civil Gideon” for the July issue.
• Inga Causey and Ilene Bloom offered to write articles for future issues. 

Lessons from the Equal Justice Conference and Access to Justice Chairs Meeting
Connie Talmage will email to the commissioners JoAnn Vogt’s report on what she learned at the Equal Justice Conference and the Access to Justice Chairs meeting.  Connie Talmage requested that other Commission members review JoAnn’s report and submit any additional comments to Connie.

Next meeting: July 6 at noon at the Colorado Bar Association.