Colorado's New Federal Pro Se Assistance Project, 0918 COBJ, Vol. 47, No. 8 Pg. 6

AuthorSABRA JANKO, J.
PositionVol. 47, 8 [Page 6]

47 Colo.Law. 6

Colorado's New Federal Pro Se Assistance Project

Vol. 47, No. 8 [Page 6]

The Colorado Lawyer

September, 2018

August, 2018

ACCESS TO JUSITCE

SABRA JANKO, J.

"Unable to afford representation, most Americans are going to court alone, and they 're losing."[1]

Scout poured out the details of what happened on a federal district court complaint form exactly as she told her friends about it. She talked about living in her car and being arrested, and about the car being impounded. After being released from jail, she got sick because she didn't have the car to sleep in. Then she talked about how she went to emergency rooms and how the doctors and nurses didn't help her and she got worse. She decided to go to federal court. One section of the complaint form asked about defendants, and she listed police officers, doctors, nurses, an insurance company, and a county court judge.

Did Scout have meritorious claims? Perhaps, but it's impossible to tell from the 58-page narrative she provided. Still, the case took time to work its way through the court system, and 226 docket entries later, all of Scout's claims were dismissed with prejudice. Even in a simple case, "the inability to secure legal advice may prevent a meritorious claim from ever being presented to a judge."2

Anew access to justice program in Colorado seeks to improve outcomes for people like Scout. It's called the Federal Pro Se Assistance Project, and it was created to help bridge the gap between unrepresented litigants and the courts, increasing the probability of a case being heard on its merits and minimizing procedural obstacles. This article discusses these procedural obstacles, along with other barriers to successful pro se representation in U.S. civil courts. It then explains how the Federal Pro Se Assistance Project is working to improve outcomes for Colorado litigants and courts through its new pro se legal clinic.

Access to Justice in America

Much of America, including many in the middle class, cannot afford legal representation in the U.S. civil justice system. In 2016, the World Justice Project ranked the United States 94 out of 113 countries for civil justice afford ability.3 This means that 93 out of 113 countries have more affordable access to civil justice systems than our own.[4] Many individuals are simply priced out of the civil legal services market: the average wage is about $25 an hour, while legal representation costs around $200 to $300 an hour.5 As a result, in 70 to 98% of cases in America's civil courts today, one or both parties is not represented by a lawyer.6

According to Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom, who was appointed to hear pro se cases exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, access to justice should include "a court structure that responds fairly and efficiently to claimants who lack the legal equipage needed to present their cases in an effective way."7 But most people are ill-equipped to successfully navigate our complex judicial system without a lawyer. This presents unique challenges to both pro se litigants and the courts trying to serve them.

Challenges for Pro Se Litigants

When litigants come to federal court without a lawyer, they are at a disadvantage.8 The court system requires presentation of claims and evidence in a very technical way. Nothing in a person's everyday life prepares them to do this.

Common areas of difficulty for pro se litigants are:

■ preparing and filing complaints and responses;

■ stating claims in intelligible form;

■ responding to motions to dismiss or for summary judgment;

■ motions practice;

■ knowledge about legal decisions that would help their cases;

■ knowing when to object to testimony or evidence;

■ knowing legal consequences of actions or inaction;

■ filing complete pleadings or submissions; and

■ filing timely pleadings or submissions.[9]

Amplifying the complex procedural requirements is the fact that many pro se parties enter the system in a state of...

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