The law school consortium project: law schools supporting graduates to increase access to justice for low and moderate-income individuals and communities.

• Author: Howard, Deborah

1. INTRODUCTION

   The Law School Consortium Project began as an experiment designed by a group of law schools. (1) The goal was to extend the educational and professionalism missions of law schools beyond graduation to provide training, mentoring, and other support to solo and small-firm lawyers. By helping this segment of the legal profession develop economically viable and professionally satisfying practices, the Project seeks to increase the availability of quality legal services for low and moderate-income individuals and communities.

   The Project's founding members wished to address the following: (1) access to quality "low bono" (2) legal services; (2) the dearth of guidance and services for solo and small-firm lawyers to help them provide quality legal services and handle ethical and practice dilemmas; and (3) the large number of law school graduates who enter law schools aspiring to work for the public interest, but, upon graduation, find themselves debt-ridden or unable to obtain one of the scarce public service positions available.

   The Project has demonstrated that by supporting solo and small-firm practitioners, law schools can enable them to have satisfying, economically viable careers while serving the needs of low and moderate-income individuals and communities. In supporting these practitioners, law schools expand the field of public interest practice by providing students with employment options that enable them to develop public interest practices and engage in work about which they care deeply.

   The Project is premised on the belief that helping solo and small-firm practitioners provide high quality legal services is vital because of the crucial role they play in the legal community. In light of the limited funding for, and restrictions on, legal services organizations (3) and the decline in pro bono participation by large law firm attorneys, (4) solo and small-firm practitioners are essential sources of legal services to low and moderate-income individuals and communities. ABA studies have documented that seventy-five percent of low-income persons who utilize lawyers receive assistance from private attorneys rather than from legal services organizations. (5) The studies also report that eighty percent of the legal needs of low-income persons remain unmet. (6) The founding member schools thought building networks among typically isolated solo and small-firm practitioners would connect them with each other, as well as with resources and services, (7) and thereby augment the success of their practices and enable them to provide quality legal services.

   The member schools concluded that law schools should create these practitioner networks because they are, by virtue of their expertise and resources, well suited to

   1. build networks of solo and small-firm practitioners who can learn from and support each other;

   2. contribute ongoing training and education needed by recent graduates to provide quality legal services;

   3. provide practitioners with instruction in substantive law;

   4. modify curricula based on their experiences with solo and small-firm practitioners to better prepare the large number of law graduates who ultimately enter solo and small-firm practices; and

   5. educate students and graduates on innovative legal services.

   The results of this experiment demonstrate that law school-supported networks of solo and small-firm practitioners are both valuable and viable. The creation of these networks has had a significant positive impact on solo and small-firm practitioners (8) and increased access to legal services for low and moderate-income individuals and communities. (9) In turn, these networks benefit the participating law schools as well. (10)

   As we face the ever-increasing gap between those who can and those who cannot afford legal services, we must find ways to expand the legal services delivery system beyond increasing the number of attorneys who provide pro bono services. Creating and supporting practitioner networks and participating in the Law School Consortium Project is a way for law schools to support an important alumni constituency, improve the professionalism and quality of legal services provided by solo and small-firm practitioners, and provide access to justice for low and moderate-income individuals.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRACTITIONER NETWORK MODELS

   Each participating law school experimented with a different model to help create a "best practices" menu that could be replicated at other law schools.

   1. "Practice Group" Model--City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law

      In keeping with CUNY Law School's articulated mission, "Law in the Service of Human Needs," (11) the CUNY model was designed to increase access to justice, re-envision the lawyer's role in society, and revitalize the fundamental values of the legal profession. The CUNY model has four practice groups (12) each with a particular focus. (13) The model's services and resources include networking and peer technical assistance; reduced rates for online legal research services; legal research; access to a listserv; professional skills development seminars; a mentoring program: technology training; and a summer intern program.

   2. Demonstration Law Office Model--University of Maryland School of Law

      Prior to the conception of the Law School Consortium Project, the Maryland University School of Law made efforts to initiate its own project. Five solo practitioners regularly met with two former Law School clinic directors to explore how a network of affiliated solo practitioners might come together to "do good and do well." (14)

      The project became a reality when Civil Justice, Inc. was created and a project director hired? Unlike the CUNY and Northeastern models, the Maryland model was developed as a demonstration law office in conjunction with a network of practitioners and is housed outside of the Law School. The inclusion of network members affiliated with local community organizations, as well as private practitioners, helps bring neighborhood issues forward and serves as a source of client referrals for network members.

      Early on, a mission statement was adopted that called for a commitment to increasing access to justice to low and moderate-income individuals, and members are expected to commit to this mission statement.

      Membership fees are used to support the attorney network. (16) The project director and members have considered other financial options such as acting as a lawyer referral service--charging a fee for services and taking a percentage of fees earned on cases referred to network members. The group has also contemplated becoming a bundler and reseller of services at discounted rates. By purchasing services in bulk on behalf of its members and reselling them with the addition of a small fee, the project could bring in additional income while providing network members with discounted services.

      The Maryland model provides mentoring; networking and peer technical assistance; practice management assistance; substantive law training; access to a listserv; legal products and services at a reduced rate; (17) a client referral service; marketing services and opportunities; (18) and mediation training. (19)

   3. Interdisciplinary Model--The Northeastern University School of Law

      The Northeastern Economic Development model and Domestic Violence model were structured to help solo and small-firm lawyers sustain economically viable practices that prevent family violence and promote economic development by working with non-legal organizations. Northeastern Law School was well situated to do so in light of its two existing interdisciplinary institutes--the Domestic Violence Institute and the Urban Law & Public Policy Institute.

      1. Domestic Violence Model

         The Domestic Violence Model was designed as a collaboration between the Northeastern Domestic Violence Institute and the Women's Bar Association to create a resource and support network for family law attorneys doing domestic violence work. (20) The primary goal of this project was education--training practitioners to handle domestic violence cases and lessening the burden on overburdened domestic violence practitioners currently handing those cases. To assist the project, the Domestic Violence Institute and the Women's Bar Association created an Advisory Board comprised of members of both organizations as well as domestic violence specialists from legal services organizations and solo and small-firm practices.

         The Domestic Violence model was organized differently than the other models in that it directly involved students as well as practitioners. Rather than being an ongoing network of attorneys, it was designed as an actual law school seminar, offered for academic credit and taught by the project director and three senior domestic violence practitioners. Also included were six junior practitioners who, although experienced with family law, had little or no experience with domestic violence cases. These attorneys were offered the seminar free in return for their willingness to take on a pro bono domestic violence case through the Women's Bar Association Domestic Violence Family Law Pro Bono Panel. The senior practitioner faculty members served as mentors to the junior practitioners, as well as clinical seminar supervisors to the students.

         The course was designed to provide participants with an opportunity to network with practitioners, share practice tips, and develop strategies for handling challenging issues, with the goal that participants would learn how to engage in collaborative lawyering. To that end, seminar participants were required to: (1) take one Women's Bar Association Family Law Pro Bono Panel case; (2) regularly attend the seminar; (3) build a private practice that would serve domestic violence victims for affordable fees; and (4) maintain an email account and use offered technological resources.

         The Domestic Violence model successfully met its...