Taking aim at solving access to justice.

• Author: Coleman, Gregory W.
• Position: President's Page

Using a shooting analogy, lawyers tend to say "Ready aim-aim-aim-aim-aim-aim ...," and never fire, because we always want the perfect shot.

Business people, on the other hand, say, "Ready, fire, aim." They fire the bullet, and then make adjustments. If the bullet goes in the wrong direction, they simply fire another one. That's why business people get things done, while lawyers have a tendency to debate issues to death.

We lawyers have been talking about the access to justice crisis for years. The time has come for us to finally realize this is not a problem lawyers can solve alone. This is a societal problem, and society, in conjunction with our helpful lawyers, needs to come up with a solution.

I am proud to announce that under the caring leadership of Chief Justice Jorge Labarga, we are fast-tracking the appointment of a summit of stakeholders who will create the mechanism to finally solve this problem. The commission on Access to Justice will come up with solid deliverables, not just a written report. Besides representatives from all three branches of government, both legislative chambers, the Bar, the Foundation, legal aid providers, and the clerks, crucial involvement will come from the business community.

We are in the process of inviting statewide business leaders who think outside of the box to help us solve the crisis of access to legal services, not just for the poor, but the middle class. They will be invited to the Access to Justice summit for two purposes:

* To educate our business community about the importance of the third branch of government and how the failure of their employees to access the courts drastically affects the performance of their jobs.

* To look to them for creative ideas of how to provide greater access for the poorest of our citizens.

I believe lawyers truly care about trying to provide our services to those who can least afford them. This is part of the oath we take as new attorneys. Since we are the guardians of the third branch of government, we have taken on the very heavy obligation of trying to provide justice for all and not just those who can afford it. But we simply can't do it alone.

Many of you have read about the significant reduction in funding for pro bono legal services. The Florida Bar Foundation, the primary vehicle to gather available...