Vol. 32, No. 1, 3. Access to Justice Commissions in Wyoming's Neighborhood.

• Author: By Walter Eggers

Wyoming Bar Journal

2009.

Vol. 32, No. 1, 3.

Access to Justice Commissions in Wyoming's Neighborhood

Wyoming Lawyer Issue: February, 2009 Access to Justice Commissions in Wyoming's Neighborhood By Walter Eggers

With the creation of its new Access to Justice Commission, Wyoming joins a majority of states across the country with organizations devoted to improving the availability of civil legal services for the poor. Twenty-seven states and Puerto Rico have active Access to Justice Commissions, while several other states' bar associations have committees focusing on civil legal services.(fn1) Several states in Wyoming's region have created successful Commissions. The Wyoming Access to Justice Task Force studied the work of those Commissions and based its proposal for the Wyoming Commission in part on the structure of Commissions in other states.

Bob Echols, State Support Consultant with the American Bar Association's Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives, recently commented on the importance of Commissions in the Rocky Mountain area: It's in the states facing the biggest challenges that Access to Justice Commissions can make the biggest difference. We have seen that happen in states in the Rocky Mountain West, as well as the Deep South. Mobilizing the organized bar and the courts in some of these states has already had a major impact on access to justice for low-income people. Montana and New Mexico, in particular, offer great models for Wyoming, because they share many of the same problems and have found creative ways to address them.(fn2) Below are brief descriptions of Commissions in Montana, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.

Montana Equal Justice Task Force

The Montana Supreme Court issued an order in August 2000 creating the Montana Equal Justice Task Force. The Supreme Court required the Task Force to:

* conduct a legal needs study of low- and moderate-income Montanans; * provide long-range integrated planning among the state's legal assistance providers; * coordinate civil access to justice; and * work to secure adequate funding for civil access to justice.

The Montana Supreme Court appointed nine members of the Task Force, and those nine members appointed six additional Task Force members.(fn3) Over the past eight years, the Montana Task Force has helped increase funding for the state's IOLTA funds...