President's Page

• Publication year: 2010
• Pages: 0263
• Citation: Vol. 71 No. 4 Pg. 0263

PRESIDENT'S PAGE
Vol. 71 No. 4 Pg. 263
The Alabama Lawyer
JULY, 2010

THOMAS J. METHVIN

Access to Justice: A Report Card

Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard this year. In particular, I thank President-Elect Alyce Spruell and Vice President Phillip McCallum. Their hard work and dedication were an integral part of the success of our programs and initiatives.

Choosing a focus for our work this past year was easy. In July 2009, Alabama stood dead last in funding for "Access to Justice" in civil matters. As a result, there have been a lot of hurting people without legal representation. Ensuring legal help for the poor in these cases was, and still is, a matter of the utmost importance.

We attacked this problem by securing additional funding for "Access to Justice" from Alabama lawyers and from the legislature, and by increasing participation in our Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP). We have made significant progress in a lot of areas. Here is a report card of our progress:

• Alabama lawyers gave their money. Lawyers agreed to make voluntary donations of $850,000 to "Access to Justice"
• Alabama lawyers gave their time. More than 1,450 new lawyers have joined our VLP and agreed to represent the poor for free.
• The Alabama Legislature gave us a 12 percent increase in funding for "Access to Justice," even though funding was cut for most other things.
• Our Mortgage Foreclosure Program, which provides a free lawyer to those who need one, has helped more than 3,000 people.
• Lawyers worked 23,231 volunteer hours in 2009.
• The Huntsville/Madison County VLP completely turned around with a new executive director and board, and helped 67 percent more people than last year.
• The Birmingham/Jefferson County VLP completely turned around with a new executive director and board, and helped 38 percent more people than last year.
• The Montgomery County Bar Association started a monthly Pro Bono Clinic.
• The Mobile County Bar Association continued

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