Page 51 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

This innovative approach to court-community collaboration tends to bridge the gap by allowing the refugee community to learn more about the court system .
In return, with the interest to educate as well as to be educated, this initiative strengthens a dialogue and partnership with judicial staff supplemented by periodic roundtable meetings and cultural competency trainings . To learn more about some best practices when interacting with refugees and increase ability to assist cross-cultural litigants, Erie County Family Court hosts on a regular basis trainings entitled “Knowing Our Neighbors,” involving refugee community leaders as the trainers .
As of today, the initiative has “grown to include more than 80 representatives of various religious and cultural groups, resettlement agencies, law enforcement, state, national and local government, legal services organizations and attorneys .”30
As the initiative brings a resounding impact on the community, Judge Rodwin has been recently appointed to the Advisory Council on Immigration Issues in Family Court discussed above .
Conclusion
We should recognize a range of actions has been taken to advance the rights, power, and legal capacities of refugees and asylees . By helping them and those who are unfamiliar to the U .S . legal system to access justice, New York State seems to be offering a promising road forward, but it is not enough .
A declaration of rights does not guarantee its enforcement . It is important that the barriers for refugee accessors in court proceedings occupy a central role in the justice system’s discussion of access to justice, both at the federal and local levels .
Recognizing the interconnectedness of law and refugee social conditions, it is necessary to combine a pluralistic approach to law with institutions that are open and supportive . This should include partnership of individual lawyers, the organized bar, legal services providers, the non- legal sources of assistance and vulnerable groups themselves who must overcome the various impediments discussed in this article .
Nevertheless, efforts to eliminate disparities in accessing justice remain a process, not a conclusion . •
30 Id.
Specific Areas for Reform: Immigration
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