Page 91 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

Court DIY Forms
Not to be forgotten in the discussion of the range of legal information available to those without attorneys is the creation of Court Do-It-Yourself forms to enable pro se litigants to better navigate the judicial system . The New York Court’s Access to Justice Program has been a leader in the creation of these forms, with the establishment of twenty-four interactive computer programs for the drafting offormsforvariouscourtactions .56 Whilenotprovidingindividualizedassistancetounrepresented litigants, these efforts improve access to justice by making the court system more accessible .
Limited representation
In addition to legal information, some programs bridge the justice gap by providing limited scope or “unbundled” or “discrete task” legal services .57
Volunteer Lawyer for the Day
Justice Fern Fisher launched the Volunteer Lawyer for a Day (VLFD) program in Housing Court in New York City in 1997 . This expanded to consumer debt cases with the Consumer Debt VLFD Program in 2005 . Currently the Access to Justice Program supervises the VLFD Program in Brooklyn and Manhattan in Housing Court, while NYLAG, the New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA), and the Brooklyn Bar Association – Volunteer Lawyers Project (BBA- VLP) (collectively the Consumer Credit VLFD Consortium) provide the supervising attorneys for the Consumer Debt VLFD Program .
Since its inception, the Consumer Debt VLFD Program has represented over 20,000 litigants in court .58 In State Fiscal Year 2015, the Consumer Debt Consortium serviced 3,849 clients and provided an estimated $6 million in benefits to clients through consumer credit claims that were dismissed or reduced .59 The Consumer Debt VLFD Consortium achieved these results using only four part-time staff, each supervising a cadre of volunteers in one of the four boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens .
It should be noted that the VLFD model has not been without criticism, at least in the Housing Court context .60 For example, a Housing Court respondent facing eviction cannot rely on the threat of going to trial represented by a lawyer if a settlement is not reached during the day that the respondent has a lawyer . This leverage is unavailable during the negotiation for the day . This critique, though, uses the yardstick of full representation to judge representation for the day . Representation for the day by a trained lawyer, or a lawyer under expert supervision, does lead to better results for many clients represented on that day and does not lead to a worse result if, for example, no settlement is reached that day . In fact, a preliminary report of the initial implementation of the program in Housing Court concluded that the program was a success on
56 See Fisher, supra note 37, at 292.
57 This essay uses the term “limited scope” to describe representation that is less than full representation, in keeping
with the New York State Rules of Professional Conduct. See n.y. rules of Prof’l conducT r. 1.2(c) & 6.5.
58 See 20,000 Consumer Debt Defendants Served by VLFD Program, N.Y.S. courTs access To JusTice Program, http:// webservera.courts.state.ny.us/ip/nya2j/news_archive.shtml (the Program represented 20,000 clients from 2009 to 2015).
59 This level of impact was achieved with only $244,476 in Judiciary Civil Legal Services funding.
60 See Brescia, supra note 19, at 234-35.
Alternative Models
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