Page 32 - Pierce County Lawyer - July August 2025

ACCESS TO JUSTICE: FROM CRISIS TO CHANGE
average of more than 50 hours a week.4 Let’s
assume the remaining 76 percent of civil legal
needs in Washington are simple cases that can
be resolved in a third as much time as is spent
on the cases lawyers take (likely an absurd
assumption). To meet the barest minimum of
legal demand, we would have to either double
the number of lawyers in our country or expect
every lawyer to work more than 100 hours a
week, half of it for free. Pro bono is great, but it
should not be looked to as the solution to our
access-to-justice crisis. It will never come close.
EMERGING SOLUTIONS
Our modern court system is built by lawyers
for lawyers, yet up to 80 or 90 percent of people
who enter a courtroom do so unrepresented.5
While I do think people would always be
better off with the help of a lawyer, there are
a lot of legal issues that are so common and
easy that a lawyer should be a superfluous
bonus rather than a key outcome determinant.
Thankfully there are examples of how we can
design systems differently to better serve legal
consumers.
Modria is an online dispute resolution platform
that efficiently handles a wide range of cases,
making legal processes more accessible and
cost-effective. The Civil Resolution Tribunal
in British Columbia is an online tribunal
that resolves small claims and strata property
disputes through a user-friendly, human-
centered design approach. Here at home, GR
40 created Washington’s Informal Family Law
Trials, which allow family law parties to opt out
of traditional evidence and procedure rules,
simplifying the process and making it more
accessible for self-represented individuals.
These systems are shining examples of
prioritizing the needs of legal consumers,
making it easier for them to resolve their issues
without the need for a lawyer. There are many
common legal issues that really should be built
to exclude rather than include lawyers. For
example, property damage insurance claims,
social security, and simple wills are a few
areas where the process could be simplified
to the point where legal representation is not
necessary.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
The first, and for some of us, the hardest step
is to just get on board. If you want to be a part
of the solution to the access-to-justice crisis,
acknowledge that pro bono work can’t be the
only path forward. Many legal consumers do
need lawyers. But everyone needs a system that
doesn’t discriminate against them if they can’t
afford one. The second step is to go after that
76 percent of civil legal needs (or even just the
11 percent who are actively looking for help)
by redesigning your services to fit their market
needs. Forrest Carlson built Washington
Wills6 to help consumers make a simple will
for themselves for free. Megan Zavieh built
an online course to teach her clients how to
represent themselves.7 Erin Levine built an
entire system for divorce proceedings that
enabled consumers to choose what best suits
them from a variety of service levels.8 ZAF
Legal offers free personal injury services
assisted by AI.9 Some of these examples were
created within the existing legal framework.
Some used regulatory reforms similar to the
entity regulation pilot program that was
recently approved in Washington.
Finally and most
importantly,
support changes
to our system that
make the law and
legal services more
accessible to all.
If you’re helping write legislation or court
rules, make sure the text is written in plain
language. Help courts experiment with remote
proceedings even if you don’t mind going to
the courthouse. And when you find yourself
doing pro bono work, as I hope you will, ask
yourself what about our system led that person
to your office in the first place, and whether it
has to be that way for the next person.
4 www.clio.com/blog/lawyer-working-hours/.
5 Jessica Steinberg, “Demand Side Reform in the Poor
People’s Court,” Connecticut Law Review 47 (2015), available at
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2613648.
6 https://wa-wills.com/.
7 https://zaviehlaw.com/blog/the-creation-of-theplay-
book-the-california-bar-system-practiceguide/.
8 https://hellodivorce.com/.
9 www.zaflegal.com/.
3 2 P I E R C E C O U N T Y L A W Y E R | J u l y /A u g u s t 2 0 2 5
Jordan L. Couch is a
partner at Palace Law.
Outside of his practice he
is heavily involved in state,
local and national bar
associations, advocating
for a better, more client-
centric future to the legal
profession. Contact him at
jordan@palacelaw.com.
This article is reprinted
from the April/May 2025
issue of Washington
State Bar News with
the permission of the
Washington State Bar
Association and the
author. Any other use
of this material without
the express written
permission of the
Washington State Bar
Association is prohibited.