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ACCESS TO JUSTICE REPORT AUGUST 2022

To: LSBA Board of Governors
From: Monte Mollere, ATJ Director
This memo highlights information on the programs and initiatives of the LSBA’s Access to Justice
Commission, Committee and Department that may be of interest or relevance to the LSBA Board of
Governors. Only activities occurring since the last board meeting are included in this report. Should
you have any questions or require additional background on any item, I am happy to provide that
information.

1) Louisiana Access to Justice Commission’s Justice For All Project launches two Legal Help
Access Points in Northeast Louisiana “civil legal resource deserts” to assist some of
Louisiana’s most needy communities.

Over the past two years, the Louisiana Access to Justice (ATJ) Commission, through the Justice
For All Project (JFA), has assessed how to rid Louisiana of its “civil legal resource deserts.”
These “deserts” are areas which are greater than a 45-minute drive to an in-person civil legal
resource like a civil legal aid office, self-help center, or law library. Findings from the first phase
of the project identified a long stretch of civil legal resource desert in the Mississippi Delta region
of Northeast Louisiana where 50% or more of the population earns income at or below the federal

poverty line.

Focused on these areas, and with generous funding from the National Center for State Courts, the
ATJ Commission and JFA Steering Committee developed Legal Help Access Points to address
these barriers to accessing legal assistance. The access points provide community members with
a continuum of options for legal assistance and a place to go for help navigating legal problems.
In the access point, individuals can:
• gain access to self-help resources and automated forms,
• find out if they qualify for free legal aid,
• get customized legal help and referrals through the Louisiana Bar Foundation and
Lagniappe Law Lab’s Civil Legal Navigator,
• meet virtually with a civil legal aid attorney by appointment in a confidential enclosed
space
• attend a virtual hearing with participating courts via their online court program.

For years, librarians have ensured that the public has access to information and resources, so
libraries were a natural location for the inaugural locations of the Legal Help Access Points. This
month, the ATJ Commission held ribbon-cutting ceremonies to launch two of the Legal Help
Access Points. The first launch was held on August 4, 2022, inside the East Carroll Parish Library
in Lake Providence, and the second on August 18, 2022, inside the Concordia Parish Library in
Vidalia. More than 60 state and local leaders attended the events. An additional access point has
been designated for the Ferriday Branch of the Concordia Parish library and will be installed when
renovation to the library is complete. In addition to the libraries, an access point will be installed

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