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centers coordinated by legal aid organizations and local bar associations and online
customized self-help websites created and administered by the LSBA.

Self-Represented Litigant Judicial/Attorney Training & Education
Members of the SRL Committee and the SRL Counsel work on putting together trainings
and resources for judges, court staff, and attorneys. Specifically, the SRL Counsel works
with the Louisiana District Judges Association Self-Represented Litigation Committee to
create resources for judges and courts. This includes a “bench guide” for adjudicating cases
with at least one SRL party, a training video for court staff on how to assist the public
within relevant Rules of Conduct, and other resources designed to help courts assist self-
represented litigants. The SRL Counsel also presents to judicial conferences and local bar
associations on SRL-specific issues including self-help center volunteer training sessions,
best practices for limited scope representation, and other SRL resources. The Committee
also hosts a statewide summit for court staff and self-help center administrators, which
covers a wide range of topics relevant to meeting the public’s legal needs, including legal
aid partnerships, technology in courts, self-help resources, pro bono recruitment, services
for domestic violence victims, and much more.
Technology Committee
The Access to Justice Commission Technology Committee’s goal is to improve technology for the
more efficient delivery of legal services in the civil legal aid arena. With the view that technology
can assist legal aid providers as their caseloads grow and budgets are constricted, the committee
helped implement an adult learning management system which could provide consistent training
for all civil legal aid attorneys throughout Louisiana. Most recently, the Committee has been
working on two main initiatives: increasing the availability of civil legal access points in civil legal
deserts; and creating additional plain language forms and instructions. The Committee continues
to work with the ATJ Commission’s Self-Represented Litigants Committee and the Supreme
Court’s Technology Commission on these various initiatives, and together, they have recently
released automated forms for 103 Divorces and Adult Name Change.

Additional Access to Justice Projects

Below are additional projects that the Access to Justice Department administers in collaboration
with its justice community partners.

Voluntary Pro Bono Reporting Mechanism
The Access to Justice Department collects reports of annual pro bono hours on paper and online.
These numbers are important because they are critical to understanding how much work is being
provided to meet Louisiana’s legal needs, as well as how much legal need remains. Accurately
assessing this gap in service is essential to obtaining adequate funding to provide for this unmet
need. It also demonstrates to funders that Louisiana’s private attorneys are dedicated to this issue.
For these reasons, all attorneys are encouraged to report their hours annually.

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