Page 255 - 2019 Orientation Manual

The Louisiana State Bar Association’s

Access to Justice Committees and Initiatives

April 2019

The Louisiana State Bar Association has historically supported the concept of “Access to Justice,”
and has long recognized the importance of the efforts of organizations providing for the legal needs
of the indigent. Since 1997 the Bar has actively demonstrated its commitment to help meet the
needs of poor Louisianans by establishing and funding the Access to Justice (ATJ) Program.

History

The ATJ Program

The Access to Justice Program is a collaboration between the Louisiana State Bar Association and
the Louisiana Legal Services Programs and funded in part by these organizations. The Program
was established to commit full-time personnel to support the ongoing activities of the non-profit
civil legal aid organizations in their efforts to provide access for indigent people to the court
system. With six staff members, the ATJ Program not only supports all civil legal service providers
in Louisiana but over the past several years has taken on various independent efforts to address the
unmet need.

The ATJ Committee

The ATJ Committee’s mission is to assure that every Louisiana citizen has access to competent
civil legal representation by promoting and supporting a broad based and effective justice
community through collaboration among the LSBA, the LBF, Louisiana Law Schools, private
practitioners, local bar associations, pro bono programs, civil legal aid providers and other
stakeholders in Louisiana’s Justice Community. The ATJ Committee works to increase awareness
of the indigent population’s unmet civil legal needs and assists by working toward solutions that
can be realized through proper funding of the legal services providers, alternate methods of service
delivery and increased participation by the legal community. The Committee has 36 volunteer
members. The majority of members are attorneys, but uncommon to an LSBA Committee also
includes non-attorney members. Membership is geographically diverse and includes corporate
counsel, judges, legal services attorneys, legal educators, large and small firm representatives, as
well as pro bono directors. The one common goal bringing them together is assuring that legal
needs of the indigent in Louisiana are addressed. The Committee facilitates the work of all legal
services providers by encouraging statewide collaboration and interaction in ATJ Committee-
sponsored programs and the projects it implements. Committee work is accomplished through
subcommittees

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