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one-year commitment period; take the necessary action to make sure the fellow is insured under
its malpractice coverage; and provide appropriate office space for the fellow. The program
provided fellows for 3 years to civil legal aid organizations. These efforts have been thwarted by
the current health crisis, which has required most civil legal aid organizations to work remotely.
We are assessing the viability of this program in light of the ongoing health crisis.

Training

The Access to Justice Department offers a wide variety of low-cost and no-cost Continuing
Legal Education (CLE) opportunities focused on various areas of public interest law to civil legal
aid attorneys. The ATJ Training and Projects Counsel works with public interest law task forces,
training subcommittees, and various non-profit organizations to create affordable and pertinent
CLE programming for Louisiana’s justice community. While this position was originally created
as a training coordinator through funding subsidized by the Legal Services Programs, the
position has expanded to include building and fostering relationships among five substantive task
forces, pro bono organizations and other members of the justice community to ensure
educational needs are met.

ATJ provides trainings in-person, remotely through webinars, and pre-recorded via video, giving
attorneys multiple options to attend and access to educational seminars they may have overwise
avoided due to costs associated with travel and time away from the office. Recorded CLEs are
made available on probono.net/la to legal aid, contract, and volunteer attorneys. The ATJ
Department also provides customized trainings for new solos in the LIFT Legal Incubator and
Accelerator Program.

Louisiana Justice Community Conference
Each October, the LSBA’s Access to Justice Department hosts the Louisiana Justice Community
Conference. This is typically a two-day in-person event that provides civil legal aid attorneys the
opportunity to obtain 9.0 hours of relevant CLE training and network with the Louisiana civil
legal aid community. In an effort to support social distancing and at the request of attendees, the
conference will be held virtually over a three-day period this year. The department is working
with a third-party virtual platform provider to offer an interactive webinar series and we hope
that by hosting the event online, an increased number of participants and national presenters will
be able attend. The three-day event will include programming on professionalism, ethics,
technology, procedural and substantive law.

Louisiana Civil Legal Aid Awards
In 2015, the LSBA introduced two new awards at the Louisiana Justice Community
Conference recognizing excellence and ingenuity in the civil justice community. The
Legal Service Excellence in Advocacy Award recognizes an individual advocate who has
displayed the highest levels of dedication, passion, and professionalism in representing
vulnerable clients. The Legal Service Innovation Award recognizes an individual attorney
or organization that has developed an innovative program or service that effectively