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On February 6, 2004, the following application was submitted to the American Bar Association to nominate 'and Justice for all" for national recognition. The Utah lawyers who led
and contributed to the Access to Justice Task Force and 'and Justice for all" can be justly proud of the truly remarkable and meaningful accomplishments outlined below. The stage is
now set for a broader community effort to develop and implement a statewide plan to realize the goal of access to civil justice for all Utah citizens.
Nhu Ly
ABA Section of Business Law
750 North Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60640
Sent by e mail to: lynhu@staff.abanet.org
Application for National Public Service Award
Nominee:"and Justice for all"
Nominator: Debra Moore, President Utah State Bar
Nominee Address: Nominee can be reached at
'and Justice for all"
Community Legal Center
205 North 400 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
(801) 578-1204
Nominator Address: 645 South 200 East
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Nominee's Resume:
The nominator seeks to honor the organization "and Justice for all" and its eight member volunteer Board of
Trustees. "and Justice for all" is not a direct service provider, but has established the following mission:
"and Justice for all" works to increase access to
civil legal services for the disadvantaged and for persons with disabilities in Utah by:
- Creating and sustaining resources to support civil legal services;
- Sharing and consolidating resources so that services are delivered in a cost-efficient and effective manner, enabling service providers to serve additional clients;
- Strengthening the individual agencies and the distinct roles they play in the delivery of civil legal services.
"and Justice for all" efforts in the past five years have encouraged 5,917 hours of pro bono assistance (estimated value of $710,040), raised a total of $5,982,429 to support the
frontline agencies providing legal aid, helped front-line providers increase the number of individuals served from 16,320 in 1998 to 28,946 in 2003 and greatly increased the collaborative
efforts between legal service agencies in the state.
In 1995, in response to the Legal Services Corporation funding cuts to the only statewide service provider of legal aid to the
poor (Utah Legal Services), the Utah Supreme Court and the Utah State Bar appointed The Access to Justice Task Force. The task force was charged to review current legal services options
for the poor in Utah, to explore new ideas for improving and expanding those services, and to make recommendations to the Bar and the Supreme Court to implement improved services. The
task force issued recommendations to increase funding to address the State's need and innovations in services to better and more efficiently serve the poor in Utah.
In 1998, 'and
Justice for all," a non-profit organization, was established in conjunction with the Utah State Bar, members of Utah's legal community and the state's primary providers of free legal
aid to ensure the availability of civil legal aid in the state based on the recommendations of the Access to Justice Task Force. Initially, "and Justice for all" focused on
maintaining and increasing funding - the most immediate need. The state's three largest providers of civil legal aid - The Disability Law Center, Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake and Utah
Legal Services - agreed to join together to create a statewide Bar-based fundraising campaign.
The largest source of Utah's private funding had come from Utah foundations followed
by attorney donations. Many Utahns, in particular local foundations leaders, expressed the opinion that attorneys needed to lead the efforts to increase available funding. Four local
foundations felt so strongly that attorneys needed to be the lead supporter of civil legal that they offered $325,000 in challenge grants in the first three years of the campaign to
encourage law firm and individual attorney donations and institutionalize an annual campaign.
In 1998, when 'and Justice for all" was established, only 5% of the Bar's
membership donated funding to civil legal aid. Through the annual campaign, this amount increased to well over 30% in the first two years. In 1998, the legal community provided less than
$75,000 in support, but now provides approximately $400,000 each year. As of January 29, 2004, 'and Justice for all" has raised a total of $2,115,000 to support direct civil legal
aid in Utah.
Building on the success of the annual campaign, "and Justice for all" began tackling the next recommendation of the task force - to create service
innovations to increase access to legal aid. The task force had recommended a centralized intake system to utilize technological advances to simplify and, hopefully, reduce the cost of
providing services. Funding sources, however, were not very supportive of this technology-based system, and technology-based centralized intake also presented significant problems with
confidentiality issues. 'and Justice for all" remained undeterred by these problems, and adapted their plan to site-based centralized intake by creating the Community Legal Center.
This innovative project is believed to be the first of its kind in the country that co-locates several service providers in a shared building.
The Community Legal Center allows
the state's primary providers of civil legal aid to be housed in one location not only to simplify access for clients, but also to create efficiencies for service providers that allow
more clients to be served. The Community Legal Center is a 30,000 square-foot building that serves as the state's hub for civil legal aid. Instead of clients trekking across town to
various service providers or calling numerous numbers before accessing service, clients are now able to simply go up or down one story in the same building or have their call transferred
to the proper agency.
This very visible form of centralized intake resonated with community leaders. Recognizing that attorneys had truly stepped up to the plate to help ensure
that their services are also available to the poor, foundations, corporations and individuals from outside the legal community became strong supporters of legal aid as well. The capital
campaign to finance the Community Legal Center was supported by $3,550,000 in support. What is so significant about this support is that over $2,100,000 came from outside the legal
community and encouraged the State of Utah to provide its first-ever support of civil legal aid.
The Community Legal Center has exceeded expectations. In addition to being a
vehicle to reach beyond the legal community for financial and volunteer support, it has helped save the agencies located at the Center a combined $444,541 in its first year of operation.
Owning a building has allowed partner agencies to pay only 42% of market rate rents for similar space. Additional cost savings have come through administrative and fundraising
consolidation and by sharing a common phone system allowing for lower rates.
In addition to operating the annual campaign and the Community Legal Center, "and Justice for
all" is now beginning to tackle the issues of statewide planning in conjunction with other service providers, the courts, the Utah State Bar, the legislature, law schools and other
community stakeholders.
Narrative
"and Justice for all" meets all of the criteria for the National Public Service Award.
1.
It has demonstrated devotion to the development and delivery of civil legal services to the poor and people with disabilities in a business context by establishing and running a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to justice. It has also used its experiences to offer consultation, funding and advice to other agencies committed to increasing access to justice.
2.
It has contributed significantly to developing innovative approaches to the delivery of volunteer legal services by creating new resources to support volunteer legal services, providing increased opportunities for volunteers, and by creating the Community Legal Center to co-locate the state's non-profit providers to simplify client access and increase agency efficiencies.
3.
Through the annual fundraising campaign and the Community Legal Center, it has been the primary force in helping Utah's three primary legal aid groups to increase the number of individuals assisted by over 77% in just five years, while also making it simpler for clients to locate the appropriate service agency.
4.
It has enlisted a cadre of volunteer attorneys, business leaders and politicians to provide sustained counsel to 'and Justice for all" as well as Utah's direct legal aid providers in creating a new organization and strengthening existing organizations to increase access to legal representation and advice.
Development and delivery of legal services to the poor and people with disabilities in a business context.
"and Justice for all" is a private non-profit
organization established in 1998 to increase access to justice to the poor, people with disabilities, the elderly and ethnic minorities by creating a stable source of lawyer-based
financial support. 'and Justice for all" is the first 'Bar campaign' which from the outset involved all of the state's major providers of free civil legal services. The Board and the
partner organizations used a business model of enhanced service delivery and increased efficiencies to overcome turf battles, differing missions and diverse service populations to meet
the overall goal of increasing access to justice.
"and Justice for all" volunteers have provided 5,917 hour of pro bono assistance in a business context. Volunteer
efforts include:
- Creation of Articles of Incorporation,
- Creation of Bylaws,
- Creation of Fundraising Agreement dictating terms of shared development efforts of member agencies,
- Establishing the organization's 501(c)(3) status,
- Bylaws review and revision,
- Review of loan documents,
- Creation of Trust documents,
- Tenancy Agreements for Community Legal Center,
- Operating Service Agreements,
- Real Estate Transactions,
- Tax assistance,
- Contract creation and review,
- Developing the accounting system and overseeing the organization's fundraising agreement and grant making process
- Encouraging others to donate time,
- Sharing documents and experiences with other non-profit organizations so they can benefit from this model as well.
Development of innovative approaches to the delivery of volunteer legal services
In her State of the Judiciary address in January of this year, Chief Justice Christine Durham
singled out 'and Justice for all" and the Community Legal Center as a model for pro bono leadership.
“There have been and are now many conversations going on in Utah to
address the problem of access to civil justice and the delivery of legal services. I believe the time has come for the creation of a broad-based community initiative to assess the need
for legal services in Utah and to bring together the many strands of interest in this problem. We have remarkable resources, and admirable collaboration, in our state, including the
Community Legal Center, which the legislature helped fund in its inception and which now houses four different legal service entities under one roof, the 'and Justice for all"
project, a cooperative fund-raising program that supports those entities, ..."
"and Justice for all" has marshaled the energies of 269 volunteers, the majority
of whom are members of the Utah State Bar, in a variety of ways. 'and Justice for all" and its volunteer Board of Trustees has relied on volunteers to provide assistance with all of
the organizational structuring documents to day-to-day contracts review. Additionally, a 36-member Leadership Committee, chaired by a prominent member of the Bar, solicits donations from
firms and other supporters. The Community Legal Center project relied on 177 volunteers to assist with numerous activities ranging from developing leases to real estate transactions and
contracts to fundraising and tax exemption filings. Other annual activities include the Law Day Run, a silent auction and the Young Lawyers Division pool tournament called "Bar
Sharks for Justice". These volunteer activities serve not only as a means to increase financial support but also to increase awareness of the assistance provided by legal aid groups,
provide a mechanism to increase volunteerism to the partner agencies, and most importantly, increase their ability to provide direct services through staff or pro bono service.
An
example of an innovative volunteer service that benefits both the legal profession and those in need of legal assistance is the annual CLE fundraiser, 'and Ethics for all" which
raises additional resources for legal aid. Last year's CLE enlisted the assistance of eight volunteer attorneys to create and present ' Ethical and Professional Issues for Lawyers In the
Post Enron World", which focused on the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 and Proposed S.E.C. rules. This year's CLE had 13 volunteers and focused on the controversial Parker Jensen case,
involving parental rights, which has dominated the news this summer and is now the subject of over 50 pieces of legislation. These volunteers research topical issues, plan the CLE,
present at the CLE, find donated space, find and copy supporting materials, etc. This year's CLE netted approximately $9,000 to support volunteer legal services.
Address unmet needs and extend services
'and Justice for all" was established to address declining federal support for civil legal aid and to find innovative ways to provide
services at lower costs. The organization has been successful in increasing support from the Bar membership by 533% in its short existence. "and Justice for all's" Community
Legal Center project created incredible operating efficiencies for service providers that allowed them to decrease overhead expenses to the tune of nearly 10% of the agencies' collective
budgets. These two things have enabled Utah's front-line providers to increase the number of individuals served each year by over 77%.
'and Justice for all" has also
established an annual process to ensure that funds raised do not only benefit its partner organizations, but all non-profit organizations that share the commitment to provide legal aid to
the poor. In the past five years, the Trustees have established a simple request for proposal process that has awarded $66,000 in support to other organizations with missions focusing on
ethnic minorities, immigration, and rural providers like the Navajo nation's DNA People's Legal Services.
"and Justice for all" and the Community Legal Center have
provided opportunities to bring the legal aid story to the general population who may not understand these services are often a first defense to individuals facing homelessness, domestic
abuse, eviction, discrimination or denial of benefits due to poverty, disability or racial or ethnic status. Over the past five years, 'and Justice for all" has increased visibility
of the services provided, the need for these services and the legal community's, as well as the general public's, willingness to support these services.
Partners and volunteers
also work closely with other civil legal aid providers to provide consultation and advice, to encourage increased collaboration between all service providers and to offer assistance with
their fundraising efforts by reviewing grants and referring grant opportunities to appropriate agencies. "and Justice for all" provided a challenge grant when one agency was on
the verge of closing. This challenge grant helped the very small agency with a volunteer executive director raise over $20,000 in just three months.
Provide sustained counsel
"and Justice for all," in meeting its mission, has provided sustained counsel to several other organizations, including Disability Law Center, Legal Aid Society of Salt
Lake, and Utah Legal Services. Each of the above agencies has two members from the "and Justice for all" Board who also serve on their individual agency Boards. This serves to
not only maximize collaboration between the various service providers, but also to ensure that the 'and Justice for all" Board is aware of the most pressing current issues faced by
service providers.
Through this increased collaboration, partner agencies have been positioned to successfully find new sources of support that would not have been previously
available to them. The primary example is the Community Legal Center project in collaboration with the Boards of all the participating agencies. "and Justice for all," as the
lead agency, serves as advisor, mediator and referral source for specialized volunteer attorneys for all issues within the Community Legal Center as well as the agencies located there.
"and Justice for all" was able to secure volunteer legal services to draft leases, service agreements, contracts and trust documents. Other services included review of loan
documents, tax exemption filing and real estate transactions. "and Justice for all" volunteers developed a business plan, researched the feasibility of the successful
implementation of the Community Legal Center, developed a $3.5 million capital campaign and represented the project to foundations, corporations, governmental entities and the general
community.
Another example of continued sustained counsel is the ongoing effort to secure state funding to support legal aid. In 2002, when a grant of $451,334 to Utah Legal
Services and Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake was not renewed, 'and Justice for all" used its cadre of volunteers to successfully lobby the legislature for first-time ongoing funding
to support direct legal assistance for family law cases and victims of domestic violence despite the state having to slash its budget by $230 million. Our volunteers continue to ensure
that the State Legislature is aware of the need for civil legal aid.
Conclusion
In light of these significant achievements, despite challenges presented by a very
conservative state and difficult economic times for non-profits, I am pleased to nominate 'and Justice for all" for the National Public Service Award in recognition of the
significant pro bono legal services this group has helped provide in Utah.
Contacts for Additional Information
Chief Justice Christine Durham
Utah Supreme Court
450 South State
P.O. Box 140210 Salt Lake City, Utah 84114
Ph: (801) 238-7945 Fax: (801) 238-7980
E-mail: jdurham@email.ut.courts.gov
John A. Beckstead, President of Board of Trustees
Snell & Wilmer
15 West South Temple, Ste. 1200
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101
Ph: (801) 257-1900 / 257-1927 (direct) Fax: (801) 257-1800
E-mail: jbeckstead@swlaw.com
Kai Wilson, Managing Director
'and Justice for all"
205 North 400 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84103
Ph: (801) 578-1204 Fax: (801) 359-7359
E-mail: kaiwilson@lasslc.org
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