Author Archives: richardzorza

Unknown's avatar

About richardzorza

I am deeply involved in access to justice and the patient voice movement.

How Not To Bring The Litigant Voice Into the Legal System

Posted on October 4, 2016 by richardzorza

Richard Moorhead of University College London has a brilliant blog post here, on a recent attempt by the Solicitors Regulatory Association to impact the process of reforming (or not) the exam process for qualifying as a solicitor. (By the way, … Continue reading →

Posted in International Models, Legal Ethics, Non-Lawyer Practice, Political Support | Comments Off on How Not To Bring The Litigant Voice Into the Legal System

Serving Self-Represented Litigants Remotely A Resource Guide Is a Must Read

Posted on September 23, 2016 by richardzorza

Serving Self-Represented Litigants Remotely A Resource Guide, prepared by a team led by John Greacen and including SRLN members from across the country, has just been published by SRLN.  It is a “Must Read,” to use a much over-used word.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Budget Issues, Court Management, Forms, Metrics, Remote Services, Research and Evalation, Self-Help Services, SRLN, Systematic Change, Technology, Triage | Comments Off on Serving Self-Represented Litigants Remotely A Resource Guide Is a Must Read

Harder and Harder to Separate Access to Justice and Election Politics

Posted on September 22, 2016 by richardzorza

It is getting harder and harder to separate access to justice and politics.  So I feel that it is not inappropriate to share a link to my politics and humor blog, in which I ask those Republics who might, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Judicial Ethics, White House | Comments Off on Harder and Harder to Separate Access to Justice and Election Politics

More Dramatic Statistics on Representation Imbalance for Collection, Landlord/Tenant, and Small Claims

Posted on September 20, 2016 by richardzorza

Recently, I blogged about some numbers derived from NCSC data for representation status and imbalance.  The numbers are stunning, here, and here.  As I put it then: We Now Have the Data That shows That The One-Side-Self-Represented Case is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bankruptcy, Chasm with Communities, Debt Collction, Evictions, Small Claims, SRL Statistics | 3 Comments

Integrating “Roles Beyond Lawyers” into Court Improvement Strategies

Posted on September 19, 2016 by richardzorza

A recent paper by Colleen F. Shanahan, Anna E. Carpenter and Alyx Mark makes a very important point that, as the abstract puts it: Access to justice interventions that provide a little representation, including nonlawyer representation and various forms of … Continue reading →

Posted in 100% Access Strategy and Campaign, Access to Counsel, Court Management, Non-Lawyer Practice, Referral Systems, Research and Evalation, Triage, Unbundling | 2 Comments

Data Maps Come to Access to Justice Planning

Posted on September 15, 2016 by richardzorza

This is an important step in ensuring that strategic planning is informed by underlying indicia of need. The Self-Represented Litigation Network has just launched a national, but highly granulated online tool for looking at national county by county level statistics … Continue reading →

Posted in 100% Access Strategy and Campaign, Access to Justice Generally, Evictions, Housing, Metrics, Poverty, SRL Statistics, SRLN | Comments Off on Data Maps Come to Access to Justice Planning

Getting ATJ Statistics Into Census Data Collection — The Eviction Example Highlighted on fivethirtyeight.com

Posted on September 15, 2016 by richardzorza

The wonderful fivethirtyeight.com, which many of us obsessively check multiple times a day for its magnificent (and frightening) election projection results, has just put up a very important article on the under-counting of the eviction problem.  The title tells it … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Census Bureau, Court Management, Evictions, Federal Agencies, Foreclosure, Housing, Outcome Measures, Poverty, Research and Evalation | 1 Comment

Article on Incentives in Access to Justice

Posted on September 12, 2016 by richardzorza

My paper on incentives in access to justice has now been published in the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.  Here it is. Here is the full text of the abstract: Most of the current deregulation discussion focuses on permitting both … Continue reading →

Posted in ABA, Access to Counsel, Alternative Business Structures, Anti-Trust, Bar Associations, Medical System Comparision, Middle Income, Mixed Model, Non-Lawyer Practice, Outcome Measures, Planning, Political Support, Poverty, Pro Bono, Referral Systems, Research and Evalation, Rules Reform, Self-Help Services, Simplification, Systematic Change, Tax Policy, Technology | Comments Off on Article on Incentives in Access to Justice

Triage Should Guide Court Simplification and Non-Lawyer Role Expansion, Not the Other Way Round

Posted on September 11, 2016 by richardzorza

I think I may have been guilty of thinking about the relationship of triage, court simplification and expansion of non-lawyer roles the wrong way round. I have basically been saying something like this: For each case, we should do triage, … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Family Law, Non-Lawyer Practice, Referral Systems, Simplification, Systematic Change, Triage | 5 Comments

On Waking Up From a Nightmare that was About Trying to E-File in the Supreme Court– Maybe We Can Use the Idea!

Posted on September 11, 2016 by richardzorza

I just woke up this morning in a panic from a nightmare that would be funny if it were not so scary. There I am in the dream trying to e-file a pleading with the Supreme Court.  Naturally it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Assembly, E-filing, Supreme Court | Comments Off on On Waking Up From a Nightmare that was About Trying to E-File in the Supreme Court– Maybe We Can Use the Idea!

DOJ/NSF White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable Report on Access to Justice Research

Posted on September 7, 2016 by richardzorza

I have been much remiss in not blogging earlier about this important and very timely Report from the Department of Justice (NIJ and ATJ) and the National Science Foundation on Research in Access to Justice.  Formally titled White House Legal … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Consumer Rights, Dept. of Justice, expungement, Family Law, Foreclosure, LAIR, Legal Aid, Medical System Comparision, Non-Lawyer Practice, Outcome Measures, Reentry, Referral Systems, Research and Evalation, Self-Help Services | Comments Off on DOJ/NSF White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable Report on Access to Justice Research

Table Comparing Three New Different ATJ Sets of Recommendations Should Help Move Collaboration Forward

Posted on September 3, 2016 by richardzorza

It is quite amazing that within a few weeks we have had three major sets of specific recommendations for national access to justice strategies come out.  They are, in order of appearance, the Guidance for NCSC Grants for Strategic Planning … Continue reading →

Posted in 100% Access Strategy and Campaign, ABA, Access to Justice Generally, Court Management, Rules Reform, Simplification, Systematic Change, Technology, Triage | Comments Off on Table Comparing Three New Different ATJ Sets of Recommendations Should Help Move Collaboration Forward

Estimating Impact on Economic Mobility From Court Fees System

Posted on August 31, 2016 by richardzorza

Today’s Times has a highly pertinent piece on the dramatic effect of court fees and costs on those caught in the juvenile justice system.  Obviously it relates deeply to all the economic burdens that the legal system is imposing on … Continue reading →

Posted in Access to Justice Generally, Chasm with Communities, Court Fees and Costs, Metrics | 3 Comments

We Now Have Data To Help Prioritize ATJ Strategic Focuses

Posted on August 28, 2016 by richardzorza

Yesterday, when I blogged about the first good national sample data on numbers of self-represented cases, and particularly on those who face a lawyer alone, I promised additional more broken down data. These numbers, taken from the same NCSC Landscape of … Continue reading →

Posted in 100% Access Strategy and Campaign, Attorney-Client, Court Management, Housing, Legal Aid, Metrics, Non-Lawyer Practice, SRL Statistics | 4 Comments

We Now Have the Data That shows That The One-Side-Self-Represented Case is the Dominant Case Situation in US Civil State Courts and That We Need a Fundamental Rethink of The State Civil Justice System

Posted on August 26, 2016 by richardzorza

Some data from NCSC should be helpful in relating access to justice strategy to overall legal system changes. This is because this data simply blows away the way we think about the courts. The dominant analytic mode has always been … Continue reading →

Posted in 100% Access Strategy and Campaign, Access to Justice Generally, Attorney-Client, Self-Help Services, SRL Statistics, Systematic Change | 3 Comments