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Legal Community Develops Website to Extend Civil Justice to Florida’s Poor

If the effort succeeds, it would create the first system of its kind in the country, combining both the legal aid and courts systems in a single online resource.

(TNS) -- Leaders in Florida’s legal community are working toward creating a website where people who can’t afford an attorney for civil matters can either find one or get the information they need without having to hire legal counsel.

If the effort succeeds, it would create the first system of its kind in the country, combining both the legal aid and courts systems in a single online resource, said Melissa Moss, director of grant programs and development at the Florida Bar Foundation.

Moss called it “a wider umbrella than what exists anywhere else in the country right now.”

“A unified place that potential clients can go to,” added William Van Nortwick Jr., a Jacksonville attorney and member of a subcommittee working on the project for the The Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice.

The plan was discussed earlier this month at a conference in Tampa.

People could go to the website for legal needs ranging from a restraining order in a domestic case to a landlord-tenant dispute. More serious cases would be flagged and the client put in contact with a lawyer willing to work for no charge.

In cases where an attorney is deemed unnecessary, people will be directed to other resources — group legal training, for example, or instructional videos.

One example is an instructional video posted by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, which was cited by both Van Nortwick and Kathleen Mcleroy, a Tampa lawyer who serves with him on the commission’s Legal Services Subcommittee.

The internet for now is seen as the best way to extend civil justice to a broader range of people.

Consultation is available this way, Mcleroy said, “regardless of where you are.”

Even most people living below the poverty line have smartphones they could use to reach out for help, Van Nortwick said.

The commission cited Illinois as a model for a statewide civil justice access system.

“What’s unique about Illinois is the combination of technology and partnership,” Moss said, with legal aid and the courts creating self-help centers in every county in Illinois. Still, even Illinois doesn’t combine legal aid resources with online court information statewide as Florida is discussing.

A statewide system would be designed to close the gap between the poor being helped and those who aren’t. An estimated 80 percent of the legal needs of the poor go unmet, according to the commission, making it a societal issue.

“Right now, I fear that many people in this country feel the rule of law is for someone else,” said Jorge Labarga, a Florida State Supreme Court judge and the chairman of the commission.

Closing this gap could do more than help clients; it could also help the economy.

According to a study by Florida TaxWatch in 2010, every dollar spent by federal, local and state governments resulted in $4.78 worth of economic impact. Another study released in March by The Tennessee Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee and the Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative found that every dollar invested in legal aid brought in over $11 worth of economic impact. The money comes from the savings in community expenses such as emergency shelter and foreclosure, and the financial relief individuals experienced through legal aid.

The commission is asking for the business community to help with funding of the new web-based resources. Efforts also are being made to secure a state contribution through the Legislature, but Florida remains one of only three states where civil legal aid receives no legislative or court funding.

Many people are unaware of where to go or what to do when they face legal problems, attorney Mcleroy said.

Also, some agencies are restricted in how they can help. For example, some agencies might not be able to help a client with an immigration issue, leaving the client lost.

“They really don’t know where to go,” attorney Moss agreed. The proposed system “is a way to connect people with the resources in Florida.”

Van Norton warned that a single, web-based resource access site is a good concept but whether it works depends on how it’s executed.

“We have to put a lot of meat on the bones to get down on the details,” he said.

The commission hopes to have a pilot project in place by the end of 2015.

©2015 the Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.