Summit on Civil Access to Justice Held Oct. 12

Article Date: Sunday, October 28, 2007

Attending from the N.C. Supreme Court, from left, were Patricia Timmons-Goodson, Mark Martin, Chief Justice Sarah Parker, Robert Edmunds, Paul Newby and Robin Hudson.

An impressive array of stakeholders in North Carolina’s judicial system, led by six members of the state Supreme Court, convened Friday in Cary for the first Summit on Civil Access to Justice in North Carolina.

Throughout the daylong event, the unmet legal needs of North Carolina’s ever-growing poor population remained in the forefront, echoing themes that have resonated throughout the North Carolina Bar Association this year under the leadership of President Janet Ward Black.

Chief Justice Sarah Parker of the N.C. Supreme Court presided. The event was sponsored by the Equal Access to Justice Commission, which she chairs, and the NCBA. Joining the chief justice throughout the day were associate justices Mark Martin, Robert Edmunds, Paul Newby, Patricia Timmons-Goodson and Robin Hudson.

NCBA President Janet Ward Black confers with Judge Paul Jones.

“For the North Carolina Supreme Court to be having its first public summit indicates how serious the problem is,” Black said. “The North Carolina Bar Association is also focused on this issue this year. There is a critical shortage of lawyers to handle the cases for the poor in North Carolina, and we are calling on our members to rally to address this crisis.”

Black, who has championed the cause of Legal Aid of North Carolina throughout the implementation of the 4ALL campaign, joined Chief Justice Parker on the opening agenda.

Tom Lambeth

Thomas W. Lambeth, former executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, then delivered a stirring address under the heading of “Why is Access to Justice Important?”

“We sometimes forget that the founders of our nation were most often scholars,” Lambeth stated. “Jefferson, Adams, Rush, Madison, Franklin were men for whom liberty emerged as a great idea.

“To give credibility to that idea of  liberty; to make believable that ideal of ‘we the people’ in the 21st century, that realization of the goodliest land must belong to all of us; it must be liberty for all, it must be a shared destiny in which both the sacrifice and the celebration belong to all of us.”

It must also be applicable, Lambeth said, to the real world.

“There is no more powerful component of that idea of liberty than the idea that within our free land justice is there for all and that it is accessible and applicable to all equally and in the same measure of impact and outcome. When we fail to realize that ideal, when we deny justice to any, when we deny the protection of the law because of wealth or power or position or class or religion or race, we diminish it for all.

“More than that we rend the fabric of the compact that we have made as citizens of a free land – a compact between all of us for the protection of all of us. Justice becomes less than it should be.”

Lambeth spoke of two North Carolinas, one of which is prosperous and the other which finds itself in decline.

“Today, the control of our legislature rests in the hands of the representatives of 15 counties; not because of any conspiracy; just because of dramatically changing demography,” Lambeth said.

“Into this dramatically changing environment we add a series of gaps: an achievement gap, an income gap, a transportation gap, a mushrooming infrastructure gap and a political power gap. Will we compound an already dangerous division with a justice gap?

“We need to remember that equity in the access to justice and equity in its enforcement are not only protective of those who seek such access and who are the targets of its enforcement, it is protective of those we have charged with the responsibility of enforcement.”

Cal Adams

The Overview of Civil Legal Needs was provided by Cal Adams, immediate past chair of LANC who currently serves as vice chair of the Equal Access to Justice Commission. The morning agenda also included A Real Look at Client Stories, moderated by Jim Barrett, executive director of Pisgah Legal Services, and a plenary session addressing Concerns for Special Client Populations.

Melinda Lawrence, executive director of the N.C. Justice and Community Development Center, moderated the plenary session, which included presentations by Milan Pham of NC LEAP who addressed the Changing Ethnicity of N.C. and its Impact on the Court System; Greg Malhoit of the NCCU School of Law who discussed Child Poverty and Legal Solutions; and Martin Eakes of Self-Help who addressed Predatory Lending and its Impact on our State.

An open forum concluded the first half of the program under the direction of James Drennan of the UNC School of Government, who also moderated the afternoon’s closing breakout sessions.

Gene Nichol acknowledges standing ovation from Chief Justice Parker and summit attendees.

The keynote address opened the afternoon session and was delivered by Gene Nichol, former dean of the UNC School of Law who now serves as president of The College of William & Mary.

Admittedly “preaching” to the choir, Nichol raised familiar questions in regard to this nation’s promise of “equal justice under law.”

“I’m not surprised, though I am heartened, that Janet Ward Black has pushed access to justice so hard in her presidency,” Nichol said. “It is, for this bar – in the blood, the sacrifices, the demands, the struggles of justice. You have seen, first hand, the darkness and the light. And you have taught much, in what Dr. (Frank Porter) Graham called, the charge to build ‘a nobler and fresher civilization in this ancient commonwealth.’ ”

Nichol cited data that was referenced throughout the day, including the fact that there is only one legal services lawyer for every 18,000 eligible North Carolinians.

“Our legal services lawyers turn away 8 out of 10 clients with actionable claims,” Nichol said. “We fence folks out even further by creating categories of unworthy poor; and placing restrictions on the most efficient avenues for representation. Study after study shows about 80% of the legal need of the poor is unmet – in North Carolina, in Virginia, in the country. The circumstance is almost as bleak for middle income Americans.

“As every person in this room knows, neither the billable hour nor the possibility of a significant contingent fee cover the waterfront of American legal disputes. New York’s state bar study a couple of years ago found that we leave the poor unrepresented on most crushing problems of life – divorce, child custody, domestic violence, housing, benefits.

“We think it natural that a commercial dispute between battling corporations takes six month to try, while the fate of a batter child is determined in only a few minutes. What passes for civil justice among the have-nots is breathtaking.”

Nichol concluded his address with a stirring series of quotations affirming the participants’ allegiance to “the foundational American aspiration of equal justice.”

“I hope that we will declare our commitment to it,” Nichol said. “We’ll enroll our hearts. We’ll enlist our spirits. We’ll mark our lives. We’ll enlist because …

“Somewhere we read, ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident that all are created equal.’

“And somewhere we read, the ‘central purpose of America is that the weak would gradually made stronger and ultimately all would have an equal chance.’

“And somewhere we read, that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’

“And somewhere we read, ‘history will judge us on the extent to which we use our gifts to lighten and enrich the lives of our fellows.’

“And somewhere we read, ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’

“And somewhere we read, we have ‘to believe the things we teach our children.’ Believe them and make them real.

“And somewhere we read, that ‘whenever you did these things to the least of these, you did them to me.’

“And somewhere we read ‘you reap what you sow.’

“And somewhere we read that ‘the pursuit of justice and the pursuit of happiness march not in opposite directions but hand in hand.’

“And somewhere we read, no, we are not satisfied and we shall not be satisfied ‘til justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Sen. Dan Clodfelter

A standing ovation ensued, after which the participants returned to the task at hand by discussing Solutions to the Gaps in Access to Justice. The panel discussion, moderated by ABA Past-President A. P. Carlton, featured Sen. Dan Clodfelter of Mecklenburg County who was recognized during the proceedings as the state’s and legal profession’s leading legislative voice for the provision of legal services.

Joining Clodfelter on the panel from the General Assembly was Rep. Angela Bryant of Nash and Halifax counties. Adams and LANC Executive Director George Hausen represented the legal services community and Associate General Counsel Stephen Mayo of Bank of America spoke on behalf of the business community.

The judicial branch was recognized by Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Paul Jones (District 8-A), Chief District Court Judge Joseph Buckner (District 15B) and Todd Nuccio, trial court administrator for the 26th Judicial District comprising Mecklenburg County.

The panel addressed legislative matters, self-serve centers, civil Gideon, the role of the business community, pro bono service and the impact of pro se litigants on the court system.

Concluding activities targeted potential solutions and actions items for the Equal Access to Justice Commission to consider as it moves forward with its important work. The reports from each break-out group, in conjunction with a complete record of the day’s proceedings, will be provided by the commission shortly.

Carol Spruill reports from break-out session.

The break-out groups were led by Judge Linda McGee of the N.C. Court of Appeals, Anita Earls of the UNC Center for Civil Rights, Luke Largess of the N.C. Legal Education Assistance Foundation, Carol Spruill of the Duke University School of Law, the aforementioned Cofield, Pham, Nuccio, Mayo and Hausen, and Michelle Cofield, executive director of the Equal Access to Justice Commission who serves as director of pro bono and public service activities for the NCBA Foundation.

“I am overwhelmed with the response to this summit,” said Cofield. “The Summit is over, but the work has just begun. We’re rolling up our sleeves to capitalize on the Summit's momentum. We will publish a Summit report that will be used as our springboard to move forward.”

Last Update: Tuesday, January 15, 2008