A California State Bar working group established to study access to justice innovations held its first public meeting on the 14th January 2021. The State Bar’s Closing the Justice Gap Working Group, created by the Board of Trustees to carry on with important recommendations from the State Bar’s Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services (ATILS), has been established with the objective of:
- Investigating the development of a regulatory sandbox to foster experimentation with innovative systems for delivery of legal services
- Exploring amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct regarding the ability of lawyers to share fees with nonlawyers
- Examining the addition of rule 5.7 to the Rules of Professional Conduct addressing the delivery of nonlegal services by lawyers and businesses owned or affiliated with lawyers
- Considering amendments to the Certified Lawyer Referral Service statutes and Rules of the State Bar to enhance efforts to expand access to legal services.
The task force chair Justice Alison M. Tucher, Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division 4, in San Francisco has said “The immense challenges of the past year have only heightened the needs that this group’s work is intended to address. Fortunately, meeting virtually enables us to bring together a truly remarkable working group, all of whom are volunteering their expertise to help California move forward. We are honored and excited to get started.”
The working group is made up of 20 state, national, and international experts an is expected to submit recommendations to the Board of Trustees no later than September 2022. Each recommendation is expected to balance the dual goals of public protection and increased access to justice.
Read more about the meeting here.