Final Resolution and Report
CENTER FOR INNOVATION
STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES
STANDING COMMITTEE ON ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
STANDING COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL REGULATION
STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC PROTECTION IN THE PROVISION OF LEGAL SERVICES
REPORT TO THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES
REVISED RESOLUTION
RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association encourages U.S. jurisdictions to consider innovative approaches to the access to justice crisis in order to help the more than 80% of people below the poverty line and the many middle-income Americans who lack meaningful access to effective civil legal services.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association encourages U.S. jurisdictions to consider regulatory innovations that have the potential to improve the accessibility, affordability, and quality of civil legal services, while also ensuring necessary and appropriate protections that best serve clients and the public, including the provision of legal counsel as a matter of right and at government expense for children facing essential civil legal matters and for low-income individuals in adversarial proceedings where basic human needs or a loss of physical liberty are at stake.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association encourages U.S. jurisdictions to collect and assess data regarding regulatory innovations both before and after their adoption to ensure that changes are effective in increasing access to legal services and are in the interest of clients and the public.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That nothing in this Resolution should be construed as recommending any changes to any of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, including Rule 5.4, as they relate to nonlawyer ownership of law firms, the unauthorized practice of law, or any other subject.
To view a PDF of the resolution as adopted as well as a revised report, please click here. A video of the House of Delegates debate can be found here.
Media and Background Information
If you are covering the resolution and would like to speak to someone about it, please contact our Media Liasion Bill Choyke.
Background Information
- ABA Center for Innovation - Legal Innovation Regulatory Survey
- Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System - Unlocking Legal Regulation
- Arizona Task Force on the Delivery of Legal Services - Report and Recommendations
- Legal Market Landscape Report (Commissioned by State Bar of California and Prepared by Prof. William Henderson)
- Utah Work Group on Regulatory Reform - Narrowing the Access to Justice Gap by Reimagining Regulation