November 26, 2024
By Bob Glaves | CBF Executive Director
I hit a personal milestone last month–25 years at the CBF–one of those “pause for reflection” occasions in life. And two things jumped out to me.
Now that I am getting up there in years, I am noticing that for the first time since the early days of my legal career I am getting a lot of unsolicited great advice on work and life from other “older” colleagues. Hands down the top one is to “never pass up a bathroom,” and I’ve gotten a lot of good counsel of late on the work side as well–please keep that good advice coming!
Being in this role for so long has also given me some healthy perspective on the trajectory of our cause of advancing access to justice. In this work, we tend to focus on the countless things that are wrong and remain to be done, or the many challenges that lurk around the corner, and I am as guilty of that as anyone. But taking a moment to look back over these past 25 years shows that as a community, we have made transformative improvements and steady progress in our common cause that should give us all hope and optimism as we tackle the many challenges ahead of us.
As proud as I am that the CBF has played a big role in those advances, in this post I want to focus on our larger community’s trajectory over these past 25 years as someone who has had a front row seat for both the progress and the challenges alike, in a Forrest Gump kind of way.
Back in 2016, when I hit my 25-year mark as a lawyer, I did a similar post about how much had changed for the better since my early days as a practicing lawyer. That progress is even more pronounced today, and below is a brief tour of just some of the highlights of that progress in a “then and now” format.
Note that I am looking at this from the lens of Chicago and Illinois, where we have been among the national leaders in improving access to justice over these past 25 years, but a similar story of real progress in this cause can be told throughout the country.
The Courts
1999:
- The Illinois Supreme Court was viewed as separate from organized efforts to improve access to justice.
- Few lawyers even knew who the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts was, and even fewer would have linked it to access to justice.
- While there were sporadic examples in the circuit courts of judges starting to play a more active role in pro bono and self-help programs for people without lawyers, this was still more the exception.
Today:
- The Illinois Judicial Branch now has a formal mission statement and Strategic Agenda that leads with equal access to justice as a core priority, and the Illinois Judicial Conference actively works to advance that overarching goal.
- The Illinois Supreme Court has institutionalized its commitment to this cause through its active and acclaimed Commission on Access to Justice and Access to Justice Division in the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, and the CBF/Circuit Court Pro Se Advisory Committee plays a complementary role in Cook County.
- Innovative court-sponsored programs to improve access to justice now include Illinois JusticeCorps, Illinois Court Help, Court Access Library Centers, Cook County Legal Aid for Housing and Debt, and the Resource Center for People Without Lawyers in the Circuit Court of Cook County, as well as other court-based legal help desks and self-help centers throughout the state.
Funding and Support for Legal Aid
1999:
- Funding for legal aid was under almost constant stress.
- Federal funding through the Legal Services Corporation was the primary funding source for legal aid throughout the country and was still recovering from major cuts and restrictions that recently had been put in place by Congress.
- Illinois had just committed the first dedicated state funding for legal aid–$500,000 at that time—after the passage of the groundbreaking Illinois Equal Justice Act.
- Giving to legal aid by lawyers and law firms was more limited, totaling about $3 million statewide then.
Today:
- Funding for legal aid and related access to justice programs in Illinois has grown by more than 50% in real dollars, to more than $100 million today, and comes from a more diverse mix of sources.
- There is broad bipartisan support for the Legal Services Corporation and for legal aid funding at all levels of government.
- State funding for the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation now totals more than $12 million each year, and the state is making other related investments as well.
- The legal community is now a major financial supporter for legal aid as well, through the annual Investing in Justice Campaign, through the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, and through direct contributions to legal aid organizations and related programs throughout the state.
The Legal Aid System
1999:
- The legal aid system in Illinois was evolving but limited in reach due to funding constraints, and several larger organizations were the primary sources of assistance.
- There were about 300 full-time equivalent legal aid lawyers to cover the entire state.
- Options for clients seeking legal aid were limited, with the traditional full representation model still the norm for most organizations.
Today:
- A larger and more varied group of legal aid organizations serve people in need throughout the state, in more coordinated fashion.
- A more diverse mix of more than 1,000 legal aid lawyers and other legal advocates provide services.
- A continuum of legal assistance has developed in legal aid, ranging from Illinois Legal Aid Online and other self-help options to CARPLS and other advice and brief service options to limited scope representation and full representation.
- Mediation and other alternative dispute resolution options are now more integrated into the legal aid system and the courts.
Pro Bono
1999:
- Pro bono was a growing but still more limited part of the larger legal aid system.
- Law firms and the organized bar were starting to more actively promote pro bono, but those efforts were still in the early stages.
- The courts played a limited role in promoting pro bono.
Today:
- The Illinois Supreme Court actively encourages pro bono through the Rules of Professional Conduct, highlighted by the pro bono reporting requirement that has been part of the annual registration for Illinois lawyers since 2006.
- Pro bono is now institutionalized among the largest firms and many small and mid-sized firms as well, evidenced by the formation of a thriving organization devoted to law firm pro bono, the Association of Pro Bono Counsel.
- The organized bar plays a much larger role in pro bono, with Pro Bono Week having started in Chicago in 2005 and now a national celebration each year.
Systemic Access to Justice Efforts
1999:
- The organized bar was starting to take a more active role in advocating for legal aid and access to justice, highlighted by the Illinois Equal Justice Project that issued its final report in 1998.
- Most efforts to advance pro bono, legal aid, and access to justice, however, were more ad hoc and not well coordinated statewide.
Today:
- The Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice and other court-sponsored efforts noted above now play an active and consistent role in advocating for improved access to the courts in all respects, including language and disability access.
- The CBF and the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois work with many other partners on advocacy to support pro bono and legal aid and to tackle systemic issues impacting access to justice.
- A growing number of legal aid and public interest law organizations and initiatives advocate for systemic improvements for particular areas of the legal system, including a new legal aid collaboration, the Illinois Racial Justice Alliance.
How We Got Here
The above “then and now” tour is just a snapshot of the tremendous advances our community has made in improving access to justice over the past 25 years. That progress did not just happen, it has been the product of the dedication and hard work of literally thousands of lawyers, advocates, and partners over that time period.
That progress has not been linear. In fact, the greatest advances have often been born of some of the greatest challenges over that time period, with the Great Recession and the pandemic just two of the most prominent examples.
Leadership matters, and we have had many exemplary leaders over that time in the courts, in legal aid, in the bar and the larger legal community, and among other key partners. Most of this progress, however, is the result of a much larger group of dedicated people throughout our profession and justice system who are working every day to make things better, almost always outside of the spotlight.
The Road Ahead
For all the progress we have made over these past 25 years, we still remain a long way from a justice system that is fair and accessible for everyone and should be clear-eyed about the challenges ahead.
That said, we all can be proud of how much progress we have made and use that as the wind in our sails as we move forward. If we stay focused and step up our efforts, the idea of a justice system that is fair and accessible for all is not a pipe dream.
On a personal note, as we approach Thanksgiving this week, I want to thank the many colleagues, partners, and supporters who have made it possible for me to be a part of all the amazing work our community continues to do to improve access to justice.