The California Access to Justice Commission engaged in a Strategic Planning process that has generated its Strategic Plan for 2023 – 2025.  

Equal access to justice can be denied because barriers exist – economic, language, geographic, and immigration status barriers, among others. Resources to provide legal help to Californians without the means to pay are insufficient – the “Service Gap.” Also insufficient is the public’s understanding that many problems and opportunities require or benefit from legal help – the “Knowledge Gap.”  “[T]he California Justice Gap is widespread, pervasive, and multifaceted.”[1] And so is the Access Commission’s work.

The Plan identifies four subject matter areas in which we will work, and priorities within those areas:  

• Access to Courts:

  • Access to the Record in Court: The record of court proceedings must be made available to all

• E-Justice: Leveraging technology in ways that enhance access and avoid creating new barriers

• Support for Court Self-Help Centers

  1. Support implementation of the Language Access Plan

• Access to Lawyers:

  • Continue the Innovation and Infrastructure Grants Program

  • Support and expand Loan Repayment Assistance Programs for legal aid lawyers.

  • Support adequate funding for California legal aid organizations

  • Support a California Legal Aid Roundtable (LAIR)

• Access to Other Forms of Help

  • Expand the capacity of County Law Libraries to help unrepresented people, including support for adequate funding

• Narrowing the Knowledge Gap.

  • Complete and evaluate a social media messaging project for people who do not know their legal rights to healthcare access.  

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[1] The State Bar of California, California Justice Gap Study, Executive Report (2019), available here.