会议小组重申需要优先考虑诉诸司法
2023年5月2日
D.C. 上诉法院首席法官安娜·布莱克本-瑞斯比(左一)在司法法庭上打开了司法小组 & 酒吧 Conference on April 28.
在对负担得起的法律服务的需求持续上升的关键时刻, 一个由哥伦比亚特区法律服务的顶级倡导者组成的小组开会讨论了这一重要性, 的挑战, and the future of access to justice in Washington, D.C.
Lack of access to legal services affects everyone, 但那些社会经济地位较低的人，往往很难在生命中最关键的时刻找到所需的资源, D表示.C. 上诉法院首席法官安娜·布莱克本·瑞斯比在司法法庭上介绍小组成员 & 酒吧 Conference on April 28.
A critical gap exists even in Washington, D.C., 当地法律界高度重视并强调公益工作的重要性, 首席法官说. “We see it on the Court of Appeals. 太频繁了, 人们正试图解决他们的民事案件，这对他们来说是改变生活的事情——孩子的监护权, possession of their homes, 债, 凡是你能想到的,她补充道。.
而且这个系统不是为外行人设计的. 詹姆斯睡魔, president emeritus of the Legal Services 公司, 那些没有受过法律培训的人在错综复杂的民事法庭系统中代表自己，面临着难以克服的挑战.
“It’s a system that was created by lawyers, 对于靠谱的滚球平台来说, on the assumption that everybody’s got a lawyer,睡魔说, who serves as vice chair of the D.C. Access to Justice Commission. “如果你没有靠谱的滚球平台，就会变得不透明、令人困惑、充满敌意——一点都不友好.”
他继续说，涉及的案件往往是事关重大的重要事项. “I’m not talking about traffic ticket cases. 我说的是涉及人类最基本需求的案件，”桑德曼说. “你头上的屋顶. Protection from wrongful evictions and foreclosures. The stability of families — child custody, 孩子的抚养费, 监护, 收养, 个人安全, protection orders against abusers, 经济生活. Those are the cases where so many people don’t have lawyers.”
Federal poverty guidelines compound the issue. 提供免费法律服务的项目通常以贫困线的125%至200%为上限, 在低收入和中等收入人群中留下了巨大的差距，他们没有资格获得援助, but still can’t afford to hire an attorney at typical rates.
This is further exacerbated by Washington, D.C.美国的生活成本很高, where even those living at 200, 300, 甚至400%的贫困人口仍在为满足家庭需求而挣扎. A single parent with one child making $39,对于一个两口之家来说，这可能是联邦贫困标准的200%, DC平价靠谱的滚球平台事务所执行董事加比·马尔尼克·马杰维斯基说. “但这甚至不足以满足他们最基本的需求，更不用说获得法律资源了.”
Citing MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, 马耶夫斯基说，在华盛顿特区，只有一个孩子的单亲父母必须挣42美元.61 per hour (or $88,629 a year) for a living wage. “That figure is substantially higher than the $39,000 baseline for 200 percent of the federal poverty level, and that’s considered modest income. 这些是通过华盛顿平价靠谱的滚球平台事务所寻求代理的客户,她补充道。.
Sandman believes this is a solvable problem. 长期解决方案, 睡魔说, should focus on four points: regulatory reform, which could potentially allow well-trained nonlawyer legal professionals to assist those in need; a simplified court system that addresses how the landscape has changed since the current system was created; democratization of legal processes through technological tools such as ChatGPT; and bringing new people with different perspectives to the table.
But in the meantime, more immediate challenges loom. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed 2024 D.C. 预算使免费和负担得起的法律援助的未来更加岌岌可危. Her proposals include nearly 60 percent in cuts — from $31.7 million to $13 million — to the D.C. Access to Justice Initiative, 为特区内的多个法律服务提供商和公益项目提供资金.
和D一起.C. 司法委员会领导了这项指控，法律服务团体正在敦促D.C. 将“诉诸司法倡议”的资金恢复到2023年的水平. Despite this precarious situation, the commission’s executive director, 南希Drane, remains optimistic about the future.
“我们有一个非常强大的法律服务提供商网络，”她说. “他们很熟练。, 他们很有动力, 我们很幸运能在特区拥有如此庞大的网络.”
D的Darryl Maxwell.C. 酒吧 公益性服务 Center agrees. 麦克斯韦尔说:“这个地区有70多万居民. “In this area, there are more than 80,000 lawyers. 所以，当你考虑这个问题时，我们的目标应该是激活所有这些细胞.”
