In the October issue of the ABA Journal, ABA President James R. Silkenat announced formation of an ABA Legal Access Task Force. The Task Force will be co-chaired by Chief Judge Eric Washington of the D.C. Court of Appeals, Dean Patricia White of the University of Miami School of Law, and Allan Tanenbaum, an Atlanta lawyer.
The Task Force is charged to review existing initiatives and propose workable solutions to the problem of excess need for legal services and many recent law graduates who have found it difficult to find employment and gain experience.
ABA President Silkenat states:
The American Bar Association is uniquely positioned to connect the unmet legal needs of our society and the unmet employment needs of our young lawyers. At my request, the ABA is convening a task force of experts in legal education, legal aid and legal service delivery to determine how we can help resolve both problems together.
He also points to examples such as South Dakota's pilot program to "give new lawyers an annual subsidy to live and work outside the state’s biggest cities, provided they make a five-year commitment to their rural practices," and to other incubator, fellowship, and public interest programs that are attempting to match recent graduates with populations of people who have unmet legal needs.
Silkenat concludes:
[W]ithout question is the ABA’s commitment to equal access to justice. The ABA has long been a national leader in its advocacy for legal aid funding, pro bono legal assistance and many other areas of support for those in need.
But we need to do more. The employment challenges of the new economy are now mixed in with the age-old challenge of providing access to justice for all. The responses by law schools, courts, bar associations and others create a laboratory setting that is worthy of our greatest attention.
The full text of ABA President Silkenat's message can be found here.