Access to Justice Resolution

RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

HAWAII STATE BAR ASSOCIATION

Re: Adoption of Community Wide Action Plan

Adopted: December 20, 2007

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui carried out a statewide assessment of the civil legal needs of low and moderate-income residents of Hawai‘i and on November 7, 2007 released a report entitled Achieving Access to Justice for Hawai’i’s People; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii State Bar Association (HSBA) supported the work of the Access to Justice Hui by providing $15,000.00 in funding for the assessment and through the active participation on HSBA staff and members of the Delivery of Legal Services Committee as members of the Access to Justice Hui; and

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui found that since 1989 the number of people living below 125% of the federal poverty guideline in Hawai‘i has grown 28% to 156,321 and the population living between 125% and 200% of the federal poverty guideline has grown 19% to 143,877; and

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui found that one quarter of Hawai‘i’s residents live below 200% of the federal poverty guideline; and

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui found that families living at 200% of the federal poverty guideline in Hawai’i are not able to cover their basic living expenses, much less to pay for legal assistance when it is needed; and

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui found that only one in five low and moderate-income Hawai‘i residents have their legal needs met; and

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui found that nonprofit legal service providers are able to help only one in three of those who contact them for assistance; and

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui found that in Hawai’i there is one legal service attorney for every 2,291 persons living below 125% of the federal poverty guideline and one legal service attorney for every 4,402 persons living below 200% of the federal poverty guideline as compared to one private attorney for every 361 persons in the general population; and

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui found that significant barriers to obtaining legal assistance in addition to inability to afford an attorney include language and cultural barriers, lack of knowledge of one’s legal rights, lack of knowledge of available legal services, and difficulty in accessing legal services programs; and

WHEREAS, the Access to Justice Hui released on November 7, 2007 an action plan to increase equal access to justice in Hawai‘i, entitled The Community Wide Action Plan: Ten Action Steps to Increase Access to Justice in Hawai’i By 2010; and

WHEREAS, the Ten Action Steps include creation by the Hawai‘i Supreme Court of an Access to Justice Commission to oversee and coordinate statewide efforts to expand access to justice for low-income people, increasing and stabilizing public and private funding for legal service providers, increasing pro bono contributions by attorneys (including by having legal service providers expand programs that encourage pro bono service), increasing the collaboration among legal services providers and the efficient use of their collective resources, developing ways to remove impediments to access to justice and increasing outreach and public awareness;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE HAWAII STATE BAR ASSOCIATION THAT:

1. The Community Wide Action Plan: Ten Action Steps to Increase Access to Justice in Hawai’i By 2010, as released in November 2007 by the Access to Justice Hui (the “Plan”), is hereby adopted and approved in its entirety.

2. The creation of a Hawai’i Access to Justice Commission or similar entity is hereby determined to be essential to improving access to justice in the short and long term, and achievement of this action step shall be supported by the HSBA as a matter of high priority because the prompt formation of a Commission will expedite and increase the likelihood of successful implementation of the other nine action steps of the Plan.

3. Obtaining additional and reliable public and private funding to support the delivery of civil legal services to low-income people in Hawai’i is of fundamental importance and shall also be supported as a matter of high priority of the HSBA, including without limitation supporting the adoption by the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii of a “comparability” requirement to increase the interest rates paid on IOLTA funds.

4. The Executive Director, officers and the Delivery of Legal Service to the Public Committee of the HSBA are hereby directed to review the Report and the Plan in detail, identify each respect in which the HSBA might act to contribute to the achievement of the steps set forth in the Plan and then present to the Board of Directors, as promptly as possible, the specific actions proposed that the HSBA undertake, as well as a timetable for such actions, to contribute to the achievement of the action steps called for by the Plan.

5. The Executive Director, the President and other representatives designated by the President or Executive Director of the HSBA are hereby authorized to participate actively in or otherwise support the ongoing work of the Access to Justice Hui and/or the Access to Justice Commission (or similar entity) and to report regularly to the Board on the activities of the Hui and the implementation of the Plan and of the strategic steps taken by the HSBA to support achievement of the action steps called for by the Plan.

ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTIONS OF THE HAWAII STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ON DECEMBER 20, 2007