California

California Report Identifies Large ‘Justice Gap’

A State Bar task force is trying to address the longstanding problem.

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A State Bar of California task force has been examining ways to provide consumers greater access to justice, and a new report sheds light on the scope of the problem the panel is trying to address.

Roughly 4,000 Californians were surveyed this year as part of a “Justice Gap Study” the State Bar is conducting.

While low-income Californians reported having an average of four civil legal issues in their households in the past year, 70 percent of them did not seek or receive legal help for those problems.

Uncertainty about whether they were encountering a legal issue (24 percent) and concerns about cost (21 percent) were among the top reasons cited by low-income California residents for not seeking legal assistance.

Californians making more than 125 percent of the federal poverty level reported experiencing an average of two civil legal problems in the past year.

Preliminary findings indicated that health, financial, and employment problems were the most common ones reported by all of those surveyed.

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“The findings presented in this report demonstrate that civil legal problems are more prevalent among low-income Californians, but a significant justice gap exists across the income spectrum in California, as many California residents do not receive the civil legal help they need,” the bar study said.

“Our newest research indicates that over 20 million Californians — at all income levels — lack access to legal services,” said Alan Steinbrecher, chair of the California bar’s Board of Trustees. “It’s important that we are proactive and ensure that we are working to meet the enormous need.”

The California survey was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

That group also worked on the national “2017 Justice Gap Report” released by the Legal Services Corporation that surveyed 2,000 adults.

The study found that 86 percent of the civil legal problems reported by low-income Americans in the preceding year received inadequate or no legal help.

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In addition, 71 percent of low-income Americans reported experiencing at least one civil legal issue in the prior year. This compares to 60 percent of low-income Californians reporting one civil legal problem, according to the State Bar’s more recent study.

California’s Justice Gap Study will also include information from a survey of law students exploring the impact of student loan debt on their employment choices. The study should be finalized by the end of the year, and California bar staff plan to present the agency’s board with possible action steps in response to the final report.

Meanwhile, the bar’s Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services is also expected to finalize its recommendations for improving access to justice in the coming months.

In the interim, the California bar recently announced it will be distributing more than $78 million in legal services funding next year, a record amount.

Lyle Moran is a freelance writer in San Diego who handles both journalism and content writing projects. He previously reported for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Diego Daily Transcript, Associated Press, and Lowell Sun. He can be reached at lmoransun@gmail.com and found on Twitter @lylemoran.

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