Work Group 6 - Sustaining and Promoting Leadership – Final Report

Work Group Charge - Effective leadership has been essential in Maine’s nationally recognized access to justice work.  How can Maine ensure that new generations, both in and out of the legal community, will share a commitment to justice comparable to past champions like Senator Muskie?  How can we promote greater community awareness of the legal needs of its citizens and broaden public understanding of the importance of equal justice for all?

Work Group Participants Include:
Gilda Nardone, Chair; Dana Prescott, Vice Chair; Deirdre Smith, Staff

Members – Shenna Bellows, Pamela Bovin, Kevin Cuddy, Deb Curtis, Leo Delicata, Judson Esty Kendall, Peter Felmly, Sara Gagne-Holmes, Cliff Ginn, Thomas Harnett, Bill Harwood, Janet Milley, Marc Mutty, Peter Pitegoff, Mary Schendel, Sally Sutton, Rachel Talbot Ross, Anne Underwood

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Sustaining and Promoting Leadership for Justice Work Group adopted the following leadership for justice vision:

A diverse, influential, and continuously renewing group of stakeholders with the passion, awareness, and tools to serve as advocates for justice will promote and provide leadership for Maine’s legal service programs; give of their own resources and solicit public and private funds in support of legal services; fight for legislative and administrative changes to improve access to justice; and collaborate with social service and other supporting agencies, the business community, faith-based organizations and other community groups to address social, medical, and economic justice issues.

The Work Group identified key stakeholder groups and the following primary strategies to achieve this vision:

·        Create a level of distinction and prestige around attorneys committed to access to justice

·        Develop and implement a cohesive access to justice communication and education strategy

·        Build strategic partnerships with businesses, social service organizations, the

faith community, and new Mainers on justice issues

·        Recruit participation in access to justice programs from a diverse audience

The following five areas were identified as priority recommendations because they are broad in scope and address the fundamental changes needed to ensure that the recommendations from all of the Work Groups are implemented and effective.

Policy and Advocacy Alliances
Justice Action Group (JAG), with the Chief Justice, should build alliances with administrators, policy makers, and advocates to advocate for resources for the judicial system, legal services, and JAG initiatives and sponsor legislative reform efforts.

Rationale:  An expansion and diversification of the coalition that that supports access to justice initiatives, legislative or rule making, is crucial.  Setting the ground work with appointed officials who represent all three branches of government is a way to move new legislation and focus attention on access to justice issues.

Instilling Passion and Call to Action Public Education Campaign
All key stakeholders (JAG, Judiciary, Bar Associations, Law Firms, Providers, Law School, etc.) should deliver a call to action and promote compelling messages about access to justice which: create awareness of needs, remind attorneys of their oaths to support justice for all, and provide information about ways to get involved and make a difference. One activity could be an annual Access to Justice Symposium to build awareness and relationships. 

Rationale:  In order to make the need for legal services understandable to the public and to attract new leaders, we should create simple but compelling messages which have broad appeal and convey a sense of urgency.  A consistent message--from a broad cross section of the community and through the media—would create an environment to get and sustain people’s involvement. 

Legal Community Connections
Bar Associations (Maine State Bar Association, including Committees and Sections, Maine Bar Foundation, and County Bar Associations) should assume a visible leadership role in building alliances and educating the legal community and the public on justice issues, e.g., collaborate with legal service providers to create a “clearing house” for CLE and other training programs and resources on justice issues.

Rationale:  Bar organizations can play a critical role in ensuring that a broader segment of the bar participate in supporting access to justice initiatives at a community level, share information and build connections with legal service providers, provide pro bono representation, and serve on legal service and other non-profit boards.  The latter is an excellent way to introduce private attorneys to the important role that legal services providers play and build ownership and connection to the legal services world with the individual attorney and his/her firm. 

Support for Access to Justice Programs and Pro Bono Participation
Law firms should model a commitment to legal services by having senior attorneys actively engaged in access to justice programs and establishing a firm culture and certification program which recognizes and promotes pro bono contributions of attorneys. 

Rationale:  New attorneys need visible, active role models to help mold them into access to justice leaders.  Many attorneys (new and not-so-new) feel enormous pressure from within the firms to put pro bono activities at the bottom of the list of priorities since they are not seen as profitable.  Senior attorneys need to lead by example, and newer attorneys will be more apt to follow in their lead.  A certification program to recognize pro bono contributions could benefit both attorneys and law firms. 

Identifying and Recruiting New Leaders from Various Segments of the Community
New leaders from various segments of the community, including business leaders and other community groups, should be recruited to serve on legal services boards and committees and to become involved in other access to justice advocacy efforts. 

Rationale:  People outside of the legal professions need to understand the complexity of access to justice needs and what legal services organizations do to address the needs.

Access to justice initiatives will have a greater chance of success and a more far reaching impact if individuals and organizations from outside of the legal system support them and develop and contribute their leadership skills. 

Sustaining and Promoting Leadership – Final Report – Visions, Strategies and Action

INTRODUCTION AND UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES
Work Group 6 began its work by recognizing that the foundation of sustainable leadership is to cultivate a diverse and influential group of stakeholders who are passionate about access to justice.  Because that passion most genuinely comes from being fully engaged in legal services work, the Group initially saw leadership development as a logical extension of many of the types of initiatives which have been identified in this Report by other work groups.   For example, the Group’s initial vision of leadership included strategies for encouraging attorneys to participate in pro bono programs, work for legal service providers, and assist with courthouse portal programs, each of which is a recommendation of other Work Groups in this Report.   When the Group was asked to focus its recommendations for purposes of this Final Report, the Group decided to remove recommendations such as these, which it felt had been adequately addressed by other groups, and limit its recommendations to initiatives aimed more directly at identifying new and emerging leaders and providing them with the tools and incentives to be powerful advocates for justice. 

With this new focus in mind, Work Group 6 adopted the following leadership vision:

A diverse, influential and continuously renewing group of stakeholders with the passion, awareness and tools to serve as advocates for justice will promote and provide leadership for Maine’s legal service programs; give of their own resources and solicit public and private funds in support of legal services; fight for legislative and administrative changes to improve access to justice; and collaborate with social service and other supporting agencies, the business community, faith-based organizations and other community groups to address social, medical and economic justice issues.

Work Group 6 identified the following primary strategies to achieve this vision:

·         Create a level of distinction and prestige around attorneys committed to access to justice.

·         Develop and implement a cohesive access to justice communication and education strategy

·         Build strategic partnerships with businesses, social service organizations, the faith community and new Mainers on justice issues

·         Recruit participation in access to justice programs from a diverse audience.

Work Group 6 identified the following priority action steps, recognizing that, in some cases, the following recommendations will build upon successful efforts that are already underway but which could be augmented or expanded:

Action Steps:

JAG should

·         With the Chief Justice, build alliances with administrators, policy makers, and advocates (Executive Branch, Legislators, relevant Committees, and Congressional Representatives) to:

(1) advocate for resources for the court system, legal services, and JAG initiatives (both during campaigns and after election on a nonpartisan basis ) and (2) sponsor legislative reform efforts (i.e., Civil Gideon)

·         Reassess the role of JAG by identifying key stakeholders, engaging in conversations, reviewing models from other states (in process)

·         Clarify structure/groups to implement statewide planning priorities (such as an Access to Justice Advisory Group)

·         Identify and recruit new leaders from various segments of the community (including leaders of the business, faith-based, minority and immigrant communities); facilitate the development of skills-building initiatives for prospective leaders

·         Sponsor in collaboration with other stakeholders an annual Access to Justice Symposium/Forum (a prestige event) to focus on access to justice issues, assess and communicate statewide progress towards goals and priorities

·         Sponsor a cohesive initiative to partner with the media, public relations firms, communications staff, and other key stakeholders to create a coordinated public education and media campaign  and diverse strategies to: 

o        Educate about and build support for access to justice issues

o        Raise awareness of existing resources and plan priorities

o        Develop a broad-based message, making the connection between legal justice and social and economic justice at all income levels

o        Coordinate and provide training opportunities for stakeholders to speak and write effectively from their own experiences 

Judicial system should

·         Serve as role models by participating in access to justice initiatives

·         Support a certification program to recognize pro bono contributions of attorneys and law firms

·         Create opportunities for interaction between judges and new attorneys and senior attorneys to stress the importance of pro bono and public service work

·         Participate actively in campaigns to educate the public about legal service needs (e.g., through PSA’s and public speeches)

·         Advocate for public funds for legal services and support private fundraising efforts that seek to enhance access to justice to the extent permitted by the rules of judicial ethics   

Legal Service Providers should

·         Seek opportunities to collaborate with each other and with the Law School, legal community, and other state and community partners (i.e., PTLA’s Intake Conference)

·         Encourage legal services attorneys to connect with the broader legal community (e.g., through participation in Bar Association activities) and within their local communities to give face to their work and passion for justice

·         Develop CLE and other training programs to educate the legal community and the public on justice issues and needs

·         Share best practices with each other around recruiting and developing board and committee leadership (utilize resources such as The Board Network for this purpose).

Bar Organizations (MSBA, including Committees and Sections, MBF, and County Bar Associations) should

·         Assume a visible leadership role in advocating on justice issues

·         Assume a visible leadership role in educating the legal community and the public on justice issues, e.g., collaborate with the providers to create a “clearing house” for CLE and other training programs and resources on justice issues

·         Publicly recognize and celebrate legal service contributions by attorneys and judges

·         Create a certification program to recognize pro bono contributions of attorneys and law firms.  Tie loan forgiveness and other attorney recruitment tools to certification (like a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval)

·         Bundle access to justice issues as an important component of their educational, networking and social programs

·         Deliver a call to action from attorneys and judges, e.g.,  by including compelling access to justice stories in their regular programs and publications

·         Promote branding messages to enhance the distinction and prestige of public service and pro bono work  

Law Firms should

·         Model a commitment to legal services by having senior attorneys actively engaged in access to justice programs such as the VLP, Campaign for Justice and the Muskie Dinner at the highest levels and take an active role in the provision of pro bono legal services.

·         Include access to justice messages in their internal training and mentoring programs (e.g., regularly invite providers to speak to attorneys about legal service needs and opportunities)

·         Promote a firm culture which instills the expectation that each attorney will contribute a certain number of pro bono hours; oversee and coordinate pro bono efforts by attorneys within the firm

·         Recognize and celebrate legal service contributions by their attorneys

·         Encourage and support attorney participation on legal service and other non-profit Boards

The University of Maine School of Law should

• Seek opportunities to partner with social and economic justice advocacy organizations in its teaching and in its clinic experiences.
• Assume a visible leadership role in research, policy development and advocacy on justice issues
• Publicly recognize and celebrate the legal service contributions of faculty, staff, students and alumni/ae.
• Instill in its graduates a sense of commitment to give back to their communities and to work toward justice for all.

Members of the business community, social service organizations, faith communities, minority populations and new Mainers should

·         Be recruited to serve on legal service board and committees (utilize resources such as The Board Network and leadership programs for this purpose) and to become involved in other access to justice advocacy efforts

·         Be challenged to examine how access to justice impacts their bottom line, their activities, their faith and their opportunities for full participation in civic life. (e.g., demonstrate impact on employees involved in protracted family law proceedings (build on success in addressing domestic violence and the workplace) and benefits of more efficient courts in settling business disputes)

Be engaged in justice issues by contributing resources or donating services (e.g., the Muskie Dinner, marketing and advertising firms to provide pro bono services and provide technical assistance in development and implementation of communications plan/strategy, etc.)

Commentary

Given the timeframe for completing our work for the Final Report, we were not able to think through and agree on implementation strategies for our recommendations.  However, Work Group members are willing to be resources for our specific recommendations and to JAG for the leadership required to move the final integrated report forward.