January 6, 2006

Dear Colleague:

I write to you in my capacity as Chair of the Justice Action Group, a collaborative partnership of the courts, the Maine State Bar Association, the Maine Bar Foundation, the legal aid providers and other members of Maine’s legal community. The Justice Action Group provides leadership and coordination for the planning and delivery of civil legal services in Maine.

I am requesting your assistance in addressing a vitally important issue – access to justice for all Mainers. In 1990 the Maine Commission on Legal Needs found that Maine’s legal service providers and pro bono attorneys were able to serve only one in four of the low income people in the state who needed a lawyer. Unfortunately, during the last 15 years, Maine has not been able to close this gap and a significant number of Maine people are still denied the services of a lawyer as they seek justice.

To respond to this continuing challenge, the Justice Action Group has begun a statewide planning project that will focus on the initiatives needed to enhance access to legal services for those now denied them because of low income or other disadvantage or vulnerability. We are now at the beginning stages of the planning process and need your help in identifying current barriers to access to justice. Therefore, please provide us with information about the problems you have encountered or observed with access to or the delivery of justice. We also welcome your ideas for solving those problems.

Accompanying this letter is a brief survey. We request that you take a few moments to complete it. You may also share it with others who might be interested in responding. Also, please indicate on the survey if you would like to be kept informed about the planning process. At later stages in the process we may come back to you for more information or to request your involvement in work groups that might be established as part of the planning process.

Thank you for your assistance. It will be very valuable to us. Please do not hesitate to contact me or the Justice Action Group's Executive Coordinator, Sally Sutton, if you have any questions about the survey or the planning process.

Sincerely,

Kermit V. Lipez

Chair, Justice Action Group