{"id":4551,"date":"2015-12-04T20:25:23","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T20:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=4551"},"modified":"2015-12-04T20:25:23","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T20:25:23","slug":"new-state-commission-seeks-justice-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=4551","title":{"rendered":"New State Commission Seeks Justice for All"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Eric Galatas<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas<\/strong> – Liberty and justice for all – that familiar ideal from the Pledge of Allegiance – isn\u2019t a reality for many Texans who have to face divorce, child custody, domestic violence and other legal challenges without an attorney.<\/p>\n

However, that could change if a new commission launched by the Texas Supreme Court finds a way to close what Chief Justice Nathan Hecht calls a justice gap.<\/p>\n

He says now more than ever, small businesses, veterans and average Texans need lawyers and lawyers need work, but high costs often stand in the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cA justice system that is only available for those who can afford it, is neither justice for all nor justice at all,\u201d says Hecht. \u201cThis is an effort to try to make basic civil legal services more affordable for people who need them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chief Justice says the commission will study what\u2019s working in other states and come up with a plan to broaden access to services for low and middle income Texans. The 18-member commission of judges, attorneys, law-school deans and professors will present its initial report to the state\u2019s high court by Nov. 1 of next year.<\/p>\n

\"The

The Texas Supreme Court building. The court has established a new commission to help more low-and-middle income Texans access civil legal services. Photo: WhisperToMe\/Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

Former Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson will lead the commission. He points to national surveys showing almost 80 percent of low- and moderate-income Americans can\u2019t afford an attorney. He adds lawyers who help nearly 100,000 of the state\u2019s poorest families free of charge each year are forced to deny services to some 75 percent of qualified applicants due to lack of resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that, for those who cannot meet the requirements for the free legal services, they\u2019re left in the dark,\u201d says Jefferson. \u201cThere\u2019s no way they can afford to hire a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jefferson notes one of the biggest challenges facing the commission is the six-figure debt carried by many attorneys after law school, which drives up their hourly rates. He adds the group will consider all options, including loan forgiveness programs, to close the \u201cjustice gap.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Eric Galatas AUSTIN, Texas – Liberty and justice for all – that familiar ideal from the Pledge of Allegiance – isn\u2019t a reality for many Texans who have to face divorce, child custody, domestic violence and other legal challenges without an attorney. However, that could change if a new commission launched by the Texas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4553,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4551\/revisions\/4553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}