The Access to Justice Gap Affects Everyone Continued from page 25
on what is considered “moderate” income. “Moderate” yearly income at Level 2 can range from $20,544 for a one-person household up to $60,000 for a five-person household. A family of four would not qualify for the program if their gross yearly income exceeded $52,500 (just over $25/hour). Using the average attorney hourly rate of $323, it would take someone making “too much” to qualify for the Moderate Means program almost 13 hours to earn enough (pre-tax) to pay for one hour of attorney fees. Finding enough attorneys willing to take on moderate means cases has
been an increasingly difficult challenge exacerbated by the effects of Covid. The need is great, and the supply is few so even the applicants that qualify for the Moderate Means program are not able to be helped. In fact, recently we had to put a hold on the Moderate Means program because of a lack of available attorneys to take cases.
1. http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Access-to-Justice/ Initiatives/California-Justice-Gap-Study 2. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ contracostacountycalifornia 3. https://www.clio.com/resources/legaltrends/2019-report/read-online/” https://www. clio.com/resources/legal-trends/2019-report/ read-online/ 4. http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Access-to-Justice/ Initiatives/California-Justice-Gap-Study
The LRIS committee is in the process of revising the Moderate Means program to make it easier to administer, and we hope, more beneficial to attorneys who agree to take on Moderate Means cases.
Theresa Hurley, CAE is Executive Director of the CCCBA.
Access to justice isn’t an issue that affects the poor, it affects all of us.
The Justice James J. Marchiano DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD Nominations are open through July 19 for the inaugural Justice James J. Marchiano Distinguished Service Award. This award will go to a CCCBA member who volunteers his or her time, either in a legal or nonlegal capacity, to improve the circumstances of others and changes lives for the better in our community. To be considered for the award, a member can selfnominate or be nominated by someone else. Applications for the award are available at www.cccba.org/ give-back/pro-bono-recognition Deadline: Please send the completed award application to Anne K. Wolf at awolf@cccba.org no later than July 19, 2021 at 5:00 pm.
PRO BONO HONOR ROLL
If you are one of the many CCCBA members who help out in their communities in a legal or nonlegal capacity, we hope you will enter the CCCBA Pro Bono Honor Roll. Any CCCBA member who has volunteered 50 or more hours over the period September 1, 2020 – August 31, 2021 is eligible for the Pro Bono Honor Roll. Download our Excel form to track your hours and send to Jennifer Comages at jcomages@cccba.org by August 15, 2021. For further details visit www.cccba.org/give-back/pro-bono-recognition/
Recipients of the inaugural Justice James J. Marchiano Distinguished Service Award and the 2021 Pro Bono Honor Roll will be honored at the Bar Fund Benefit on September 2, 2021. 26
JULY 2021
