Resolution: In Support of Continuing Efforts to Meet Civil Legal Needs (CCJ/COSCA 2021)

In February of 2021, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators adopted Resolution 2 In Support of Continuing Efforts to Meet Civil Legal Needs. After extensive findings setting out the need, especially during the COVID pandemic, they resolved:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that despite the continuing economic pressures on the state courts during the COVID-19 pandemic and given the growing numbers of people with unmet civil legal needs especially in response to the pandemic, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators urge its members to develop, continue, expand self-help services and tap technology innovations to facilitate access to information and the courts so that all court users get the help they need and are treated with dignity; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators support and urge the adoption and expansion of court non-lawyer navigator programs and encourage, where appropriate, collaborations with state AmeriCorps commissions, and state administrators of other Federal pass-through funds (e.g., Violence Against Women Act STOP Formula Grant Program and Victims of Crime Act Victim Assistance Formula Grant Program), other state and private funders, and other civil justice system partners to support self-help services and court non-lawyer navigator programs.

The full Resolution is attached.