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Access to Justice Commission outlines grants, loan-repayment assistance and projects to expand legal help
Summary
The Access to Justice Commission described its history, statutory authorization, $5 million annual infrastructure grants, support for LRAP loan repayments, and projects to broaden access to legal help for moderate-income and rural Californians.
Vice Chair Gail Ruderman Feuer and Executive Director Jack London presented the Access to Justice Commission's work, including statutory recognition in 2023 and a range of projects aimed at expanding civil legal help. London traced the commission's origin to 1996 and described its transition from State Bar staffing to an independent public-benefit nonprofit. Feuer emphasized the commission's grantmaking and policy work, including a $5 million annual infrastructure and innovation grant program.
The presenters highlighted several programs: the equal access fund (described as having distributed more than $500,000,000 in general-fund money to legal organizations over 27 years), a loan-repayment assistance project that has reimbursed more than $750,000 in individual student-loan payments over roughly 2¼ years, and pilot projects such as 'Your Life, Your Plan' that use county law librarians and online lawyer review to help create basic estate and health-care documents. "We are now in our 5th year of selecting grantees and administering $5,000,000 a year allocated by the legislature," the presentation said.
