Calif. Looking to Tech to Increase Access to Justice

"How technology can increase access to justice while protecting the public is the focus of a newly appointed California Bar task force.

The question is how the legal services industry can integrate new tech to become more efficient and responsive while avoiding ethical roadblocks against fee-sharing with non-lawyers and other arrangements.

Advertising, artificial intelligence, and alternative business models will be studied with a report due by next December on whether any regulatory changes are needed.

The 23-member Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services will begin meeting later this fall. Bar trustees Oct. 19 expanded the recommended task force size by four individuals so there was a clear non-attorney majority.

Justice Lee Edmon, California Court of Appeal Second Appellate District, Division 3, presiding justice was appointed chairman. Edmon was the Bar’s Rules Revision Commission chairman.

Joyce Raby, executive director of the Florida Justice Technology Center dedicated to increasing access to justice through technology, and Toby Rothschild, volunteer of counsel at OneJustice in San Francisco and Los Angeles who worked on the rules revision, are vice chairs.

“Too many Californians needing legal services cannot afford an attorney or don’t have access for a number of other reasons,” bar Executive Director Leah Wilson said in a statement. “By harnessing innovative approaches from the tech sector while maintaining our paramount commitment to protect the public, we hope to help bridge the gap. This is an exciting step for the State Bar.”..."

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