This article was originally published in the Sep/Oct 2021 issue of San Diego Lawyer Magazine.
By Kevin Green
Because most Californians cannot afford an attorney at any price in a civil case, pro bono representation has become vital to closing the justice gap. For lawyers able to donate their time, there are new opportunities in San Diego to assist the court and gain valuable experience representing clients pro bono before the Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division One.
In 2014, local attorneys active in SDCBA collaborated to launch the first local assistance program focusing on appeals. The Civil Appellate Self-Help Workshop (CASHW) meets monthly to present an overview of the appellate process to state court litigants.
CASHW has made great strides, but the program, originally in person and now conducted successfully on Zoom, is solely educational. CASHW volunteer attorneys do not give legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is created. As a result, self-represented parties are better informed, but many still need counsel to present their arguments effectively to the Court of Appeal.
To help close this gap, local lawyers collaborated again to launch another program taking appellate access to the next level. The Access to Appellate Justice Program (ATAJ), also affiliated with the SDCBA, provides a clearinghouse to help low-income, self-represented parties find attorneys willing to handle their appeal pro bono. ATAJ was inspired by the Ninth Circuit’s popular pro bono program and by thriving appellate pro bono programs in many other states.
When the pandemic hit last year, ATAJ was just getting underway. The program was paused but is now reopening its roster of volunteer attorneys. ATAJ accepts applications for pro bono appellate assistance from low-income litigants, and places the qualified cases on a listserv. Counsel then decide for themselves whether to pursue possible representation pro bono. There is no obligation to take any particular case.
The Court of Appeal recognizes the value of ATAJ and CASHW. In the words of Presiding Justice Judith McConnell: “The San Diego County Bar Association and its appellate practitioners have developed programs to assist self-represented litigants to access justice in the Court of Appeal. The programs are an asset not only to litigants, but also to the court.” She added, “We owe the appellate bar our deep appreciation for their efforts to support and improve our justice system.”
Information about ATAJ and CASHW is available at www.appealhelp.org. Please consider joining the ATAJ roster of volunteer attorneys, and/or participating as a monthly volunteer at CASHW.
Kevin K. Green is a certified appellate specialist (State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization) with the San Diego office of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP (www.hbsslaw.com).