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Amy Dunn Johnson on How Pro Bono Work Helps More Than Just Arkansas’ Poor

3 min read

Amy Dunn Johnson and Vince Morris, director of the Arkansas Legal Services Partnerships and the Arkansas Pro Bono Partnership, in October received the 2015 Marie Award recognizing outstanding Arkansans who have advanced the public interest by word, action and example through interfaith engagement and civic service.

Before assuming her current role in October 2009, Johnson was the deputy reporter of decisions for the Arkansas Supreme Court and the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Prior to that, she was an associate at law firms Kutak Rock in Little Rock and Mitchell Williams Selig Gates & Woodyard.

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hendrix College in 1996 and her law degree from the UALR Bowen School of Law in 2002, graduating with highest honors.

Please explain in lay terms what it is the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission and the corresponding foundation do.

“Justice for all” is a core American value. It is in the preamble to our Constitution and in our Pledge of Allegiance. Individuals who are charged with crimes have the right to an attorney. This is not true for people who face life-altering civil legal problems: a victim of domestic violence, a child in need of special education or a veteran who is denied military benefits. We estimate that fewer than 20 percent of Arkansans of low to modest means go to attorneys for help. The result is that they represent themselves in court and, more often than not, they lose.

The Arkansas Access to Justice Commission works to ensure that all Arkansans have access to civil justice. We do this by researching the unmet civil legal needs of Arkansans and making recommendations to policymakers for evidence-based solutions. We also encourage attorneys to do pro bono work for families who cannot afford to pay. The commission does not provide direct legal representation, but our sister foundation makes grants to organizations that do. The Center for Arkansas Legal Services and Legal Aid of Arkansas are the two programs we fund, and together, they represent more than 13,000 clients each year across the state.

Is it possible to make the case that giving poor people access to legal resources benefits a market economy?

Absolutely. Legal interventions keep families in their homes, allow domestic violence victims to escape their abusers and provide stable living environments for children. This means fewer missed days of work or school, higher property values and fewer people living in poverty.

Last year, we partnered with the Clinton School of Public Service on a study that showed that civil legal aid generated $32 million in economic activity in the state in 2013. This included cost savings to the government and individual families, property values preserved and financial recoveries.

You and Vince Morris recently received the Marie Award for innovations in legal aid for rural Arkansas. What were those innovations?

Rural Arkansas is facing a crisis when it comes to access to lawyers. A majority of the state’s nearly 3,000 private-practice attorneys are concentrated in northwest and central Arkansas.

At the same time, technology has changed the way that people solve their legal problems. Nonlawyer companies like LegalZoom are dominating the market for low-cost legal resources, and our state’s legal market has not yet adapted.

Vince Morris and I are working on an initiative that will use technology to direct Arkansans with civil legal issues to Arkansas-specific legal resources and connect them with attorneys whom they can hire to provide services on an “unbundled” or “a la carte” basis. I have drafted proposed rule changes necessary to implement the initiative, and Vince has developed the informational resources and the technology.

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