“If you have no access to the courts in some of your most needy circumstances, it is understandable why people in the court systems do not have much trust,” said Georgia's Supreme Court, Michael Boggs, who commissioned the members of the committee until June.
In criminal matters, the accused have the right to a lawyer. However, this does not apply to civil suits such as eviction cases or cases of debt collection in small debt collections. A study by Legal Services Corp. showed that low -income Americans have received no or sufficient legal aid for 92% of their legal problems.
Although poverty is not exclusively from rural areas, the problem is usually more pronounced. Georgians with low incomes in urban communities have more access to legal assistance organizations that provide free information, advice and representation in civil matters.
Atlanta Legal AID has 150 employees, including about 90 lawyers who operate the counties Fulton, Dekalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton. Every year, around 700 volunteers help with more than 20,000 cases.
ExploreIn the 100th year of the Atlanta group Legal AID, mothers.
Income with low income in the rest of the state can qualify for the help of the Georgia Legal Services program, which has around 200 employees in regional offices, about half of the lawyers. In 2023, they worked around 15,000 cases.
“Much of it depends only on our bandwidth,” said Susan Coppedge, Executive Executive Director of GLSP, which is located in the committee of the state's Supreme Court, which deals with the civil justice gap. “We can't all represent.”
Divorce and taxes collide in rural Georgia
In Warrenton, about 40 miles west of Augusta, a simple divorce is too expensive for many residents, the medium -sized household income of which is around 34,000 US dollars.
“I always laugh and always say that we have a divorce season that is mid -February to April,” said Warrenton lawyer Glee Smith, the only active lawyer in Warren County. “And you can find out. Then you will receive your tax reimbursements.”
Like many rural lawyers, Smith decided where, despite the ability to earn much more in a big city, they grew up. She said she offers reduced prices and payment plans to meet the local customers and to supplement her income with rental objects.
Jesse Bowles III said that the provision of work for little or no at all comes with the area of the lawyer in rural communities, who estimates that about 20% of his practice is per bono. Bowles in Cuthbert, about 45 miles northwest of Albany, has been a handful of active lawyers in Randolph County for 50 years.
Greater access to free legal information and advice would be of great importance for the 2,000 inhabitants of Colquitt in the southwest of Georgia, said Malia Phillips-Lee, one of three lawyers in the community, about 40 miles from the State Florida. She said something like a monthly clinic in which residents could talk to visiting lawyers about how they can best represent themselves in civilian cases.
“There are many people in need who need access to legal representation, but they simply cannot afford it,” she said.
ExploreGeorgia's judicial gap has simple solutions to keep the Georgians more productive
In North Georgia, the state -funded Appalachian Family Law Information Center offers residents with family law who cannot afford a lawyer, free legal information. A study by the University of Georgia showed that the project led to a faster solution of civil cases, which was otherwise extended by small technical errors such as incomplete paperwork.
The researchers found that the lack of legal assistance in cases of family law contributes to delayed awards for the support of children and greater demands on government resources such as nursing prize. Every year, more than 30,000 Georgians represent themselves in domestic civil cases that were submitted to overriding courts.
Uniform court forms, remote conference technology part of the solution
Part of what makes self -expression in civil cases so difficult is the lack of standardized court forms that are accepted by all judicial circles in Georgia, said Coppedge. She said she would like to see more uniform documents to which legal assistance organizations can refer to everyone, regardless of where the state they live.
Courts could also make a big difference by using the remote conference technology that was widespread during the Coronavirus pandemic, said Coppedge. She said that lawyers and legal disputes in rural parts of the state often had to drive hours for a trial that could take 15 minutes.
ExploreThe judiciary of the state had the lead into the reaction to pandemic
According to Boggs, the committee could also consider how not -lawyers can be justified to help civilian legal disputes that have no lawyer and to protect these legal disputes. Other states, including Arizona, Utah and Texas, did not help the licensed -Lawyers help prepare for legal documents.
“Perhaps access to the judiciary does not always have to mean access to lawyers,” said Boggs. “(Artificial Intelligence) of course promised here. In the past decade, we have seen online platforms to help people try.”
According to BogGS, the National Center for State Courts helps to identify best practices by questioning legal innovations and associated questions in other countries.
Part of the solution includes more resources such as the right -wing library in Albany and the adjacent southwest of Georgia Legal Self Help Center, which began in 2018 as a pilot project and served more than 24,000 customers. According to Boggs, the legal schools in Georgia also play a role in strengthening access to legal help in rural areas.
In September, the UGA Jura announced a new program to further meet the legal needs for rural Georgians. It includes financial support for students and graduates who work in the public prosecutor and in public defenders in rural Georgia.
Peter “Bo” Rutledge, the Dean of the UGA law from 2015 to 2024, said that the program is building on the school's existing recruitment efforts, financial incentives and support to create a pipeline for lawyers in rural Georgia. He said that the school's rights clinics and external hips also have a more and more legally under -sector communities, partly due to a partnership with the Callaway Foundation in Lagrange.
About 70 UGA Juraststudents recently performed legal services in more than 30 rural or legally under -provisioned counties in Georgia.
