Access to Justice

Effective July 1, 2016, the Massachusetts bar exam will include essay questions related to access to justice issues. The questions will cover practice areas typically handled by legal aid services, self help services and pro se parties, such as Landlord-Tenant, child support, custody and divorce, as...
May 6, 2014

Reforming the Cook County Parentage Court

Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice had the privilege of providing research and analysis to a task force examining conditions for litigants and attorneys in the Parentage section of Domestic Relations Division of the Cook County Circuit Court. Our full report is now available. Cook County takes an u...
January 20, 2014

The Illinois Access to Justice Act

Governor Quinn signed the Access to Justice Act, HB3111, on Thursday, August 15, 2013. Although the bill is aimed primarily at helping veterans and active duty servicemembers who are facing civil lawsuits, the law also provides funding for legal self-help centers in law libraries, creates a task f...
August 21, 2013

Limited Scope Representation and Access to Justice

Last Friday, the Law Bulletin reported that the Illinois Supreme Court has adopted rule changes to clarify and expand limited scope representation. The Illinois State Bar Association also reported on the change. Limited scope representation happens when a person hires an attorney to handle only pa...
July 1, 2013

Appleseed Position Statement on S.744

Appleseed Position Statement on S.744: Improving the Accuracy, Legitimacy and Efficiency of the United States Immigration Court System   Appleseed applauds the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent significant consensus on S.744 and enthusiastically supports several aspects of the proposed legis...
June 3, 2013