SPAN is a joint project of NLADA and the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (SCLAID) of the American Bar Association. It provides support and coordination for state-level partnerships dedicated to improving civil legal assistance and expanding access to justice for low-income people.

In states around the country, bar officials and leaders, judges and court administrators, and legal services executives, board members, staff, and clients have joined together with others committed to the goal of equal justice including law schools, social services and community organizations, low-income community leaders, religious groups, and business and labor leaders in a collaborative effort to build a civil legal assistance system capable of responding to the needs of low-income people in the state.

These partnerships take different forms in different states: Access to Justice Commissions, State Bar Association Access to Justice Committees, Planning Councils, and others. Among the initiatives they have undertaken are obtaining or increasing state funding for civil legal assistance, expanding pro bono efforts by volunteer private attorneys, making the courts more user-friendly and responsive to self-represented litigants, and increasing coordination among providers to ensure that the full range of legal needs of low-income people in the state is addressed.

SPAN collects and maintains information and documents to support these partnerships in its Access to Justice Document Library (click on the link above). The SPAN Access to Justice Update, published quarterly, reports the latest information about Access to Justice initiatives around the country, as well as upcoming events, descriptions of new documents in the Document Library, and other useful information (click on the link above). In addition, SPAN convenes regular forums to bring together state and national Access to Justice leaders to share their strategies and insights.

For more information, contact span@nlada.org.