1. Mississippi Access to Justice Commission: Sharing Free Legal Resources with Mississippi Libraries
Mississippi Library Commission
August 17, 2017
Tiffany M. Graves
Mississippi Access to Justice Commission

2. Meet Steven

3. Mississippi Access to Justice Commission
31% percent of Mississippi children ages 0-18 live in poverty, compared with the national percentage of 22%. 
22% of Mississippians live in poverty. The national percentage is 15.4%. 
71% percent of Mississippi students are eligible for free/reduced price lunch.
26% of Mississippi women live in poverty.  The national rate is 15.4%. 
123,000 of Mississippi children live in extreme poverty. That is, they live in families with incomes less than 50% of the federal poverty level. In 2016, 50% of the poverty level for a family of 4 was an annual income of $12,150. 

4. Mississippi Access to Justice Commission
Who We Are
What We Do
How We Are Organized
What We Have Accomplished Since 2006

5. Mississippi Access to Justice Commission
Library Partnerships Public Awareness Workshops Lawyers in the Library Legal Advice Clinics Legal Clinics for Self-Represented Litigants

6. What is Civil Legal Aid?
Civil Legal Aid ensures fairness for all in the justice system, regardless of how much money you have. It provides access to legal help for people to protect their livelihoods, their health, and their families.
Civil Legal Aid makes it easier to access information—whether through easy-to-understand forms, including online forms, legal assistance or representation, and legal self-help centers—so people can know their rights.
Civil Legal Aid is a powerful tool. It helps people living in poverty build a foundation of stability so they can create a better future for themselves, their families and our communities.

7. Self-Represented Litigants
Mississippi Constitution, Art. 3, Section 25, “Access to courts”
Mississippi Code of Judicial Conduct, Cannon III, a 7: “A judge shall accord to every person who has a legal interest in a proceeding, or that person’s lawyer, full right to be heard according to the law.”
How many people are representing themselves?
Why are they doing it?
Expense of retaining attorneys
Presumed “simplicity” of the case
Limited capacity of legal services programs
“Do-It-Yourself” Social Movement
Rarely is it a “choice”

8. Self-Represented Litigants
Barriers for Self-Represented Litigants
Legal language
Complexity of the clerk’s office
Problems with service
Legal requirements that are not intuitive
Procedural rules that vary between types of cases

9. Legal Technology and Access to Justice
“Technology can and must play a vital role in transforming service delivery so that all poor people in the United States with an essential civil legal need obtain some form of effective assistance.”
Legal Services Corporation’s
“Report of The Summit on the Use of Technology to Expand Access to Justice”

10. Free Online Legal Forms

11. Free Online Legal Forms

12. Free Online Legal Forms

13. Mississippi Free Legal Answers

21. Expunge Mississippi

31. Pre-Screening Expungement Web App

36. Mobile App for Self-Represented Litigants

45. Legal Service Providers
Traditional Legal Aid Providers
Catholic Charities, Inc.
Choctaw Legal Defense
Mississippi Center for Legal Services
North Mississippi Rural Legal Services
Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project
Mission First Legal Aid Office
Gulf Coast Women’s Center for Nonviolence and Northcutt Legal Clinic

46. Legal Service Providers
Other Nonprofit Legal Organizations
American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi
Mississippi Center for Justice
Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance
Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights
Law School Clinic Programs
Mississippi College School of Law
University of Mississippi School of Law

47. Mississippi Access to Justice Commission
Website:
News & Events
List of Legal Services Providers
Phone:
Social Media Pages
Facebook: Mississippi Access to Justice Commission