Philadelphia Bar Association's Civil Gideon Corner

MISSION OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR ASSOCIATION’S CIVIL GIDEON TASK FORCE

In 2009, Chancellor Sayde Ladov formed the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Civil Gideon Task Force (“Task Force”). The mission of the Task Force is to investigate and consider all aspects of an effective system of civil Gideon in Philadelphia, including the development of concrete and practicable proposals to advance the implementation of a civil right to counsel in those areas of adversarial civil proceedings where basic human needs are at stake. In a Resolution adopted by the Board of Governors in April 2009, the Task Force was charged with examining civil Gideon efforts underway in other states, developing strategies for implementing civil Gideon in Philadelphia and making recommendations in two areas of basic need: cases involving the loss of shelter and child custody.

In November of 2009, the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Board of Governors adopted the Task Force’s Preliminary Report, Findings and Recommendations, which endorsed the development of pilot projects in eviction and mortgage foreclosure defense and custody cases as well as the development of an education and communications plan to inform the legal and public community about the critical need to expand the right to counsel for low-income people faced with the threatened loss of these basic needs. This web site was developed in 2010 to further the mission of the Task Force to educate the legal and public community about the need for civil Gideon in these critical matters. Click here to read more information about the Task Force’s activities in 2011.

WHAT DOES CIVIL GIDEON MEAN?

The legal community and public often ask, “What does ‘civil Gideon’ mean?” In the landmark United States Supreme Court case of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), the Supreme Court decided that indigent defendants have a constitutional right to be represented by an attorney, at no charge, in state criminal cases. The term “civil Gideon” refers to a growing national movement that has developed to explore strategies to provide legal counsel, as a matter of right and at public expense, to low-income persons in civil legal proceedings where basic human needs are at stake, such as those involving shelter and child custody.

The National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (NCCRC) maintains a web site that provides additional information about the civil Gideon movement as well as articles, resources and other information about current litigation, legislation and related efforts and strategies nationwide to expand the right to civil counsel. The NCCRC was formed in 2003 to facilitate collaboration among advocates nationwide and provide training, research and other support to legal services programs, bar associations, law schools, private law firms, and others in their local efforts to establish a civil right to counsel.

HOW CAN WE MAKE CIVIL GIDEON HAPPEN?

There are a number of insightful studies from across the nation that address the urgent need for legal representation for low-income individuals in cases where basic human needs are at stake and illustrate the economic and societal benefits and cost savings achieved by providing such legal services.

In addition to researching the specific need for civil Gideon in Philadelphia, conducting research and developing pilot projects to evaluate potential methods for providing legal representation in the housing and child custody areas, the Task Force will take these studies from across the nation into account in developing specific proposals for structuring and developing funding to implement civil Gideon.

Click here to read these studies.

LOCAL NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS

June, 2011, the Honorable Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York, was the featured keynote speaker at the June 27 Quarterly Meeting & Luncheon. Click here to see Judge Lippman meeting with members of the Civil Gideon Task Force. Click here to listen to a podcast of the program and here to read Chancellor Rudolph Garcia's column in the May 2011 edition of the Bar Reporter, entitled "Equal Justice for All is Goal with Bar’s Support of Civil Gideon." Click here to read an article about the program published by the Legal Intelligencer. Click here to read Chief Judge Lippman's remarks.

June, 2011, The Reinvestment Fund Releases Initial Report of Findings of a study of the Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program and Executive Summary. Click here to read the Inquirer Editorial, “Saving Homes,” published on June 22, 2011 and here for additional articles.

May, 2011, The Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee released a Performance Audit of Pennsylvania's Access to Justice Act. Click here for an executive summary of the Performance Audit and here for a copy of a press release from AOPC.

On July 7, 2010, a “standing room only” crowd gathered at the Philadelphia Bar Association headquarters to participate in a Chancellor’s Forum entitled, Civil Gideon: Establishing a Right to Counsel for Low Income Persons in Civil Cases Where Basic Human Needs are at Stake, which featuring a keynote presentation by Russell Engler, Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Programs at New England Law/Boston and national expert on civil Gideon. Professor Engler discussed strategies to expand the civil right to counsel and access to justice in a time of economic crisis. Pictured above are (front row from left) Professor Russell Engler, Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Programs at New England Law/Boston, Catherine C. Carr, co-chair of the Civil Gideon Task Force, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille; and (back row from left) Joseph A. Sullivan, co-chair of the Civil Gideon Task Force, Albert S. Dandridge, III, co-chair of the Civil Gideon Task Force Education and Communications Working Group, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe, Chancellor Scott F. Cooper, and Louis Rulli, co-chair of the Civil Gideon Task Force Education and Communications Working Group. Click here for photo gallery.

An article entitled, “Filling Gideon’s Empty Chair,” written by Michael J. Carroll and Louis S. Rulli, published in The Philadelphia Lawyer, Winter 2011 edition, is available here.

On November 19, 2010, the Philadelphia Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program Highlighted at White House Event. Click here for more information.

To listen to a podcast of the July 7, 2010, Philadelphia Bar Association Civil Gideon Chancellor’s Forum, click here. An article entitled, “Chancellor’s Forum on Civil Gideon,” written by Albert S. Dandridge, III, co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Civil Gideon Education and Communications Working Group, published in the August 2010 edition of the Philadelphia Bar Reporter, is available here. Several other articles about the program are available here and a selected bibliography prepared by Professor Engler for this program is available here.

The 2010 Goals of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Task Force are set forth in a recent article entitled, “Task Force Looks at Benefits of Civil Gideon,” published in the March 2010 edition of the Bar Reporter, which is available here.