Contents

Papers From the National Conference on Unbundling

The Importance of Unbundling
Robert E. Hirshon

Unbundling: Current Developments and Future Trends
Forrest S. Mosten

Discrete Task Representation, Ethics, and the Big Picture: Toward a New Jurisprudence
Richard Zorza

This paper discusses the long term implication of the "unbundled legal services movement" with particular focus on overcoming perceived "ethical" barriers to unbundling and on the possibility of laying a foundation for the creation of a right to counsel in civil cases for those who cannot afford a lawyer.

The Changing Face of Legal Practice: Trends in Thinking About Unbundled Legal Services -
Twenty-Six Recommendations From the October 2000 Baltimore Conference

Articles

The Pro Se Litigant's Struggle for Access to Justice:
Meeting the Challenge of Bench and Bar Resistance
Jona Goldschmidt
Just as the growth of pro se litigation is a challenge for the courts, so, too, is the bench and bar's resistance to pro se assistance programs and policies a challenge to court reforms seeking to improve access to justice. Even where progressive courts have been able to implement court-annexed pro se assistance programs, judicial and bar resistance to pro se assistance in the courtroom remains. This paper explores the reasons for such resistance, and argues that pro se litigants have a right to receive - and judges have an obligation to provide - reasonable judicial assistance, particularly in cases involving a represented and unrepresented party. A set of recommendations is offered which will result in pro se litigants being given more basic legal information than previously provided, better preparation of pro se cases, and a more active judge to ensure that all parties have equal access to justice.

Legal Consumers as Coproducers:
The Changing Face of Legal Service Delivery in Australia
Michael Robertson and Jeff Giddings

Although the extent of unbundling among private legal practitioners in the changing Australian marketplace remains uncertain, there is a shift in thinking about the appropriate role of consumers in accessing everyday legal services. This is evident in the delivery of legal services other than those provided by private practitioners, where the consumer's role in legal service delivery arrangements is gradually being transformed. Among those institutions that are responding positively, if not inevitably, to the rising tide of legal self-helpers is the Family Court of Australia. The court's activities in attempting to meet the needs of its pro se consumers is simultaneously creating opportunities for unbundled legal services delivery, at least for those lawyers willing to seize these opportunities. It would appear that family law disputes, together with the large numbers of voluntary and involuntary legal self-helpers that these disputes generate, is fertile terrain for the development of alternative forms of legal service delivery.

Unbundling Legal Services in Mediation:
Reflections of a Family Lawyer
Franklin R. Garfield

The adversarial model for resolving family disputes is seriously flawed. The judicial system is inefficient and uneconomical. The vast majority of litigants cannot afford to have their cases handled by a lawyer, and, as a result, they end up representing themselves. However, divorcing spouses want and need legal services. They should not be forced to choose between full services and no services. As mediation moves toward acceptance as the preferred method of resolving family disputes, attorneys have an opportunity to offer a menu of legal services from which clients may order a la carte. This is the essence of unbundling. This article explores how unbundling enables mediation clients to obtain the legal services they request at an affordable cost and relieves consulting attorneys who perform discrete tasks of responsibility for the outcome of the case.

To Bundle or Unbundle? That is the Question
Hon. Judith L. Kreeger

A substantial number of parties either represent themselves or are partially represented in family law matters because they are unable to afford traditional full service representation. As this number continues to climb courts are taking a proactive approach in servicing self-represented litigants through self help centers. The following is a judge's perspective on how unbundled legal services assist the self represented and the courts as well as answers to ethical concerns should they arise.

Student Note

How Courts Help You Help Yourself:
The Internet and the Pro Se Litigant
Margaret B. Flaherty

This note is the result of an in-depth analysis of existing state judiciary websites and how they have and will continue to affect self-represented divorce litigants in the United States. It surveys all existing state court websites and examines what resources they provide to pro se litigants. It also touches on private divorce-related websites and offers some comments about their utility to pro se litigants as an alternative and a supplement to court-based websites. This note calls for courts to adopt programs and policies that facilitate the process of getting a divorce for those who choose to represent themselves, and make those programs and policies available to the pro se litigant via the Internet.

Special Feature

Child-Centered, Vertically Structured, and Interdisciplinary:
An Integrative Approach to Children's Policy, Practice and Research
Annie G. Steinberg, Barbara Bennett Woodhouse,
and Alyssa Burrell Cowan

This paper will describe the genesis and philosophy of the Center for Children's Policy, Practice and Research as the University of Pennsylvania (CCPPR), a joint project of the Schools of Law, Medicine and Social Work. The mission of CCPPR was to mobilize the resources of all disciplines engaged in childhood issues across the campus to seek innovative solutions for the crises facing America's children. CCPPR seeks to combine clinical practice, research, and policy in a vertical structure that would maintain linkages at all stages of scholarship, practice, and reform. Five essential structural factors were that the project must be: (a) vertically integrated; (b) interdisciplinary; (c) team-based; (d) child-centered and (e) developmentally informed. This paper can serve as a template for developing similar centers or projects, and will describe our methods, the projects we have undertaken, as well as the pitfalls and challenges of this highly demanding integrative approach.

2001 Law Student Essay Contest Cowinner
Crossover Kids:
The Dilemma of the Abused Delinquent
Katharine W. Scrivner
This article considers the plight of the child found both abused and delinquent in the American legal system. Discussed in detail are the difficulties attorneys representing these children face, including ethical issues of confidentiality and attorney-client privilege, maintaining a permanent placement for an abused child found delinquent and the paramount importance of determining appropriate jurisdiction. These difficulties are presented through interviews with three children's attorneys who represent abused children and/or delinquent children in Wisconsin, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The article finds that the needs of abused delinquents are not being adequately addressed for a number of reasons. Lack of communication between the tow systems and lack of statutory guidelines are both considered and improvements for these issues suggested. Although not directly addressed, the question of whether there is a causal connection between abuse and delinquency is considered in analyzing the techniques and theories of the three interviewed attorneys.

Book Review
John Eekelaar, Mavis Maclean, and Sara Beinart's
Family Law: The Divorce Work of Solicitors
Reviewed by Mary E. O'Connell