INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court is reorganizing its programs aimed at ensuring low-income Hoosiers have equal access to the state's civil court system.
Chief Justice Loretta Rush, in an order issued Tuesday, established the 17-member Coalition for Court Access, led by Justice Steven David, to manage the provision of legal aid to individuals unable to afford attorneys for civil lawsuits.
The new coalition replaces the state's Pro Bono Commission, the Indiana Commission to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services and the Indiana Supreme Court Committee on Unrepresented Litigants, all of which were terminated by Rush's order.
However, much of the work of those groups will continue under the Coalition for Court Access, including the Northwest Indiana pro bono committee which annually evaluates and reports on the availability and need for civil legal aid in the Region.
Rush said the new umbrella group will provide a more focused and comprehensive organizational structure for Indiana's civil legal aid programs.
Unlike criminal cases, where the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that a person at risk of going to prison is entitled to an attorney, even if he or she cannot afford one, there is no corresponding right to counsel in most circumstances for the indigent to bring or defend themselves in civil lawsuits.
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