{"id":51542,"date":"2024-01-23T20:02:55","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T20:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/innovative-new-project-launches-to-increase-access-to-justice-for-the-overlooked-middle-class\/"},"modified":"2024-01-23T20:02:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T20:02:55","slug":"innovative-new-project-launches-to-increase-access-to-justice-for-the-overlooked-middle-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/innovative-new-project-launches-to-increase-access-to-justice-for-the-overlooked-middle-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovative New Project Launches to Increase Access to Justice for the Overlooked Middle Class"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Denver, CO \/ Chicago, IL, Jan. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — An important addition to the national access to justice landscape, the\u00a0Above the Line Network (ATLN)<\/a>\u00a0has launched today to tackle the daunting challenges that middle-class Americans face when seeking legal help that doesn\u2019t break the bank. While most organized access to justice efforts rightly focus on low-income and poor people who are especially vulnerable, we can never achieve our nation\u2019s ideal of equal justice for all when middle-class people\u2014who make up more than 50% of the nation\u2019s population\u2014 and small businesses struggle to find quality, affordable legal services. They are \u201cabove the line\u201d of income eligibility for the free legal aid reserved for the poorest Americans, but they also struggle to find quality and affordable legal services in the current legal market.<\/p>\n

With a specific focus on the legal needs of the vastly overlooked middle class, ATLN is a new, organized network of individuals and organizations across the country and in Canada that are committed to improving access for the middle-market\u2014a collaborative and supportive community where ideas, resources, and best practices can be shared, further developed, and scaled to reach more people who need affordable legal services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the majority of Americans being left behind, a more concerted national effort is needed to address this distinct access gap, and ATLN aims to do just that,\u201d said\u00a0Jessica Bednarz<\/a>, IAALS Director of Legal Services and the Profession. \u201cTo do so, we don\u2019t necessarily need to reinvent the wheel. Most of the pieces are there, and what we\u2019re doing is bringing them together, thoughtfully and carefully, and ensuring that it rolls in the right direction\u2014faster, more effectively, and finally getting the middle class where they need to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

ATLN intends to pull the many pieces together as a full ecosystem of middle-class legal providers and models for serving these clients. While there are some promising programs and models tackling this problem around the United States, Canada, and beyond, there is not a coordinated effort among them. ATLN will change that, uniting these existing efforts together\u2014from incubators, socially conscious private law firms, nonprofit law firms, legal aid programs, and other organizations\u2014to help them grow, thrive, and replicate, and foster advocacy for the middle class in the larger access to justice circles.<\/p>\n

\u201cATLN will help ensure that the voice of middle-class Americans is heard and represented in access-to-justice advocacy and funding efforts by engaging funders, the judiciary, and the bar on the extent of the gap in legal services and the need for more resources dedicated to serving middle-class people,\u201d said\u00a0Roya Samarghandi<\/a>, Associate Director of Advocacy, Innovation & Training at the CBF.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By collaborating and expanding on successful middle-class-focused legal services, and by building support for larger policy and systemic changes, ATLN stands to dramatically increase access to justice for the middle class\u2014and ultimately, people of all income levels.<\/p>\n

IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, and\u00a0The Chicago Bar Foundation (CBF)<\/a>\u00a0are excited to partner on this critically urgent project. The project advances the CBF\u2019s work in helping legal consumers in the middle class connect with affordable and accessible quality legal services\u2014including through its legal incubator program, the Justice Entrepreneurs Project\u2014and the work of IAALS in helping the legal profession evolve to put client and consumer needs first and enable people of all socioeconomic backgrounds to find the legal help they need. ATLN is led by\u00a0knowledgeable, experienced leaders and innovators<\/a>\u00a0from across the United States, Canada, and beyond who are dedicated to transforming the delivery of legal services to the underserved middle class.<\/p>\n

ATLN is offering two upcoming webinars which will delve further into the problem, challenges, and promising solutions.<\/p>\n

Individuals and organizations who are interested in joining the Above the Line Network can learn more about the membership criteria and apply to join ATLN on the\u00a0project page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More information and quick links:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver, CO \/ Chicago, IL, Jan. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — An important addition to the national access to justice landscape, the\u00a0Above the Line Network (ATLN)\u00a0has launched today to tackle the daunting challenges that middle-class Americans face when seeking legal help that doesn\u2019t break the bank. While most organized access to justice efforts rightly focus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ml.globenewswire.com\/Resource\/Download\/d1c32ee4-b745-4f90-b78c-03cd7320857e","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[208],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-globenewswire"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}