The Administrative Power: How State Courts Can Expand Access to Justice

Abstract

This Article examines the administrative powers of courts and the ways it can be used to expand access to justice. Administrative power, or rule-making power, is the power that state supreme courts have to regulate the lower courts, rules, practice and procedure, and the legal profession. Although they are often underutilized these powers have great potential to address the access to justice crisis throughout the nation. For virtually every area of law is touched by the administrative power of courts. The Article details the extent of the access to justice crisis, charts the history of administrative powers over time, and explores their benefits. It then proposes five solutions that state high courts should implement:(1) making courts more accommodating to self-represented parties,(2) opening up the justice system so that non-lawyers can play more meaningful roles in court,(3) using summary jury trials to reduce the costs of litigation for civil plaintiffs,(4) reforming pro bono so that more lawyers contribute to it, and(5) establishing and expanding funding mechanisms to pay for access to justice initiatives.In the end, the Article seeks not only to convince courts to adopt reforms, but to convince legal reformers that the rule-making powers of courts should be given as much attention as traditional litigation to advance reform.