The Future of Access to Justice

Abstract

He was instrumental in modernizing the Indiana court system and creating programs to improve the administration of justice. 2 The Evansville Bar Association sponsors the Shepard Lecture Series, which brings speakers to Evansville to present on topics such as the rule of law, professionalism, and leadership. 3 The lecture series is endowed with funds provided by the 2012 class of the Indiana State Bar Association Leadership Academy. 4 This Article is based on the first Shepard Lecture, which was delivered on September 13, 2016, in the Randall T. Shepard Courtroom in the Old Vanderburgh County Courthouse. 5 This lecture is about the future of access to justice seen through the eyes of someone who has had the luxury of viewing it from several sides. I will particularly tell the story today from the point of view of my current clients, the low-income Hoosiers who seek our help at Indiana Legal Services. I'll begin by speaking just a bit about how change comes to our profession, then I will focus * Jon Laramore is the executive director of Indiana Legal Services, Inc., a statewide, nonprofit law firm providing free civil legal aid to low-income Hoosiers. Before assuming his current position, he was a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels, LLP; chief counsel to Indiana Governors Frank O'Bannon and Joe Kernan; chief counsel and special counsel to four Indiana attorneys general; and a legal aid lawyer in Massachusetts. A native of Plymouth, Indiana, he has degrees from Princeton University, Harvard Law School, and the Harvard Kennedy School. For helpful comments and editing of this article, he thanks Adam Mueller and Janet G. McCabe. He also thanks Judge Leslie Shively and Senior Judge Randall T. Shepard for their parts in inviting him to deliver the first annual Shepard Lecture. 1. KEVIN W. BETZ ET AL., JUSTICES OF THE INDIANA SUPREME COURT 395, 396 (Linda C. Gugin & James E. St. Clair eds., 2010). 2. Id. at 395-98. 3. Marilyn Odendahl, Plaque and lecture series established to honor Randall Shepard, IND. LAW. (Mar. 13, 2015), http://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/36616-plaque-and-lecture-seriesestablished-to-honor-randall-shepard [https://perma.cc/JD5H-S9YJ]. 4. Id. 5. Evansville Bar hosts inaugural lecture series, IND. LAW.