Help us ensure this day is defined by action!
Tomorrow – March 21st – is Access to Justice Day at the State House – and Maine legislators need to hear from us! This year, legislation (LD 564) would help bridge the justice gap in Maine by investing in our state’s civil legal service programs. Civil legal services works to protect people from domestic and financial abuse and neglect; keep people housed; keep custody of a child; gain access to health care; to protect against disability discrimination in housing, education, and employment; and much more. In most of these matters, there is no right to counsel, so Mainers who can’t afford a lawyer must face these civil legal problems without help. That is where civil legal service providers step in to help bridge the justice gap.
Join us tomorrow on March 21st in asking your networks to urge their representatives in Augusta to support Access to Justice and make “justice for all” a priority!
Please participate and help us share this Letter Campaign to Legislators that you can include when emailing your networks or posting on social media or as part of the e-blast. This will make it easy for people to contact their representatives directly on Access to Justice Day, asking them to invest in civil legal services and justice for all.
- Here is a template e-blast that you can customize and make your own to send out to your networks.
- The public hearing on LD 564 will take place tomorrow on March 21st before the Judiciary Committee at 1:00 p.m. You can click here to provide written testimony, or sign-up to deliver oral testimony. Please follow this link for guidance on testifying on this proposal.
- Learn more about LD 564 and share with your friends and family on social media!
We hope you will help us lift up the importance of civil legal aid and ask people to act tomorrow, Access to Justice Day, and that you will consider testifying.
If you have any questions or require additional information please reach out to Beth O’Connor, Justice Project Coordinator, at mainejusticeproject@gmail.com.
Justice Action Group’s Legislative Committee:
Atlee Reilly, Disability Rights Maine
Sure Roche, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
Charlie Dingman, Kozak & Gayer, P.A.
Robyn Merrill, Maine Equal Justice
Michelle Draeger, Maine Justice Foundation
Jaye Martin, Maine Legal Services for the Elderly
Tom Fritzsche, Pine Tree Legal
Charlie Soltan, Soltan Bass, LLC
Victoria Powers, Toole, Powers & Griffin, P.A.
Christopher Northrup, University of Maine School of Law
Liz Stout, Volunteer Lawyers Project