Report outlines ABA's agenda for justice.

The American Bar Association (ABA) has published a summary of its policies on virtually every aspect of the U.S. justice system in its report, "An Agenda for Justice: ABA Perspectives on Criminal and Civil Justice Issues."

"An Agenda for Justice," which serves as a "restatement" of official policies adopted by the ABA, is presented with a commentary on the organization's rationale and objectives. The report examines three major elements of the justice system: civil justice, criminal justice, and family law. It also takes a broad look at the administration of justice generally, including the judiciary, lawyers, and the ABA itself, focusing on issues of access to justice and equality under the law.

In the ABA's view, the justice system is at a "crossroads" and needs repair. The report makes dear that its purpose is to ensure that public discussion of various reforms is based on facts, not on the disinformation and anecdotes that critics of the justice system often rely on.

* Civil Justice. This section is of greatest interest to ATLA members because it includes a fairly extensive discussion of tort law. On a general level, many of the positions comport with ATLA's views on the civil justice system.

The report emphasizes that providing access to legal services to those of low and moderate income is one of the ABA's highest priorities. To that end, the report calls for full and adequate funding for the Legal Services Corp.; expansion of pro bono service programs; and encouragement of programs that provide affordable access for the middle class, such as group and prepaid legal services.

The report also outlines a variety of actions designed to make more efficient use of existing resources. These include supporting the Civil Justice Reform Act, a congressional mandate for federal district courts to implement plans for litigation management and reduction of delays. The ABA also supports voluntary alternative dispute resolution, enforcement of existing Rule 11 sanctions against frivolous litigation, discovery reform, and more extensive use of technology.

The report points out that "the ABA has not adopted any policy that recommends limitation or modification of the right to jury trial in civil cases." Indeed, it summarizes the work of the Brookings Symposium in 1992, which strongly supported the civil jury.

The ABA section of litigation appointed a team to draft recommendations to implement the symposium's findings. These recommendations include efforts to increase the effectiveness of jurors, including a juror bill of rights, as well as efforts to gather more data about how juries perform.

* Tort Liability. Within the discussion of civil justice, the report addresses the subject of tort liability. This focus is largely prompted by the highly charged discussions of tort law in the U.S. Congress and the media. The report defends the tort system generally against charges that tort liability is "out of control." However, the report also recommends some reforms.

The report rejects the notion of a litigation "explosion," calling it a "myth." The report emphasizes that tort cases comprise a small percentage of the work of federal and state courts. Moreover, the number of tort cases is not dramatically increasing.

In fact, statistics show that personal injury actions have remained at a stable level for at least a decade. The number of products liability cases has actually decreased, and punitive damages awards remain relatively rare.

The reports restates the ABA's opposition to broad federal tort reform and to the more extreme reforms adopted in some states. For example, the ABA opposes caps on noneconomic damages, elimination of the collateral source rule, and "loser pays" or other fee-shifting proposals that would chill access to justice. The ABA also opposes secrecy agreements that would hide hazards to the public or conceal evidence relevant to claims by other plaintiffs.

On the other hand, the Agenda expresses the ABA's support for some specific tort reforms at the state level. These include a narrowing of the scope of punitive damages, elimination of joint and several liability with respect to noneconomic damages, grater judicial oversight of the amount of compensatory and punitive damages, and careful scrutiny of expert witnesses by the courts.

* Administration of Justice. The report addresses the issues of legal ethics and the professional conduct of lawyers and judges. It calls on the legal profession to actively root out gender and racial bias within the profession and the justice system.

The clear focus of the report, however, is on the severe underfunding of the justice system and access to it for those of low and moderate income.

* Criminal and Family Law. The report's broad recommendation for the criminal justice system is to move away from heavy reliance on incarceration. The report recognizes that much of the crime problem requires measures that are beyond the legal system.

The Agenda calls for programs geared toward violence prevention and drug and alcohol intervention.

Similarly, the section dealing with family law focuses on access issues and support structure. In this area, the legal system is faced with a tremendous increase in the number of domestic relations cases and juvenile cases.

One ABA recommendation to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the justice system is the establishment of a "unified family court system" that would consolidate various family related matters in to one court with broad jurisdiction. The report also supports greater efforts to deal with the problems of domestic violence and child abuse.

The report is the result of a two-year effort by the ABA's ad hoc committees on criminal and civil justice improvements. Georgetown University Law Center Professor Steven H. Goldblatt serves as the project's reporter.

Copies of the report are available at no change by calling the ABA's service center a [phone].