Publication Date
3-2024
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The justice gap in middle Georgia is large and causes harm to the entire community, not just the citizens denied access to meaningful legal remedies. Self‑represented litigants create problems for the courts by clogging the dockets and for themselves due to bad outcomes. The ideal of a lawyer representing every litigant is not obtainable. The substantial amount of unmet legal needs in our community easily overwhelms the limited availability of pro bono legal services. As a result, non‑profit agencies in Macon, Georgia such as Middle Georgia Justice, Georgia Legal Services Program, and Crisis Line & Safe House step up to close the justice gap. Each of these agencies needs volunteer services and financial support from lawyers and law firms as well as financial support from local foundations, businesses, and individuals.
Collaboration among pro bono volunteers, non‑profit legal service providers, Mercer Law School, and other community resources helps to ensure legal services and assistance are more widely available. Closing the justice gap stabilizes families, improves access to housing, and enhances job opportunities. The entire community benefits. Our judicial system is a critical component of our social infrastructure and every opportunity we take to provide access to the legal system moves our community closer to the ideal of equal justice under law.
—William P. Adams and Amy Griffith Dever
Recommended Citation
Adams, William P. and Dever, Amy Griffith
(2024)
"Middle Georgia Justice—Closing the Justice Gap,"
Mercer Law Review: Vol. 75:
No.
2, Article 8.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol75/iss2/8