2015 Access to Justice Conference

The Access to Justice Conference (ATJ Conference) has been an indispensable force and feature in the development and sustainability of a nationally recognized, inclusive and broad-based statewide equal justice community in the State of Washington. It has served as a foundational building block, unifying our legal and justice system efforts over the past two decades to ensure that no one is written off or written out of our justice system because of poverty, often accompanied by other forms of compounding bias or disparate treatment. From its inception in 1996 until the last conference held in June 2012, the ATJ Conference served as the annual catalytic event that mobilized legal aid providers, volunteers, law students, academics, trial and appellate judges (including most sitting Supreme Court justices), other judicial branch leaders and members of the private bar, government and public sector lawyers and community partners. For three days each year, a richly diverse community of legal and justice system workers gathered together to identify and tackle current and critical cutting edge legal and justice-system-related issues and challenges unique to our state’s poorest and most disadvantaged communities. For nearly twenty years, the ATJ Conference was the place to be and be seen; to develop camaraderie, recharge batteries, have some fun, learn, share, rededicate to the collective mission of ensuring equal justice for all, and to generate new ideas, initiatives and associated partnerships in service of that mission. It served as the ATJ Board’ primary vehicle for communication, recruitment of volunteers for its committees and initiatives, and for the testing and evaluation of its initiatives, and served to enhance the ATJ Board’s relationships with its key constituencies, including the Washington State Alliance for Equal Justice.