The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service has unanimously approved a proposal to begin implementation of a national interactive pro bono web site based on Tennessee’s OnlineTNJustice model.

OnlineTNJustice (OTJ) has experienced incredible growth in recent years, with six other states implementing websites, all based on and supported by the team that created OTJ in 2011. Arizona and Mississippi are launching their sites this month, joining established programs in Indiana, Minnesota, South Carolina and West Virginia. The OTJ software has been available free of charge to entities willing to use it for pro bono service.

The pro bono website proposal was approved during the annual Equal Justice Conference, held May 6 – 9 in Austin, Texas, and jointly hosted by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono & Public Service and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.

During the Conference, past TBA President George T. “Buck” Lewis and staff from the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) presented the OnlineTNJustice model to over 100 lawyers from 25 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Ann Pruitt, TALS Executive Director, and Samantha Sanchez, TALS Director of Training, Compliance and Technology, joined Lewis to demonstrate the OTJ model, outline steps involved in replication and implementation, and present the potential for expansion of pro bono service with the technology. Lewis, immediate past chair of the Tennessee Access to Justice (ATJ) Commission, has been a driving force in the creation and expansion of OTJ, which is a joint project of TBA, TALS and Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.

Lewis commented that the ABA’s support of a national version of OnlineTNJustice “is very gratifying that we now have a golden opportunity to help clients and colleagues in other states. We got this far because of a great team effort and we now need help from Tennessee attorneys with the work of funding the national site and signing up the remaining states. " 

The expansion of use of technology and building upon diverse coalitions are examples of how Tennessee is serving as a model for innovative approaches to closing the justice gap for low-income and vulnerable Tennesseans.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Connie Clark serves as liaison to the ATJ Commission and participated in the recent Equal Justice Conference. "It is so exciting to see Tennessee ideas such as OnlineTNJustice and the Faith and Justice Coalition be embraced coast to coast.” Clark also noted “experience has taught us that collaboration is critical in the fight for equal access to justice and in addition to serving as an example for the community, we here in Tennessee benefit greatly from innovative ideas developed by other states."

Over a dozen representatives from Tennessee's access to justice community attended the 2015 Equal Justice Conference, which also included presentations from ABA President William Hubbard and the Department of Justice's Access to Justice Initiative Director Lisa Foster.