Attached are two articles which I want to share that appear in the May/June issue of The Pennsylvania Lawyer, the magazine of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

The first is an article entitled The Changing Profile of Civil Legal Aid, that I wrote on the changing needs in legal services since I did a similar article for The Pennsylvania Lawyer in 2002. In the past eight years, we have weathered many changes, including what some would characterize as the near collapse of our economy. The economic conditions produced changing needs but the good news is that access to justice actually increased for low-income Pennsylvanians during the period. This article discusses the factors that led to this increase, despite the surrounding economic issues.

The other article, entitled The Right to Counsel – A Right in Civil Cases, Too?, was written by Andy Susko, former PBA President and a partner and chair of the litigation department at White and Williams, L.L.P. in Philadelphia, Rhodia Thomas, Executive Director of MidPenn Legal Services, and myself. It presents the arguments for a right to representation in all civil cases where basic human needs are at stake. It also reviews some of the efforts of the organized bar to promote that right in appropriate civil cases where basic human needs are impacted.