"Courts are available to all potential litigants in almost the same way the common is available to all farmers. Just as the villagers must be able to afford livestock before using the common, American litigants must be able to afford a lawyer before they can go to court. Once, however, this precondition is met, litigants take as much of a court's goods and services as they want when their turn comes up. In most places, of course, their turn doesn't come up often because of the length of this queue."
-- Richard Neely, Why Courts Don't Work, 172 (McGraw-Hill 1982).
On this cheery note, "10 experts" in the June 2011 issue of the ABA Journal submit their ideas on how to "sustain justice," and "tell how courts can do more with less." The unified theme running between these and many other popular articles today is the recognition that the financial crisis is not a passing one but instead represents a "new normal," like I have written elsewhere. As such, it is imperative that courts, like everyone else, adapt to these new conditions. The authors discussed here pose some great suggestions, while acknowledging the financial crisis is not unique to the courts but is one which every person and institution are subject today.
