Statewide Mediation Access Project

Resolution Systems Institute's Statewide Mediation Access Project (SMAP) applies an innovative process - mediation - to a complex problem - the unmet legal needs of poor and low-income individuals. SMAP embodies a vision whose time has come - systematic development of mediation as a path to justice for poor and low-income disputants through a multi-pronged collaboration between mediation providers, legal services, courts, and others on a circuit-by-circuit basis throughout Illinois. Through the project, RSI provides technical support to courts and communities looking to use mediation to enhance access for poor and low-income disputants in downstate Illinois.

THE NEED
The statistics show the challenge for poor and low-income disputants in navigating the legal system. The 2005 study, The Legal Aid Safety Net: A Report on the Legal Needs of Low-Income Illinoisans, determined that each low-income household had an average of 1.7 legal problems in 2003 and that low-income households received legal assistance for only one out of every six legal problems.

Building on the Legal Needs Study and RSI's own long history of court ADR system design and assessment, RSI conducted a study in 2007 for the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation (IEJF) called Accessing Justice through Mediation: Pathways for Poor and Low-Income Disputants. The study examined the current state of mediation in Illinois and ways in which mediation might address the needs of poor and low-income disputants.

Significantly, it found that the three types of legal cases for which there is the greatest need - family, housing, and consumer - are amenable to mediation. This study formed the basis for the Statewide Mediation Access Project.

THE SUCCESS
In 2008, the first year of implementation, SMAP communicated with every judicial circuit in the state concerning the jurisdiction's interest in mediation as an avenue to justice for poor and low-income disputants. SMAP was greeted with great interest by courts, legal services and other stakeholders throughout Illinois. Based on the responses, SMAP developed a strategy for working with each circuit in the state.

A prime example of program success was the development in less than 10 months of a small claims mediation program in the 11th Judicial Circuit based in Bloomington. The mediations are conducted by community volunteers of many backgrounds and the participants are pro se (not represented by lawyers). SMAP provided expert assistance to local stakeholders during program development, supported mediator training by providing funding and administration of the training, and assisted ongoing program quality by providing a database for monitoring and evaluation.

Along with other small claims programs, SMAP has consulted with groups exploring mediating custody and visitation disputes when there has been low-level domestic violence; family mediation more generally; and mediation involving home foreclosures. SMAP continues to work throughout Illinois to assist in using mediation to develop a bridge to justice for people who are poor or have low incomes.