Above the Line Network launched in January to “tackle the daunting challenges that middle class Americans face when seeking legal help that doesn’t break the bank,” according to an official announcement.
A collaboration between the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver and the Chicago Bar Foundation, the ATLN consists of a “community of leaders from across the United States, Canada, and beyond working together to transform the delivery of legal services for the underserved middle class” through raising awareness, providing education and advocacy, according to its 2023-2025 strategic plan.
“When a lot of people in the profession and beyond hear about the access to justice crisis, they think primarily that it affects low-income people and it certainly does,” said Jessica Bednarz, IAALS director of legal services and the profession. “And those are the most vulnerable people in our society.”
“But we know from the research that we’ve conducted here at IAALS and through the Legal Services Corporation and others that [the] gap really is much larger than that,” continued Bednarz. “People well into the middle class also cannot access affordable legal help when they need it.”
Bednarz explained the middle class’ struggles began when the financial crisis hit in 2008 and it became even more apparent it wasn’t just low-income people who couldn’t access affordable legal services. It extended into the middle class.
“Part of that is the failure of the market,” said Roya Samarghandi, associate director of Advocacy, Innovation & Training at the CBF.
“There’s some misconception generally about where people that are middle-class fall in that spectrum and it’s a pretty wide spectrum,” continued Samarghandi.
ATLN defines the middle class as “those earning at least 125% of the federal poverty line and up to two times the median household income.” The 2023 federal poverty line was $18,225 and the 2023 median household income was $141,568, according to the project’s collected data.
“You have funded legal aid organizations … [that] aren’t able to serve all of those folks or you have people that are just over income that don’t qualify for legal aid,” added Samarghandi.
At the same time, you have the traditional legal market that is serving wealthier folks and corporations because they can afford a $350/$400-an-hour rate, explained Samarghandi.
Samarghandi believes the market has more attorneys than ever in the country, yet there are more folks than ever choosing to either not address their legal issue as a legal issue or choose to do it alone.
“And so there’s a disconnect between the supply and demand because people feel that the market is beyond their affordability,” continued Samarghandi.
As a result of the crash, the CBF decided to start dedicating resources to that specific part of the access to justice gap as well. In 2013, it launched a legal incubator program called the Justice Entrepreneurs Project.
“It helps lawyers launch socially conscious law firms that are targeting serving middle-income people,” said Bednarz.
Over the years members of the project had the opportunity to learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t work with respect to serving the middle class, explained Bednarz. They met a lot of people from across the country through conferences and by helping to start other incubator programs. This assisted them in identifying promising models, but also seeing and understanding that a lot of people were working on their own. There was no built-in network that was bringing everyone together.
“We wanted to really be intentional about it and inclusive and wanted to make sure we were representing perspectives from all across the community,” said Bednarz.
From there, they hired a consultant and began their strategic planning process. They selected members of a working group, and for six months, they worked to put together a strategic plan for what became ATLN.
According to ATLN’s strategic plan, the project will focus on building a thriving community of providers and innovators and transforming the delivery of legal services.
“Recogniz[ing] people throughout the country into Canada and beyond that are already serving the middle class and to kind of build upon that community and network within itself,” said Samarghandi. “And then beyond that, I think the education and advocacy piece is really key because there needs to be recognition that the current market and profession generally aren’t working.”
“I think there are a lot of people throughout the country that recognize that this is an issue but maybe don’t feel like they have the tools or the resources to address it,” continued Samarghandi. “And we want to make sure that we are finding ways to meet them where they’re at and broaden the scope of lawyers and other professionals that are interested in helping the middle class.”
“We need an ecosystem of models,” noted Bednarz.
For example, one of the models is a nonprofit law firm, explained Bednarz, where the firm is able to offer services for lower fees because it receives funding from various sources to help subsidize those services. Some of the models are for-profit law firms, but they’re socially conscious and use tools that make their services more affordable.
“Perhaps instead of offering just full representation, they also offer what we call unbundled or limited scope representation, where it’s just anything less than that,” said Bednarz. “Maybe instead of handling your case from start to finish, all you really need is for someone to draft a document … or maybe you need someone to go to court for you, but you could handle the rest on your own.”
“Doing things like that makes the services more affordable,” continued Bednarz.
On the advocacy and education front, Bednarz hopes ATLN is ultimately able to educate everyone and have the profession be on the same page when it comes to the extent of the access to justice problem.
“I hope people continue to join week after week and we keep growing,” said Bednarz. “I hope we reach all corners of the U.S. and Canada and … the entire world at some point.”
“One of our end goals for the network is the transformation of the delivery of legal services,” said Samarghandi. “I hope we’re able to harness the community and the energy and the innovation and the commitment of the people within the network in a way … [where] we are able to reach all corners.”
ATLN is offering two webinars including “Transforming the Delivery of Legal Services: Unveiling the Above the Line Network” on Feb. 27 at 11:00 a.m. MT; and “Tackling Root Causes & Overcoming the Middle-Class Access to Justice Problem” on March 7 at 11:00 a.m. MT.
Those interested in joining the ATLN can learn more about the membership criteria and apply to join here.