State Bar of Michigan President Alfred M. Butzbaugh will provide Kalamazoo County lawyers with information on the State Bar's Access to Justice Development Campaign when he addresses the Kalamazoo County Bar Association at its dinner meeting on January 12. The meeting will be held at the Fetzer Center on the campus of Western Michigan University.

The ATJ Campaign was developed and staffed by the State Bar of Michigan in response to recent, serious cuts to federal funding for civil legal services.

"The State Bar recognizes that access to the courts for all people, regardless of economic status, is critical to the overall administration of justice" said President Butzbaugh, a St. Joseph lawyer whose personal vision, with support from the State Bar of Michigan, the Michigan State Bar Foundation, and legal services providers, led to the formation of the Development Campaign. The Campaign encourages generous financial support for the Access to Justice Fund from all Michigan lawyers. It will focus on obtaining major gifts from supporters, and encourage regular contributions in line with the Bar's pro bono standards. Those standards encourage every lawyer to provide a minimum amount of free services, or an annual contribution of $300 to a legal aid program in lieu of providing free help.

Craig Lubben, immediate past president of the Kalamazoo Bar, has agreed to lead the local Kalamazoo campaign to raise funds for civil legal aid in Michigan.

One of Lubben's first tasks will be to assemble a team of lawyers to work with him to define a local campaign that will coordinate with previous fundraising efforts and set realistic campaign goals. The overall goal of the State Bar is to raise two million dollars by the end of this year.

"I'm looking forward to working on this," said Lubben. "I think it is one of the bar's most important initiatives. As lawyers, we have a special duty to insure that our court system is open to all. Without strong legal aid and pro bono programs, low-income people would not be able to use our justice system to resolve disputes in the way promised to us all."

Civil legal aid provides legal help for low-income people with problems that affect family safety, housing, consumer and medical care needs. Last year, Michigan legal aid and pro bono advocates assisted over 75,000 low income families and individuals. More than 2,000 of those people were in the Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, Van Buren and Cass County area.

For more information on the State Bar's Access to Justice Development Campaign, please call Candace Crowley, Assistant Executive Director for Fundraising - Access to Justice, at 1-800-968-1442 ext. 6319 or e-mail ccrowley@michbar.org.