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Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart told a room of attorneys on Wednesday that the state's Access to Justice Commission is preparing a 2025 "listen and learn" tour to solicit ideas on how to better serve Coloradans who struggle to afford legal representation.

Justice Hart said that like the 2021 tour, the 2025 tour will be largely online, as previous experience shows it's an efficient way to reach many attorneys and facilitate broad participation, though she also raised the possibility of in-person outreach.

The justice also said affordability is a key issue in addressing the "justice gap" of potential clients who earn too much to qualify for legal services yet not enough to pay for representation.

The costs of legal representation, she noted, are inflated by what it costs lawyers to obtain law degrees in the first place — and are largely set by "what companies can pay, which is different from what people can pay."

Justice Hart said the lack of legal representation is a real problem in the state, with more than 70% of parties going unrepresented in domestic cases and roughly half of all civil litigants lacking legal counsel.

"We have a crisis of people who are unrepresented," she said.

Justice Hart's comments came during a panel discussion with other members of the Colorado Access to Justice Commission, hosted by the Professionalism Coordinating Council Committee of the Colorado Bar Association.

Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino S. Lipinsky de Orlov said one improvement to help people afford legal representation was allowing attorneys to provide limited-scope legal representation — in which attorneys agree to handle only a particular task in a case — in state appellate courts.

Judge Lipinsky added that the Colorado Supreme Court is considering expanding limited-scope legal representation to district and county courts.

Meanwhile, veteran Colorado attorney and commissioner David W. Stark predicted attorneys will eventually drop the practice of hourly billing.

"Charging by the hour is going to go away," he said, suggesting different payment models like a subscription service or flat rates for limited-scope representation. "One thing that folks in the justice gap can't do is pay hourly."

Justice Hart praised the idea of limited-scope representation for the predictability it gives clients, noting she herself likely could not engage an attorney to represent her on an open-ended hourly basis.

"For me, I would not be able to say to someone, 'Yes, I'll just keep paying you for as long as it takes,'" Justice Hart said.

And she was broadly critical of the hourly billing model, noting that because clients are hoping to pay as little as possible while attorneys are looking to make a living, it "creates an inherent conflict between you and your client."

--Editing by Philip Shea.