Access Commission is permanent.

Bringing down barriers to meaningful access to civil justice for thousands of Floridians struggling to make ends meet is a massive effort that must continue.

That's what Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga said after recently signing administrative order AOSC16-71, making the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice a permanent standing committee.

The order outlines details about the commission's goals and members (most served on the original commission created in November 2014).

"We are dealing with complex issues and much remains to be done," Labarga said. "By working collaboratively, we will be able to make meaningful progress toward closing the civil justice gap."

The original access commission, which expired June 30, made one recommendation in its final report to the Florida Supreme Court: Establish a permanent commission. And the Supreme Court agreed.

The new, permanent access commission will "study the remaining unmet civil legal needs of disadvantaged, low-income, and moderate-income Floridians," Labarga's administrative order reads.

The order directs the commission to examine the issue from all perspectives and not be limited to the viewpoint of any one institution. It is to consider staffed legal aid programs, resources designed to help people representing themselves, legal advice specifically limited to a single issue in a case, pro bono services, technology solutions, and "other models and potential innovations."

The first meeting will be held in January 2017 (a date had not been finalized as this News went to press). Labarga will chair the permanent 23-member commission through mid-2018. Former Florida Bar President Greg Coleman, a West Palm Beach lawyer, will serve as chair of the commission's executive committee. Other members include judges and attorneys from around Florida, a federal judge, a trial court clerk, a law school dean, a legal aid director, and the chief counsel for Walt Disney Company.

"The mission of helping the poorest of our citizens and our working middle-class families obtain true access to our courts is critically important," Coleman said. "The permanent commission will continue to educate and engage Florida businesses to help us in this worthwhile cause, and we look forward to building on the progress made by the temporary commission."

The executive committee is composed of the chairs of the commission's committees, the business partner liaison, and the chief justice. During the 2016-18...