Court hears arguments on raising Bar fees for legal aid.

Every other week the sign goes up on the center-city, seven-story brownstone that houses Jacksonville Area Legal Aid: "We are closed this Friday due to lack of funding."

It's a grim display for one of five metropolitan areas in the U.S. where 45 percent or more of the population faces an active debt collection, according to Jim Kowalski, executive director of JALA. And it's a message that is repeated throughout Florida, as legal aid agencies reduce hours and cut attorneys.

Kowalski was speaking at the Supreme Court's December 2 oral arguments. Before the court was a petition from 522 Bar members who see a solution in giving the Bar Board of Governors authority to raise annual Bar membership fees by up to $100. The extra money would go to The Florida Bar Foundation to distribute to legal aid programs.

The Bar opposes the petition. The arguments came just days after Chief Justice Jorge Labarga signed an administrative order creating the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice, something that factored into the arguments.

Attorney Barry Richard, representing the Bar, characterized it as an unusual case in that the two parties don't dispute most of the issues.

"The Bar absolutely agrees that access to essential legal services is a critical element of a democratically just society; we agree there is a great need to be filled in this instance; and we have a high respect for the selfless motives of the petitioners," Richard said. "The only place we disagree is the appropriate method for filling the need."

Former Justice Raoul Cantero, who represented the petitioners, said approving the petition will only set up a conversation with the Bar, since the final decision on raising membership fees will reside with the Board of Governors. When the mandatory Bar was set up, he reminded the court, that Supreme Court opinion noted that lawyers had the exclusive right to practice in the court system, and because of that "lawyers are ethically bound to help the state's poor gain access to that system."

Justice Peggy Quince asked why the petitioners were continuing to pursue the rule change when the Board of Governors expressed opposition, making it unlikely that any money would be raised for legal aid.

"We didn't know the Bar was opposed to this until they received the petition," Cantero replied. "If the Bar decided not to increase it, two things can happen. We can decide to come back to this court and ask you to amend the rules to require a fee increase...