Many states have been hard hit by funding cuts to courts. While there are a few states that have rebounded perhaps no state has been as challenged as California. Real budget cuts with profound consequences have hurt the courts and as might be expected diminished court employee morale has accompanied divisions among judges and the Judicial Council about how to best respond to the court funding crisis. The problems are real and there are few easy solutions. But there has emerged a renwed spirit in the legal community that something must change, Richard Zorza reports on his blog, for example, that In San Francisco there was a rally organized by the San Francisco Bar Association, with participation from legal aid leaders, law schools, big firms, prominent plaintiff firms, the State Bar, coming together to support the courts and protest the closing of courts and self help centers and courts due to lack of funding. Here is a report on the rally: http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202549475928&Rally_for_Court_Funding_Draws_Hundreds_in_San_Francisco The array of speaker was impressive—a list of who is who in the legal community across the state. http://www.sfbar.org/calendar/eventdetail.aspx?id=X120036/X120036. Other local bar associations also joined the effort, including Contra Costa Bar Association http://www.cccba.org/attorney/news/press-20120315.php and the Santa Clara Bar Association. https://m360.sccba.com/event.aspx?eventID=49135&instance=0.  So this rally cannot be dismissed as a San Francisco event only—San Francisco being well known to take first time positions in many issues. And private firms are also supporting the rally.  http://lieffcabraser.com/media/pnc/5/media.1255.pdf and http://rftmlaw.com/?email-campaign=rally-to-support-court-funding-april-18-2012-in-san-francisco.

There is no perfect model for how states can better advocate for adequate and stable funding but what is happening in California might work in other states.