Jim Cook
Access to justice is a laudable goal, but it becomes a very tangible problem in rural America, where there are few lawyers to help with legal issues. Rural legal access has been a problem for years, but a handful of states are addressing the problem with new remote lawyering resources. As Executive Director of Idaho Legal Aid Services (ILAS) Jim Cook has helped low-income clients access our justice system in rural parts of Idaho. His nonprofit organization, which serves Idahoans via nine offices, introduced interactive, cloud-based self-help forms anyone can access. Jim is also working on modernizing client intake by moving it to the web. From top to bottom ideaholegalaid.org is a model for legal aid organizations everywhere, with clear descriptions of legal terms and a massive library of resources for the public.