Along with the Dane Country Bar Association, Legal Action of Wisconsin, the Right to Counsel Task Force, the Milwaukee Lawyers, and the Marquette Student Chapters of the American Constitution Society, the University of Wisconsin Law School, is co-sponsoring a symposium on Civil Gideon on May 5, 2010, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in the Club Room of the Madison Club, with a continental breakfast available from 9:00 a.m.

Civil Gideon stems from the landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963) in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that state courts are required to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who cannot afford to retain their own attorneys. It is the idea that this right should be extended to indigent litigants in civil cases. John Ebbott of Legal Action will be moderating this free symposium intended to address the procedural and legal barriers encountered by self-represented litigants, as well as the strongest objections to Civil Gideon, its cost, and possible cost solutions.

Submitted by Erin Syth on March 23, 2010

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