Court Rule May Restore Access to Appellate Courts

I’ve spent much of the past ten days working on a solution to the fee increase that threatens access to the Georgia appellate courts. At the end of this year’s session, the legislature passed bill that increased many of the fees charged by state entities. Among the fees increased was the charge for preparation of appellate records. That fee went from $1.50/page to $10/page. That's $10 for photocopying a single sheet of paper. Appellate record are often hundreds of pages long, sometimes thousands. At $1.50 the fee was already a tax; at $10 it would often be an insurmountable barrier.

In my last post, I argued that the appellate courts could implement a meaningful short-term solution through their rule-making power. Since then I’ve been heading up a team that drafted a proposed rule. State Bar President Bryan Cavan presented the proposed rule to the appellate courts earlier this week. I am hopeful that the crisis will shortly be averted.