The Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation has released a thought-provoking report on fee waivers in district court civil proceedings in our state. While I’m certain everyone in the foundation supported or assisted, I’d like to single out primary authors Emily Carr and Jacqueline Chin, University of Oklahoma law students who interned for the foundation this summer. This excellent report reflects a major commitment of time and effort.

The report has surprising and unsurprising findings. I think many lawyers will be surprised that there are such geographical variations in the application requirements within the state.

But the most important aspect may be that the report opens with a number of significant recommendations for change and some seem obvious and easy. Those seeking civil fee waivers are presumably those in desperate situations. So, they are first required to complete a pauper’s affidavit. (A form that may differ between counties.) I never really thought about that label as a young lawyer. It was just one of those archaic labels we used, like demurrer and replevin. But as this study indicates, many people don’t even know what the word “pauper” means and those who do understand what it means are often reluctant to attach that label to themselves.

There are many other observations and suggestions in the report. Even if a reader is not from Oklahoma, you may still find items of interest. Read or download Priced Out of Justice – An Examination of Civil Fee Waivers in Oklahoma District Courts. The report is over 50 pages in length. But before that triggers your TL;DR response, the authors begin with an excellent Executive Summary, so you can receive a lot of information by just reading 8 or 9 pages.