Below is an excerpt of the American Bar Association House of Delegates resolution urging legal representation in certain high-priority civil proceedings to persons unable to afford an attorney presented by Earl Johnson, member of the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants. ABA House of Delegates, Annual Meeting 2010 (August 10, 2010).

The House listened to extensive and energetic debate relative to civil Gideon, approving a model statue for implementing a civil right to counsel. Revisions to the recommendation centered on child custody cases, and the needs of such cases from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.