At a statewide public hearing in Albany on Monday addressing “the continuing unmet civil legal services [needs] of low-income New Yorkers,” Chief Judge Janet DiFiore announced that the state court system has established a 35-member council of Wall Street and other business leaders that will aim to enhance low-income residents’ access to civil legal services, according to an Office of Court Administration news release.

Called the Business Council for Access to Justice, the group of high-ranking business professionals will work with the court system’s long-established New York State Permanent Commission on Access to Justice, which since 2010 has built and fostered “statewide and local initiatives toward the goal of 100% access to effective assistance for essential civil legal needs for all New Yorkers in need,” according to the news release and a 2018 report issued to DiFiore by the commission. Each year, the commission issues a report to the chief judge on its findings and recommended measures for getting “effective assistance to all New Yorkers facing civil legal matters involving the essentials of life,” says the 2018 report.