Anne Milne, Executive Director
Utah Legal Services
254 West 400 South 2^nd Floor
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Dear Ms. Milne,

Thank you for the timely submission of the State Planning Report for the State of Utah. We at the Office of Program Performance have had an opportunity to review the Report and would like to provide a few comments at this time.

Your Report provides an excellent description of the state planning process in Utah, formally begun in 1995 and continuing into the present. The Report describes the various activities and strategies that have already been implemented and others that are planned or under consideration. We commend you for employing a process that has been inclusive and participatory, and for recognizing that planning is not a one-time activity but rather is a continuous, forward-looking process. It is clear that the leadership of Utah Legal Services has been instrumental in advancing the commitment of others in your state's legal community to addressing the statewide legal needs of the poor, and in developing innovative strategies in the process. As you note, the close association of the various participants in planning and delivery has focused attention on the strategic use of available and potential resources and has increased consultation and coordination among participants.

We commend Utah Legal Services for taking the lead in developing a statewide centralized telephone intake system. It is clear that the program has invested a lot of thought in planning and implementing this new system, and has been willing to attempt to change established expectations as to how services are best delivered. Based on your experiences within ULS, the system can, as you plan, be expanded to include other providers, thus affording clients a single point of entry for access to the provision of legal services and eliminating duplication of intake services. Your planning demonstrates your awareness of and intention to address issues of technology, access, and other concerns which will arise. As you indicate, the development of a statewide intake system has the potential to lead to establishing the same case management software and e-mail program for both legal services and other legal providers, including the State Bar, thus facilitating communication among the providers and increasing the ability to refer clients and to work jointly with others across program boundaries. While not spelled out in the Report, we assume your plan will set forth a specific timetable for development and implementation of the new system.

The Report describes a number of efforts to increase access to the courts and opportunities for self-help in partnership with the State Bar and other entities. While we note that the Report does not discuss assessment or coordination of training on a statewide basis, and only discusses collaboration with other legal resources concerning domestic violence issues, we trust that your efforts in these areas are being planned and executed collaboratively with other providers. We support your intention to institute, on a statewide basis, a survey to identify training needs and resources.

The Report identifies a weakness in the PAI program in serving rural clients, and describes a planned effort to address this problem. Your efforts to obtain additional resources for legal services on a statewide basis have been innovative and productive.

The Corporation congratulates Utah Legal Services on its achievements over many years and on your planning efforts as part of a statewide process. We look forward to working with you over the next year as you continue to expand access and provide high quality legal services to low-income individuals in Utah. We would appreciate your keeping us posted on your achievements, successes, obstacles, new strategies, and the like, and request that you submit a brief status report on your progress on or before March 1, 2000.