In the mid 1980's The Florida Bar, the Governor of Florida and the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme
Court appointed a Commission, The Florida Bar's Special Commission on Access
to the Legal System,
to assess and make
recommendations on the problem of lack of
adequate access
to the legal system by the poor and middle class The Commission found that cuts in federal support for legal assistance
to the poor had greatly exacerbated the access problem and one of the commission's
recommendations was
to amend the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar making pro bono legal assistance
to the poor mandatory.