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Key Facts
- National overview: The 2012 Florida Bar reporting described NCAJ as a nonprofit, nonpartisan national advocacy organization based at Cardozo Law School in New York City.
- National overview: The 2012 Florida Bar reporting described Steve Zack (immediate past ABA president and a former Florida Bar president) as the new chair of the National Center for Access to Justice.
- National overview: The 2012 ABA Journal magazine coverage said NCAJ was dedicated to developing policy reforms to make the nation’s courts more accessible and fair for people facing financial constraints and other vulnerabilities.
- National overview: The 2012 ABA Journal news coverage described “The Justice Index” as a project intended to highlight the quality of justice delivered by the states using objective criteria.
- National overview: The Justice Index examples in the 2012 reporting included questions about court resources for translators and jury trials, and (for criminal cases) how many days people are held without counsel.
- National overview: NCAJ’s board page listing shows Stephen Zack as Chair (2013-2014) and lists David Udell as Executive Director.
- National overview: NCAJ’s team page also identifies David Udell as Executive Director.
Last reviewed: May 2026. Legal rules, forms, deadlines, and procedures can change by jurisdiction, agency, and court system.
- What the 2012 reporting said about Zack becoming NCAJ chairman
- NCAJ’s mission framing in the 2012 coverage
- The Justice Index as a proposed performance measurement concept
- Reconciling 2012 “new chair” wording with later term years
- NCAJ leadership and staffing shown on current pages
- Why access to justice goals and performance measurement mattered in 2012
- Limits of what the archive item proves about today
- Related archived context from TheFirstFile
- Sources
Archive recovery work often turns on a simple problem: older organizational announcements use leadership language like “new chair” that can feel confusing when readers later see term years on a current webpage. This article recovers a 2012 access to justice announcement naming Stephen N. Zack as National Center for Access to Justice chairman, then places that announcement next to NCAJ’s current governance listings so the historical record reads clearly.
What the 2012 reporting said about Zack becoming NCAJ chairman
The Florida Bar reported in 2012 that “Steve Zack, immediate past president of the ABA and a former Florida Bar president, is the new chair of the National Center for Access to Justice” in a story about his move into NCAJ leadership. That same reporting described NCAJ as a nonprofit, nonpartisan national advocacy organization based at Cardozo Law School in New York City. (See Florida Bar reporting on Zack and NCAJ.)
An ABA Journal story in the same year likewise described Stephen N. Zack as the ABA’s immediate-past president who “has been named chairman” of the National Center for Access to Justice. (See ABA Journal story on Zack to chair Access to Justice Center.)
NCAJ’s mission framing in the 2012 coverage
Both 2012 sources tied NCAJ’s leadership to an access to justice mission. The Florida Bar described the center as dedicated exclusively to achieving reform on behalf of “vulnerable people in the civil and criminal justice systems.” (See Florida Bar reporting on Zack and NCAJ.)
The ABA Journal magazine account described NCAJ as dedicated to developing policy reforms that make courts more accessible and fair for people facing financial constraints and other vulnerabilities. It also described the center as an independent organization with a close affiliation with Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where it is housed. (See ABA Journal story on Zack to chair Access to Justice Center.)
The Justice Index as a proposed performance measurement concept
The 2012 reporting also described a specific project called “The Justice Index.” In the ABA Journal news coverage, the project appeared as “a new ‘justice index’ to highlight the quality of justice delivered by the states,” with an explanation that the index would use objective criteria to evaluate access to justice. (See ABA Journal news on the Justice Index.)
That same ABA Journal account gave examples of the kinds of criteria envisioned for the index. It described objective evaluation questions such as whether courts have sufficient resources for translators and to hold jury trials, and it described a criminal justice example about how many days people are held without counsel. (See ABA Journal news on the Justice Index.)
The Florida Bar reporting described how the project fit into the center’s planned work during Zack’s chairmanship. It stated that NCAJ planned to release “The Justice Index” on a dedicated website to highlight and improve the quality of justice delivered by “the legal systems in the 50 states.” (See Florida Bar reporting on Zack and NCAJ.)
Reconciling 2012 “new chair” wording with later term years
A common reader confusion in archive recovery is treating “new chair” language as if it must always match a later, formal term label. Here, the 2012 reporting used appointment or selection phrasing, while NCAJ’s governance page later displays specific chair term years. The two can be consistent if the 2012 story referred to the start of chair leadership and the governance page later shows the term range.
| Context in the archive | How NCAJ displays chair term information now |
|---|---|
| 2012 reporting: Zack was described as the “new chair” or “new chairman” of NCAJ. | NCAJ’s board listing labels “Stephen Zack, Chair (2013-2014).” |
That governance label appears on NCAJ’s board page alongside other board leadership names, including James B. Kobak as Chair. (See NCAJ board of directors listing.)
NCAJ leadership and staffing shown on current pages
For modern readers using the 2012 announcement as an archive anchor point, NCAJ’s current webpages provide governance context. The NCAJ board page lists chair leadership and also identifies David Udell as Executive Director. (See NCAJ board of directors listing.)
The NCAJ team page similarly identifies David Udell as Executive Director, which helps confirm the organizational staffing snapshot that a reader might see when cross checking historical announcements with present governance content. (See NCAJ team listing.)
Why access to justice goals and performance measurement mattered in 2012
The 2012 sources connected access to justice to performance measurement concepts through the proposed Justice Index. In that reporting, objective criteria focused on practical access issues such as court resources for translators and jury trials, and, for criminal cases, how long people are held without counsel. (See ABA Journal news on the Justice Index.)
Limits of what the archive item proves about today
Because the 2012 sources describe planned initiatives, the Justice Index in this archive item works as a concept and project description rather than a verified timeline of later launch details or current operation. The Florida Bar account, for example, described a plan to release The Justice Index during Zack’s chairmanship on a dedicated website to improve quality across the 50 states’ legal systems, but the captured 2012 excerpts do not confirm later launch timing or present-day operating status. (See Florida Bar reporting on Zack and NCAJ.)
In the same way, the 2012 language that Zack was “new chair” matches the later board term label for 2013 to 2014, but the archive item does not itself establish outcomes after the term ended. (See NCAJ board of directors listing.)
Related archived context from TheFirstFile
TheFirstFile’s archived coverage includes access to justice as a rule of law priority and an an ABA annual meeting speech on access to justice themes.
