This week’s Bulletin begins and ends with stories on overburdened public defenders’ offices in Missouri.  In between: a new project to serve veterans in Georgia; an op-ed on supporting legal services from the ABA’s president-elect; a “broken” legal aid system in British Columbia; a look at Michigan Law’s one-of-a-kind human trafficking clinic; a new, statewide legal services program in Wyoming; a sobering report on the fiscal state of nonprofit human services providers; a new pro bono project to engage senior law-firm lawyers in D.C.; and the Federal Career Intern Program may not be much longer for this world.

• 11.11.10 – the Nodaway News Leader in Missouri reports that the Nodaway County public defender’s office has a caseload “that has increased to 270% of what the state believes a normal caseload should be.”  (See the final item below for more Missouri public defense news.)

• 11.10.10 – a press release from the Georgia Legal Services Program announces a new resource for veterans advocates: “In response to the growing need for legal assistance, Georgia Legal Services and the State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Project teamed up to create an online resource to encourage and support lawyers in delivering critical legal help to our country’s defenders. The website is also designed to support the work of the Military Legal Assistance Program of the State Bar of Georgia, a new initiative that connects pro bono and reduced-fee lawyers with veterans and service members in Georgia.”  Georgia Military Legal Assistance Program website.

• 11.10.10 – on the heels of the national Celebration of Pro Bono we were happy to read ABA President-elect William T. Robinson III’s piece in the Louisville Courier-Journal emphasizing the importance of both engaging in pro bono and encouraging Congress to “pass legislation to grant full FDIC protection for IOLTAs . . . during the upcoming lame-duck session” in order “to protect this important source of legal aid funding.”  IOLTA accounts currently have FDIC protection, however that protection will expire at the end of 2010.

• 11.9.10 – the Vancouver Sun examines the the funding ‘crisis’ in British Columbia’s legal aid system following the release of Rights-Based Legal Aid: Rebuilding BC’s Broken System, a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (West Coast LEAF).  The reports key findings:  (1) “The number of legal aid cases approved for legal representation declined dramatically between 2001 and 2010: the number of family law cases approved for legal representation dropped from 15,526 to 6,270;” (2) “Representation for poverty law – housing, welfare, disability pensions, debt – has been eliminated;” and (3) “BC is now the third lowest province in Canada in per capita spending on legal aid, and our system does not cover many family law issues that other provinces do.”  The report advocates for the adoption of a “‘rights-based’ legal aid system, which would recognize there is a human right to access legal representation in matters where human dignity is at stake, including most family law issues, major and minor criminal offences and immigration and refugee matters.”  Read the full report.

• 11.7.10 – the Detroit Free Press looks at the work of Michigan Law professor Bridgette Carr, who runs “the nation’s only law school clinic dedicated to combating human trafficking.” The clinic, which began in 2009, “is offered as a seven-credit class to second- and third-year law students … About eight students take the class, which takes up half their course load for that semester.  Another eight to 10 students and graduates volunteer their time to work on cases.”  The piece touches upon the pernicious effect that the advent of online sexual solicitations has had in combating sex trafficking.   As is true in so many other contexts when it comes to online interactions, participants feel somewhat detached from those they interact with.  And people who look for sexual encounters online may never appreciate that they could be facilitating sex trafficking because its victims are often forced to work in prostitution rings that use the Internet for business.

• 11.7.10 – there are exciting things ahappening for legal services in the “Equality State” (a.k.a Wyoming . . . fun fact:  known as the “Equality State” for being the first state to extend suffrage to women in 1869).  In July the state instituted a $10 increase in the filing fee for both civil and criminal cases to provide funding for Wyoming’s new Indigent Civil Legal Services Program.  The increase is expected to provide $2.5-3 million annually and collections since July are over $150,000.   Billings Gazette reported on the formation of a new nonprofit corporation, The Wyoming Center for Legal Aid, Inc. to oversee the program.  While legal services programs are present in Wyoming, prior to the formation of WCLA there had been no coordinated statewide system for legal services delivery and funding for existing programs had experienced cuts.

• 11.8.10 – we recently came across this Washington Post article about the fiscal struggles of D.C.-area nonprofit human services providers.  But most interesting to us was the article’s reference to an Urban Institute national report, issued last month, documenting the revenue shortfalls that providers have experienced in the recession’s wake.  The data is sobering: “In 2009, 82 percent of human service providers scaled back their operations, with most organizations resorting to two or more cutbacks. Half of organizations froze or reduced salaries, 39 percent drew on financial reserves, and 38 percent laid off employees.”

• 11.5.10 – a blogger the Blog of the Legal Times blogs that “The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program and the D.C. Access to Justice have teamed to launch a new project that is designed to put senior lawyers who are winding down their practices to work on pro bono efforts.  The project, dubbed the Senior Attorney Initiative for Legal Services or SAILS Project … asks participating law firms to implement programs in which older attorneys can ply their legal skills on pro bono projects across Washington. Participating firms are reviewing their billable hour policies to ensure that they support senior lawyer efforts.” Eleven large law firms are on board already.  We’re really glad to learn of this development in our hometown.  As is pointed out in the piece, the DC legal services community has been hit hard by the recession; 25% of overall funding disappeared, as did 12% of attorney positions and a higher percentage of support staff positions.  A cadre of local leaders in the legal services and pro bono communities came together in the midst of the recession to talk through solutions to the shortage of resources to serve clients.  This is one important result of those discussions.  It also reminds us of the successful, and similar, “emeritus attorney” program through which senior attorneys in New York State are providing pro bono services.  Finally, it’s worth noting that the Pro Bono Institute was ahead of the curve in this department.  PBI launched its “Second Acts” program for senior attorneys to do public interest work all the way back in 2005.

• 11.5.10 – the Government Executive website reports that “[t]he much-criticized Federal Career Intern Program is under fire following findings that the process violates veterans preference laws.”  FCIP has been criticized by federal employees unions and others because it’s been viewed as a “loophole,” allowing agencies to avoid veterans preference requirements and civil-service competitive hiring policies.  FCIP was being reviewed by the Office of Personnel Management anyway as part of a larger reworking of federal hiring processes.

• 11.5.10 – In the midst of the ABA’s review of its law school accreditation standards, some clinicians and other educators don’t feel that they have had a voice in the process.  From the National Law Journal: “Both the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) and the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) sent letter this week to ABA leaders raising concerns about what they consider the limited roles their organizations have been allowed to play in developing the new accreditation standards.”  Aside from the level of participation, here’s another concern among clinicians: “The latest draft of the student learning outcome measures standards – which are intended to get law schools to spell out what they want student[s] to learn, then measure how well they are teaching those things – eliminates a requirement that students complete at least one “learning experience” that involves a case or a problem that a practicing lawyer would handle.  Advocates of law clinics and teaching practical skills have lobbied for the inclusion of such a requirement.”

• 11.5.10 – we posted earlier this week about developments at William & Mary’s veterans benefits clinic.  The school announced that the clinic, operating since 2009, has been named after an allum and Vietnam vet.  Of primary importance to us was that the announcement also shed some light on the clinic’s diverse funding sources – which include a charitable foundation, Class of 1974 alumni – as well as a partnership arrangement with the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for Psychological Services and Development.  These all seem like points that would interest students and clinicians who run, or hope to start, veterans clinics at their schools.

• 11.3.10 –Public defenders in Liberty, Missouri are laden down by caseloads far in excess of recommended limits, according to a Kansas-City based NBC affliate.  As a result, “Liberty is among five offices in the state that recently notified the courts they were unavailable [to take on new cases].  Other offices to also delay cases included Springfield, Troy, Lebanon, and Ava.”  Ten more offices may follow suit, according the Missouri Public Defender Commission’s deputy director (who will soon become the organization’s director).  On a brighter note, John R. Justice Act loan repayment assistance funds are being administered to qualifying prosecutors and public defenders in the Show Me State.  $169,000 in funds was doled out to program beneficiaries in the beginning of the month.