• 2.4.10 – Southeast Missourian – in his State of the Judiciary speech, Missouri Chief Justice William Ray Price noted that, in addition to the strains on the justice system caused by the incarceration of many non-violent offenders, “[i]ncreasing pressure … also has come from defending the poor who are accused of crimes.”  Price acknowledged that the state’s prosecutors and public defenders are working with thinly stretched resources and “said lawmakers can resolve the problems plaguing indigent defense by putting more money into the public defender system or granting it more authority to determine what clients it will accept.”  Link to article.  [Ed Note: for earlier coverage of the indigent defense crisis in Missouri, a problem which wound its way to the state’s high court, listen to this December 2009 NPR story.]

• 2.3.10 – Wichita Eagle “Common Law” Blog – in summer 2009, a courtroom reporter with the Wichita Eagle began the “Common Law” blog, through which he documented the everyday exploits of a local judge, prosecutor, public defender and court staff with a video camera.  Now, the reporter, Ron Sylvester, has gathered video highlights from “Season 1” of the blog as he prepares for another season.  The blog’s video posts shed light on how the primary actors in the criminal justice system do their jobs, and the challenges that they face.  Link to blog post.  [Ed Note: here are the blog posts introducing the public defender and the prosecutor.]

• 2.3.10 – San Francisco Chronicle – civil rights and public interest organizations are opposing the nomination of Sharon Browne, an attorney with the conservative/libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation, to the Legal Services Corporation’s board of directors.  In accordance with a traditional practice to maintain bipartisanship on LSC’s board, President Obama followed the recommendation of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in nominating Browne and two other Republicans.  Browne’s nomination, in particular, has troubled some in the public interest community because of her work with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has opposed some sources of funding for the legal services community as well as affirmative action programs.  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: for coverage of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s opposition to Ms. Browne’s nomination, as well as background on the LSC board nomination process, see our earlier PSLawNet Blog post.]

• 2.2.10 – Nat’l. Legal Aid & Defender Association “Legal Aid News” Email Distribution – on the issue of Legal Services Corporation funding in President Obama’s FY2011 budget proposal, NLADA reports that “the President is seeking $435 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).  This is the same level of funding recommended in FY 2010 and only $15 million more than the amount [actually] appropriated [by Congress] for FY 2010.  The President’s request also includes, unchanged from the President’s request in FY 2010, language regarding removal of the current restrictions on non-LSC funds, as well as the restrictions on attorneys’ fees and participation in class action suits.  The restriction on attorneys’ fees was lifted in the FY 2010 appropriation enacted into law last December, while the restrictions on non-LSC funds and class actions remain.”  LSC had requested an appropriation of $516.5 million for FY2011.

• 2.1.10 – Dallas Morning News “Trail Blazers” Blog –  there is verbal “sparring between lawyers for poor Texans trying to get food stamps and the embattled state [Health and Human Services Commission] that’s trying to fix a years-old mess in its eligibility-determination.”  Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which sued the Commission over delays in processing food stamp applications, asserts that the agency is not keeping to its schedule to address the backlog, while the agency disputes that claim.  Link to blog post.  [Ed. Note: for past coverage of the lawsuit, see December 2009 coverage from the Dallas Morning News.]

• 2.1.10 – Wall Street Journal – the “once-booming nonprofit sector is in the midst of a shakeout, leaving many Americans without services and culling weak groups from the strong. Hit by a drop in donations and government funding in the wake of a deep recession, nonprofits—from arts councils to food banks—are undergoing a painful restructuring, including mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, cutbacks and closings.”  Link to blog post.  [Ed. Note: among the nonprofits whose financial woes are covered is the D.C.-based public interest law office Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE), which faced the prospect of folding in late 2009 but survived due to an 11th-hour fundraising campaign by supporters.]

• 2.1.10 – ABA Journal – the Journal rounds up recent news stories about anticipated layoffs in Wisconsin prosecutors’ offices, driven by strains on the state budget.  Link to coverage.

• 2.1.10 – Philadelphia Inquirer – while no formal, national tracking is done about the numbers of criminal defendants who exercise their right to represent themselves at trial, some say that the choice “is becoming more common across the country” but remains “ill-advised.”  In New Jersey an assistant public defender estimated that there may have been up to 150 pro se cases statewide in 2009.  Some convictions in the Garden State have been overturned on appeal because defendants were not allowed to represent themselves at trial.  Link to article.

• 1.31.10 – Wilkes Barre Times-Leader (Pennsylvania) – Philadelphia’s Juvenile Law Center, which was founded in 1976 by a group of idealistic Temple Law Grads who made financial sacrifices to build the organization from the ground up, has evolved to become a nationally recognized leader on children’s rights issues.  Link to article.

• 1.27.10 – National Legal Aid & Defender Association Announcement – NLADA has released The Guarantee of Counsel: Advocacy & Due Process in Idaho’s Trial Courts, a report concluding that the state of Idaho “fails to provide the level of representation required by our Constitution for those who cannot afford counsel in its criminal and juvenile courts.”  Link to press release. 

Equal Justice Works is currently featuring a series of posts on their blog on the role lawyers are playing in the economic recovery. Aaron’s introduction talks a a bit about the foreclosure crisis and how it is very much a legal crisis as well. The second post discusses the foreclosure crisis in more detail, and addresses the critical role volunteer lawyers and law students are having in the face of declining non-profit budgets. It’s a neat series that is highlighting some of the reasons for hope in the midst of ongoing economic turmoil.

The Connecticut Attorney General has issued cease and desist orders to 30 banks, real estate companies, and landlords who have violated federal law by evicting rental tenants living in foreclosed properties without proper notice. The New Haven Register reports on the state’s efforts, though legal aid lawyers there note that this is a problem occuring nationwide. In recognition of the unique plight of renters in the foreclosure crisis, Congress passed the Protecting Tenants At Foreclosure Act last year, which requires that tenants be given at least 90 days notice before they can be evicted.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition has been tracking news and developments concerning renters in this situation, and have collected stories of tenants being evicted with next to no notice, repairs being left undone to try to force tenants out, and more. NLIHC also provides a free webinar and toolkit for those assisting tenants facing eviction due to foreclosure.

The National Legal Aid and Defender Association released a report last week on the overwhelming burden the Idaho public defender offices are facing. The report found that the county-based system had become overwhelmed by growing caseloads, and that many defendents agree to plea deals without ever consulting with an attorney. The report also raised concerns over the availability of effective counsel for children in the criminal justice system, given that caseloads were as high as 952 per attorney per year, in one county. The Boise Weekly has a nice summary article, and the NLADA press release is available as well.

The National Law Journal reports on a report released today by a pro bono team from the law firm of Arnold and Porter, which spent a year investigating the immigration court system and making recommendations for systematic improvement. The team was headed by Lawrence Schneider, who heads Arnold and Porter’s international trade practice, and was completed at the request of the ABA Commission on Immigration.

The report found major problems linked to the high case load immigration courts face, such as judicial burnout and ineffective appellate review. The report also noted unacceptable levels of bias from judges and disparities between judges in similar cases, raising important due process concerns. The report makes many recommendations, including making immigration courts Article I courts, hiring at least 100 new judges over the next three or four years, increasing the number of law clerks, and improving representation for those involved in immigration proceedings.

The report is being unveiled this morning, and if it becomes available publicly we will link to it here.

Edited to add: The ABA Journal just posted a story on the report that has some more details on where the recommendations might go from here, and the Executive Summary of the report is now available (pdf).

According to a “Legal Aid News” alert from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA):

As part of his detailed Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 budget plan, the President is seeking $435 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).  This is the same level of funding recommended in FY 2010 and only $15 million more than the amount [actually] appropriated [by Congress] for FY 2010.  The President’s request also includes, unchanged from the President’s request in FY 2010, language regarding removal of the current restrictions on non-LSC funds, as well as the restrictions on attorneys’ fees and participation in class action suits.  The restriction on attorneys’ fees was lifted in the FY 2010 appropriation enacted into law last December, while the restrictions on non-LSC funds and class actions remain.

LSC had requested an appropriation of $516.5 million for FY 2011.  Undoubtedly, the Obama Administration’s announced intention to curb discretionary spending has rendered any significant LSC funding increases unlikely, at least in the near term.

A well-researched piece in today’s Wall Street Journal – “Once-Robust Charity Sector Hit With Mergers, Closings” – examines the hardships confronted by nonprofits large and small in the wake of the recession.

 The once-booming nonprofit sector is in the midst of a shakeout, leaving many Americans without services and culling weak groups from the strong. Hit by a drop in donations and government funding in the wake of a deep recession, nonprofits—from arts councils to food banks—are undergoing a painful restructuring, including mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, cutbacks and closings. 

Some key revelations:

• Charitable donations in the U.S., which had been on a 20-year uptick until 2007, fell by 6% in 2008 and are expected to have further declined last year.  At the same time, government grant funding available to nonprofits has depleted.
• Well respected nonprofits have been forced to cut their programming or in some cases forced out of existence altogether.
• The clients served by human services organizations need more and more help, but funding for this segment of the larger nonprofit sector has taken a profound hit.
• The recession’s impact on the sector has “reawaken[ed] a touchy debate among some leaders in the nonprofit world over whether the economic prosperity of the past few decades has spawned an excess of nonprofits.”  Some in the industry argue that now is the time for nonprofits to explore mergers and other ways to ensure more efficient delivery of services.

The Wisconsin State Senate just passed a bill to update the eligibility limits to qualify for a state public defender from their current 1987 levels to 115% of the federal poverty line (from the State Bar of Wisconsin). The existing limits are the strictest in the country, and end up shifting the bulk of the financial responsibility for indigent defense onto the counties. The Capital Times had a good summary article last week on the current state of the limits, some recent attempts at updating them, and the consequences that have resulted from outdated standards.

The action taken by the Senate does not ensure success for the bill – it must still be passed by the Assembly, and the Governor vetoed a budget bill last summer that contained a nearly identical provision. However, the bill’s authors are hopeful because the financial burdens will not be felt until fiscal year 2011.

Occasionally we will feature guest authors here on the PSLawNet blog to share their unique wisdom and insights with you. Today, we have Andy Cowan writing about five things he wish he’d known while he was still in law school. Andy graduated cum laude from the Cornell Law School in 2008. He summered at the Pro Bono Project of New Orleans and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and now works as a public defender at the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Lowell, MA. Andy is an editor of the Public Defender Blog “Incorrigible Dicta” at http://www.dictablog.net.

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