May 14, 2010 at 11:12 am
· Filed under Legal Education, News and Developments, The Legal Industry and Economy
- 5.12.10 – National Law Journal – as the Louisiana legislature prepares to debate a bill that would vastly limit the types of legal advocacy performed by legal clinics at law schools in the state, the Louisiana Chemical Association is playing “hardball” in opposing the activities of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. The association is advocating “that [its 61 corporate members] stop making donations to the university, stop matching employee donations to the school and curtail recruiting there. Link to article. [Ed. Note: additional coverage of the legislative proposal is offered in the 5.10.10 New Orleans Times-Picayune article below.]
- 5.11.10 – Florida Times Union – Michael Figgins, executive director of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid for 15 years, has quietly but dramatically expanded the organization, a process that included a decision to stop receiving Legal Services Corporation funds. Link to article.
- 5.11.10 – Huffington Post Website (Opinion/Analysis Piece) – Maria Foscarinis, founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, weighs in on how a controversial, recently-passed Arizona immigration law may affect the increasing numbers of homeless and others in poverty who will not be able to readily produce personal identification documents if called upon to do so. Foscarinis suggests that the law “risks further criminalizing poverty, and in particular, the extreme form of poverty that is homelessness.” Link to piece.
- 5.10.10 – New Orleans Times-Picayune (running an AP article) – a Louisiana state senate bill could “hobble” law clinics at law schools located in the state. “As it now stands, the bill — scheduled for a Wednesday hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee — would prevent all university law clinics from challenging government agencies in court, suing individuals for damages or making constitutional claims. That would limit access to justice for thousands of low-income Louisianans and prevent law schools from providing students with a complete legal education, legal experts argue.” The bill has been proposed by a Senator who is concerned that some clinical programs – the Tulane University Environmental Law Clinic has been a point of focus – sue companies that are integral parts of the state’s economic infrastructure, which could ultimately lead to negative economic consequences for the state’s residents. Link to article. See also 5.4.10 coverage from the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog.
- 5.7.10 – The Record (New Jersey) – for the fourth year, “[b]attered women who have lost custody of children to spouses pleaded for legal help at a demonstration Friday in front of the Passaic County Courthouse. But their pleas come at a time when Northeast New Jersey Legal Services — in most instances the only provider of legal services for low-income people — has suffered a 20 percent loss of staff to attrition and layoffs in just the past year. And it still faces major budget cuts and staff reductions….[A]dministrators of social and legal agencies confirm it’s almost impossible for a woman without resources to get publicly provided legal representation in a custody case. And now, with major budget cuts to state-funded Legal Services, the chance is even more remote.” [Ed. Note: the article states that NNJLS’s staff has shrunk from 110 to 82 as a result of attrition and layoffs.] Link to article.
- 5.6.10 – New York Times – “New York’s highest court ruled Thursday that a broad class-action suit challenging the state’s system of providing public defenders can move forward because there are enough signs that the system is failing poor people. The 4-to-3 ruling by the State Court of Appeals came in a closely watched suit that civil liberties lawyers said could be a model for similar challenges across the country.” Link to article.
- 5.6.10 – Washington Post – a $2.4 million cy pres award stemming from a lawsuit involving cell phone fees is being used to bolster the financially strapped legal services community in Maryland. That award, characterized as “Miracle Money” by one bar foundation official, will allow programs that have been battered by the recession to avoid office closures and service cuts. Link to article.
- 5.6.10 – Monroe Evening News (Michigan) – Monroe County Senior Legal Services, which provides legal services to seniors using a sliding fee scale based on clients’ ability to pay, is holding fundraisers in order to finance the costs of serving a large portion of its clients who are living in poverty and unable to pay any fees. “For the first time in its 32-year history, the nonprofit agency finds itself faced with rising caseloads and too few dollars to help those 60 and older who need legal aid.” Link to article.
- 5.6.10 – Earth Times Website (Press Release) – “Low-income individuals in need of legal assistance [in Northern Virginia] with housing, consumer law and employment matters have an additional resource…as a result of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s recent expansion. Under an agreement with the Legal Services of Northern Virginia, the Legal Aid Justice Center now provides low-income immigrants in the metropolitan-DC area of Northern Virginia with a wider variety of legal issues than before.” Link to press release.
- 5.4.10 – San Francisco Chronicle – “More than 80 San Francisco police officers have criminal histories or misconduct records that the Police Department withheld and prosecutors did not disclose to defense attorneys in cases in which officers testified, a failure that could put hundreds of felony convictions in jeopardy. Link to article.
- 5.3.10 – New York Times – New York State’s top jurist called for a “Civil Gideon” – a right to counsel for the poor in some civil matters, “like suits over eviction and other disputes where basic needs are at stake.” Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said, “I am not talking about a single initiative, pilot project or temporary program, but what I believe must be a comprehensive, multifaceted, systemic approach to providing counsel to the indigent in civil cases.” Link to article.
- 5.3.10 – Jacksonville Daily Record (Florida) – [Ed Note: a Q&A piece provides details about the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership.] Link to article.
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