June 4, 2010 at 12:05 pm
· Filed under News and Developments, The Legal Industry and Economy
- 6.1.10 – The Tennessean – Tennessee’s chief justice, Janice Holder, recently lamented the “crisis in the need for civil legal services” that has arisen as a result of the economic recession. While roughly 1 million Tennesseans are financially eligible for free legal services, there are only “81 federally funded, full-time attorneys in Tennessee to help them.” Too many low-income individuals and families are being forced to navigate the justice system without a lawyer. In response, the Tennessee Supreme Court ordered the formation of an Access to Justice Initiative in 2008. Under the AtJ Initiative’s auspices, several recommendations have been issued about ways to bolster the support structure for low-income and pro se litigants. Link to article.
- 6.1.10 – National Law Journal – in Berghuis v. Thompkins, the Supreme Court held by a vote of 5-4 that, in order to invoke their right to remain silent, a criminal suspect must affirmatively do so, as opposed to simply remaining silent. The court further held that “once a suspect has received and understood the Miranda warning about the right to remain silent, he or she automatically waives that right by answering a subsequent police question.” In the majority opinion, Justice Kennedy wrote that “there is good reason to require an accused who wants to invoke his or her right to remain silent to do so unambiguously.” The lead dissent, authored by Justice Sotomayor, argued that the decision subverted Miranda: “Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent – which, counterintuitively, requires them to speak.” Link to article.
- 5.31.10 – Lansing State Journal (based in Michigan, but running a piece about activity in Chicago) – about 60 Class-of-2009 law graduates whose start dates were deferred by big law firms have joined Chicago’s legal services community during their deferral periods. Despite some initial skepticism about how effective these temporary placements would be, they have worked out remarkably well so far, with the deferred associates getting valuable hands-on practice experience while helping organizations to maintain service capacity. These developments have also “sparked discussions of whether a more permanent model of apprenticeships can be developed that would train law school graduates at a lower cost and benefit public interest legal organizations that are suffering from funding constraints while attending to a greater need because of the recession. Link to article. [Ed. Note: this article is a shortened version of a piece that originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on April 4.]
- 5.29.10 – Houston Chronicle (Opinion Piece) – Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis notes that there has been significant improvement in the Lone Star State’s indigent defense system since 2001 passage of the Fair Defense Act, which, among other initiatives, provided state funding for indigent defense. Nevertheless, the indigent defense infrastructure needs to be shored up. State funding now is generated through court fees – not from tax receipts – and is inadequate. It should be increased so that counties do not continue bearing so much of the remaining cost of funding indigent defense. Well-funded indigent defense programs are ultimately cost-efficient and go a long way to ensuring that justice is served. Link to piece.
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