This Week: Memphis Area Legal Services and Liz Lemon share something in common; a new report highlights Access to Justice troubles in the U.S.; Massachusetts D.A.’s are sounding alarms about budget cuts, pointing fingers at public defender; an access-to-justice op-ed continues its tour of Texas newspapers; some Harvard Law students do good work in the Big Easy; funding woes for Seattle public defenders (and it’s probably raining there, to boot); Michigan Law to develop cross-border human trafficking clinic with Mexican advocates; learn about the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center; mandatory pro bono in Mississippi isn’t that big a deal, so calm down; New York State bar chief chimes in on the need to shore up legal services funding; New Mexico Legal Aid’s executive director explains what’s at stake if poor people can’t access the justice system; proposed federal legislation would support public defenders, but probably won’t see a vote.

• 10.15.10 – Guess who’s turning 40?  Happy Birthday, Memphis Area Legal Services!  The Memphis Daily News runs a story recounting MALS’s humble beginnings, its transformation as a recipient of Legal Services Corporation funding, and the opportunities and challenges it faces today.  As with most legal services providers these days, demand for services outstrips service capacity: “MALS was able to serve just 37 percent of those who applied for legal assistance [in 2009].”  Harrison McIver, MALS’s executive director, notes that goals for the future include not only expanding service capacity, but also boosting salaries to improve attorney retention.  Good stuff!

• 10.14.10 – according to the Huffington Post, a new report by the World Justice Project suggests that, “particularly when it comes to access and affordability of legal counsel in civil disputes, the U.S. ranks 20 out of the 35 nations surveyed, below not only developed nations but also such countries as Mexico, Croatia and the Dominican Republic.”  The report paints a picture of “a significant gap between the rich and the poor in terms of their use and satisfaction with the civil courts system.”  A lot of poorer Americans surveyed didn’t feel the justice system treated them fairly, while the wealthier had a more favorable impression of the system.  The HuffPost piece notes that Legal Services Corporation has also been sounding the alarm about the poor not having access to justice, and that the Obama Administration appointed Prof. Laurence Tribe to address AtJ issues. Here’s a link to the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index.

• 10.14.10 – from the Salem News we learn that Massachusetts prosecutors are questioning a disparity between funding for the state’s indigent defense program and for their own offices.  “The Massachusetts District Attorneys Association says taxpayers now spend twice as much to defend accused criminals as they do to prosecute them.”  The MDAA argues that caseloads are much higher in prosecutors’ offices than with the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the public defender.  CPCS retorts, however, that many of the cases it handles are civil matters in which prosecutors are not involved, and that the prosecutors’ budget figures don’t include the budget for police, who do investigative and support work.  This article, while short, does a good job of highlighting the major sticking points in prosecutor/defender budget battles throughout the country.

• 10.12.10 – the Austin American-Statesman runs a terrific – and apparently immortal – op-ed about the struggles of the legal services community in the Lone Star State.  The piece, authored by Texas Supreme Court justice Nathan Hecht, has previously run in the Cherokeean Herald and the Houston Chronicle.  It calls upon the state legislature to appropriate funding in support of civil legal services.

• 10.12.10 – the Harvard Law Record, the school’s independent newspaper, reports on 13 law students who “completed over 500 pro bono hours with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services”  during the school’s “fly-out” week.  The PSLawNet Blog did not participate in OCI, and we certainly did not go to Harvard (we just didn’t apply is all), but we assume this “fly-out week” is the period when students leave Boston to do law firm interviews.  Kudos to the students who went down to Louisiana to lend a hand.

• 10.12.10 – according to Publicola, a Seattle-based news website, King County (that’s Seattle) public defenders are fighting budget cuts, armed with a recent report showing that defenders are in no position to a absorb a loss of resources.  “The Spangenberg report, an independent study on the Office of the Public Defender delivered to the county in June, concludes public defenders are overburdened by King County’s payment system, which pays a flat rate for all cases argued by public defenders, instead of paying a flexible rate based on the complexity of the case.  The Spangenberg [report] also concludes that public defenders in King County work 20 percent over capacity…”  The PSLawNet Blog is familiar with the Spangenberg Group, which has contracted to do indigent  defense and criminal justice system evaluations with governments throughout the U.S.  But we couldn’t find a copy of the King County report online.  Update (10/18):  Courtesy of David Newhouse we are now able to provide you with a link to the full report.

• 10.11.10 – the National Law Journal reports that the University of Michigan Law School ” has received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State to establish a human trafficking clinic at the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Unidad Académica de Derecho, a law school located in north central Mexico. The Mexican clinic is an offshoot of the human trafficking clinic that Michigan launched in 2009, which was the first of its kind in the United States …  One of the goals of the Mexican clinic, which will represent a partnership between the two law schools and a local nongovernmental organization called Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (Center for Migrant Rights), is to educate people about human trafficking. Although it will officially be part of the Mexican law school, the Michigan law school will help set up the clinic.”  We at the PSLawNet Blog think this is an interesting approach to addressing a problem – human trafficking – that by definition defies international border controls, while at the same time exposing the Michigan and the Mexican law school’s students to transnational practice issues.

• 10.11.10 – the Detroit News catches up with Nick Schroeck, the executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, an outfit that was created in 2008 “with ties to Wayne State University.”  In the short interview, Schroeck speaks generally about the Center, and about its recent involvement in Anglers of the Au Sable v. Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Merit Energy Co.  We’re exhausted after typing out that caption, so you’ll have to click in to learn more about the case.

• 10.10.10 – Luther Munford, a Jackson, Mississippi based lawyers, pens an oped for the Clarion Ledger in which he noted the controversy over a proposed ethical rule that would require the state’s lawyers to provide 20 hours of pro bono work per year or donate $500 to the cause.  Munford observed that what he thought of as a harmless idea “hit a buzz saw” when it met with opposition from the state’s board of bar commissioners and criticism by some of his professional colleauges.  Munford argues, using data on pro bono hours, lawyer salaries, and other evidence, that the proposal’s requirements should not be so controversial and should not be difficult for lawyers to meet.  He also notes that 1/3 of Mississippi’s population is “poor enough to qualify for legal aid.”  The PSLawNet Blog has been keeping up with developments on this controversy.  Stay tuned for more, and join us in appreciating how great a name Luther Munford is for a Southern lawyer.

• 10.10.10 – on LoHud.com, New York State Bar Association president Stephen P. Younger chimes in with an op-ed about the importance of access to justice for the state’s poor.  He joins with New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman in seeking solutions to the under-funding of the state’s legal services infrastructure.  “It runs counter to our basic concept of fairness to deprive someone of shelter, their child, or much needed government benefits without the aid of a lawyer.”  Funding for legal services is “woefully inadequate.  Our state’s core operating funding for these critical legal services amounts to only $3.68 per indigent person, compared to an average of $23.51 funded by our neighboring states.”  Younger moves on to make a fiscal case for boosting government support of legal services.  “Ironically, New York’s funding levels are not just morally unjust, they are also fiscally irresponsible. Last year, for every dollar spent on civil legal services to poor New Yorkers, more than $1.50 came back to our state — for a total of $361 million — through added federal benefits such as disability payments, supplemental social security or federal grants for civil legal services.”  Younger calls on the state’s legislators to create a “permanent and adequately funded Access to Justice fund.”  Good stuff.  The PSLawNet blog is pleased to see legal luminaries in the Empire State addressing an acute crisis.  As we’ve noted before, Chief Judge Lippmann has made access to justice a priority.

• 10.10.10 – on the NMPolitics.com website, New Mexico Legal Aid executive director Bill Strouse writes that access to justice means the ability to understand basic precepts and processes under-girding the justice system, and to navigate through the system.  This is best accomplished with a lawyer’s help, and New Mexico Legal Aid’s 40 attorneys “provide help to the approximate 350,000 people in New Mexico who live below the poverty line.”  However, a critical source of NMLA funding – a state appropriation – was recently cut by almost 25%.  And there “are already proposals to cut or eliminate [more] funding” in the next legislative session … This is not the time to cut or end funding for legal services to poor New Mexicans.  All New Mexicans…deserve access to the courts. Justice exists when people can access it.”

• 10.7.10 – from The Crime Report website, we learn about proposed federal legislation that would serve as a boon to the nation’s struggling indigent defense programs.  “The omnibus Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2010, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) contains language earmarking $20 million between fiscal years 2011 through 2015 for the country’s under-funded and over-worked legal aid providers.”  The problem?  According to the story the bill has little chance of passage, having been introduced so late in a busy legislative term.  The story’s worth checking out because it explores the difficulties which indigent defense programs have had – both in the distant and more recent past – in fulfilling Gideon’s promise.