In summary…there’s a lot of public interest news this week.  Unfortunately, a lot of it’s not good.  Funding shortages are affecting public interest programs literally from the Mexican to the Canadian borders.  Featured: the “Last Resort Exoneration Project” is released at Seton Hall Law; a young lawyer weighs the virtues of Model Rule 6.1; apparent financial trouble at AppalReD leads to the ED’s firing; farewell to a titan among federal defenders; the North Carolina State Bar is trying to ramp up pro bono efforts; cuts in local funding for a Louisiana legal services provider; unbundling legal services to serve more low-income Mississippians; fighting against food stamp terminations in Washington State; potential staff layoffs at Rhode Island Legal Services ruffle union feathers; the Colorado criminal defense bar is fighting for easier access to public defenders; loan repayment for Illinois prosecutors and public defenders; an office closure by New Mexico Legal Aid; discontinuing the Homeless Rights Project in San Francisco; arguments for permitting easier public access to juvenile court records and proceedings; the fight continues over an indigent defense attorney assignment overhaul in the Big Apple (or in French: le Big Apple); will the planned closure of a Southern Arizona Legal Aid office be avoided?; the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services is running out of funds; financial support for legal services for artists; New York’s top jurist calls upon the bar to support pro bono and legal services funding; legal services funding woes in Texas; Washington State high court arguments about a foster child’s right to counsel.   

• 2.3.11 – a New Jersey Star-Ledger blog highlights the launch of the “Last Resort Exoneration Project” at Seton Hall Law School.  The project will work to free innocent convicts, but unlike the high-profile Innocence Project, the Exoneration Project will focus on cases where DNA evidence is not in play – no meager feat.  The new initiative is something of a family affair.  Exoneration Project director Lesley Risinger first worked to free an innocent convict before attending law school; she enlisted the help of her mother, an attorney.  Now a lawyer herself, Risinger will co-direct the project with her husband, a Seton Hall Law professor.

• 2.3.11 – on the Minnesota Lawyer’s JDs Rising Blog, a newly admitted attorney explores Model Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1 – the pro bono rule – wondering whether it’s ultimately beneficial or too restrictive that lawyers are called upon to provide legal services and to support legal services for the poor rather than being able to provide service/contributions outside of the legal arena.

• 2.2.11 – from the Lexington Herald-Leader: “The main provider of civil legal help for poor people in Eastern Kentucky has fired its director and cut several other staff positions after an internal investigation.  The board of Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, a publicly funded legal aid agency, fired Cynthia Elliott on Saturday after finishing the internal review … AppalReD has total annual funding of $4.3 million, interim director Jonathan Picklesimer said Wednesday, and during the past four years it might have overspent its budget by nearly $1 million.”  The story later notes that the “other staff positions” which were cut were done so for financial reasons, according to AppalReD’s board chairman, not reasons related directly to the investigation.

• 2.2.11 – the New York Times has a nice write-up on the retirement of New York City’s chief federal defender, who has earned the respect of judges and legal adversaries and whose office has handled myriad high- and low-profile matters in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  “Leonard F. Joy, the lawyer who has led New York’s influential federal public defender’s office for the last two decades, is retiring this month, ending a tenure during which his office represented some of the most infamous defendants being prosecuted by the United States attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn.”

• 2.2.11 – a piece in the Raleigh News Observer highlights the North Carolina State Bar’s efforts to promote increased pro bono by 1) recommending in a new rule of conduct that attorneys complete 50 hours of pro bono annually, and 2) strengthening its ties with Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC).  The piece further notes that LANC is facing possible funding cuts out of the $5 million it presently receives from the state.  Even with things as they are now, LANC “can only take up [to] two cases for every 10 received.”    

• 2.2.11 – the Louisiana-based Tri-Parish Times reports on local funding cuts to legal services: “Low-income individuals and families that have depended upon or might need legal assistance when dealing with civil matters in Louisiana could be left without representation as parishes cut back on their budgets in 2011.  Capital Area Legal Services Corp., which has been funded by contributions from 12 parishes…is faced with a loss of financial support that could range from $24,530 to $47,330 this year. In turn, the legal aid agency could soon be faced with cutting some of its services.”   

• 2.2.11 – the AP reports that, at the proposal of Mississippi’s Access to Justice Commission, the state’s high court has adopted a rule permitting limited scope representation so that attorneys may provide unbundled services to clients who can not afford full-scope representation.  “Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said the limited scope representation rule is to encourage lawyers to provide some services to clients who are limited in what they can afford. He said the revised rules also encourage lawyers to provide volunteer services to legal hotlines and clinics without fear of creating conflicts of interest.”

• 2.1.11 – from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “A federal judge has temporarily stopped Washington from eliminating food benefits for thousands of legal immigrants, after the state was planning to whack the program to save $7.2 million … The Department of Social and Health Services’ “plan called for eliminating state food aid to 14,000 poor, legal immigrants who don’t qualify for federal food stamps, mostly because they haven’t lived in the country long enough. The move prompted Columbia Legal Services to file a federal, class-action lawsuit last month, alleging the cut is unconstitutional.”  Columbia Legal Services, arguing on Equal Protection and other grounds, secured a preliminary injunction halting the benefit cut.  Here is an announcement from CLS’s website.

• 1.31.11 – potential legal services staff layoffs, and it’s messy.  From the Providence Journal: “Rhode Island Legal Services, the nonprofit law firm that works on civil matters for low-income people and is itself in financial straits, announced the layoff of 13 paralegals effective at the end of business Monday.  But a few hours later, in a hurry-up meeting Monday afternoon, the board of directors voted to postpone the layoffs until Feb. 15 in hopes of negotiating an alternative solution with the paralegals’ labor union.”

• 1.31.11 – indigent defense news from the Centennial State: “The Colorado Criminal Defense Bar and the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform [Coalition] have filed a lawsuit to change the law on public defense.”  At present, indigent defendants facing charges on misdemeanor crimes may have access to a public defense attorney only after meeting with a prosecutor.  The criminal defense bar wishes to change this rule.  Here’s a blurb from the KJCT8 TV station website.

• 1.31.11 – an announcement on the College Zone website notes that “Prosecutors and public defenders serving in courtrooms across Illinois will receive much-needed financial assistance with mounting student loan bills under the John R. Justice (JRJ) Grant Program, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin said (D-IL) today.”  Durbin was JRJ’s sponsor and one of its chief proponents.  The fruits of that labor: over $365K in loan repayment assistance funds will be distributed to 120 public defenders and prosecutors in Illinois.

• 1.29.11 – El Defensor Chieftain (great name!) reports on an office closure by New Mexico Legal Aid.  “For almost two years, free advice and legal representation has been available from the attorneys at the Socorro field office of New Mexico Legal Aid. Now, after serving more than 2,000 clients, the three-man office is closing. Its last day will be Friday, Feb. 4 …. The majority of NMLA’s funding comes from federal and state grants.”  According to an NMLA lawyer quoted in the piece, proposed state funding cuts could have a huge impact on social services providers.  Based on what the PSLawNet Blog has been reading lately, state and local budget cuts affecting legal services providers could become more and more frequent.  Given the recent shift in political winds, it does not appear likely that federal funding from the Legal Services Corporation will be able to offset funding losses.  Not good news for legal services providers, and even worse news for clients.

• 1.29.11 – San Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius applauds the local Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights’ discontinuation of its Homeless Rights Project, which had provided counsel – often pro bono attorneys – to homeless individuals who were cited by police for incidents related to their presence or behavior on the streets.  The Lawyers Committee stated that the project was cut mainly as a budget-tightening measure, but Nevius notes that it had drawn “plenty of scrutiny” from himself and Lawyers Committee board members.  Nevius had been critical of the project because he questioned whether handling citations was the most effective use of a public interest advocate’s time in serving the poor and homeless.

• 1.29.11 – should juvenile court proceedings and records be closed to the public?  One retired California judge thinks not.  Writing in the San Jose Mercury News, Judge Leonard Edwards writes that “In practice, most juvenile courts in California remain closed to the public. Judges are understandably reluctant to admit into the courtroom anyone other than those persons directly involved in the individual case being heard.  I suggest that the legal presumption should be for open court hearings with the judge having the right to restrict access on a case-by-case basis.”  (There is a legislative proposal for such a change being considered in California.)  Edwards advances six arguments in favor of opening juvenile courts to more public scrutiny, and you may read them here…

• 1.28.11 – the Courthouse News Service notes that the five bar associations from NYC’s boroughs are continuing in their attempt to halt Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to change the assigned counsel system for thousands of cases requiring public defenders.  The system was last reworked in 1965, with substantial input from the bar associations.  This time, though, they feel that the mayor pushed through changes that will tax already overburdened Legal Aid Society lawyers and otherwise jeopardize clients’ rights to competent counsel.

• 1.28.11 – according to the Nogales International, a meeting was set to take place yesterday (Feb. 3rd) to determine if Southern Arizona Legal Aid’s office there can be saved from a planned closure.  (As of the time the PSLawNet Blog is publishing, there isn’t any news about how the meeting went.)

• 1.28.11 – indigent defense funding woes in the Pine Tree State.  The Bangor Daily News reports that the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services’ executive director told legislators last week “that it not only can’t cut $98,000 form its budget [as the newly elected governor desires], but the commission needs back two-thirds of the money cut from its budget last year in order to pay its bills through June 30, the end of the fiscal year. ”  The Commission is still a baby, having been established in 2009 in order to remove indigent counsel assignment responsibilities from the judiciary’s bailiwick.  The chair of the state senate’s appropriations committee said that the commission is still finding its funding footing, and that the executive director will return to the legislature with additional figures before any decisions are made.  Also, the Maine Public Broadcasting Network reported that another senator noted that a miscommunication resulted in the governor’s office not realizing, when it requested a budget cut, that the MCILS was so short on funding to begin with.

• 1.28.11 – a brief Wall Street Journal article highlights some recent support for legal services for starving artists: “The Matisse Foundation awarded its latest donation to the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, a nonprofit organization that provides legal services to artists. The $20,000 donation will help fund the group’s new website called Ask a Lawyer. The site provides basic legal advice in areas like intellectual property, contracts and business incorporation.”

• 1.28.11- New York’s top jurist, one of the most vocal advocates for bolstering legal services in the wake of the recession, called upon the Empire State’s attorneys to increase pro bono contributions, according to the New York Law Journal.  Chief Judge Lippman is becoming something of hero to the PSLawNet Blog, not only because he’s taken all sorts of opportunities to talk about the crisis in adequately serving poor people with legal needs, but because he’s matched the talk with action. Mindful of the state bar’s demographics, Lippman led the charge in creating an “attorney emeritus” program which makes it easy for retired attorneys to volunteer on cases.  Even more importantly, he’s shaking the legislative tree for additional funding.  The NYLJ notes that “[t]he Judiciary proposed spending $25 million more in the state’s next fiscal year on civil legal services, to grow by $25 million increments over the subsequent three years to an outlay of $100 million more a year starting in fiscal 2014-15.”

• 1.27.11 – everything’s bigger in Texas…except legal services funding.  A Houston Chronicle editorial laments the sad state of funding, especially at a time when domestic violence is on the rise and providers must turn away more and more clients.  “Texas IOLTA funds have dropped a staggering 73 percent since 2007, from $20 million to a little over $5 million in 2009. In a refreshing display of bipartisanship, state legislators stepped up to the plate last session with $20 million in funding, but no such largess is expected this time around.”  The editorial closes with an admonishment against legislative budget-slashing that will badly impact the state’s most vulnerable residents: “Some services are essential, even in tough times, and legal aid to the poor is one of them.”

• 1.27.11 – NPR covered arguments in front of Washington State’s high court about whether foster children should have a right to counsel in parental termination cases.  An attorney from Columbia Legal Services is arguing in the affirmative.  Judging by this story and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer piece above, we’d say things are hopping at CLS these days.