We return after a week’s absence with a robust edition of the News Bulletin.  Below, please read our coverage of:

• Layoffs at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund (AppalReD);
• Legal services funding crisis in Texas – and proposed solutions;
• in Georgia, even a small cut to DV legal services funding will have a big impact;
• Maine indigent defense program still struggling with funding;
• Ditto, and it’s even worse, in Missouri;
• A profile of L.A. County’s public defender;
• Right to counsel in New York foreclosure proceedings;
• How an LSC funding slash could impact Florida’s legal services community;
• DOJ’s budget proposal calls for a modest increase in attorney positions, sheds light on agency priorities;
• Lots of coverage of FY 2012 LSC funding proposals;
• A 1,000-lawyer public defense agency in Massachusetts?;
• President Ronald Reagan’s legacy in spurring the growth of conservative public interest organizations;
• Cuts in Florida court funding will strain defenders and prosecutors;
• New academic work on exonerations via DNA evidence;
• Some props for the Tennessee Justice Center;
• Lawyers ensuring Florida farmworkers are paid for their labor;
• In Arizona, the Justice Bus rides again!;
• A political fight in Chicago (surprise!) – dispute about 10% cuts to the state’s attorney’s and defender’s budgets;
• Continued wrangling about the administration of Georgia’s indigent defense program;
• A solution to lowering criminal justice costs in Seattle: fewer capital-case prosecutions;
• Rhode Island U.S. Attorney not invited to party as DEA, state trooper make big drug bust;
• The importance of pro bono in Eastern Pennsylvania;
• Tennessee’s “attorney emeritus” pro bono program has launched.

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• 2.17.11 – as a follow-up to previous coverage of financial troubles at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund (AppalReD) – an LSC-funded legal services provider in Eastern Kentucky – a piece in the Richmond Register provides some detail about layoffs: “Layoffs are expected in Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky (AppalRed) offices around the state. A total of nine employees will be cut, according to a press release from Interim Executive Director Jonathan Picklesimer.”

• 2.16.11 – The Dallas Morning News reports on the efforts of stakeholders in Texas’s legal services community to counter an extraordinary decline in IOLTA revenue – nearly 75% since 2007.  “Representatives from the state Supreme Court, the Texas Access to Justice Commission and Foundation, and legal aid services said that low interest rates, an economic downturn and an increase in the need for legal aid services have created a crisis.”  As a result, they are advocating for state legislators to create new court filing fees that would generate funding to serve low-income Texans with legal needs.  Here are some specifics on the legal services funding crisis and proposed legislative solutions, from a joint Texas Access to Justice Commission/Foundation press release.  Finding creative solutions makes sense in light of the fact that the state appropriations picture doesn’t look pretty for legal services: the Houston Chronicle reports that a current proposal contemplates a cut of $23 million in legal services funding.

• 2.16.11 – in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Legal Services Program’s Vicky O. Kimbrell writes that the small amount which may be cut from the state judiciary’s fund for domestic violence legal services could have large impact.  “In this weary season of budget slashing, the latest of many, the Georgia Legislature is considering a cut — about $80,000 — to funding for free legal representation of folks, women and children mostly, who are victims of domestic violence … Amid the millions of dollars of cuts, this may seem like small potatoes. In theory, yes.”  But in fact, the proposed cut represents “enough to fund representation of 64 clients in domestic violence cases.”

• 2.16.11 – Maine’s Kennebec Journal provides the latest on funding challenges confronting the Pine Tree State’s indigent defense administration: “Leaders of the new state commission that oversees legal defense for the poor say a recent budget compromise should enable them to keep paying court-appointed lawyers into early June, the last month of the fiscal year.  However, the added $200,000 for the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services’ budget is only enough to keep the commission running, they say. It does not address long-term financial concerns and an ongoing $600,000 budget shortfall that was inherited from the prior administration.”  The article goes on to provide background on the Commission’s formation and the rocky financial road it has driven since.

• 2.16.11 – the long-simmering controversy about an overworked, under-funded indigent program in Missouri is coming to head.  As reported in the Springfield News-Leader, the state’s high court is expected to decide soon on the question of whether public defenders’ offices may essentially shut down when caseload limits become too high.  In the meantime, the Supreme Court had appointed retired Missouri judge Miles Sweeney as a special master.  The court asked Sweeney to look into the controversy.  (A scanned-in version of Sweeney’s report, filed with the Supreme Court on 2.9.11, is available on the KOMU TV station website.)  Judge Sweeney’s report was not expected to offer any silver bullets to the problem, but it did make some noteworthy suggestions, including reworking the state’s criminal code so that some crimes are treated as misdemeanors, which require fewer resources to prosecute and defend.  Sweeney also determined that  public defenders need more funding, as reported on the KSPR TV website.  It’s important to remember, too, amidst this more abstract debate about how to fund and administer an effective indigent defense system, that strains on the system can have profound effects on people’s lives.  One defendant sat in jail from July, 2010 until early this month, even though his plea deal would have put him in drug treatment (not jail), and only through January (as reported by the Belleville News-Democrat).   

• 2.16.11 – the L.A. Times runs an enjoyable, and inspiring, piece on Ron Brown, who grew up in an L.A. housing project and faced down personal and professional adversity while rising quickly through the ranks to become Los Angeles County’s public defender.  Brown appears to be naturally gifted as a litigator, but has also invested great amounts of time and energy in honing his lawyering and management skills.  The story serves as an ample lesson for law students that, at all stages of their lives, many successful lawyers work through unexpected challenges – from bumps in the road to more tragic events.

• 2.15.11 – Civil Gideon!  Kind of!  The New York Times reports on civil-right-to-counsel program being unveiled in New York State foreclosure proceedings: “New York court officials outlined procedures Tuesday aimed at assuring that all homeowners facing foreclosure were represented by a lawyer, a shift that could give tens of thousands of families a better chance at saving their homes.  Criminal defendants are guaranteed a lawyer, but New York will be the first state to try to extend that pledge to foreclosures, which are civil matters. There are about 80,000 active foreclosure cases in New York courts. In more than half of them, only the banks have lawyers.”  The program is going to launch in Queens and Orange Counties in the immediate future.  By the end of the year it should be rolled out throughout the state.

 

• 2.15.11 – the Daily Business Review highlights how a proposed Legal Services Corporation funding cut could impact Florida’s legal services community.  “The U.S. House Appropriations Committee plans cuts of at least 17 percent in federal support for Legal Services Corp., the largest legal aid organization serving indigent clients in Florida.  LSC distributes funds to seven legal aid agencies in Florida. In South Florida, Broward and Miami-Dade counties receive most of their budgets from LSC. The Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County does not take LSC funding due to federal spending restrictions.”  As noted in the piece, Florida legal services programs are already reeling from plummeted IOLTA yields.  “This comes at a time when another major funding source — interest on lawyer trust accounts — is on the verge of disappearing. Since the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates to near zero, earned interest on trust accounts dropped to almost nothing. Grants have been paid from reserves, but reserves will be exhausted this year.”

• 2.14.11 – the Blog of the Legal Times blogs about the U.S. DOJ’s 2012 budget request, which calls for creating new attorney positions.  When the PSLawNet Blog read the headline, our eyes opened wide.  Jobs!  In fact, there aren’t too many new positions proposed.  But hey, it’s something.  And more importantly for job seekers, it speaks to where administration staffing priorities are right now.  “Justice Department officials on Monday rolled out the department’s $28.2 billion fiscal year 2012 proposed budget, which calls for adding attorneys to focus on national security, appellate litigation and intellectual property enforcement … The DOJ budget proposal calls for five additional attorneys and 71 agents in the national security arena, including two lawyers to focus on counterterrorism and counterespionage … The budget also asks for two more lawyers in the Office of the Solicitor General … DOJ officials want to pump $3 million more into the Criminal Division, including adding six attorneys, to focus on transnational intellectual property enforcement. Overall, the department is asking for 22 more attorneys for the division in a budget request that is a 13.4% increase over previous funding.”  Also notable is that DOJ is proposing a funding slash to the National Drug Intelligence Center and the elimination of the DEA’s Mobile Enforcement Team program.

• 2.14.11 – there has been a good deal of coverage about Legal Services Corporation funding, as both the president and the Republican-led House have released appropriations proposals for FY 2012.  The good news for the equal justice community: President Obama is calling for a $30 million appropriations increase (from $420 million to $450 million), as reported by the Blog of the Legal Times.  The bad news: the House Appropriations Committee has proposed slashing at least $75 million from LSC funding (as reported by the National Law Journal – article may be password-protected).  Some related information:
  • A statement from LSC noting that a $75 million cut would “devastate legal aid to the poor”;
  • A separate statement from LSC’s current and former board chairs, stating that the “flame of equal justice” is “flickering far too low”; 
  • According to the NLJ, ABA President Stephen Zack voiced opposition to a funding cut: “Stephen Zack, president of the American Bar Association, which is a longtime supporter of the LSC, said in a written statement, “Hard choices loom as to priorities for federal spending, but let’s be smart about where reductions are made.…Slashing funds that keep working class and poor people from falling into a legal and financial tailspin is not the right decision in this economy.”
  • The ABA House of Delegates issued a resolution stating: “[T]he American Bar Association opposes any proposal to cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation for the Fiscal Year 2011, and urges Congress to support increased funding of the Corporation to the level necessary to provide needed services to low income Americans.”
  • For an opposing viewpoint, here’s a staffer at the National Legal and Policy Center suggesting that LSC should be defunded entirely. 

• 2.14.11 – the Boston Globe reports that, 6 years after Massachusetts revamped its indigent defense system – which relies on private counsel taking case assignments from the state rather than dedicated public defenders – costs continue to rise at a fast clip.  As a consequence, Governor Deval Patrick has “proposed hiring 1,000 full-time staff lawyers to reduce the use of private lawyers, saying it could slash at least $45 million from the agency’s budget.”  Needless to say, the political wrangling within the Bay State’s legal community has begun; attorneys affiliated with the current indigent defense system are pushing back by noting that an expanding scope of responsibilities in representing clients is leading to time and cost increases.  Speaking of Gov. Patrick’s proposal to create a 1000-attorney public defense organization, here’s a Boston Herald op-ed in favor of it. 

• 2.14.11 – an opinion piece in National Law Journal looks at President Reagan’s influence in spurring the growth of conservative public interest law organizations which sought to assert and defend individual rights.  In the early 1970s, while governor of California, then-Governor Reagan’s welfare reform efforts contributed to the Pacific Legal Foundation’s creation.  Such groups emerged in other parts of the country and have had a significant impact in property rights, civil rights, and limited-government cases.

• 2.13.11 – the Palm Beach Post reports on proposed budget cuts that will weigh heavily an already strained court system.  “Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget cuts ranging from 5 percent to more than 7 percent for various parts of the justice system come on the heels of other recent cutbacks and, if enacted, will place an even greater strain on judges, prosecutors and public defenders … The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office has seen its budget pared by 15 percent over the past three years, and prosecutors have not had a cost-of-living salary adjustment in five years, State Attorney Michael McAuliffe said.”  Prosecutor turnover, according to McAuliffe, ultimately costs the taxpayers “millions of dollars every year.”  As for those on the other side of the courtroom: “The budget of Public Defender Carey Haughwout’s office has been reduced 10 percent over the past five years. In the same time, its caseload has increased from 46,342 cases in 2006 to 51,349 cases in 2010, but the office’s workforce has been reduced by 15 percent, Haughwout said.  Facing a 5 percent budget reduction under Scott’s proposal, she said more layoffs will be necessary if the legislature approves the plan.”

• 2.13.11 – a Wichita Eagle article highlights recent work by a Univ. of Virginia law professor in analyzing exonerations by DNA evidence throughout the U.S.  Professor Bandon Garrett, in studying 266 such exonerations, found that 79% of the innocent convicts were convicted with (in part) eyewitness testimony.  Perhaps surprisingly, “inaccurate forensic testing” was involved in 57% of the wrongful convictions.  The article goes on to note measures being implemented in Kansas and other jurisdictions to prevent future wrongful convictions.  (Professor Garrett’s got a book on this topic, Convicting the Innocent: Where Prosecutions Go Wrong, due out in April.)

• 2.12.11 – the Tennessean runs a guest piece by former state high court justice E. Riley Anderson in which he writes that the Tennessee Justice Center “has made our legal system more just, our community more compassionate, and our government institutions more accountable. This small public-interest law firm, which just celebrated its 15th anniversary, has an outsized effect on the quality of life in Tennessee.”  TJC, headquartered in Nashville, provides a range of services to clients and other service providers, focusing largely on access-to-healthcare work.

• 2.11.11 – a Fort Myers News Press article reports on a Florida Rural Legal Services initiative – Get Paid! – to ensure that farmworkers in Southwest Florida are being properly compensated for their work.  The initiatives goal is to create a team of pro bono lawyers and law students to represent documented migrant workers in wage recoupment cases. 

• 2.11.11 – the Justice Bus rides again!  An Arizona State University news website notes that, in early March, the “Family Justice Bus at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University will offer free legal advice and self-help information relating to bankruptcy, unemployment insurance, domestic violence, consumer rights, service member rights and income tax preparation” to an underserved community north of Tucson.  PSLawNet Blog devotees will remember that we covered the Justice Bus’s maiden voyage last March. It’s a terrific idea, particularly in an expansive state with a lot of rural poverty.

• 2.10.11 – in the Windy City, both the public defender and state’s attorney are crying foul about an alleged agreement with the county government to trim their budgets by 10% each, according to the Chicago Sun Times.  Neither office thought there was any firm deal in place.  But the Cook County board president is standing pat on the 10% cut.  The defender’s office says that the cuts could result in layoffs: “[First Assistant Public Defender Patrick] Reardon says trimming the budget by just under $6 million would mean more than 100 layoffs in an office with a payroll of 703. That could translate to some of the county’s poorest crime suspects spending more time behind bars as they wind their way through the criminal justice system.” 

• 2.10.11 – continued drama affecting Georgia’s indigent defense system.  An AP article hosted on the WRCP TV station website notes this activity in the state legislature: “Powerful House Republicans are pushing a measure that would give the board of Georgia’s public defender system more say on its leader.  State Rep. Rich Golick of Smyrna and others back a House measure that would allow the director of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council to be appointed and removed by the council, subject to the approval of the governor.

• 2.8.11 – in Seattle, as in other local and state jurisdictions, lean fiscal times bring about debate on the costs (financial, that is) of capital punishment.  From the Seattle Times:  “An association representing defense lawyers has a different idea than King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg about how his office can do its job following the elimination of 36 deputy prosecutors since 2008.   Instead of seeking an appropriation of criminal-justice reserve funds, the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers suggests that Satterberg not seek the death penalty in aggravated murder cases.  The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office could “could make up its budget shortfall several times over” with the money it would save by withdrawing death-penalty requests, the trial lawyers wrote in a letter Friday to Metropolitan King County Council Chairman Larry Gossett.”

• 2.9.11 – the Providence Journal reports that it was big news when DEA agents and Rhode Island state police arrested three men on drug charges and seized about 150 pounds of cocaine and over $1 million.  Perhaps it shouldn’t have been news, though, to the Rhode Island U.S. Attorney’s office, which hadn’t known about the investigation leading to the bust.  This comes at a time when joint law enforcement efforts are a priority to U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha.

• 2.8.11 – North Penn Legal Services’ executive director reinforces the recent call by Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille for in increase in private bar support for pro bono.  In the Times Leader, North Penn’s Victoria Coyle notes that the poor in her service area are growing in number, and becoming poorer.  Coyle thanks the dozens of pro bono volunteers who have supported North Penn’s work, and calls for more help in serving clients in need.

• 2.8.11 – Chattanooga-based WDEF reports that Tennessee’s attorney emeritus program has its first official volunteer: “The Tennessee Supreme Court approved the first retired attorney in the state to take part in the Court’s new pro bono emeritus program. This program allows retired attorneys to provide pro bono legal services through legal assistance organizations that offer free services to Tennesseans who are unable to afford legal counsel.”