by Kristen Pavón

An article in The Miami Herald reports that South Florida public school enrollment dropped this year due to a rise in charter school popularity.

Broward and Miami-Dade counties has experienced a loss of more than 4,000 students to the 109 charter schools in the area. Charter schools in Miami-Dade saw an increase of 6,341 students from last year, totaling 41,488 students this year.

With capacity and quality issues at the helm of the nation’s education policy debate, charter schools have an opportunity to fill necessary gaps in the education system. However, what does the proliferation of these privately run schools mean for the public school system?

Read the whole story here.

Will this charter school competition spur drastic changes in public schools? Will school boards attempt to work cooperatively with charter schools? Are there other areas experiencing the same situation? What do you think?

By Kristen Pavón

D.C. attorney Marie-Therese Connolly received a MacArthur Foundation fellowship for her exceptional work as Appleseed’s Life Long Justice Initiative founder and director.

The MacArthur Foundation, one of the nation’s largest independent foundations, supports national and international people and institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.

Connolly’s Life Long Justice Initiative with Appleseed, a nonprofit network of public interest justice centers in the U.S. and Mexico, will focus on “creating an integrated national advocacy effort to prevent, detect, and intervene in the mistreatment of the elderly and secure reauthorization of key federal legislation.”

The MacArthur Foundation fellow has devoted her career to fighting elder abuse. She has served as the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice and Nursing Home Initiative director, where she developed legal theories and litigation strategies to prosecute elder abuse and neglect cases.

Connolly is a leading voice in the elder rights arena and with the MacArthur Foundation’s five-year award, she will be able to continue her meritorious efforts.

Learn more about Life Long Justice here.

By Andrea Nehorayoff

People are just sick over our foreclosure crisis. No really, foreclosures are literally making people sick. A study based on new research relating health problems to foreclosures states that the two are directly correlated.

According to two university researchers, “an increase of 100 foreclosures corresponded to a 7.2% rise in emergency room visits and hospitalizations for hypertension, and an 8.1% increase for diabetes, among people aged 20 to 49,” based on statistics since 2005 in Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, and California. These high-foreclosure areas are also faced with large populations of unemployed, underemployed and uninsured. People are driving themselves sick and they need help!

These numbers are flat-out scary. One solution to this problem is to help people find ways to avoid financial duress and keep their homes. Legal aid is a viable option for people facing foreclosure.

A Staten Island resident was able to receive a loan modification and stop her from losing her home altogether with the help of Staten Island Legal Services. Solutions like this one can help relieve the stress-related ailments—- respiratory problems, pneumonia, chest pain, shortness of breath and suicidal thoughts– associated with financial hardships, but by no means is a permanent one. We need to fix this problem. The research might only cover four states, but the statistics could be just as bad, or even worse, in other states.

What are your ideas about how attorneys can help alleviate the stress that foreclosures create?

Andrea, a newbie PSLawNet Blog contributor, is a Project Assistant at NALP. She is a senior at The George Washington University pursuing a degree in Political Science. Prior to joining NALP, Andrea’s political interests had her working for a variety of New York State political campaigns, including Governor Paterson’s reelection campaign, Kathleen Rice for NYS Attorney General, candidates for state senate, congressmen for reelection and the New York State Democratic Committee. She can be reached at anehorayoff@nalp.org.

Here’s an opportunity to represent the university that boasts 76 Nobel Prize winners and 35 National Medal of Science recipients! Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) will advise and represent MIT on legal issues related to research, faculty, students, health and safety, and privacy issues. 

MIT’s counsel will also streamline the school’s contracting processes by creating systems, training, and procedures that empower varied units to responsibly draft, negotiate, and enter into a variety of contracts involving copyright, software, licensing, confidentiality, and data protection; and support units in their contracting activities and handle unusual, complex contracts; provide legal, tactical, and strategic advice on policies, best practices, and education.

To learn more about the position and apply, check out the listing at PSLawNet

By Kristen Pavón

Murrow Award-winning legal analyst and commentator Andrew Cohen wrote an interesting op-ed for The Atlantic that gets to the heart of the controversial death penalty topic and cautions that we are close to a turning point on capital punishment.

In the modern era of capital punishment — since the Supreme Court’s decision in Gregg v. Georgia — three main camps have emerged. First, there are those who are for the death penalty all the way; the ones who lament the time and money it takes from trial to execution. Then, there are those who are against capital punishment all the way; the ones who believe that the state should never be in the business of killing its own citizens. And between the two solitudes, there is a vast middle; those who believe that there is a place for the death penalty, but only if it can be administered fairly and accurately, free from the sort of arbitrary and capricious decision-making that pushed the justices to do away with it in the first place in 1972 in Furman v. Georgia.

Cohen also chronicles our push-pull-tug relationship with capital punishment over the last few decades and tackles questions like “How fair does his [Duane Edward Buck] legal treatment really need to be?”

Last week, when Duane Buck’s case was on America’s docket, the most-asked questions (of me, anyway) were (to paraphrase): Why should I care about the procedural technicalities of this guy’s sentencing case when his guilt is not in doubt? Since he’s guilty of murder, how fair does his legal treatment really need to be? People of all political stripes asked the same questions. For them, Buck’s guilt evidently vitiated any need for an honest evaluation of the manner in which he was sentenced to death. Texas in 2000 conceded that Buck’s trial was impermissibly unfair? The other men similarly situated got their new trials? Who cares. The guy did it. He is getting more justice than he gave to his victims.

That last part is true. Of course, defendants like Duane Buck get more justice than their victims. That’s the whole point of our criminal justice system — and of the rule of law. That’s why we outlaw lynching, why angry mobs can’t storm jailhouses, and why we have judges. It’s why we have a Constitution. In America, we aim to give the guilty more justice than they deserve. We do so because of how that reflects upon us, not upon how it reflects upon the guilty. And when we fail to do so it says more about us than it does about the condemned. Although Let’s look just at Texas, again, for a moment.

It’s definitely a must-read piece. Check it out here.

By Kristen Pavón

In the midst of an access-to-justice crisis (as a result of the country’s economic situation, funding cuts at every turn and sky-high poverty rates), it’s easy to forget about the needs of organizations trying to do good work in their communities when thousands of low-income individuals are in dire need of effective representation.

However, many new or small non-profits, especially in this climate, do not have the resources to obtain effective legal representation and advice. Florida Legal Services, Inc. (FLS) recognized this need and is coordinating a statewide initiative to bring non-profits and transactional attorneys together for pro bono legal clinics.

On Oct. 6 at Florida Coastal School of Law, representatives of local nonprofit organizations will have the opportunity to meet one-to-one with attorneys from the Florida Bar Business Law Section who can provide legal guidance and direction for their organizations.

With sound legal advice, non-profits will be able to continuing serving their communities and providing essential services.

If you’re a Florida non-profit organization and are interested in setting up an appointment with an attorney, contact FLS Pro Bono Director Sheila Meehan at sheila@floridalegal.org.

For more information about the program, click here.

What do you think about this project? Would you be interested in setting up a similar project?

By Kristen Pavón

LegalZoom, the nation’s leading provider of online legal document services and legal plans to families and small business, unveiled an innovative new cost-effective service that combines technology with a network of law firms to prove one-on-one consultations.

Here’s more about how the service would work from The Sacramento Bee,

In most states, users can access an experienced attorney for free at the LegalZoom website. After an initial trial period, users can continue to get advice from an attorney on virtually any legal matter, as well as have legal documents reviewed on their behalf, by paying a low monthly fee.

There is no word on exactly how much this low-cost alternative will be or what legal issues will be handled, but with the access-to-justice crisis in full effect and no real end in sight, it’s definitely worth a look.

What do you think about this initiative as an option for providing legal aid to low-income populations?

Check out more details here.

By Kristen Pavón

The ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service is trying to revamp how we think about and how we deliver pro bono services. Additionally, the Committee wants to talk to people like you to let them know your ideas about increasing access to justice.

Twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, they’re asking you questions about pro bono. Today’s questions are: 1) What methods have you found most effective in engaging law students in pro bono? and 2) What type of legal work have you found is both most appropriate for law students and helpful for clients?

My voice has already been heard today!

Here’s a snippet of my response: Speaking from a recent law graduate perspective, I gained the most useful legal experience from representing clients from the intake phase to the research, advice or representation phases with a structured sense of supervision — meaning I was able to think and analyze independently but then spoke with an attorney to put my proposals through a vetting process. . . .

To read my entire response and have your voice heard, click HERE!

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is seeking a legislative associate with two or more years of experience to join its Government Relations team in Washington, D.C.

SELC uses law and policy expertise to protect the South’s natural resources—its land, air, water, coast and wetlands—and to preserve our rural countryside and community character.

SELC’s government relations team works in Congress and with federal agencies to advance policy objectives that enhance environmental protection and quality of life in the Southeast.

Duties include monitoring legislative hearings, working with SELC policy and legal staff to develop support materials and representing SELC at coalition meeting.

If you’re interested in joining SELC in its efforts to protect our environment, check out the full listing on PSLawNet.

By Kristen Pavón

This weekend, awards were given to twelve non-profit organizations and leaders to honor and celebrate their good work at the third annual Classy Awards, the largest philanthropic awards ceremony in the country.

Among the night’s winners were The Soldiers Project, Invisible Children, Northwestern University Dance Marathon and Marley’s Mission.

Five of the nominees were legal services-related. They are doing great work at home and abroad — let’s check ’em out.

Domestic Violence Action Center

Honolulu-based DVAC has focused on shaping awareness about domestic violence and maintaining the safety of domestic violence victims for more than 20 years.

DVAC has assisted almost 200,000 callers, served nearly 4,000 children and their families, made 5,781 court appearances, provided 16,570 court accompaniments, completed 30,522 safety plans and conducted 24,219 risk assessments by expertly trained staff.

Read DVAC’s entire nomination here.

Lutheran Ministries and Social Services of WACO
LMSS of Waco is a free legal clinic serving Waco, Texas, the fifth-poorest city in Texas and sixteenth-poorest city in the country. Their Legal Assistance Project is one of fourteen self-help or assisted pro se legal aid clinics in the state. Clients are educated about the court process, provided legal forms, and are supported by non-attorney advocates who follow the guidelines for providing legal information. To read their complete nomination, click here.

Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship
The Global Center was established at the University of the Pacific in 2006 to create a whole new generation of solution–minded pragmatists who will pioneer practical, inventive, and sustainable approaches to address the world’s most pressing social issues, including poverty, disease, malnutrition, environmental degradation, injustice and illiteracy. The Global Center has created 20 innovative student-centered programs focusing on these social issues. Read their entire nomination here.

Hunterdon Hispanos
“Hunterdon Hispanos is the only nonprofit in Hunterdon County, NJ devoted to Hispanic issues and run primarily by Hispanics.” Among other services, Hunterdon Hispanos provide legal advice, access to other resources, translation support and advocacy making it possible for crime victims to work with Prosecutors on cases. Their goal is to continue to bring people together around issues of mutual concern, break down barriers and build community for the benefit of all. Read their nomination here.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners! Keep doing good work!

Do you know a non-profit organization that deserves recognition for the work they do? Let us know!