The National Education Association (NEA) is America’s oldest and largest organization committed to advancing the cause of public education. Headquartered in Washington, DC, NEA proudly claims more than 3 million members devoted to the following mission: to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education by preparing every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world. Our vision is a great public school for every student. We strive to improve the quality of teaching, to increase student achievement, and to make schools safer and better places to learn.

NEA seeks an experienced attorney to join the team in the NEA Office of General Counsel. The NEA Office of General Counsel works on a diverse array of legal matters to advance NEA’s overall mission including litigation, regulatory and advocacy matters. The NEA Office of General Counsel’s caseload includes cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and a small number of state appellate courts and administrative forums. In addition, the NEA Office of General Counsel frequently presents the views of NEA on federal regulatory initiatives affecting NEA, NEA affiliates and their members and leaders. The NEA Office of General Counsel also administers the National Organization of Lawyers for Educational Associations (“NOLEA”), which is a national network of lawyers representing school employees and their associations. To that end, the NEA Office of General Counsel maintains a NOLEA groupsite, regularly circulates an E-Letter update of legal developments to NOLEA members, and holds an annual education conference.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

NHLP seeks applicants to sponsor for Skadden Fellowship. NHLP has successfully sponsored several fellowship applicants in the past, including Skadden, Equal Justice Works, and Soros fellows. We will work closely with the selected applicant in developing fellowship applications.  Work to commence in the fall of 2013 at NHLP’s San Francisco office.

Possible fellowship initiatives include, but are not limited to:

(1) Emerging Fair Housing Issues:  The new HUD administration promises a new emphasis on fair housing issues such as the rights of LGBT individuals and affirmatively furthering fair housing to ensure opportunities to live in communities of opportunity and inclusion. Additionally, local and state efforts to prevent discrimination on the basis of one’s source of income or housing subsidy have met with limited success in preventing such discrimination. The fellow will engage in policy advocacy, training, and selective litigation to address these emerging issues.

(2) Resident Engagement: NHLP has recently undertaken pioneering work engaging federally-assisted housing residents in advocacy and policymaking. HUD’s new initiatives offer opportunities for resident involvement and its 5 Year Strategic Plan states that residents of HUD assisted housing are its highest priority stakeholders. NHLP work on the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) resulted in residents being heard and influencing policy at the national level.  Implementation of RAD, including resident engagement at the local level, is the next step.  NHLP has also established a Resident Academy designed to train and inform resident of their rights and encourage resident participation at the national and local level.  This fellowship opportunity will provide a unique opportunity to work on national policy issues as well as grass roots work in collaboration with residents, resident organizations, community groups and Housing Justice Network members to ensure that resident voices continue to be heard during the development of new policies and during implementation at the local level. The fellow will also help expand the reach and scope of the Resident Academy.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Maria Hibbard

Grasping the degree of disparity in access to civil legal aid is something that is a little hard for me to wrap my head around at this point in my legal career; although Legal Services of New Jersey has made it a little easier with the release of the report “New Jersey’s Civil Legal Assistance Gap,” the statistics are not at all comforting. New Jersey Today reports that because of funding cuts, the staff of Legal Services of New Jersey, the statewide legal assistance organization, is increasingly unable to handle the demand for legal services, and these issues are compounded by both an increase in poverty and an increase in legal problems throughout the state. Among other statistics:

• Legal Services staff has decreased from 720 attorneys in 2007 to a staff of 415 at the beginning of 2012.
• The loss of these attorneys has decreased the amount of new cases the organization is able to take by over 10,000.
• Although 1 in 3 people below 200% of the federal poverty level have at least one civil legal aid problem per year, nearly four out of five people did not have the help of a lawyer in solving these problems.
• Data from New Jersey state courts indicates that between 90-99% of defendants in tenancy, small claims, and foreclosure cases proceeded unrepresented, and a great part of these cases resulted in defaults because the defendant did not show up to a hearing.

The idea that civil legal problems are this prevalent–and this underrepresented–is especially documented in the New Jersey study. Even though 75% of people in poverty do not seek the help of a lawyer for their legal problems, 2/3 of those who do in New Jersey are turned away. The report did highlight a number of individuals who have been helped by civil legal services or pro bono attorneys in New Jersey, however–these stories help confirm the idea that civil aid is crucial in helping to protect real legal issues:

• Legal Services of Jersey helped Scott Morell, a long time worker in construction and other physical-labor jobs, secure social security disability benefits once he could no longer work–the $1400 a month he receives now gives him much more breathing room than the $210 was originally receiving.
• Rhonda Taylor was referred to a pro bono attorney by Legal Services to help settle her child custody case when her ex-husband filed for custody of one child after their divorce.
• Akavar Dylutra, a former corporate worker who fell into depression and financial distress after he was downsized, was able to apply for disability benefits through the help of civil legal aid services while he got back on his feet.

The end of the report highlights a number of exterior realities in the legal world that interfere with access to legal aid services and pro bono attorneys–associates at big firms working long hours with little time left for volunteer work, solo practitioners struggling financially in the recession, and complicated court proceedings, among others–but it also includes a number of calls to action and concrete steps to improve access to civil legal aid even a little, in the face of funding cuts. Essentially, the report isn’t comforting, but it is what is, and New Jersey Legal Services highlights what can be done about it.

The Massachusetts Land Court is seeking second and third year law students to be Fall & Spring Judicial Interns at the Land Court in Boston. The Judicial Internships provide an unparalleled opportunity to work closely with one or two Justices, have significant research and writing experience, and observe courtroom practice.

The Land Court is a trial court of special jurisdiction; land use cases involving zoning and subdivision law comprise a substantial portion of the Land Court’s docket, and the remainder of the Court’s docket is comprised of cases involving title or boundary disputes as well as other aspects of real property law. The Land Court’s jurisdiction extends to the entire Commonwealth, and although the Justices of the Land Court sit primarily in Boston, they also sit elsewhere in Massachusetts to conduct (non-jury) trials and motion sessions.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Maria Hibbard

We posted last week about how Michigan has appointed a special commission to study how to improve access to justice  in an effort to reform the quality of representation indigent defendants receive; the Supreme Court of the state of Washington has taken this idea one step further. In a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that public defenders representing indigent defendants can only take 150 felony or 300-400 misdemeanor cases a year.

Although the math about what constitutes a new “case” against the total has yet to be determined, the limit could possibly allow public defenders to provide better representation without being overburdened by a huge caseload. That said, however, the limit may cause budget-stretched public defender offices to be forced to hire more staff, even though the ruling doesn’t take effect until September 2013.  According to the Associated Press, Washington’s solution is definitely one remedy in order to avoid cases like these:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is suing the cities of Burlington and Mount Vernon, saying those cities jointly contracted with two part-time lawyers to represent indigent defendants in misdemeanor cases.

The two lawyers together handled more than 2,100 cases in 2010 alone, the plaintiffs said. In allowing the lawsuit to go forward, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said the evidence could support a finding the lawyers were so overburdened that the appointment of public defenders in those cities is “little more than a sham.”

Grant County has spent the past seven years making changes to its public-defense system, including a reduction in caseloads, under a court settlement with the ACLU and Columbia Legal Services.

In a 2010 state Supreme Court ruling, a Grant County boy who was convicted at age 12 of sexually molesting a young neighbor was granted a new trial after his public defender, who handled about 500 cases annually, failed to investigate his case and urged him to plead guilty. The boy was eventually exonerated.

Since Grant County’s settlement, the county’s felony caseloads per public defender have dropped from about 500 per year to 150.

Join our Team! The U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office for Civil Rights, Region V, Chicago, is looking for the best and brightest to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation. If you are a highly motivated, creative individual who would like to be involved in enforcing federal civil rights laws, prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education, ED is the place for you!

You have the responsibility for participating on a civil rights compliance and enforcement team that supports the mission of the Department of Education and the Office for Civil Rights’ (Roc) Strategic Plan. Roc measures compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act (Section 9525 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001) and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and their implementing regulations in school districts, colleges and universities through complaint investigations and compliance reviews.

The Office for Civil Rights is a civil rights enforcement agency responsible for ensuring compliance with certain Federal civil rights regulations that apply to educational institutions. The office also provides technical assistance regarding Federal civil rights laws and regulations. As a member of a Chicago office team, an Attorney Advisor performs various non-litigation duties on matters handled by the Office for Civil Rights, including matters of considerable sensitivity or complexity. Duties include but are not limited to: extensive legal research and analysis, legal review of documents, legal advise and counsel, drafting various documents (including reports of investigation, decisional documents with presentations of evidence, findings of fact and legal analysis, settlement agreements), interviewing witnesses and collecting and reviewing documents, participating in settlement negotiations, and direct communications with and provision of technical assistance to various officials and members of the public. May serve as a support attorney for the agency in complex litigation, both administrative and judicial, including the conduct of necessary research. The position involves extensive office practice with moderate travel throughout the region served by the office.

The deadline is 6/18–find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Some miscellany before getting into access-to-justice news:

• Needless to say this week’s huge legal story involves the lawsuit against the Phillie Phanatic, in which it’s alleged that the Phillies mascot carried his antics too far by throwing a party reveler into a swimming pool.  (The pool did have water in it, so presumably things could’ve been worse.)
• Both Florida’s and California’s high courts this week looked into the question of whether an undocumented immigrant may receive a license to practice law in those respective jurisdictions.  Here’s coverage from the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
• Sign of the fiscal times from New Jersey: “Recognizing that Lawrence Township would receive an additional $2.5 million in municipal taxes this year if nonprofit organizations were required to pay taxes, township officials plan to ask for “voluntary contributions” from these tax-exempt groups. The [t]ownship administration and council are in the process of drafting a letter that will be sent out to tax-exempt and nonprofit organizations in the township seeking “voluntary contributions” in lieu of the municipal taxes these groups do not pay.”  (Full article from the Lawrenceville Patch.)

As for public interest news, its’ been a busy week:

• an AtJ commission formed in Illinois;
• LSC funding cuts will wreak havoc in Puerto Rico;
• the need for reform in Michigan’s indigent defense program;
• pro bono patent work;
• a Chicago law school gets HUD funding to smite housing discrimination;
• Legal Aid of W. Virginia gets desperately needing funding from state AG;
• bad news for the Public Defender Corps;
• prosecutor layoffs in Sacramento?;
• access-to-justice bonanza in the Treasure State;
• 5 tips for fixing the civil justice system;
• a Wake Forest Law clinic promotes rural economic development;
• Alaska Legal Services Corporation opens its 11th office;
• business is booming in an Oklahoma veterans court;
• the June edition of LSC Update;
• civil Gideon in San Fran.

This week:

• 6.14.12 – an access-to-justice commission in Illinois: “The Illinois Supreme Court announced Wednesday the formation of a commission to remove barriers and increase the ease of interacting with courts by those persons who can’t afford lawyers to represent their interests and needs.  It will be known as the Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and is made up of 11 persons, seven of whom are appointed by the Supreme Court. The Illinois Bar Foundation, the Chicago Bar Foundation the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois and the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation appoint one member each.” (Full story from the Aledo Times Record.)

• 6.14.12 – “Puerto Rico’s Legal Services office faces $5 million in federal budget cuts next year, a reduction that officials say will force attorneys to drop thousands of civil cases in this U.S. territory where nearly half the people live in poverty.  The budget cuts are occurring at a national level, but the 32 percent decrease announced for Puerto Rico is the largest compared to cuts facing U.S. states, executive director Charles Hey Maestre said Thursday. He added that the funds being cut represent a fourth of the organization’s budget.”  (Story from WTOP.)

• 6.14.12 – will Michigan’s long-troubled indigent defense system finally be reformed?  NPR takes a look.

• 6.13.12 – transactional pro bono is no longer a new thing, but there has been a recent upsurge in pro bono patent work done on behalf of DIY inventors.   Full story in the National Law Journal.

• 6.12.12 – bad news for Chicagoans who like housing discrimination: “The John Marshall Law School in Chicago is receiving more than $1 million in funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that will help maintain its Fair Housing Legal Clinic, Fair Lending/Home Preservation Law Project and its Fair Housing Internship Program to train college students in fair housing law and investigations.  The funding of the three programs is divided into a three-year grant of nearly $840,000 to underwrite the work of the Clinic; a $97,100 grant for the law school’s ongoing Fair Lending/ Home Preservation Law Project; and $99,800 that is allowing the law school to continue its groundbreaking fair housing law course and internship for college students.”  (Full press release here.)

• 6.12.12 – “Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced Tuesday that his office has secured $1 million in funding for the beleaguered Legal Aid of West Virginia, which had to lay off 12 case handlers and consider shuttering its Logan and Mingo County office because of budget cuts last year. McGraw said in an afternoon news conference at the Chief Logan Conference Center in Logan that the $1 million will help keep the office open for the next three years. The money comes from a small portion of a massive national mortgage settlement that the attorney general’s consumer protection division reached earlier this year, which netted more than $33 million for West Virginia consumers affected by foreclosure abuse from large banks.”  (Full story from the Charleston Gazette.)

• 6.11.12 – a rotten development for the Public Defender Corps: “Equal Justice Works and The Southern Public Defender Training Center have recently learned that the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, will not provide funding for the Public Defender Corps program in 2012-2013 and beyond. As such, the application process for the Public Defender Corps class of 2013 will not open on July 6 as previously planned.  We are actively seeking alternative funding sources for the program. We recommend that you periodically check our website for updates.”  (Message from the Equal Justice Works’ website.)

• 6.11.12 – a risk of prosecutor layoffs in Sacramento: “District Attorney Jan Scully says she’s made cuts to close a budget gap, but will have to lay off 8 staffers including 4 attorneys unless she gets an additional $2.1 million dollars from the Board. She says prosecutors will concentrate their efforts on felony cases in which suspects pose a danger to citizens. Scully’s office has already backed off on prosecuting certain drug and property crimes and she may raise the threshold on prosecutions.” (Story from Fox 40.)

• 6.11.12 – good news from the Treasure State: “the Montana Supreme Court has taken a pair of steps designed to increase the availability of lawyers and other resources for people who cannot afford them, responding to a nationwide drop in funding for legal aid programs and a rise in recent years in the number of people arguing their cases “pro se,” or without professional legal representation.  May 22, in a 5-1 decision, the high court launched an appellate “pro bono” program, effective July 1, with a mission to create an online database of attorneys and law students who will volunteer to help self-represented parties in appeals before the Montana Supreme Court. The court also unanimously agreed to establish an 18-member Commission on Access to Justice to advise the court on the needs of low-income people and their business interests in the justice system.”  (Story from the Helena Independent Record.)

• 6.11.12 – the director of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, Rebecca Love Kourlis, offers five steps for fixing the civil justice system.  (Full post on The Atlantic website.)  

• 6.11.12 – Wake Forest Law’s Community Law and Business Clinic offers students meaningful transactional experience while promoting economic development in rural areas.  (Story in the Winston Salem Journal.)

• 6.10.12 – Alaska Legal Services Corporation’s newly opened Barrow office is the organization’s 11th location in the state.  I wonder if they can see Russia from there.  (Story in the Arctic Sounder.)

• 6.10.12 – business is booming at the Oklahoma County veterans diversionary court. Story from The Oklahoman.  

• 6.8.12 – the June edition of “LSC Update” recaps funding news, LSC personnel changes, and a Washington Council of Lawyers report on the state of legal services funding nationally. 

• June, 2012 – a piece in the California Lawyer looks at San Francisco’s experiment with a civil right to counsel.  My colleague Maria did a write-up on this earlier this week.

Let’s close out with music.  I am a child of the 80s.  This means a lot of things as regards my musical tastes, some of which are more defensible than others.  One thing that happened is that, while riding around in the back of the family station wagon, I heard lots of songs that were at the time called “oldies.”  To my young ears the oldies broke into two groups: horrendous music from the 50s and amazing music from the 60s.  Included in this latter group was Motown, which for my money is one of the most moving, soul-stirring genres in the history of American music.  I have my dad to thank for that wonderful introduction.  And this Four Tops song has long been a favorite.

By: Maria Hibbard

Access to justice for non-criminal cases may just be a little easier in the western U.S.; with the adoption of a new ordinance, San Francisco has become the first city in the U.S. to implement a program advocating for right to counsel in civil–not just criminal–cases. In 1963, in Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court declared that indignant defendants have the right to pro bono counsel in criminal cases, but no such right exists in civil cases even when basic human needs are at stake, like shelter or child custody.

“Civil Gideon” is a movement by various bar associations and groups across the country to support the right to counsel in civil cases–in addition to the support already provided by civil legal aid groups. Because civil legal aid groups have traditionally struggled with funding and are able to help only a fraction of people in need, civil Gideon programs could be a way to more equitably serve the needs of poor people.

The San Francisco program is a one-year pilot program that will become permanent if successful. Although the city recognizes that there will not be an immediate right to counsel just because San Francisco is a “Right to Counsel City,” the ordinance states that it is the first step “to progress steadily toward the goal of providing counsel whenever the court, in its discretion, believes that such counsel would assist in the fair administration of justice.” This is the first “Civil Gideon” program supported by city government–other pilot programs in recent years have been run by bar associations or special commissions, like the Philadelphia Bar’s Civil Gideon Task Force. Although these programs are still small and proceeding with caution, it will be interesting to see if San Francisco’s program, backed by the city, will be able to provide realistic access to counsel for those in need on a larger scope. Although it will require more administrative support and legal staff work, John Pollock of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel says that the program may end up being more cost-efficient than not providing access to representation: “By not providing counsel, cities and states end up paying the costs down the road in extended foster care or more police enforcement or homeless shelters. The San Francisco ordinance is very innovative and noteworthy. It’s a milestone.”

Although Michigan’s indigent defense system has long been criticized, including in this 2008 report by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, NPR reports on changes that may be ahead:

Court-appointed lawyers in Michigan, Steinberg says, “have to encourage their clients to plead guilty and keep the docket moving in order to generate the volume that they can make a living. So the incentive is to get your client to plead guilty as quickly as possible doing the least amount of work as possible.”

Steinberg and the ACLU have an unlikely ally: state Rep. Tom McMillin. The son of a retired General Motors executive, he’s a Republican and a former leader of the Christian Coalition in Michigan.

“Conservatives are really talking about, what is the proper role of government? Has it expanded too much?” McMillin says. “And I think many of us feel this is one of the proper roles — providing as much equal justice as possible.”

That issue captured the attention of Michigan’s Republican Governor, Rick Snyder, too. Last year, the governor named McMillin to a commission to study how to improve the patchwork system of justice for the poor. The group is planning to present its recommendations to the governor this month.

Jeff Sauter is eager to read them. Sauter testified before the commission last winter, on behalf of a group of prosecutors in Michigan. After 21 years as the elected prosecutor in Eaton County, near Lansing, Sauter has seen a lot.

“I’ve seen instances actually, both appointed and retained attorneys, where the defendant I don’t think is getting good representation,” he says.

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is the nation’s leading organization of people who believe the war on drugs is doing more harm than good. In its vision of the future, individuals will not be punished simply for what they put into their bodies, only for harm done to others. DPA fights for drug policies based on science, compassion, health and human rights and seeks to promote dialogue on cutting-edge drug policy issues around the country. Its work spans issues from ending marijuana prohibition and promoting more honest and effective drug education to reducing the many harms of drug use and drug laws. DPA works to ensure that our nation’s drug policies no longer arrest, incarcerate, disenfranchise and otherwise harm millions of nonviolent people, especially people of color.

The Law Fellow will be based in DPA’s Office of Legal Affairs in Berkeley, California, and will work alongside DPA’s three attorneys supporting DPA staff in a wide range of matters in state and federal courts and legislative bodies. The Law Fellow will also work closely with DPA staff and coalition partners across the country. Some travel will be required.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!