by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships Happy Friday! Here are the week’s headlines:

• State Bar of Georgia approves funding for incubator program;
• Orleans Public Defender announces austerity plan;
• New Hampshire Legal assistance receives grant from New Hampshire Bar Foundation;
• Vermont launches patent pro bono program;
• North Carolina State Senate proposes stripping another $3 million from UNC Law School;
• Equal Justice Wyoming announces grants to legal service providers;
• Need for access for  francophone legal services in Manitoba on the rise;
• Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (of New York) launches project to provide LGBTQ services;
• Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling expands legal services;
• San Mateo County California approves budget for private defender system;
• Boston Bar Foundation awards $950,000 in grants;
• First class of New York Pro Bono Scholars are sworn in;
• Spotlight on Public Service Servants;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

June 19, 2015 – “The State Bar of Georgia’s Board of Governors on Friday narrowly approved funding for a new lawyer incubator program through which up to 30 new graduates from Georgia law schools will receive mentoring, office space and other help to start small practices.” The project will be run by a nonprofit group with an initial startup donation of $25,000 from each of the state’s law schools. (Daily Report)(free subscription required)

June 21, 2015 – “Three years after purging nearly a third of his lawyers amid a steep budget shortfall, Orleans Parish Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton has told his staff that a new round of stiff cuts — lengthy furloughs, possibly layoffs or some combination — is coming. Bunton put his austerity plan on paper last week, alerting the City Council, the mayor, judges and Sheriff Marlin Gusman that it ‘will likely cause serious delays in the courts and potential constitutional crises for our criminal justice system in New Orleans if no solution is reached timely.’ Bunton said he would institute a hiring freeze beginning July 1, the start of a new fiscal year in which he says he’s facing a $1 million shortfall from the current year’s budget of about $6 million. Barring a bailout before then, furloughs will come in October, Bunton said. His letter did not say how long the furloughs would run, but Bunton has told his staff they can expect to lose several weeks of pay.”  (The New Orleans Advocate)

June 21, 2015 – “New Hampshire Legal Assistance was recently awarded $488,000 from the New Hampshire Bar Foundation’s IOLTA Grants Program to provide civil legal aid services to New Hampshire residents in the coming fiscal year, according to a press statement.”  (Concord Patch)

June 22, 2015 – “Vermont is launching a program to help qualified inventors and small businesses get donated legal services from patent attorneys and agents. The program is made possible by the Leahy -Smith America Invents Act, which requires the US Patent and Trademark Office to work with law associations to create donated programs for under-resourced small businesses and independent inventors. Vermont’s program is part of a regional New England effort.”  (Washington Times)

June 22, 2015 – “State Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Republican, introduced a late amendment to the state budget last week that would cut $3 million from the law school in Chapel Hill—more than 10 percent of its proposed $27.2 budget for next fiscal year. The Senate passed the amendment by a 30-19 vote, and the proposed budget is now before the state House of Representatives. In February, the UNC Board of Governors voted to strip money from the law school’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. The center is now supported through private donations.”  (The National Law Journal)

June 22, 2015 – “Equal Justice Wyoming, formerly the Wyoming Center for Legal Aid, recently announced the award of grants to five, nonprofit, legal service providers totaling $852,777 to provide civil legal aid to the low-income population of Wyoming, the maximum amount available in the budget approved by the legislature. Equal Justice received 12 grant proposals requesting more than $1.5 million. The grants awarded are one-year grants.”  (Casper Journal)

June 22, 2015 – “Manitoba’s growing francophone population is putting pressure on the province’s judicial system to provide legal services in French. And that’s got some influential players doing what they can to try to ensure people are equally able to have a trial or preliminary hearing in either of Canada’s official languages. ‘Because you have a more significant French-speaking population in Manitoba (than in previous years) that isn’t always comfortable with English, the requirement for French legal services and trials is going up,’ said Renald Remillard, executive director of the Centre Canadien de Francais Juridique Inc., a training centre for judges, police officers, lawyers and private sector jurists to hone their French language skills. Another new development is lawyers now have a professional obligation to inform their clients of the right to have a trial in French or English, said Lorna Turnbull, dean of the law school at the University of Manitoba, an obligation that they didn’t have in previous years. The right to have a French-speaking lawyer and judge only applies to criminal matters, she said.”  (The Carillon)

June 22, 2015 – “Westchester County now has an attorney dedicated to providing civil legal services to low-income lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning individuals. The Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (LSHV) has launched a project aimed at helping members of the LGBTQ community with issues such as changing their legal name and fighting discrimination. ‘We are extremely excited to start work on this new project,’ CEO Barbara Finkelstein said. ‘While civil rights for the LGBTQ community have expanded in recent years, there is still important work to be done.’ Deputy Executive Director Cynthia Knox said Legal Services of Hudson Valley is supporting the project with increased state funding for general civil legal services.”  (New York Law Journal)

June 22, 2015 – “A recent state Supreme Court decision is widening the menu of legal services Rhode Islanders can choose from when they represent themselves in court — a move advocates praise as improving access to justice for people who can’t afford the “Cadillac” of legal help. The high court earlier this month cleared the way for lawyers to provide a limited scope of representation — including writing briefs — for people representing themselves, as long as those services are reasonable and the litigant gives informed consent.  Lawyers must sign any pleadings that they help a client prepare and disclose extent of their role in the case.”  (Providence Journal)

June 22, 2015 – “The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a $17.5 million budget for the Private Defender program, which provides private attorneys for defendants who can’t afford to pay for a lawyer. The Chief Defender John Digiacinto says the program, which replaces a Public Defender’s office, is run by the San Mateo Bar Association and is the only one of its kind in California. The Private Defender program has been in place for more than 40 years and was instituted to lower costs.”  There have been critics in recent years, particularly regarding case outcomes. “The Private Defender Program did receive an award for excellence from the American Bar Association. Chief Defender John Digiacinto said he would like to keep improving the program, hire more minorities, and get more community feedback.” (KTVU)

June 24, 2015 – “The Boston Bar Foundation – the charitable affiliate of the Boston Bar Association – announced today that it will provide $950,000 in grants to 23 community organizations that work to provide legal services to those in need. Approximately 40% of the funding is comprised of proceeds from the BBF’s annual John & Abigail Adams Benefit and BBF reserves, with the remainder derived from Interest on Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA) funds. The grantee organizations administer legal aid to the most vulnerable and underprivileged members of the population, such as the homeless, domestic violence survivors, at-risk children, and veterans.” (Real Estate Rama)

June 25, 2015 – “The first class of Pro Bono Scholars, a program that allows 3L students to spend their final semesters of law school working in the field, was sworn in this week to each of the state’s four appellate division departments. The program has 106 participants statewide. This week, 72 of those were admitted to the bar. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman proposed the program in his 2014 State of the Judiciary address. Law students who qualify are allowed to take the bar examination in February of their third year of law school and then work for 500 hours over 12 weeks for groups providing legal services to the indigent. Provided they pass the bar exam and complete the program’s requirements, the participants can be sworn in just after graduation—up to one year earlier than classmates who take the July bar exam after graduation.” (New York Law Journal)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants:  The Pueblo County Bar Association and the local office of Colorado Legal Services honored former Municipal Judge Joe Ulibarri at its annual awards ceremony Friday night. Each year, legal services and the local bar association honors attorneys and firms that have devoted several hours to pro bono work in the community. Ulibarri was given a lifetime achievement award for his leadership and commitment to pro bono work. Read more about Judge Ulibarri’s commitment to his community here.

Super Music Bonus!  https://youtu.be/IPeo_X7hVe8