by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy Friday! I hope to see many of you at the ABA/NLADA Equal Justice Conference next week in Chicago.  Because I will have an opportunity to share the news in person, the Digest will return on Friday, May 20.

Here are the week’s headlines:

• Legal Aid of Nebraska establishes autistic legal hotline;
• Wisconsin Supreme Court approves petitions encouraging more pro bono work;
• Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announces pro bono partnership with the Americans for Safe Access Foundation;
• Federal government seeks to join suit against Idaho’s public defense system;
• Missouri to get $6.7 million for foreclosure help;
• Saint Louis University School of Law legal clinics and St. Louis Housing Authority receive grant;
• Lambda Legal announces new executive director;
• Milwaukee programs get grant for legal services;
• Public defenders in Tennessee county have stopped taking cases;
• Spotlight on Public Service Servants;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

April 28, 2016 – “Autism affects approximately 1% of children ages three to 18 in Nebraska, according to the Autism Action Partnership. The Legal Aid of Nebraska recently received a grant from the Autism Action Partnership in Omaha to provide free legal advice and assistance to people with autism and families who help an autistic relative. Children and their families often run into problems and barriers to leading full, productive lives, particularly if they are low-income families, Legal Aid said Thursday. Landlords sometimes misunderstand these families, schools refuse to help with education, social service agencies do not provide benefits, child welfare officials and law enforcement may see neglect rather than parents fighting for their kids. The project will be led through Legal Aid’s Medical-Legal Partnership Project with assistance from the University Of Nebraska Medical Center Munroe-Meyer Institute, and the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha.” (North Platte Bulletin)

April 28, 2016 – “A package approved by the Wisconsin Supreme Court is designed to encourage more pro bono work and increase access to justice. Attorneys will be able to get up to six continuing legal education (CLE) credits per reporting period for doing qualified pro bono work, under a petition that was recently adopted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, subject to minor language changes.” “The court also adopted a so-called cy pres petition, submitted by the Wisconsin Access to Justice Commission, which will require a portion of unclaimed class action awards (residual funds) to be diverted to the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation (WisTAF), which supports legal services to low-income and indigent persons.” (State Bar of Wisconsin)

April 28, 2016 – “Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announced a pro bono partnership Thursday with the Americans for Safe Access Foundation, a medical marijuana advocacy group, signifying to some that the push to make legal cannabis available to patients nationwide has gone mainstream. The Oakland, California-based nonprofit, which lobbies lawmakers on how to improve their states’ medical marijuana laws and seeks to educate patients on their rights, will work with Orrick lawyers to update a series of manuals on state medical marijuana laws. Eventually, Orrick hopes to coordinate a hotline for medical marijuana patients in need of legal advice that will involve other law firms.” (The American Lawyer)

April 29, 2016 – “The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson are requesting to weigh in on a class-action lawsuit against Idaho’s public defense system. The parties earlier this month filed a motion to join the lawsuit on behalf of the United States. The Idaho Supreme Court has not yet approved the request. ‘The United States has a strong interest in ensuring that all jurisdictions — federal, state, and local — fulfill their constitutional obligation to provide counsel to criminal defendants and juveniles facing incarceration who cannot afford an attorney,’ the motion read.” (Hastings Tribune)

April, 29, 2016 – “The Texas Indigent Defense Commission is providing Bexar County with a $600,000 grant to provide attorney services for the homeless and those with mental health issues. The program is designed to identify people often called ‘frequent fliers’ – people who are in and out of the court system for a variety of minor offenses. Instead of going to jail they are offered options, from housing to medical attention and job search guidance. ‘Locking somebody up, just putting them in jail, doesn’t seem to be the answer,’ said Chief Public Defender Michael Young. ‘And I think we’re finally realizing that.’ Young oversees the program funded by the grant.” (KSAT)

April 29, 2016 – “Missouri will get $6.7 million from a settlement with Bank of America, and most of the money would be used for legal help for people facing mortgage foreclosure. The money comes from a 2014 settlement with Bank of America over mortgage issues. Besides help in foreclosure cases, the money can be used for community development. The money will go to the Missouri Lawyer Trust Account Foundation, the settlement monitor announced. The Foundation pools small-dollar escrow accounts from lawyers around the state, and collects interest on the money. About 90 percent of the interest is used to help four legal aid groups serving the poor. Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, based in St. Louis, is one of the four. The group also funds other legal-related programs, such as the Court Appointed Special Advocate program designed to help children in foster care around St. Louis. Denise Brown, the foundation’s executive director, said the group hasn’t decided how the $6.7 million will be distributed. The foundation’s distribution usually ranges from $600,000 to $1.3 million per year.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

April 29, 2016 – “The School of Law Legal Clinics has partnered with St. Louis Housing Authority (SLHA) for a $100,000 grant to create a youth re-entry program in St. Louis. The grant, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice, is part of a $1.75 million effort for public housing authorities and nonprofit legal services across the country to provide needed pro bono legal services aimed at youth. The Legal Clinics will work with SLHA to focus on sealing and correcting criminal records for target youth, removing records by participation in diversion programs and reinstating revoked or suspended drivers licenses. The program will also provide information about collateral consequences of criminal involvement and connect target youth with existing supportive service partners to assist with a variety of needs including employment, housing and health. Another partner includes St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE) which will provide referrals to the program and connect youth with training and employment opportunities.” (Saint Louis University News)

May 2, 2016 – “Rachel B. Tiven has been hired as the new CEO of Lambda Legal, the nation’s oldest legal organization fighting for equality on behalf of LGBT people and those living with HIV. Tiven is currently executive director of the Immigrant Justice Corps. ‘Rachel’s track record of strengthening and growing mission-driven organizations into national forces for legal, political, and social change made her the clear choice to lead Lambda Legal going forward,’ said Tracey Wallace and Stephen Winters, co-chairs, Lambda Legal Board of Directors. ‘The list of victories yet to be won is long, and requires a leader who can ensure equality and dignity for our community, our families and all our loved ones. We’re confident Rachel is the leader to take us forward.'” (Windy City Times)

May 3, 2016 – “Federal and city officials at a news conference Monday announced a $100,000 grant awarded to the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee and Legal Action of Wisconsin. The money will be used to help provide legal services to people between the ages of 18 and 24 who are current public housing residents, or those who would be living in public housing but can’t because of their criminal records.The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice, will be used to provide services to young adults, including helping to expunge, seal or correct criminal records as allowed by state law; reinstate revoked or suspended driver’s licenses; or provide job counseling and family law services.” (Journal Sentinel)

May 5, 2016 – “This week Williamson County [Tennessee] made headlines when the district’s public defender said her assistants will not be taking on new cases because of their existing case load. The Tennessee District Public Defenders Conference – charged with filling the state’s obligation to provide a lawyer to those who can’t afford one in criminal cases – says the problem exists throughout the state. Paige Edwards, the conference’s assistant executive director, says she hears from many who are overwhelmed with cases. ‘The fact that more courts have been created and you only have limited staff to go to all those courts, it’s stretching the staff thin,’ she explains. Edwards says population growth has added to demand and more state attorney positions haven’t been added since the 2007 budget year. ” (Public News Service)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants:

Donna Peel is using sharing-economy principles and woman power to help fill a dire need for legal-aid lawyers. Peel is the founder of Pro Bono Network, an Oak Park, Ill., non-profit organization that provides about 40 volunteer lawyers a month to Chicago-area legal aid agencies. About 90 percent of the 200 attorneys in the network are women and one-third are stay-at-home moms, all of whom do pro bono work when it fits in their schedule — kind of like a part-time Uber driver. The Pro Bono Network’s mission is to be “a force multiplier” for legal aid by making volunteering hyper-easy, Peel says. To do so, it’s harnessing the same broad workplace shift away from traditional 9-to-5 office work and toward more malleable remote and part-time arrangements that its high-tech, for-profit cousins are built on. But rather than offering attorneys a little side income, Pro Bono Network is helping them fill a yawning social need: free legal assistance for low-income people. Legal aid resources are so meager, Peel says, that only about half of Chicagoans who qualify for assistance get help today. (Forbes)