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

Happy Friday! A big thank you to the ABA and the NLADA for an incredible Equal Justice Conference. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Here are the week’s headlines:

• New York State Senator co-sponsoring bills to make state pay for indigent defense and DA salary increases;
• National Center for Access to Justice releases 2016 Justice Index;
• US News and World Report has an article on LRAPs;
• Southern District of Indiana proposes mandatory pro bono;
• Delaware lawmakers want to ensure public defenders for juveniles;
• Louisiana Senate to consider reworking indigent defense spending;
• Indiana Supreme Court reorganizes civil legal aid programs;
• Spotlight on Public Service Servants;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

May 10, 2016 – “State Sen. Joseph A. Griffo, R-Rome, is joining the fight to make the state pick up the tab for district attorney salary raises and indigent defense costs. The senator announced Monday that he is cosponsoring a pair of bills that would see the state take on these costs if passed. The first bill, S.7417, would direct the state to provide approximately $1.6 million in financial assistance to counties to cover the costs of district attorney salary raises.” “Sen. Griffo said he is also cosponsoring another Senate bill, S.6341A, that would require the state to pay for indigent defense costs that all except five counties currently cover. The five counties, Suffolk, Washington, Ontario, Onondaga and Schuyler, won a lawsuit in 2014 that ended in the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services taking charge of each county’s public defense expenses. Based on a report released in April, the New York State Office of Indigent Defense is recommending all counties outside of New York City increase indigent defense eligibility under the federal poverty level guidelines, which could increase the number of cases county indigent defense offices are required to handle. County officials from Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties have said the new rule, slated to go into effect this October, would increase indigent defense costs.” (Daily Courier Observer)

May 10, 2016 – “The District of Columbia and Massachusetts rank the highest when it comes to access to justice, while Mississippi and Wyoming are at the bottom, according to the National Center for Access to Justice’s latest state-by-state ranking. The center’s Justice Index www.justiceindex.org evaluates each state according to the number of civil legal aid attorneys for the poor, the availability of resources for people representing themselves in legal matters, and assistance for non-English speakers and the disabled.” “‘The biggest story in Justice Index 2016 is about the progress courts are making to help people without lawyers,’ said David Udell, executive director of the center, which is housed at Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. ‘Nothing replaces the role of a lawyer, but with judicial leadership, many states are pursuing common-sense reforms to help poor Americans in civil cases.'” “Udell said improved research and data on access to justice, as well as new efforts by top state judges to make the courts more user friendly, are spurring change. In August, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators passed a joint resolution calling for ‘an aspirational goal of 100 percent access to effective assistance for essential civil legal needs.'” (National Law Journal)(subscription required)

May 11, 2016 – A basic article on law-school based loan repayment programs. It’s good to see these programs highlighted. Also, look for the NALP survey results on law-school based LRAP programs in the upcoming June Bulletin. (US News and World Report)

May 13, 2016 – “A proposed rule change would for the first time obligate lawyers to provide mandatory pro bono service to litigants in civil cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, the court announced Friday. ‘Given that approximately fifty percent of the filings in this district last year were made by pro se litigants, the court has found it necessary to join the other district courts around the country that have instituted mandatory pro bono appointment programs,’ Southern District Chief Judge Richard Young wrote in a letter to the federal district bar. Young’s announcement accompanied a proposed rule change to Local Rule 87. Public comments on the change will be accepted through June 12. The court also established a web page regarding the change. Young said the rule ‘is designed to address the urgent and ever-increasing need to provide counsel for indigent litigants in certain civil cases.'” “Under the proposed rule, the court would create a voluntary panel of attorneys who are willing to represent indigent litigants, as well as an obligatory panel that would be used when there are insufficient resources available from the voluntary panel.” (The Indiana Lawyer)

May 16, 2016 – “Top Delaware lawmakers want to guarantee juveniles have access to a public defender, regardless of family income or the level of their alleged crime. The state Office of Defense Services already offers free legal representation to young people facing charges, even though it’s not required by state law. House Bill 382 seeks to set the policy in stone so that future budget cuts or changes in leadership don’t change that. Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, who sponsored the legislation, said in a statement, ‘We can’t rely on current practice as a guarantee for the future.’ The change, if approved, would mean the courts and Public Defender’s Office will be required to continue the practice.” (Delaware Online)

May 17, 2016 – “An effort to reshuffle how Louisiana spends its money on indigent defense is edging closer to final legislative passage. The proposal by Rep. Sherman Mack, an Albany Republican, would require at least 65 percent of the state public defender board’s financing to flow to local indigent defenders. That could steer money away from appeals of death sentences for poor defendants. A Senate judiciary committee voted 4-1 Tuesday to send Mack’s House-approved bill to the full Senate. Some local public defenders have stopped taking cases because of money shortages, prompting lawsuits. Bill supporters say the local public defenders need the money and too much money is spent on capital defense cases by the board. Opponents say more dollars are needed overall to pay for indigent defense.” (KATC)

May 18, 2016 – “The Indiana Supreme Court is reorganizing its programs aimed at ensuring low-income Hoosiers have equal access to the state’s civil court system. Chief Justice Loretta Rush, in an order issued Tuesday, established the 17-member Coalition for Court Access, led by Justice Steven David, to manage the provision of legal aid to individuals unable to afford attorneys for civil lawsuits. The new coalition replaces the state’s Pro Bono Commission, the Indiana Commission to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services and the Indiana Supreme Court Committee on Unrepresented Litigants, all of which were terminated by Rush’s order. However, much of the work of those groups will continue under the Coalition for Court Access, including the Northwest Indiana pro bono committee which annually evaluates and reports on the availability and need for civil legal aid in the Region.” (NWI The Times)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants:

Harvard Law School Clinical Professor Daniel Nagin will receive the Boston Bar Association’s John G. Brooks Legal Services Award during the association’s annual Law Day Dinner on May 12. Nagin is the Vice Dean for Experiential and Clinical Education and serves as the faculty director of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center and the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School. The award was established to recognize professional legal services attorneys for their outstanding work on behalf of indigent clients in greater Boston. Nagin’s work was credited with embodying the spirit of the award, on both the local and national levels. (Harvard Law Today)