PSJD Public Interest News Digest – April 20, 2018
Hello there, interested public! A number of major criminal justice-related legal changes are underway at both the federal and provincial levels up in Canada, detailed below. But the highlight of the news this week, for us, is our 2017 Pro Bono Publico Award Winner, Lydia X.Z. Brown, who received a feature article in Northeastern’s online publication. Lydia is a truly exceptional advocate, and the article does an excellent job illuminating the many reasons they became our 2017 PBP Award Winner. If you can’t make it to the Annual Conference next week, or you want an early glimpse of photos from Lydia’s award ceremony late last month, check out Northeastern’s coverage.
Hope to see you next week at NALP’s Annual Conference!
Sam
Student Debt
Immigration
- America Magazine reported that the Department of Justice will temporarily halt its Legal Orientation Program, “[a] federal program that has help detained immigrants navigate the courts for the last 15 years”, at the end of the month while an audit assesses its cost-effectiveness.
- In Montgomery County, MD, the County Council discussed spending $374,000 to fund legal aid for immigrants facing deportation.
Legal Technology
- In Chicago, IL, Baker McKenzie relaunched its Homeless Youth Handbook, described as “a pro bono project led by the law firm to help homeless youth better understand their legal rights.”
Access to Justice – Civil
- In Ontario, the provincial government increased the threshold for financial eligibility for legal services by six percent, meaning “about 153,000 more people will be able to access [Legal Aid Ontairio’s] services.“
- In Kansas, businesses and other organizations joined Kansas Legal Services in an attempt to increase the amount of pro bono work performed in the state by petitioning the state Board of Law Examiners “to level the playing field by allowing in-house counsel with a restricted license to provide pro bono legal services.”
- In Ohio, the Ohio Supreme Court’s Civil Justice Program Fund provided a $50,000 grant to Southeast Ohio Legal Services “to increase legal assistance for ‘low income individuals who have children in their care but need help to get custody of the children.’“
Access to Justice – Criminal
- Legal experts criticized a Canadian Federal proposal for reducing delays in the courts, arguing that shifting caseloads from Superior Court by increasing the maximum available penalty for provincial court cases would “effectively prevent paralegals and law students from representing defendants in provincial court…because the Criminal Code only allows them to act in cases [with a lower maximum penalty.]“
- In Alberta, “[m]embers of a Calgary defense lawyers group say they will no longer do unpaid work to pressure the Alberta government to boost Legal Aid funding.”
- In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to restore the franchise to paroled felons, a move the Chautauqua County public defender has already praised as “the first of many steps in createing ‘equal justice’.“
- In St. Lawrence County, NY, the public defender’s office proposed hiring two additional public defender positions in order to meet new caseload guidelines the New York State Office of Indigent Defense Services established last year. According to the Watertown Daily Times, “[t]he new guidelines begin taking effect this year and will phase in fully by 2023, with $50 million being added to cover the increased costs each year.”
Music Bonus!
Brass Against the Machine, “Freedom” (Beyoncé/Rage Against the Machine Mashup)