Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! This week’s news is defined by a dizzying array of responses to the issue of growing student debt from all levels of government as well as from private institutional actors. There are also a number of stories concerning the positive effects of legal technology and landlord-tenant-court right-to-counsel policies on Access to Justice. Also, Toronto has a fixed-fee legal cafe now!

See you around,
Sam

Professional Development

• According to NYNmedia.com, “[a] new report examines the barriers faced by women of color in the nonprofit sector. About 4,000 nonprofit professionals took part in the 40-page study, which was conducted by Ofronama Biu, senior research associate at Building Movement Project. She found that women of color are paid less than their male and white counterparts [and t]he social environments of nonprofits help explain why.”
• At Harvard, “[t]hirty-eight [law school] student groups signed an open letter calling on the school to continue its support of a pilot federal clerk hiring program [and] refrain from trying to work around its restrictions on hiring clerks before a certain point in their law school career.“
• The Indiana University Maurer School of Law and the Indiana Supreme Court “announced a pilot program in which up to five 1L students committed to public service with work with judges through the state [in order to] introduce Maurer students to different facets of rural and smaller-city practice.“

Student Loans & Debt

• In Washington State, “Democrats are pushing to fund a program that would give Washington high school graduates access to state student loans at a one percent interest rate. A program was created in 2009 to issue low-interest educational loans, but the program was never funded.”
• In Texas, a state legislator proposed a bill that “would change a state statute that can bar teachers, nurses and other professional license holders from working if they fall behind on their student loan payments.“
• In Washington, DC, “U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Scott Peters (D-Calif.) on Thursday reintroduced the Employer Participation in Repayment Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would allow companies to annually provide $5,250 in tax-free student debt relief for workers. Existing legislation allows companies to offer up to $5,250 in tax-free tuition reimbursement, but that incentive has not been in place for student loan repayment benefits.“
• Also in Washington, DC, “Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) cosponsored legislation to require that the annual percentage rates (APRs) for federal student loans are disclosed, giving Americans better information related to the associated costs of higher education.“
  • Meanwhile, in Iowa a state senator introduced a resolution “advocat[ing] limits on loan interest rates from the U.S. Education Department.“
• Also also in Washington, DC, “Senator Lamar Alexander…the chair of the Senate[] Committee…which oversees higher education[] proposed automatically withholding a borrower’s monthly student-loan payment from their paycheck, similar to the system already used for federal payroll taxes[,] in a speech outlining his priorities for reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.” (More coverage available here and here.)
• Again also in Washington, DC, “the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), a division of HHS, launched a new student loan repayment program that offers up to $75,000 to qualified health care professionals for three years of full-time service at an approved substance use disorder site, particularly in ‘health professional shortage areas.’“
• In Pennsylvania, state legislators “introduced a bill…that would bring legal cannabis to [Pennsylvania,] estimat[ing] that a regulated cannabis market could generate $580 million dollars in taxes [and proposing] to use half of that money to reduce student loan debt[.]“
• MarketWatch called attention to a “Voices of Despair,” a 2018 report from the National Consumer Law Center arguing that “[t]he government’s policy of seizing federal student loan borrowers’ EITC runs counter to almost every goal Congress set for the EITC and its student loan programs.”
• Looking at the way circuit courts are splitting on the question of whether federal student loan laws pre-empt state authorities, Professor Rubenstein of Washburn University School of Law predicted that “these cases [are] prime candidates for Supreme Court review in the foreseeable future” in an interview with MarketWatch.
• Dean Rodriguez of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law discussed his thoughts on “how law schools should collectively work to lessen the cost [of law school] and how students should be educated on debt management” in a Legal Talk Network podcast.
• In Portland, Maine, “[i]nsurance provider Unum has started a new program [under which] employees can use paid time off that they carry over to pay part of their student debt.“
• In a blog post on lawyers.com, a New York State tax attorney examined the case for student loan debt amnesty.
• CollegeHumor released Total Forgiveness, a show in which “two CollegeHumor personalities[] dare each other to complete increasingly challenging tasks–interviewing a student-loan expert while leeches roam your body or laying in a coffin for an extended period–in exchange for money from their employer to help pay off their student loans.“

Legal Technology

• LegalTech News reported that “Microsoft has completed work on the artificial intelligence powering the Legal Navigator, which could change the way that people with limited resources gain access to legal aid.”
• In Maryland, “[e]xpanded access to legal services was among the successes touted by Maryland Court of Appeals Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera in Wednesday’s State of the Judiciary speech…The state government branch has opened five self-help centers across the state. Lawyers working in the self-help center at the Frederick County Courthouse have assisted hundreds of people, primarily with domestic cases, since it opened in 2018. The judiciary also now operates services such as phone lines and online chat platforms.“
• In Akron, Ohio, Community Legal Aid announced that “[i]n the first three months since [upgrading its online application system] online intakes have tripled.“
• In the New York Law Journal, ethics and intellectual property attorney co-authors argued that “lawyers and law firms [should] treat information security and data privacy awareness and diligence as key components of their practice management–on an even footing with other critical issues such as conflicts of interest, confidentiality and privilege.“
• “Cisco has joined Apple in calling for a U.S. version of the European General Data Protection regulation, underlining the divisions among big technology companies over how to tackle privacy concerns.“
• In an open letter on Medium.com, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the ACLU, and 26 other technology & human rights organizations criticized the House of Representatives’ Democratic Caucus proposal for border security and its reliance on “various invasive surveillance technologies that would intrude on the liberties of travelers, immigrants, and people who live near the border.”
• “Amazon unveiled new proposed guidelines…for any national legislation regulating facial recognition technology following months of scrutiny over Rekognition, the tech giant’s facial recognition software,” as reported in The Hill.
  • Meanwhile, in San Francisco, CA a member of the Board of Supervisors has proposed “new requirements for police to obtain approach from the city’s Board of Supervisors before purchasing new surveillance technology [and] ban[ning] the use of automated facial recognition technology outright.“
  • Also this week, “[a] top Microsoft executive…said that stopping government agencies from using facial recognition software would be ‘cruel in its humanitarian effect,’ … referenc[ing] the fact that the National Human Genome Research Institute is using facial recognition to improve the diagnosis of DiGeorge syndrome.“

Access to Justice – Civil

• In North Dakota, “A shortage of lawyers…could be hindering people’s access to justice. Attorney job listings have increased 300 percent in the past year, according to Job Service North Dakota.”
• In Indiana, “a team of lawyers wants to force three [] counties to provide lawyers to all youth involved with the child welfare system.“
• In British Columbia, “[L]aw Society of British Columbia bencher and Access Pro Bono executive director Jamie Maclaren [] submitted his report on how to best delivery legal aid services to Attorney General David Eby.“
• In Alberta, “Legal Aid Alberta (LAA) [] released a three-year strategic plan that highlights…streamlining client service.“
• In San Bernardino County, CA, “the Superior Court…announced the official launch of the Tenant/Landlord Assistance Project.”
  • Meanwhile, in New York, NY, “[t]he de Blasio administration is crediting its program to provide free lawyers to low-income tenants for helping reduce New York City’s overall eviction rate[, which] dropped by 14 percent in 2018[.]“
• In Montana, “Republicans on a House panel…voted to kill a measure that would create a $900,000-a-year fund to aid low-income Montanans with civil legal disputes.“
• In Connecticut, a state senate bill “would give undocumented immigrant children access to an attorney.“
• In Wisconsin, the state bar profiled the work of April Faith-Slaker, associate director of research innovations at Harvard Law School’s Access to Justice Lab (A2J Lab), where she conducts work with the “hope [that] the legal profession will start embracing rigorous empiral research to inform changes in access to justice and other areas.“
• In Toronto, Canadian Lawyer Magazine profiled Lawyers & Lattes, “a new legal cafe [where] clients can order rental agreements, family trusts, employment contracts and all sorts of coffee off menus that clearly indicate each service’s price. The café also hosts free legal information sessions, one pro-bono Saturday a month and will soon introduce an LSAT prep course.“
• In Canda

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Indiana, “[l]eaders of state and national criminal justice organizations are declaring their support for the Indiana Public Defender Commission’s reform initiative, which the commission is presenting to the Indiana General Assembly this year in an effort to secure additional funds to expand and improve indigent defense services statewide.“
• In Wisconsin, “[t]he number of private attorneys willing to take on poor people’s cases is dwindling, and legal experts warn[ed] that Wisconsin’s inability to provide indigent defendants with representation is a serious problem in the state’s criminal justice system.“
• The New York Times vividly portrayed the crushing caseloads under which Louisiana public defenders struggle in an infographic-driven story.
  • For more on this story, see Louisiana local TV news and a local opinion piece arguing that “trip[ing the state’s] annual appropriation…would essentially enable some local defender offices to evade responsibility for better funding their operations.“

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Los Angeles, CA, “officials agreed Thursday to drop all criminal charges against one of the city’s most visible Black Lives Matter organizers as part of a negotiated arrangement after hundreds of activists filed petitions, filled courtrooms and led rallies in recent weeks accusing prosecutors and police of using the charges to silence a critical voice. “
• In Philadelphia, PA, “the District Attorney’s office announced major reforms to the juvenile justice system…hop[ing] to reduce the number further by declining to file charges in low-level cases and building up support services in the community.“
  • In related news, “student organizers of a Yale Law School conference have rescinded their invitation for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to serve as keynote speaker, citing his decision to appeal a judge’s ruling in favor of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.“
• In Baltimore, MD, “Baltimore’s top prosecutor has filed a rarely used legal petition intended to vacate 3,778 convictions for possession of marijuana, arguing an extraordinary legal strategy is necessary to ‘right an extraordinary wrong.’“
• In Nevada, the state attorney general “nam[ed] a former Washoe County public defender as a top legal adviser.“