Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! There’s lots to catch you up on this week. Minutes ago, the ABA President issued a statement on the Trump Administration’s Family Separation Policy. The Associated Press took a poll of district attorneys to find out which ones would go on the record for non-enforcement of their states’ new anti-abortion legislation. The CFPB gave student loan advice on Twitter that one of its founders called “negligent or worse,” while the Trump Administration followed through and hired consulting firms to evaluate the federal government’s student loan portfolio. All this and more are in the links below.

See you around,
Sam

Also worth a listen: “NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks former federal prosecutor Paul Butler about how more than 20 Trump judicial nominees have declined to affirm a Supreme Court decision desegregating public schools.“

Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Issues

• In Chicago IL, the President of the ABA issued an official statement registering that “[t]he American Bar Association is deeply disturbed by reports that hundreds of unaccompanied children seeking refuge in the United States are being held by the U.S. Border Patrol in violation of the law and federal policies.“
  • Meanwhile, an immigration attorney with Annunciation House in El Paso TX argued in the Washington Post that “the [Trump] administration is vetting plans to revamp the [family separation policy]–euphamistically rebranding it as ‘binary choice’…either be separated from your children indefinitely or waive your child’s rights so they can be sent to jail with you.“
• In Los Angeles CA, “UCLA and the Los Angeles Unified School District will offer legal representation and advice to undocumented individuals through a new immigration law clinic at public schools in Koreatown.“
• In Boston MA, “[a] Massachusetts state judge charged with helping an immigrant escape U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody [made] a bid to reinstate her salary” in order to help her mount her defense.
• In Albuquerque NM “advocates and attorneys called on law enforcement officers and state courts to put an end to allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest immigrants while on courthouse grounds.“
• In Dane County WI, the Vera Institute of Justice announced plans to “test a new model: a public-defender-style system aimed at providing a lawyer to every detained, indigent immigrant.” Dane County is one of 13 sites across the country the Vera Institute has selected for its “SAFE Cities Network“.

Reproductive Rights

• The Associated Press “reached out to nearly two dozen district attorneys across seven states, and several said they would not file criminal charges against doctors who violate the laws. Even a few who left open potentially charging doctors said they would not prosecute women for having an abortion[.] …The four district attorneys who said they would not enforce the laws at all cited the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide, saying their states’ abortion laws clearly conflict with that decision.“
• In Alabama, “Hugh Culverhouse Jr.[,] the University of Alabama’s top donor in recent years after giving the school nearly $40 million[,] called for a boycott of the university until Alabama repeals a controversial new law that bans virtually all abortions…Meanwhile, in a move that the university says is unrelated to Culverhouse’s boycott push, the chancellor of the University of Alabama system is recommending that the school return $21.5 million Culverhouse has given the institution in recent years and strip his name from the law school.“
• In Mississippi, “[a] federal judge is temporarily blocking a [state] law that bans most abortions once a so-called fetal heartbeat is detected.“

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management and Hiring

• In New York NY, “[a]bout 40 New York City public defenders and legal staff members joined Public Advocate Jumanne Williams at City Hall [] to demand equal pay with other lawyers who work for the city.“

Legal Technology

• In San Mateo County CA, “[the] Superior Court has partnered with Stanford Law School to deliver text message reminders to people who have upcoming traffic court hearings…so that its law school can study whether receiving an alert will improve participants’ attendance at hearings.“

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[t]he US Department of Education has hired two consulting firms to examine and analyze the student loan portfolio as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing consideration of its sale to private investors.“
• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he Education Department released new student loan data…as part of its plan to deal with student loan debt by giving individual consumers more information about what they’re likely to get for their money.“
  • Meanwhile, “[a]ttorney generals from 47 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories [] asked Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to forgive disabled veterans’ student loans.“
• Also also in Washington DC, “[t]he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau posted a tweet…highlighting forbearance [while] consumer advocates and state watchdogs remain concerned that student-loan companies are pushing struggling borrowers towards forbearance instead of other options that could better suit their needs, like income-driven repayment…’It’s negligent or worse for the bureau to be tweeting that,’ said Dalie Jimenez…a founding staff member at the CFPB.“
  • Meanwhile, “[a] coalition of consumer and labor groups [urged] the CFPB to step up its oversight of federal student loan servicers–particularly when it comes to the public service loan forgiveness program.“
• Again also in Washington DC, “[f]ormer vice president Joe Biden…promised in an education plan…to ‘see to it’ that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is ‘fixed, simplified and actual helps teachers.“
• In Nevada, “[a] bill that would create the position of Student Loan Ombudsman within the treasurer’s office[] passed unanimously through the Senate Government Affairs Committee.“
• In Colorado and Maryland, state governors signed into law “legislation regulating student loan servicers.”
• Redfin.com, a real estate brokerage website, published “analysis of student loan debt data by metro area from LendingTree, income data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and our own home price data” concluding that “[u]nder [Sen.] Elizabeth Warren’s plan to cancel up to $50,000 of student loan debt, [a potential homebuyer with the average amount of student debt] could shrink[] the time it would take to save up the [20%] down payment [on the national median-priced home] to 9.4 years [from 12.3 years].“
  • Meanwhile, the Washington Post published a comparison of Sen. Warren’s student loan plan against that of rival presidential candidate Julian Castro.
• Benefit News publicized “new research from the American Institute of CPAs, which asked 2,000 millennials which benefits would help them achieve financial goals [and learned that] health insurance [], paid time off [], and student loan forgiveness (41%) topped the list of most desired employee benefits.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Toronto ON, “frontline legal clinic workers, members of OPSEU Local 5118 and community members [announced plans] to host a series of ‘pop-up legal clinics’ in front of Conservative MPP constituency offices across the Greater Ontario Area” today “to draw attention to the devastating impact of nearly $300 million in budget cuts to legal aid.“
• In Quebec, the Accessing Law and Justice Project has launched Hub23, “a new project…to develop innovative practice and billing models for legal services in the province [aiming to] ‘draw on the expertise of practitioners involved in the day-to-day practice of law and university researchers from several disciplines…to establish models of practices likely to ensure a future for legal practice and true access to professional service for middle-income households.“
• In British Columbia, “[t]he Legal Services Society is introducing a new program to provide legal aid to accused people…who wouldn’t normally qualify for assistance.“
• In Washington DC, “the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee approved a large financial boost of $550 million to the [Legal Services Corporation].“
• In New Mexico, “[t]he New Mexico Supreme Court has appointed a work group to consider whether the state should allow licensed legal technicians to provide civil legal services. The court has asked the group to submit a report by 2020[.]“
• In Richmond VA, local news reported the city “is on track to be the first [] in the Commonwealth to roll out a program to stop people from getting evicted and to make sure landlords get rent money. This is happening at the same time as Virginia lawmakers are trying to start eviction diversion pilot programs in four cities.“
• In Philadelphia PA, the Philadelphia Bar Foundation announced plans to “build a nine-story nonprofit center…that will house most of the city’s free legal services. Currently, the agencies are scattered throughout Philadelphia.“
• In Laramie County WY, “Legal Aid of Wyoming is testing a pilot program…to provide military veterans access to free legal assistance, no matter their income level.“

Access to Justice – Criminal

• U.S. News profiled the “unique solutions [some states have developed] to try to attract more public defenders to certain areas and ensure the attorneys’ time is dedicated to cases involving more serious crimes.“
• In Oregon, Oregon Public Radio profiled overworked public defenders in the state, while noting that the ACLU has called on “lawmakers to enact a solution that address[es] all of [Oregon’s indigent defense system]’s existing deficiencies.“
• In Maricopa County AZ, “[t]he [ACLU] of Arizona su[ed] Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, alleging he has failed to fulfill an abundance of public records requests…regarding ‘basic information about how that office functions, including policies, budgets, and data on individual criminal cases.“

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Florida, the state’s “first African American state attorney says she’s proud to have challenged the status quo with her opposition to the death penalty, even though she eventually lost a legal fight with Florida’s governor on the matter.“
• In San Francisco CA, “[t]he [] District Attorney’s Office [] publicly launched DA Stat, the state’s first public portal displaying prosecutorial data online.” [Check out the DA Stat portal here.]
• On Staten Island NY, “[p]rosecutors and defense lawyers [aired] sharply divergent opinions of the recently-passed criminal justice and bail-reform laws [in] dueling and tartly-worded opinion pieces.“

The Organization

The DC Criminal Code Reform Commission (CCRC) is an independent agency in the District of Columbia government that began operation October 1, 2016. The agency’s mission is to develop comprehensive recommendations for the D.C. Council and Mayor on revision of District criminal statutes.

The Position

The D.C. Criminal Code Reform Commission is hiring!  We are seeking amazing early or mid-career candidates who can start this August.  Our code reform work is focused on developing recommendations for changes to the District’s substantive criminal laws.  The work requires a mix of legal research, policy, and legislative drafting skills.  We welcome all applicants whose abilities and work experience indicate they will be able to come up to speed quickly.  While not a term-limited position, a candidate should be aware that our agency is currently funded on a year-to-year basis and this position may not be funded past September 30, 2020.  Nonetheless, the timing and duration of this position may work well for persons coming off clerkships and looking for a foothold in D.C..   side within the region. 

This position provides a full range of legal services to indigent defendants in the assigned courts. Primary responsibility to handle the misdemeanor case load and some felonies. Additional responsibilities will be assisting in felony trial preparation and trials and consulting with felony complainants and witnesses.

See the full post on PSJD: https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=92561

By Teresa Smith:
2019 Pro Bono Public Award Winner

Each year, NALP confers the PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award, recognizing the significant contributions that law students make to underserved populations, the public interest community, and legal education by performing pro bono work.

NALP is proud to announce it conferred this year’s Pro Bono Publico Award on Teresa Smith, recent graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School. Teresa’s work lies at the intersection of farmworker rights, environmental law, and immigration law. Her efforts to date have included direct work with asylum clients in detention that, in the words of one supervisor, “has contributed to the reputation that Lewis & Clark law students have… for in-depth knowledge, experience, teamwork, and competence[,]” as well as policy research that helped convince the Portland City Council to create funding for a “Universal Representation Project,” providing access to counsel in removal proceedings before Portland Immigration Court.

All their belongings in tow, groups of immigrants huddled together or stood in lines scattered about a plaza in Tijuana along the Mexico-United States border. The mood was somber. On one side of the plaza, two women sat in folding chairs under a small canopy tent where they wrote down the names of people in a notebook and Grupos Beta (part of the Mexican immigration agency) lingered a few feet away. Every morning, immigrants hoping to seek asylum in the United States come to the plaza to put their name on La Lista (The List) in exchange for a number. The list is really nothing more than the aforementioned handwritten notebook. They then return day after day, waiting weeks, even months, for the women under the tent to call their number so that they may cross the border into the United States and plead their case for asylum.

The day before, the United States government had allowed the women to call an unprecedented amount of numbers, many of which belonged to migrants who were not present. Today, these individuals waited anxiously to find out if they had lost their chance and would have to get a new number or if immigration authorities would permit them to cross this morning. Even though there were easily a couple hundred people in the plaza, it was remarkably quiet, as those who expected or hoped to cross kept their eyes and ears tuned for what would happen next.

I had traveled to Tijuana this week to volunteer with a migrant legal aid organization. Staff often referred to the work we were doing as “trying to fly an airplane that is on fire,” and “emergency room legal aid.” There is an urgency to this work as every moment the United States and Mexican government are deciding the fate of individuals through arbitrary systems that are in many ways designed to make the asylum process even more challenging.

At the plaza, volunteer attorneys experience this urgency as they give lightning quick “know your rights” presentations to individuals who might cross the border in the next five minutes, or the next month. Law student volunteers, like myself, experience this urgency as they try to reach each individual to inform them of the services available to them and even to just provide a friendly face in a sea of uneasy bodies.

At one point a mother came rushing up to me asking to borrow a sharpie. She then lifted her son’s shirt and began to write her name and phone number across his chest as if this was a normal and reasonable thing one should have to do. Many people wore long socks and the warmest layer of clothing closest to their skin in preparation for the freezing cold cells, or hilieras that authorities hold immigrants in upon crossing the border. I felt incredibly conflicted, wanting both for every individual to be allowed across the border that day to plead their case, but also wanting to make sure that they were prepared and well-informed for what was potentially to come before they took this next step on their journey.

The urgency I felt both during my time volunteering with migrants in Tijuana as well as through previous experiences volunteering in detention centers and similar scenarios, is an urgency that I believe is present in most public interest legal work. While volunteering in Tijuana, every day brought about an urgency to keep that plane, even though it was still engulfed in flames, in the air. This urgency is not just in the immigration field, as there is a need for quick and oftentimes immediate assistance in many areas of public interest law. A similar sense of urgency is present in the environmental law field. In the fall of 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report which underscored how climate change is affecting and will continue to affect communities across the globe. Public interest legal work is urgently needed to advocate for and institute changes to curb the catastrophic effects that climate change is actively producing and projected to produce.

One of the problems with the urgency that is present in this type of work is the disconnect with how the legal system functions in the United States compared to the speed at which aid, advocacy, and change need to occur. I came to law school because I strongly believe that more legal advocates need to focus on working alongside their communities in order to engage in both systemic change and individual support. I believe in recognizing the urgency that so many people face in their day to day lives, and fighting to both assist with that immediate need and attack the systems that created this need.

As a law student, it can seem incredibly difficult to be an advocate while still in school.

While you are constantly learning new skills that you can apply in the future, much classwork does not allow for direct application to every-day urgent matters. At times, it felt like law school required that I take a break from advocating alongside my community as I learned the skills to do just that. This is why I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I have had over the last three years to get hands-on experiences volunteering in Tijuana, with the CARA Pro Bono Project in Dilley, Texas, and with RAICES in Karnes, Texas among other organizations. These groups recognize the urgency in public interest law and utilize volunteer attorneys and law students, allowing for both to stay engaged in the public interest field.

At home in Portland, I have been fortunate to work with amazingly dedicated and passionate groups as well. This past summer, when more than 120 asylum seekers were transferred to a federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon, groups such as the Innovation Law Lab stepped up to organize volunteers and resources to advocate for these individuals. Due to their organizing expertise, I was able to spend several days a week manning a hotline where detainees could call to ask questions or express concerns. I was also able to visit the facility to help interview and translate for a Portuguese speaker.

This year I continued to volunteer with Innovation Law Lab by organizing and working with a group of students on their BorderX project. BorderX recognizes not just the urgency of immigration work, but the lack of capacity of immigration attorneys compared to the amount of work that needs to be done. The project incorporates a Massive Collaboration Model (MCR) to advocate for immigrants in detention settings who are eligible for bond and parole. By creating a network of volunteers and advocates, this type of work allows for a functional approach to combatting the urgency in the immigration field.

These experiences have further instilled in me a commitment to public interest legal advocacy in my future career as an attorney. It does not appear that the urgency facing those in need of legal assistance is going to diminish any time soon. The plane is still on fire, but every day, the work of amazing advocates and community members keeps the plane in the air. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to use my legal skills now and in the future to combat this urgency and contribute to putting out that fire.

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Student loans remain news, with the head of the CFPB formally accusing the Department of Education of impeding its ability to oversee loan servicers and the American Federation of Teachers endorsing Senator Warren’s student debt relief plan. Additionally, multiple sources reported on students and young people’s declining interest in government jobs, especially at the federal level. And a district attorney in Utah has announced he will not enforce the state’s new abortion restrictions while they are challenged in the courts.

See you around,
Sam

Immigration, Refugee, & Citizenship Issues

• In Washington DC, “a federal judge…denied the government’s motion to dismiss [a] case [that] challenges the State Department’s discriminatory policy, which conditions the recognition of birthright citizenship on a biological link to a married U.S. citizen parent.“
• Also in Washington DC, “[a] federal judge ruled [] that a court case accusing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of blocking migrants’ right to counsel at a facility in Louisiana and two facilities in Georgia can proceed as one case in Washington D.C., where DHS is headquartered.“
• In Brooklyn NY, “[a]n unconfirmed report of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest inside Brooklyn Criminal Court sparked confusion and set defense lawyers and immigrants’ rights advocates on high alert Friday afternoon — but the arrest may have been executed by the NYPD, according to the Office of Court Administration.“

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau disclosed in a letter to Democratic senators that “the Education Department is impeding access to information that regulators need to oversee the nation’s largest student loan servicing companies.“
• Also in Washington DC, “Sen. Ron Wyden…introduced a bill [under which] companies would be able to make matching contributions to the retirement plans of employees who are making student loan payments.“
• Also also in Washington DC, presidential candidate Julian Castro “released an education policy proposal calling for free tuition at public colleges and trade schools, expanding the size and use of Pell Grants, and changing income-based student loan repayment.“
• Again also in Washington DC, “Sen. Mark R. Warner…reintroduced three pieces of legislation aimed at providing urgent relief to borrowers amid the ongoing student debt crisis.“
• Again again also in Washington DC, “[t]he White House is filling in the blanks on its promise to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024, requesting another $1.6 billion in funding…by repurposing unused funding earmarked for Pell grants, the government financial aid program for low-income college students.“
• In an op-ed in USA Today, “[t]he president of the American Federation of Teachers, endorsed presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s student loan forgiveness plan in a Thursday op-ed.“
• Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance “is introducing a new student loan repayment and management program for the workplace as part of a broader financial wellness initiative.“
• Business Insider provided a variety of statistical arguments making a case that “[s]tudent debt is preventing the US from having a normal housing market.“
• In Wisconsin, “the Republican majority on the Joint Committee on Finance…failed to approve [Gov. Evers’] proposals to start the process of helping state borrowers to refinance their loans…and increasing funding for financial aid for eligible students.“
• In Rhode Island, “the Senate Finance Committee heard testimony on the proposed Student Loan Borrowers Bill of Rights, which is now part of Governor Gina Raimondo’s budget plan.“
• In New York, the Governor, Senate Majority Leader, and Assembly Speaker “announced that the FY 2020 Enacted Budget includes legislation that will provide sweeping new protection for student loan borrowers.”
• In California, the State Senate is considering a bill that “would give students up to a $1,000 tax credit for yearly interest paid on their student loans.“

Reproductive Rights

• In Utah, “the chief prosecutor overseeing the county with the state’s only two [abortion] clinics has said he won’t enforce [the state’s strict new abortion ban…Gill said Tuesday the Utah ban on abortions after 18 weeks appears unconstitutional, so filing felony charges against doctors who perform them as the court challenge plays out could violate their rights.“

Non-Profit Management & Hiring

• The Hill reported that “a surprising number of [graduates] receiving masters degrees in public policy are no longer pursuing government jobs — especially at the federal level. Shutdowns, pay uncertainty and government bashing are among the reasons these graduates give for avoiding such careers.“
• Meanwhile, FedSmith reported that “[t]he most recent (September 2018) data in OPM’s Fedscope shows the number of permanent government employees under age 30 is less than 127,000. The number age 60 and older is 274,000. Those number are the result of an aging federal workforce and the government’s apparent inability to attract and hire young people[.]“
• In Cambridge MA, “[t]he Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers released a statement…condemning Harvard College administrators’ decision not to renew Winthrop Faculty Deans Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. and Stephanie R. Robinson. …Since Sullivan first announced his decision to join [Harvey] Weinstein’s legal team — which he left Friday — students have called for the College to remove him from his faculty dean position through rallies, sit-ins, and open letters.“

Legal Technology

• In New York NY, “an investigation by the Georgetown Center on Privacy and Technology into police use of facial recognition across the country” charged that “[t]he New York Police Department abused its facial recognition system by editing suspects’ photos — and by uploading celebrity lookalikes — in an effort to identify people wanted for crimes.“
• In Washington DC, “WhatsApp said…that a security breach on its messaging app had signs of coming from government using surveillance technology developed by a private company, and it may have targeted human rights groups.“
• In San Francisco CA, “the birthplace of facial-recognition tech…became the first [city] in the country to vote to ban its use by law-enforcement.“
  • Meanwhile, the New York Times profiled Brian Hofer, the author of the San Francisco ordinance who “has drafted 26 privacy laws for cities and counties in California [over the past five years].“
• In Chicago IL, the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing published a new database of Chicago eviction records that “shows that between 2010 and 2017, on average, 79.8 percent of landlords in eviction court had a lawyer, while only 11.2 percent of tenants did…but when tenants have legal representation their changes of staying housed increase substantially[.]”
• In Austin TX, Spectrum News profiled “[t]he startup Justice For Me[, which] helps connect clients to attorneys across Austin and San Antonio, without having to pay large, up-front fees.“

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Richmond VA, “tenants who are in court for housing-related issues now have an attorney dedicated to helping them resolve their cases.“
• In Los Angeles CA, “[t]he city’s budget and finance committee last week asked the chief legislative analyst to identify $2 million to help launch a right-to-counsel initiative.“
• In Louisville KY, Law360 reported that a major takeaway from the ABA’s Equal Justice Conference was “the need to think outside the box and meet people where their needs are, especially in the rural communities that make up 20% of the U.S. population and just 2% of the U.S. population of lawyers.“
  • Relatedly, in Indiana, “[d]ata from the Indiana Supreme Court’s Roll of Attorneys indicates there are far fewer lawyers serving rural Indiana counties than those that serve urban counties.“

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Missouri, “Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt [] filed a motion to intervene [in a] case challenging Missouri’s indigent public defense system” after “[t]he American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Missouri State Public Defender reached an agreement[.] …Schmitt said in a statement that requiring public defenders to refuse cases if they exceed a 40-hour work week violates Missouri law.“
• In Lima OH, “[t]he Lima chapter of the NCAAP will file an official complaint with the Ohio Public Defenders’ Office alleging the current public defender system in Lima and Allen County is so broken and inefficient that it operates in violation of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.“
• In British Columbia, “[t]he Legal Services Society has launched a new province-wide criminal law service to help people who wouldn’t qualify for legal aid.“

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Bexar County TX, “District Attorney Joe Gonzales says he hopes to start a cite-and-release program this summer that would allow police to issue tickets for certain misdemeanor offenses, such as marijuana possession, instead of conducting arrests.“
• In Dallas County TX, “District Attorney John Creuzot is backing a bill that requires police officers to turn over all evidence and information that could prove someone’s innocence.“

The Organization

The Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC) is the statewide membership organization of legal services nonprofits. Nearly 100 nonprofit civil legal aid providers around the state are members of LAAC. These civil legal aid nonprofits provide critical legal assistance to low-income Californians and ensure equal access to justice. LAAC serves and strengthens its members through advocacy, training, and support. LAAC does not directly provide legal services.

The Position

LAAC seeks a full-time Legal Technology Fellow (2020-2022) to work on our LawHelpCA website accessibility project. The fellow will work to implement changes to LAAC’s Drupal-based website LawHelpCA in conjunction with the website development team and the LAAC Program Attorney. Changes will include creation and improvement of a triage tool for the website, and implementation of best practices for readability and accessibility.

LAAC works collaboratively and intensively with prospective fellows to develop projects that address access to justice legal issues. LAAC is committed to fully supporting and advising the applicant during the application process to ensure that a high quality and well-informed application is compiled and submitted.

See the full post on PSJD:
https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=92403

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Lots of serious stories this week. The ACLU has spoken out against the charges filed late last week against a Massachusetts judge for obstruction of justice after she acted to frustrate the federal government’s policy of conducting immigration arrests at state courthouses. Lawmakers in congress have introduced a bipartisan-sponsored bill that would allow for student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy, while a new NBER report suggests that student loan forgiveness has an out-sized positive economic impact. Meanwhile, a lawyer in British Columbia is accusing the provincial government of diverting legal services taxes intended for civil legal aid into the general purpose treasury. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.

See you around,
Sam

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Massachusetts, “ACLU Massachusetts Executive Director Carol Rose is infuriated by Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s decision to pursue charges against New Judge Shelley Joseph for conspiracy to obstruct justice. [See last week’s digest.]” Rose called the matter “an outrageous case, and a real political case brought by U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling[.]“
• In San Francisco CA, “[a] three-judge panel of the [9th Cir.] issued a stay of a preliminary injunction…that would have blocked the [Trump administration’s] policy [of forcing Central American asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while they pursue their asylum claims].“
• In Karnes County TX, RAICES filed a formal complaint against the Trump administration that “accuses Immigration and Customs Enforcement of creating barriers for people held at the Karnes, Texas, immigration detention facility to meet with legal teams.“

Student Loans

• “Rates on Plus loans for graduate students and parents will fall to 7%, down from 7.6% last year.” (Forbes has more on this loan rate decrease.)
• The Wall Street Journal reported that “[m]ore than 73,000 people have applied for debt forgiveness as of March 31 of this year…but just 864 have had their loans erased.“
• The National Bureau of Economic Research published a working paper on “Life Without Student Debt” that found “[w]hen roughly 10,000 borrowers had their private student loans cancelled, they were more likely than similar borrowers to move, change jobs or return to school [and t]hey also saw their incomes increase by $4,000 over a three-year period on average[.] In addition, these borrowers were less likely to rely on other forms of credit–reducing their indebtedness by 26%[.]“
• BenefitNews.com reported that “while many industry insiders point to the growing appeal of student loan benefits, just 4% of employers currently offer a student debt repayment program, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.“
• The Washington Post reported that “[o]ne in 15 borrowers has considered suicide because of their school loans, according to a survey of 829 people conducted last month by Student Loan Planner, a debt advisory group.“
• In Washington DC, “[f]ederal lawmakers…introduced a bill that would give student loan borrowers the power to leave that debt behind when they file for bankruptcy protection.” “The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and John Katko, R-N.Y., was introduced amid growing concern over more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding student loan debt held by some 44 million Americans and 3,000 payment defaults a day in 2016.“
• Also in Washington DC, “[Sen.] Marco Rubio wants to ‘eliminate interest for federal student loans’ through the Leveraging Opportunities for Americans Now (LOAN) Act[.]” (See the full bill.)
• Also also in Washington DC, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago shared his thoughts on the risks inherent in the student debt market for people looking to finance an education.
• In Maine, “a [] lawmaker is proposing a $250 million bond to…allow Maine residents to apply to have up to $10,000 of their unpaid student loans forgiven.“
• In Atlantic IA, “[presidential candidate] O’Rourke drew a round of applause…when he called for letting Americans refinance their student loans ‘at much lower rates.’“
• A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that “56% of registered voters…support the Massachusetts senator [Warren]’s proposal to wipe out $640 billion in outstanding education loans by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Just 27% of voters said they opposed the plan.“

Environmental Law

• In Cleveland OH, “[a] federal judge [ruled] that he would not allow Lake Erie…[to] participate in a lawsuit filed to challenge a law Toledo residents passed to protect the lake’s ecosystem[, calling] the request to let the lake’s ecosystem into a federal lawsuit [] ‘unusual’ and ‘meritless.’ The lawsuit filed by farmers in neighboring Wood County involves the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, which Toledoans passed in a special election in February.“

Nonprofit/Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Florida, “[m]inimum pay for all Florida assistant public defenders and assistant state attorneys will rise to $50,000, up from $39,084, starting Oct. 1.“
• In Bradenton FL, Gulfcoast Legal Services‘ Executive Director criticized the city’s “decision to not fund the nonprofit with Community Development Block Grant Funding this year[.]“
• In Washington DC, “Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California is introducing legislation, including a $250 million grant program, to ease the burden on public defenders around the country…[T]he proposal would create a grant program that would establish workload limits for full-time public defenders, create pay parity between public defenders and prosecutors within five years and collect annual data on public defender workloads. The legislation also would authorize $5 million for government organizations and nonprofits to provide training for public defenders.“
• NonProfit Quarterly reported on a new report from the Council on American-Islamic Relations charging that “American philanthropic organizations, including mainstream foundations, have funneled tens of millions of tax-free dollars to anti-Muslim groups influencing public opinion and government policy all the way up to the White House.“

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Ontario, “[a] group of about 150 people descended on the provincial government building in Toronto [in protest of provincial cuts to legal aid]…with around 20 going inside and disrupting the day’s session. The demonstration, which featured many lawyers in their robes, waistcoats and tabs and doctors wearing lab coats and stethoscopes, also included paralegals, immigration consultants and various health care providers.“
• In British Columbia, “[a]ccording to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, in 2018 the B.C. government collected more than $230 million in taxes from all British Columbians who sought legal services. [But] ‘The provincial government only saw fit to provide $75 million of that to the Legal Services Society to Fund Legal Aid’, said [criminal lawyer Michael] Mulligan.”
• In Philadelphia PA, “[a] bill proposed in City Council would provide tenants with income below 200% of the poverty line with free legal assistance when fighting evictions, lease terminations and similar issues in Landlord Tenant Court.“
• In Bronx NY, local news chronicled the efforts of housing groups to “spread [the] word on the city’s already established Right to Counsel law, which advocates say tenants may still be unaware of even as it’s helped many stay inside their home.“

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Travis County TX, “in a surprising change of course, the county has reached an agreement to create a public defender’s office[.]“
• Meanwhile, in Hays County TX, “[h]ostile debate on the timing of an application meant to secure grant money for a proposed public defender’s office…led to the item’s death on the [] County Commissioners Court dais.“
• In Cheboygan County MI, “[t]he…County Board of Commissioner [sic] has approved the Cheboygan County Indigent Defense Compliance Plan and grant application to be submitted to the State of Michigan.“
• In New Orleans, “[Orleans Public Defenders] is cutting services and halting hiring over a projected $1.1 million revenue shortfall[.]” “Chief District Defender Derwyn Bunton said he is reacting to a projected $400,000 shortfall in money from court fines and fees and a $700,000 cut from the state Public Defender Board for the fiscal year that ends June 30. Bunton said in an interview that he expects the revenue bleeding to continue in the next fiscal year[.]“
• In Missouri, “[t]he…public defender’s office will be able to re-open its juvenile advocacy units in St. Louis County and Jackson County [with a] $913,786 appropriation [which will allow t]he units to hire attorneys who specialize in juvenile issues…A House-Senate conference committee approved the spending Tuesday, but the line-item must still clear the full House and Senate later this week. Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, also could veto the spending, like he did last year[.]“

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Philadelphia PA, District Attorney Kranser said “the city is ‘very close’ to enacting a first-of-its-kind policy in the U.S. that would reduce charges–as well as associated consequences–for people caught possessing small amounts of drugs, leading them away from jail cells and a criminal record.“
• In King County WA, “police departments…are pointing the finger at the King County Prosecutor’s Office for policies that they say let felons slip through the cracks.“

The Organization
The Equal Justice Works Housing Justice Program is a program comprised of Legal Fellows and Housing Organizers who, over the course of a two-year fellowship term, will be part of a targeted initiative to address the justice gap in the Commonwealth of Virginia through responsive, context-specific innovations and interventions focused on housing justice. Specifically, Legal Fellows and Housing Organizers will serve at one of the participating legal services organizations in the Greater Richmond Region and work as a unified front to fight a variety of injustices related to housing instability and involuntary displacement in Virginia, particularly due to eviction.

The Position(s)

A collaboration of Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, Legal Aid Justice Center, and Virginia Poverty Law Center seeks six (6) public interest attorneys to participate in a two-year fellowship program. All Fellows will provide direct legal services (including impact litigation), strategic partnership building, outreach & education, and sustainable policy changes. Specifications on the following areas by legal services organization is identified below:

 Central Virginia Legal Aid Society

• Three (3) Legal Fellows – two at the Richmond office and one in the Petersburg office.
• Emphasis on providing high quality individual legal representation and legal advice to financially eligible individuals and their families. This will likely involve conducting interviews, obtaining evidence, researching relevant law, drafting and filing pleadings, and representing clients in court and other legal proceedings.
• Within the limits of Legal Services Corporation regulations, Fellows may engage in impact litigation that derives from individual representation.

Legal Aid Justice Center

• One (1) Legal Fellow at the Richmond office.
• Provide legal assistance and representation for residents with an emphasis on conventional public housing, and an eye to leveraging individual cases to create impact campaigns.
• Support public and subsidized housing tenants’ efforts to build collective power.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of impact litigation and sustainable policy changes.

Virginia Poverty Law Center

• Two (2) Legal Fellows at the Richmond office.
• Emphasis on providing community lawyering, outreach & education, and systemic advocacy.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of impact litigation.

See the full post on PSJD:
https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=92089

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Student loans continue to create dramatic stories, with the Department of Education releasing new data for March 2019 on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (or, rather, the lack thereof) and a report from the Wall Street Journal that the Trump Administration is considering selling some or all of the federal government’s student loan portfolio. Meanwhile, Legal Aid Ontario began announcing specifically how recent dramatic funding cuts will affect its operations while Illinois considered an access-to-justice bill that would dramatically expand legal representation. Oh, and prosecutors in Massachusetts are suing the federal government to prevent immigration agents from conducting arrests within state courthouses while the federal government is prosecuting a Massachusetts judge and court official for taking actions to frustrate this federal arrest policy. These stories and more are in the links, below.

See you around,
Sam

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Texas, “[a] 16-year-old boy who traveled to the U.S. from Guatemala has died in U.S. custody in Texas, becoming the third child since early December to die after being detained…Authorities [had] placed him in Southwest Key Casa Padre, a former Walmart that was converted into a facility to house more than 1,000 immigrant children.“
• In Boston MA, “[a] Massachusetts judge was indicted…on charges that she helped a man who was living in the U.S. illegally sneak out a back door of the courthouse to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent.“
• Also in Boston MA, “[p]rosecutors in Massachusetts sued Monday to block federal authorities from making arrests at courthouses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, arguing the practice is making it harder for them to hold defendants accountable and get justice for victims.“
• In California, “[t]he [ACLU] Foundation of Southern California sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement…to stop transfers of detainees held in two Orange County jails that recently ended their contract with the federal agency…The ACLU is asking the court to prevent transfers of immigrants outside of Southern California if they already have attorneys or if they have immediate family in the region.“
• In Fairfax County VA, “[t]he Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 7 to 3 to…set aside $200,000 for a legal-aid pilot program to help immigrants facing deportation proceedings.“
• In New York NY, Governor Cuomo announced that “New York State will fund free legal services and immigrants’ rights clinics for non-citizens at consulates and religious institutions throughout the five boroughs [as] part of the state’s Liberty Defense Project[.]“
• In Virginia, “[i]mmigration enforcement agents cannot be sued over their actions, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled[], because they are not dealing in criminal law.“
• In Washington DC, the Washington Post reported that “[t]he U.S. immigration court system is facing a backlog of 850,000 cases, and it has fewer than 450 judges nationwide to handle them. New asylum applications and other claims are piling up…[and t]he president has grown so frustrated that he has been floating the idea of doing away entirely with U.S. immigration courts, which re part of the Justice Department, not the judicial branch.“

Voting Rights

• In Tennessee, the NAACP and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, along with several pro bono firms and a solo practitioner, “filed suit…challenging Tennessee’s new third-party [voter] registration law. The complaint alleges that the law, which imposes burdensome requirements on persons and organizations who seek to help people register to vote, violates fundamental rights of free speech, free association, the right to vote, and due process.“
• In Georgia, “U.S. District Judge Steve Jones…heard arguments on a motion from state election officials to dismiss…[t]he lawsuit [] filed weeks after Republican Brian Kemp narrowly beat Democrat Stacey Abrams [that] accuses the secretary of state and election board members of mismanaging the 2018 election in ways that deprived some citizens, particularly low-income people and minorities, of their constitutional right to vote.“

Student Loans

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Trump administration has retained private consultants to estimate potential losses in the U.S. government’s $1.45 trillion student-loan portfolio, and is weighing selling all or portions of the debt to private investors[.]“
• Also in Washington, the Department of Education released its Public Service Loan Forgiveness Report for March 2019. As StudentLoanHero.com put it, “[a]s seen with the previous data, only the lucky few have so far received loan forgiveness, at only 518 out of the 73,554 unique borrowers who applied.“
• Business Insider reported that “[a] solid majority of Americans–57%–who’ve already paid off their student-loan debt support Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s ambitious new plan to cancel tens of millions of Americans’ student debt, according to a new INSIDER poll.“
• Above the Law noted that “[while] Trump’s 2020 budget proposal…envisioned an end to the Public Student [sic] Loan Forgiveness program…[m]uch more interesting…was Trump’s push to forgive undergraduate student loan debt for all borrowers after 15 years[–]five years earlier than under current income-driven repayment plans,” a proposal similar enough to Senator Warren’s recently-announced platform that, “in any rational world, a compromise would be reachable between two factions who both agree that student debt should be forgiven in a shorter period of time[.]“
• InsideHigherEd.com reported that [the] Urban Institute announced that a widely-cited statistic finding that 49% of education debt is held by those in the top quartile of income “was the result of a coding error and was discovered in discussions with a writer for Slate[;] Urban Institute…announced that the figure was incorrect and should have been 34%[.]”
• Again also in Washington, “[t]he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Conduent Education Services $3.9 million for failing to provide accurate account balances on more than 200,000 student loans that resulted in many borrowers paying off the wrong amounts.“
• Again again also in Washington, the American Enterprise Institute released a report titled “Ensuring Accountability and Effectiveness at the Office of Federal Student Aid”, noting that “[t]he fifth-largest bank in the United States…[is] the Office of Federal Student Aid” and urging Congress to “consider necessary updates to the statutory goals and structure of the performance-based organization” (a “structure [] designed to be somewhat independent from political pressures” of which the FSA is one of only three in the federal government).
• In Minnesota, “[the] House of Representatives approved a new higher education budget that would freeze tuition for two years at the state’s public colleges and universities.”
• In Illinois, “State Treasurer Michael Frerichs wants to allocate up to 5% of the $13 billion in taxpayer money he manages to direct student loans.“
• In California, “2020 presidential candidate John Hickenlooper announced that ‘as president I would lower the interest rate [on student loans] down to 2.5 percent, or as low as I can get it, without taking any risk[.]“
• Bloomberg News reported the chief economist at Deutsche Bank Securities believes that “viewed next to the $104 trillion in household net work, that $1.6 trillion [in student debt] is more of an unfortunate ‘micro problem’ for individuals than a macro problem for the economy.”

#MeToo

• In New Mexico, “the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico…filed a lawsuit against the Third Judicial District Attorney’s office on behalf of three former female assistant district attorneys who endured rampant sex discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and who were suspended after refusing to remove ‘No Mansplaining’ signs from their doors.”

Non-Profit Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, Restore Public Trust, “a group representing 40 progressive organizations focused on issues of civil rights, immigration and government accountability” announced plans to “launch an ad campaign urging major universities including Harvard to avoid hiring former members of the Trump administration.“
• Also in Washington DC, “[a] case recently appealed to the federal labor board could give it an opportunity to decide whether unpaid interns can organize for pay and other changes to their working conditions, especially in workplaces that already have a union.“
• In Illinois, LegalEvolution.org published an overview of the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois’ praiseworthy track record addressing the access to justice gap in their state “with an approach to funding that focused on facts and finding new ways to increase impact.” (Speaking from my own experience, Illinois Legal Aid Online is a brilliant initiative.)
• In Boulder County CO, “[the District Attorney] and his team sought out and were awarded a $7,500 grant for additional training to combat implicit bias in [their] office.”
• Benton IL, “nine current and former state workers su[ed] the AFSCME union over agency fees paid between May 2017 and June 2018. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled those fees were illegal in the Janus v. AFSCME case last June….[The Liberty Justice League…plan[s] similar lawsuits in other states.“
• In Ontario, “[m]ore than half of the lawyers elected to the Law Society of Ontario’s new board of directors are opposed to the statement of principles” which the Law Society approved in December 2016 by Convocation, “requir[ing] licensees to ‘create and abide by an individual Statement of Principles that acknowledges your obligation to promote equality, diversity and inclusion generally, and in your behaviour toward colleagues, employees, clients and the public.“

Law & Technology

• In Washington DC, “the Senate commerce committee heard from consumer advocates on how lawmakers should craft a data privacy bill…includ[ing] representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Future of Privacy Forum, Common Sense Media and the Irish Data Protection Commission[.]“
• In Sacramento County CA, the “District Attorney dismissed or reduce over 5,300 cannabis convictions this month thanks to an algorithm created by Code for America, a tech-driven government watchdog group. Sacramento is one of five California counties to partner with the nonprofit for the Clear My Record pilot program.“
• In Massachusetts, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU filed papers in a federal lawsuit alleging that “U.S. government searches of travelers’ cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings [have] nearly quadrupled since 2015 and are being conducted for reasons beyond customs and immigration enforcement.” The lawsuit “claims going through electronic devices without a warrant is unconstitutional.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Ontario, the CEO of Legal Aid Ontario “laid out in an email to staff…measures the organization would be taking following provincial budget cuts announced earlier this month. He said front-line services to the public would ‘continue and remain strong,’ but the agency will be slashing full-time positions, implementing a hiring freeze, and freezing management salaries, among other internal measures.“
• In Washington DC, “[g]eneral counsel from 262 companies including Amazon, Eli Lilly and Company, and the Walt Disney Company, are urging Congress to increase funding for [the] Legal Services Corporation, a little more than a month after the Trump administration proposed defunding the group.“
• In Illinois, state officials are considering “the ‘Illinois Access to Justice Program Act,” HB131/SB2249, which looks to establish a public-private partnership for community-based legal assistance [and would] provide free legal representation to both immigrants and all communities of color.“
• In California, California Rural Legal Assistance reopened its Santa Cruz office, which had “closed within the last five years when funding from the city and other sources wasn’t available.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Montana, “[t]he Montana Supreme Court sa[id] a judge can’t order a public defender to represent a criminal defendant if no jail time is at stake.“
• In Louisiana, “[a]ttorneys for a man accused of killing his girlfriend, her family and his parents…have asked for a pause in the prosecution of the case until they can get funding[;] their team is completely unfunded, leaving them working for free and unable to hire needed investigators and experts.“
• In Travis County TX, the Travis County Commissioners Court prepared for its vote next week on “whether to approve and advance a grant proposal to the state-funded Texas Indigent Defense Commission that would help underwrite establishing a public defender’s office for the county.“