Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Interesting news week to share with you all, including a rare prosecutor/defender team-up in New York State (see Immigration, below). You’ll also want to look at the civil access to justice section, where there’s news out of Chicago concerning non-attorney involvement in the delivery of legal services and a Lexpert article analyzing proposed class action reforms in Ontario.

Thanks to all of you who have already turned in nominations for the 2019-2020 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award! I look forward to reading what you have to say about your students.

One more thing: There’s still time for the public interest career counselors, pro bono program managers, and other public service career professionals out there to register for the 2019 NALP PSJD Public Service Miniconference, here in Washington DC on October 17th. It’s an ideal opportunity to meet and network with colleagues from across the country, attend substantive and skills-based programs, and interact with NALP staff members!

See you around,

Sam

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• In Texas, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will soon resume detaining migrant families at a [] facility outside of San Antonio, clearing the way for the agency to detain hundreds of additional parents and children.”
• In New York, “Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit [] against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alleging the agency’s practice of making arrests in and around Empire State courthouses violates the U.S. Constitution, federal law and state court rules.”
  • In further news, “[p]rosecutors and public defenders teamed up Wednesday to announce lawsuits against the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement [sic] for arrests of undocumented people in courthouses, which have spiked across New York state since President Trump took office.”
• In Hawaii, “[a n]ewly formed nonprofit, The Legal Clinic, an affiliate of national network Justice for Our Neighbors [began] working to provide free or low-cost services to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in need of legal assistance in Hawaii.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he District will award $2.5 million in grant funding to provide legal help to undocumented residents and, for the first time, assist those detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

Disaster Legal Aid

• In Washington DC, a new report from the LSC’s Disaster Task Force “says that as natural disasters become an even greater concern, legal aid organizations should be working to establish relationships with disaster-relief agencies and community groups, as well as educating the public and training volunteers, so that when a disaster strikes, they will be poised to start helping right away.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Forbes Magazine, a senior contributor argued that “while the rejection rate [for public service student loan forgiveness] is still high, it improved almost 3x in a year, and the [recent] report tells a better story of success than past reports.”
• ThinkAdvisor discussed the “Equity for Education” benefit designed by Chegg, “a publicly traded company that provides an online educational platform”. Under the benefit, “[Chegg] provides entry-level through manager-level employees with at least two years tenure at the company a $5,000 annual grant of company stock to help the employee pay off their student debt[.]”
• Access Lex published an argument that “PSLF Serves the Public Interest,” including a “fact sheet on the topic.”
• Inside Higher Ed reported that “[d]ata released by the Education Department Wednesday showed that the share of borrowers defaulting on their student loans has declined for the sixth straight year.”

Legal Technology

• The World Justice Project launched its Access to Justice Data Portal, a “new data microsite [that] brings [its] latest global report to life with user-friendly visualizations of global survey data on legal needs and access to justice.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In Illinois, JDSupra warned that “Illinois employers must begin preparing for the host of new legal requirements impacting the workplace beginning in 2020[ when] legal changes on topics ranging from hiring practices and pay equity to drug testing and severance agreements [will come into force].”
• In Washington DC, Kiva Zytnick gave an interview to Equal Justice Works on “the Importance of Facilitating Opportunities for Future Public Interest Leaders.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Ontario, Lexpert analyzed the potential impact of the “47 recommendations aimed at improving judicial efficacy, access to justice, and reducing legal costs” that came out of the “Law Commission of Ontario[‘s] Final Report recommending changes to Ontario’s class action legislation and practice.”
• In California, “a new survey released by the state bar shows [that i]ndigent California residents have more legal problems than wealthier counterparts but less access to legal professionals who could help them[.]”
• In Illinois, “the Chicago Bar Foundation and Chicago Bar Association pan to launch a join task force Oct. 7 to explore how state attorney regulations could be modified to encourage more innovation in the legal sector and ultimately increase access to justice.” Law360, discussing the story, observed that “some say [this move] could be a ‘tipping point’ for such efforts to increase access to legal help, despite heated attorney opposition in places like California.”
  • Relatedly, in California “[h]undreds of responses…about various California bar proposals that could…open a door to nonattorney ownership of firms reveal[ed that m]ost of those who shared their thoughts don’t support a wholesale reshaping of how legal clients are served[.]”
• In New York, the “state has committed an unprecedented amount of funding to provide legal representation for low-income individuals in civil matters in recent years, but leaders from organizations that provide those services testified at a hearing Monday in Albany that the demand for that help has continued to grow.”
• In Massachusetts, “[f]our new members have been appointed to the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, [namely] Superior Court Judge Valierie A. Yarashus; Laura W. Gal, supervisory attorney at Northeast Legal Aid; Benjamin K. Golden, health law clinical fellow at Suffolk University Law School; and J.D. Smeallie, litigation partner at Holland & Knight.”
• In Columbia SC, “[u]nder a new city [] ordinance, ‘extreme risk’ residents who are poor might get a court-appointed lawyer — despite not facing any criminal charges — before they could be ordered by a municipal judge to turn over their guns.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Wisconsin, the state’s “2019-2021 budget won’t provide Door and Kewaunee counties with additional assistant district attorneys. Increased compensation for public defenders, however, is expected to help process cases faster.”
  • Meanwhile, “until that new rate kicks in Jan. 1, the public defender’s office is having a difficult time finding lawyers willing to handle their cases.”
• In Georgia, the “Public Defender Council will have to furlough public defenders across the state for 10 days between now and next June to meet Gov. Brian Kemp’s budget-cut requests, according to state budget documents.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Chicago IL, “the ABA’s Death Penalty Representation Project reached a major milestone[:] 100 capital cases have been finalized with a sentence of less than death with the assistance of the project and its pro bono partners.”
• In St. Louis MO, “[m]ore than 65 prosecutors have quit or have been fired from the Circuit Attorney’s Office since January 2017. That’s more than 100% turnover — a half-dozen more lawyers have left the office than were on the roster when [Circuit Attorney] Kimberly M. Gardner took charge 2 ½ years ago.”
• In Cambridge MA, “researchers at Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Policy Program la[id] out a road map for reforming how courts across America can reform the imposition of excessive fines and fees, the devastating impacts of which fall disproportionately on the poor and on people of color.”
• In Los Angeles CA, “City Attorney Mike Feuer announced [] that the Dispute Resolution Program his office oversees is expanding to include both traditional community mediation services and community policy outreach effort.”
• In San Diego CA, “City Attorney Mara W. Elliott [] announced that her Office is moving forward on the dismissal of thousands of low-level marijuana cases prosecuted by the San Diego City Attorney’s Office under laws that are no longer on the books.”

The Organization

The Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) of the U.S. Department of Justice investigates and prosecutes cases involving human rights violations, international criminal law, and complex immigration crimes. The HRSP sees its mission as a deep commitment to human rights as a domestic law enforcement imperative and as part of the international effort to end impunity for human rights violators. The HRSP investigates war crimes, torture, genocide, human trafficking, and other international crimes.

The Position

The HRSP seeks law student volunteers for the Spring semester to assist in the HRSP’s investigations. Student interns would conduct legal research culminating in written assignments on topics involving international, criminal, and immigration law. Second- and third-year law students as well as International Law LL.M. candidates are encouraged to apply. The ideal applicants will have experience or interest in criminal and international law.

See the full post on PSJD: https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=95881

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Here at NALP, I’m still focused on overhauling the technology that powers PSJD.org. Out in the world, there’s a variety of legal technology news as well, with Ohio rolling out a new statewide legal information portal and several commentators talking about the importance of data analytics to legal services organizations and non-profits.

In other news, commentators are examining a report out of Utah, where a work group on regulatory reform proposed new rules that would allow nonlawyers to own and invest in law firms as part of an effort to narrow the access-to-justice gap (published while we were on hiatus, in August). Student loans continue to make headlines, with consumer advocates accusing the U.S. Department of Education of shielding student loan services from investigations into illegal activities and a new poll indicating that a majority of voters support student debt cancellation. Immigration law at the southern border also continues to evolve, with legal volunteers heading into Mexico and Border Patrol agents taking over duties from asylum officers.

One more thing: PSJD subscriber schools have until Friday, September 27th to nominate students for the 2019-2020 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award. The award goes to a law student who has made significant contributions to pro bono work at their institution and in their community, and it comes with a commemorative plaque and a check. So if you have anyone on your campus you think I should know about, please consider nominating them.

See you around,

Sam

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• In Dilley TX, “Border Patrol agents, rather than highly trained asylum officers, are beginning to screen migrant families for ‘credible fear’ to determine whether applicants qualify for U.S. protection[; t]he first Border Patrol agents arrived last week[.]”
• In San Diego CA, “[t]he National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC) announced [] it would be collaborating with the Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc., in hopes of providing legal counsel to asylum seekers and other migrants.”
• In Atlanta GA, Georgia State announced “the first law clinic at any university in Georgia specifically dedicated to immigration law will open [in January 2020].”
• In New York NY, “[c]ity officials and advocates are reaching out to immigrant communities to provide information about the Trump Administration’s pending ‘public charge’ rule. The policy, which could potentially take effect Oct. 15, seeks to make it harder for some immigrants to get their residency permit or a visa if they receive social benefits or are likely to do so in the future.”
• In Mexico, lawyers are arriving from around the United States to counsel asylum-seekers “being released by U.S. federal agents to the streets of Matamoros, Mexico, prior to their hearing dates” under a new Administration policy. “Previously, asylum-seekers either were held in U.S. detention facilities until their federal immigration court dates, or they were released with a Notice to Appear in court on their own.”

Disaster Legal Aid

• In Texas, “[t]he State Bar of Texas and Lone Star Legal Aid s[ought] to alert residents that free legal resources are available to low-income individuals affected by severe storms and flooding spawned by Tropical Storm Imelda.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In a Hill-HarrisX poll, “[a] majority of voters said they support the idea of free state college and canceling student debt.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Education Department is intervening on behalf of student loan servicers, some accused of illegally exploiting borrowers, by declining to turn over information to law enforcement agencies in multiple states investigating the businesses, some consumer advocates say.”
• Also in Washington DC, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment held a hearing on “Broken Promises: Examining the Failed Implementation of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.”
  • At the hearing, “[a] New York City middle school art teacher testified…about why she joined a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over her handling of a student loan forgiveness program.”
• Also also in Washington DC, the Federal News Network published a podcast arguing that the “[f]ederal loan forgiveness program [is] too complicated for intended users.”
• Again also in Washington DC, “[t]he U.S. Army has already achieved its recruiting goal this year, after falling short about 6,500 recruits in 2018. At the Pentagon this week, the head of Army Recruiting Command Maj. Gen. Frank Muth attributed the success to America’s crippling student debt crisis.”
• In Pennsylvania, “[a] bill…that would offer student loan forgiveness to volunteer first responders has passed a House committee and could get a floor vote next month.”
• In Washington State, the “State Department of Financial Institution (DFI) has published proposed revisions to its student loan servicer regulations.”
• In Minnesota, “[t]he first set of labor contracts negotiated by Gov. Tim Walz’s administration provide for worker raises, slightly increase employee health costs, expand student loan repayment offerings and set a $15 per hour minimum wage for members of the largest union.”

Legal Technology

• In San Francisco CA, “Microsoft Corp. President and Chief Legal Office Brad Smith said…that U.S. tech companies will change how they moderate online platforms in response to new laws from foreign governments, regardless of whether U.S. lawmakers take action.”
  • Meanwhile, “Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., a long-time advocate for stronger data privacy rules and current sponsor of the Information Transparency and Personal Data Control Act, said today it’s unlikely that Congress will take action on this issue this year.”
  • Meanwhile, “[a] landmark California law that will alter the way internet giants like Google and Facebook collect and deploy user data has survived heavy lobbying from industry groups and is set to take effect in January with most of its major consumer privacy protections intact.”
• In Ohio, Ohio Legal Help, “a website created to help all Ohioans access the civil justice system by providing free information on common legal issues, details about court and other legal forms and referrals to legal aid and bar association referral programs, formally launched[.]”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• Findlaw.com examined a trend in which, “[i]n recent years, local governments and public offices have begun turning to crowdfunding to finance projects and needs.”
• In San Diego Magazine, spoke with Josh Shapiro of UC San Diego’s Center for Research on the Regional Economy about how “in an increasingly data-driven world, nonprofits need numbers to prove that their good intentions are actually having an impact.”
  • Relatedly, Law.com held a webinar on how “there is still a disconnect between what [legal services] clients [are] hoping to see from [law departments’] data and what they are currently getting out of it.”
• In California, “[t]he U.S. Department of Justice is backing a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate a new California state retirement plan, taking aim at the growing number of states sponsoring retirement savings plans for people who lack access to one at work.”
• In San Bernardino CA, “San Bernardino plans to appeal a judge’s ruling that city leaders have no authority to reduce the total compensation of two elected officials [the City Clerk and City Attorney] ahead of the expiration of their terms early next year.”
• In Washington DC, “House Republicans and Democrats agreed during a tax panel hearing [] to examine how they could strengthen laws and regulations to either deny or revoke the tax-exempt status for organizations that promulgate hate.”

Electoral Access

• In Washington DC, “the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties…focused the nation’s attention on the VRA with a hearing titled ‘Evidence of Current and Ongoing Voting Discrimination.’”
• In Nashville TN, “Judge Aleta A. Trauger issued an opinion granting a preliminary injunction in Tennessee N.A.A.C.P. v. Hargett, enjoining a new Tennessee law that threatens criminal and civil penalties on civic engagement organizations that conduct voter registration drives[.]”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Denver CO, “the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System [announced it] is partnering with Netherlands-based The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) to assess the justice needs of people and businesses in the UNited States [in a] two-year US Justice Needs study.”
• In Utah, Findlaw.com reported on the Utah Work Group on Regulatory Reform’s Report on ‘Narrowing the Access-to-Justice Gap by Reimagining Regulation’ [Ed. Note: released in August 2019, when the digest was on hiatus]. According to FindLaw, “[the] report outlines an overhaul of the state’s regulatory structure for law practices, including new rules that would allow nonlawyers to own and invest in law firms.”
• In New York NY, “[i]n a bid to root out so-called tenant blacklisting, the city may expand its list of protected classes to include people who have been involved in housing court cases.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Wisconsin, the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that “Wisconsin indigent criminal defendants’ constitutional claim for timely appointment of counsel can’t proceed in federal court even though the state’s public defender system needs ‘urgent repair.’”
• In Milwaukee WI, local news reported that “[b]ody cam video…valuable as it is, [] can also be a time-consuming burden to lawyers[. S]omeone has to watch all the footage. It can be difficult for defense attorneys, who are already stretched thin.”
• In Tompkins County NY, “[the county] Legislature has approved unanimously a five-year performance-based contract to support the Assigned Counsel Department[, providing] more than $2.5 million through the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services[.]”
• In Ionia County MI, the county “Board of Commissioners are considering partnering with other counties for indigent defense services.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In St. Paul MN, “[t]he…City Attorney’s Office [launched] a pilot program…this month giv[ing] some offenders a second chance if they agree to work with their community.”
• In Florence SC, “the South Carolina Supreme Court ordered the creation of [a ‘homeless court’] in the city’s municipal court system.”

The Organization

The Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) is comprised of Texas lawyers dedicated to helping Texas communities achieve equality and justice in all aspects of life. TCRP is a civil legal aid organization that uses legal advocacy and litigation strategies to serve Texas’s most vulnerable populations in areas of voting rights, criminal justice reform, and racial and economic justice.

In particular, TCRP’s Voting Rights Program fights to defeat systematic barriers to Texans’ right to vote. Current projects of the Voting Rights Program focus on enforcing voter registration laws and combating voter purges and intimidation.

The Position

TCRP’s Voting Rights Program is seeking two Regional Election Protection Legal Fellows to participate in a one-year fellowship program beginning this December. The fellows would be responsible for organizing election protection volunteers, responding to election administration issues, and serving as an election protection spokesperson for a designated region. The ideal candidate will be a charismatic self-starter and have excellent written and oral communication skills.

See the full post on PSJD: https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=96094

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! It’s been awhile, I know. The digest is resuming its regular service after a hiatus this summer, when matters here at NALP diverted my attention for a time. (Among other things, we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes on some major improvements for PSJD.org that we hope to be able to share with you later this fall.)

We’re wading back in with a doozy of a week: the US Supreme Court issued a ruling that allows, preliminarily, for DHS to make major changes to the way the US handles asylum claims. Meanwhile, administration officials told reporters the federal government is considering “get[ting] homeless people off the streets of Los Angeles and other cities and into new government-backed facilities.” In Canada, jurists in Ontario presented a critique of Premier Ford’s recent cuts to legal aid. On the lighter side, Hasan Minhaj testified to Congress about student loans. (The video is worth a look.) In case you’ve forgotten how this works, all this and more is in the links, below.

One more thing: PSJD subscriber schools have until Friday, September 27th to nominate students for the 2019-2020 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award. The award goes to a law student who has made significant contributions to pro bono work at their institution and in their community, and it comes with a commemorative plaque and a check. So if you have anyone on your campus you think I should know about, please consider nominating them.

See you around,

Sam

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• In Washington DC, “the Supreme Court stayed a preliminary injunction…against the third country asylum rule recently issued by [DHS]. The rule would bar foreign nationals who cross the U.S.-Mexico border from receipt of U.S. asylum when they transit through a third country without applying for protection in that country.”
  • Also in Washington DC, “RAICES and seven asylum seekers, Democracy Forward, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. and Proskauer Rose LLP sued the Trump administration to challenge [the new directives].” [Ed. Note: To this reader, this suit appears novel in that its argument against the new directives relies on (among other authorities) the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.]
• In Mississippi, “[n]early 100 people detained in Mississippi immigraiton raids in August will receive pro bono legal representation from lawyers at major law firms across the country.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[c]omedian Hasan Minhaj called on Congress to rein in ‘predatory, for-profit loan servicing companies’ [] in prepared statements before members of the House Financial Services Committee.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[m]ore than a year after Congress tried to fix the problem, the Education Department still rejects almost all applications [99%] for public-service loan forgiveness, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has found.”
  • Meanwhile, “former student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) believes that agency has been a ‘complete failure’ over the last year and has ‘completely walked away from its mission’ regarding student loan borrowers.”
• In Maryland, “[a]pplications for the Maryland Student Loan Debt Relief Tax Credit are due on Sept. 15.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In the US, “[c]urrent and former federal employees and military personnel [] will have more options when withdrawing money from their retirement accounts…in a move to make [the Thrift Savings Plan] operate more like other tax-favored savings plans.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Washington DC, “President Trump has ordered White House officials to launch a sweeping effort to address homelessness in California[;] Administration officials have discussed using the federal government to get homeless people off the streets of Los Angeles and other cities and into new government-backed facilities, according to two officials briefed on the planning. / But it is unclear how they could accomplish this and what legal authority they would use.”
• Also in Washington DC, Justice Gorsuch released a new book in which (according to commentary) he draws connections between “loosen[ing] state bar rule restrictions preventing nonlawyers from owning law firms” and “access to affordable justice.”
• In Toronto ON, “[t]he chief justices from Ontario’s top three courts banded together [] at the opening of the courts to stress the importance of legal aid, pro bono and the need for the courts to control its own resources.”
  • In related news, “Ontario’s attorney general defended [the] controversial cuts to legal aid[.]”
• In Richmond VA, the city’s “first ever program aimed at helping people avoid eviction [got] a home base [as] City Council…approv[ed] legislation awarding a grant of $485,140 to fair housing watchdog Housing Opportunities Made Equal to operate the pioneering program.” [Ed. Note: Since the publication of this article, city records reflect that the ordinance was adopted.]
• Meanwhile, in Chicago IL, the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing reported that “support is growing for…the state or city [to] allocate funds to guarantee a tenants a right to counsel in eviction court.”
• Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, “lawmakers have proposed a trio of bills that seek to establish the nation’s first statewide [laws guaranteeing lawyers to low-income tenants facing eviction.”
• In New York NY, History Professor Michelle Chen discussed the growing movement toward “universal representation to all [immigration] detainees who lack a lawyer and cannot afford one.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Montana, “[a]ttorneys who contract with the Montana Office of the State Public Defender to represent indigent defendants are asking the state Supreme Court to rule in their case seeking to reinstate payment rates reduced during budget cuts.”
• In Spokane County WA, county officials “appear[] poised to overturn decades of precedent and hand the responsibility of representing indigent suspects to lawyers who work for a nonprofit rather than the county. / The change would mean ending the retirement, benefits and salaries of the 60 attorneys and about 30 support staff for the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office, which has struggled to keep up with caseloads as prosecutors funnel the state’s highest number of felony files its way.”

The Organization

Reprieve US is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by governments. Working closely with its UK sister organization, Reprieve US represents persons accused of terrorism held in Guantanamo Bay; investigates extra judicial killings, detentions, and disappearances around the world; and assists prisoners in the US facing the death penalty. Additionally, Reprieve US operates a number of public education projects meant to bring attention to governments’ human rights abuses.

The Stop Lethal Injection Project at the Lethal Injection Information Center (a Reprieve initiative) engages in investigation, corporate social responsibility advocacy, strategic litigation, and public education centered on exposing the abuses of lethal injection and the myths surrounding humane execution.

The Position

Reprieve US seeks an Officer to join the Stop Lethal Injection Project (SLIP). The Officer is responsible for supporting SLIP’s litigation and advocacy efforts. These tasks require great written and spoken communication skills. The ideal candidate would have a JD and a commitment to human rights.

See the full post on PSJD: https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=95426

The Organization

Housing Works is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the dual crisis of homelessness and AIDS. In support of its mission, Housing Works’ HIV Law Project provides legal and advocacy services to low-income HIV-positive New Yorkers. The HIV Law Project embodies the belief that all people deserve the same fundamental rights, particularly the right to live with dignity and respect, the right to be treated as equal members of society, and the right to have their basic human needs fulfilled.

The Position

The HIV Law Project seeks a Law Student Intern devoted to social justice, human rights, and public service. Although this is an unpaid opportunity, the student would gain invaluable experience in advocacy and litigation in legal areas such as housing, benefits, immigration, and civil rights. The student would also benefit from a flexible schedule (including the ability to work remotely), mentorship, and the chance to improve their skills in research, writing, and communication.

See the full post on PSJD:  https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=95680