Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Interested public.

No words today,

Sam

• In Geneva, “UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet…condemned the killing of George Floyd, an African American man whose death in police custody on Monday was captured on video and has led to serious ongoing protests in Minneapolis:
  
  ‘This is the latest in a long line of killings of unarmed African Americans by US police officers and members of the public[.] …The US authorities must take serious action to stop such killings, and to ensure justice is done when they do occur. Procedures must change, prevention systems must be put in place, and above all police officers who resort to excessive use of force should be charged and convicted for the crimes committed.’”
  
  
• Relatedly, in the United States:
  
  
  • In 2020, “[U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota] MacDonald, when asked why an average citizen would have been arrested either at the scene or much earlier than the early evening hours of Thursday, said that the possible defendants’ roles as police officers added a complicated legal wrinkle. Because officers can use force while making arrests and enjoy some legal privileges that ordinary citizens do not enjoy, the case was more complicated and required additional analysis and review[.]”
    
    
  • In 2014, writing for the New York Times opinion section, two Harvard Law 3Ls observed that “ERIC GARNER was not the first American to be choked by the police, and he will not be the last, thanks to legal rules that prevent victims of police violence from asking federal courts to help stop deadly practices…Public indignation about police violence should be directed not only at the grand juries and prosecutors that fail to vindicate victims of police violence, but also at the legal rules that enabled this violence in the first place. The law shouldn’t just serve to punish past conduct: It should also drive reform.”
    
    
  • In 1983, Thurgood Marshall noted, in dissent, that “THE CHIEF JUSTICE asked in Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U. S. 388, 403 U. S. 419 (1971) (dissenting opinion), “what would be the judicial response to a police order authorizing shoot to kill’ with respect to every fugitive”? His answer was that it would be “easy to predict our collective wrath and outrage.” Ibid. We now learn that wrath and outrage cannot be translated into an order to cease the unconstitutional practice, but only an award of damages to those who are victimized by the practice and live to sue, and to the survivors of those who are not so fortunate. Under the view expressed by the majority today, if the police adopt a policy of “shoot to kill,” or a policy of shooting 1 out of 10 suspects, the federal courts will be powerless to enjoin its continuation.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! The news continues to pour in, shaking the windows and rattling the walls. Major stories this week include student loans, in which the Democratic caucus released a debt relief proposal as part of the HEROES Act only to amend their proposal two days later, significantly reducing their proposed forgiveness. In civil access to justice, reporting from DC highlighted the stark difference in FEMA’s efforts to provide legal services during the pandemic, compared with its approach to other disasters. In the legislative branch, a bipartisan group of Representatives proposed a civil Gideon bill. Meanwhile, on the criminal side, legal authorities in Colorado and Massachusetts highlighted a vacuum of authority when considering decarceration as a public health measure. And the Michigan legislature cancelled its session in the face of armed opposition.

As always, these stories and more are in the links below.

Stay well,

Sam

Bar Exam Changes

• In Connecticut, “[f]aced with hundreds of Connecticut law school graduates not able to take the state bar examination in July due to COVID-19-related disruptions, the Rules Committee of Superior Court has approved recommendations to loosen guidelines to allow students to make court presentations—in some instances—without a supervising attorney present.”
  • Note: There are many stories of this nature across the United States at the moment. The National Conference of Bar Examiners is working to keep track of these changes on a consolidated page; you can find a link to this page and other COVID-19 national survey materials at www.psjd.org/covid19

Remote Court Practice & Lawmaking

• Writing for The Marshall Project, a public defender with the Kentucky Department of Advocacy noted that as court procedures move online standards for due process are suffering:

  “[t]here is no virtual substitute for many of [our] duties. As a result, we now can accomplish only the bare minimum, namely emergency hearings and arraignments (those first court appearances). What isn’t happening in many counties are competency hearings at which we would argue that a client is not being properly evaluated by mental-health professionals. Hearings for mitigation specialists that might show that a client has faced trauma are on hold because we cannot obtain records from closed schools and social-service agencies. Drug and veterans courts are closed too. And we can’t have trials, because it would be impossible to convene a jury or to subpoena witnesses to appear with current social distancing rules.All the while, the bar for “justice” constantly gets lowered.”

• Across the United States, “[m]any state and local governments…have suspended public records requirements amid the coronavirus pandemic, denying or delaying access to information that could shed light on key government decisions.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Senate came one vote short Wednesday of approving a proposal to prevent federal law enforcement from obtaining internet browsing information or search history without seeking a warrant.”
• In Palo Alto CA, leaders of the Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School argued that “[t]his pandemic underscores the need to assist millions of individuals and small businesses through greater innovation in legal services.”

Rule of Law

• In Michigan, the state “closed down its capitol in Lansing on Thursday and canceled its legislative session rather than face the possibility of an armed protest and death threats against Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he presiding judge in Michael Flynn’s criminal case has appointed a retired judge to present arguments in opposition to the Justice Department’s move to dismiss its prosecution of the former national security adviser.”

Pro Bono Response

• In Oklahoma, Katie Dilks, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation (and former PSJD Fellow), and Michael Figgins, ED of Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, reported that “[t]he foundation is working with partners across the state to launch a statewide pro bono portal where lawyers can connect with volunteer opportunities, both in their communities and across the state.”
• In Tennessee, “Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) has announced the launch of Pro Bono Matters on its website[.] Pro Bono Matters offers volunteer attorneys the opportunity to express interest in specific cases, which will help LAET to achieve its mission of strengthening communities and changing lives through high-quality legal services.” You can find the new program here.
• In Central Islip NY, “Touro law school [h]as established a helpline to answer legal questions arising from the pandemic. Volunteer attorneys will provide referrals to [Touro’s] own clinic program and appropriate legal partners[.]”
• In New York NY, “[m]ore than 150 Columbia Law School students are working with faculty on pro bono projects: They are guiding small-business owners through the federal Paycheck Protection Program loan process, supporting public defenders working to win the release of prisoners vulnerable to COVID-19, and finding crucial resources for unemployed workers and immigrants.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[j]ust two days after releasing the Heroes Act, House Democrats [] released an amendment to the bill. The original bill called for $10,000 in student loan cancellation for all borrowers and a suspension of student loan payments through September 30, 2021. This new amendment scales back the proposed student loan forgiveness.”
• Also in Washington DC, “Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander on Tuesday said, ‘interest rates on new federal student loans will drop to historic lows on July 1.’ …The interest rate on undergraduate loans will be 2.75 percent for the 2020-2021 school year, down from 4.53 percent in the 2019-2020 school year. The interest rate on loans for graduate students will be 4.3 percent (down from 6.08 percent) and for PLUS loans for parents and graduates will be 5.3 percent (down from 7.08 percent).”
• Also also in Washington DC, “[r]esponding to a lawsuit from the National Students Legal Defense Network, DeVos noted that her agency instructed nearly 37,500 employers to halt the practice Monday. Over the weekend, it assured some 83,500 borrowers in default that their wages would not be garnished.” Overall, “[a]bout 54,000 workers had their wages garnished as of May 7. This is about 14% of the 390,000 Americans who saw March wages garnished.”
• In Wisconsin, We are Green Bay described the efforts of the state’s Student Debt Task Force, created in January, which “will meet eight times in the coming months, with a goal of submitting a series of recommendation to the governor to deal with student debt, which he will include in his next biennial budget.”
• In New York NY, Judge Ramos of the Southern District of New York “ruled he will allow full discovery” in a suit by New York State against “the Federal Education Department’s sole-source contractor FedLoan Servicing…for ‘failing miserably in its administration of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness [sic].” The docket for this ongoing case is available here.
• Benefits Pro reported that under the CARES Act, “[e]mployers can now help their employees pay down student debt faster and save a significant amount of money on student loan interest.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington, “[u]nprecedented job losses and furloughs have pushed millions of Americans to the brink of eviction during the coronavirus pandemic, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the White House have failed to fund a legal assistance program that is routinely available to disaster survivors.”
• In Kentucky, the “court system will impose a statewide hiring freeze and suspend out-of-state travel to reduce expenses as the coronavirus drives down revenues, the state’s chief justice said.”
  • Note: There are many stories of this nature across the United States at the moment. NALP is working to keep track of news related to this issue on a consolidated page; you can find a link to this page and other COVID-19 national survey materials at www.psjd.org/covid19
• In Washington DC, “the nation’s charitable nonprofits strongly urge[d] leaders in both the House and Senate to take swift action to ensure that nonprofits of all sizes receive critical relief so they can continue to serve their communities through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.”
• In British Columbia, “non-profit organizations say they’re at risk due to pandemic restrictions, with 15-19% saying they face closure and 23% saying they might not last another six months.”
• In Edmonton AB, “a University of Alberta law professor…raised more than $120,000 for his 100 Interns Project through online seminars, direct employment donations, and financial contributions.”
• In the United States, Government Executive reported that “the federal government lags when it comes to attracting Generation Z tech talent.”
• In Canada, “[t]he economic fallout from the coronavirus has cut off scores of young Canadians from summer jobs and internships, which usually help them bridge gaps between tuition payments.”

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• In Montgomery County MD, “[a] nonprofit group has filed a federal lawsuit against Montgomery County seeking to prevent local officials from distributing COVID-19 relief funds to people living in the country illegally.”
• In Cambridge MA, Forbes profiled “Immigrants Like Us (ILU)[,] a new nonprofit based out of Harvard University’s Innovation Lab.” Its founder describes its mission as one “to democratize access to legal information for low-income immigrants.”

Access to Justice – Criminal & Decarceration

• In Massachusetts, “Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants had a question for attorneys who argued Thursday that some state agencies should not be named in a lawsuit seeking to release more prisoners because of COVID-19. ‘We’ve got the governor saying, `Not my problem, I shouldn’t be ordered to do something.` We’ve got the Department of Correction saying, `We manage the prisons, the only thing we’re involved with is medical parole,` and now we’ve got the parole board saying that it’s not their problem. So who’s supposed to do it?’ Gants asked during Thursday’s SJC hearing on a class action lawsuit seeking to reduce the number of people incarcerated to stem the spread of the coronavirus behind bars.”
• In Aurora CO, the Colorado Sentinel reported on how efforts to release municipal offenders to slow the spread of the pandemic highlighted a vacuum in legal authority: “City Attorney Dan Brotzman…wrote in an email…citing a bevy of case law [that] ‘in Colorado and across the country, it is clear that a commutation or pardon of a municipal ordinance violation cannot be performed under the executive power of the governor, nor of any city official, unless that power is granted to that official. Under the Colorado Constitution,…the governor is provided that specific power…only for state crimes, not convictions for ordinance violations.’“
  • Note: There are many stories of this nature across the United States at the moment. The Prison Policy Initiative is working to keep track of news related to this issue on a consolidated page; you can find a link to this page and other COVID-19 national survey materials at www.psjd.org/covid19
• In Chicago IL, University of Chicago News covered the experience of students in the law school’s Federal Criminal Justice Clinic, which executed “a quick pivot…as the coronavirus pandemic took hold [and] urgent needs emerged in the federal criminal justice system just as other clinic projects were postponed.”
• In Louisiana, “public defenders face steep financial challenges as the coronavirus rages on, forcing leaders to declare an emergency shortfall in funding this week. The outbreak has shuttered courthouses across the state, halting the flow of user fines and fees that account for about half of the Louisiana Public Defender Board’s budget.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington, “Two Republicans, Reps. Susan Brooks of Indiana and Fred Upton of Michigan, and thirteen other Democrats, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Jerrold Nadler of New York, have so far co-sponsored [a] resolution [from Rep. Joe Kennedy III], which aims to provide counsel in civil proceedings tied to ‘health, safety, family, shelter or sustenance’ for those who otherwise could not afford or access it.”
• In California, the “State Bar voted Thursday to form a group to study launching an experimental ‘sandbox’ to come up with innovative ways to give more people access to legal services, which could include relaxing rules regarding the unauthorized practice of law and nonlawyer ownership of firms.”
• In Southern California, “[t]hree…cities have received letters threatening lawsuits if they don’t repeal eviction bans enacted to protect out-of-work or ill renters during the coronavirus pandemic. Two of the cities–Upland and La Verne–repealed their bans after getting the letters.”
  • Meanwhile, in New York, “[m]any of those unable to pay monthly rent or mortgage payments are at the mercy of the state and federal governments as the potential for mass evictions looms when the pandemic subsides.”
• In Missouri, “Legal Services of Eastern Missouri has expanded its services to help people with the unemployment benefits application process.”

Criminal Justice Reform

We are pleased to announce that the 2019-2020 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award Winner is Leslie Alvarez, a 3L at St. Mary’s University School of Law. NALP confers this honor each year to a law student whose extraordinary commitment to law-related public service work contributes to the overall growth of pro bono culture within their law school and their broader community.

Last fall, after much deliberation, we selected five finalists from among the students nominated for this award. In addition to our winner, we have also selected one student to honor as a Merit Distinction finalist. Leslie Alvarez received her award at a meeting of NALP’s Public Service Section held via videoconference last week.

Our winner, Merit Distinction finalist, and other finalists are highlighted below. Thank you to our impressive pool of nominees for the valuable work each of you do for your communities.

You can read more about each of these outstanding students by following the links below to individual blog posts from earlier this year highlighting their achievements.

WINNER: Leslie Alvarez | St. Mary’s University School of Law

Ultimately, we selected Alvarez as our 2019-2020 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award winner for her work fostering pro bono opportunities for her classmates at St. Mary’s — to the benefit of the San Antonio community broadly. In the words of one of Alvarez’ supervising attorneys:

In my 20 years of practice I have never worked with a law student who is such a doer….Leslie approached my law firm to partner with St. Mary’s Law School on a clinic for young people with disabilities. That by itself was exciting but more so was her follow through: she immediately set up a meeting of interested stakeholders, took charge of recruiting fellow law students, identified community partners to hose the clinic, coordinated multiple trainings, and conducted outreach to parents and students with disabilities. When the first clinic had low turnout, she immediately started brainstorming on solutions and realized we needed a broader outreach network. The second clinic was the most successful my law firm has hosted in our history of doing guardianship alternative work and it is because of Leslie’s dedication.

Statement of Support for the Nomination of Leslie Alvarez;
2019-2020 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award

Congratulations Leslie!

Merit Distinction Finalist: Ming Tanigawa-Lau | UCLA Law

Although the award ultimately went to another student, the Award Committee wanted to take time additionally to call attention to the exemplary work of Ming Tanigawa-Lau, a 2L at UCLA Law. Tanigawa-Lau has played an instrumental role organizing students’ pro bono efforts to assist asylum seekers in Tijuana. In the words of a postgraduate fellow who worked with Tanigawa-Lau:

As a 1L board member, Ming was an amazing asset to the student group, Law Students for Immigrant Justice (LSIJ) last year. She spent her school breaks volunteering with detained asylum-seeking women and children in Dilly Texas, as well as migrants in Tijuana, Mexico…Ming also created opportunities for other law students to get involved in immigrant justice work[.]

Statement of Support for the Nomination of Ming Tanigawa-Lau;
2019-2020 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award

Congratulations Ming!

Other Finalists

Finally, the Award Committee wants to recognize one more time the achievement of the other finalists for the 2019-2020 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award:

• Ashley De La Garza | St. Mary’s University School of Law
  Outstanding dedication to criminal justice reform.
• Chelsea Reese | University of Georgia School of Law
  Pro bono work on behalf of children and vicitms of domestic violence.
• Emily Holland | Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
  Human rights work, internationally and domestically.

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! The days remain packed, even as we all stay at home. Some major stories include a decision to restrict the New York bar exam to people who graduated from law school in New York, a judicial opinion out of Ontario suggesting that courts may not want to return to in-person appearances under some circumstances, a decision in New Jersey to allow out-of-state-licensed lawyers to provide temporary, supervised pro bono assistance, and a lawsuit alleging that Secretary DeVos has illegally continued to garnish the wages of student debtholders after the CARES Act suspended this practice.

As always, these stories and more are in the links below.

Stay well,

Sam

State Bar Exams

• In New York, “[b]ecause of space concerns related to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the New York bar exam will now be administered at law schools there. And for now, applications are limited to people who graduated in the state.”
  • Relatedly, “deans at 21 top law schools across the country fired off a joint letter saying that ‘the news of your approach has fallen hard on the many students who had planned to sit for the bar in New York,’ adding that they were worried that the ‘resulting delay in the exam’s administration and admission to practice will fall hardest on the most economically vulnerable” and those who may not be able to stay in the country.’ “

Remote Court Practice & Lawmaking

• In Ontario, “[a] judge said [while dismissing a lawyers’ objections to proceeding through a video-conference mini-trial] ‘we should not be going back’ to costly personal attendance in court, comparing it to writing with a quill and ink.”
• Also in Ontario, Barry Leon continued his series for The Lawyers’ Daily on lessons learned from the application of technology to court proceedings in the province.
• In Oneida County NY, “[t]he DA’s office…has put together a memo [for the courts] on how to move forward and do business while minimizing the risk of becoming sick.”
• In Arkansas, the state “Supreme Court issued [for] guidelines once in-person appearances resume in the courts.”
• In Chicago IL, “a group of lawyers has stepped in to offer free legal advice with the help of an artificial-intelligence powered chat bot.” The site is rentervention.com.
• In the United States, “[t]echnology companies helping to fight the coronavirus are policing themselves to protect consumer data in the absence of a comprehensive U.S. statute and only a few state privacy laws.”

Voting Rights

• The Tuscon Weekly reported that “[i]n n an April report that warns of the risks of fraud in mail-in voting, a conservative legal group significantly inflated a key statistic…[A]fter ProPublica provided evidence to PILF that it had in fact doubled the official government numbers, the organization corrected its figure.”

Rule of Law

• At The Hague, “the International Criminal Court is moving forward with investigations into the situation in Afghanistan.”
• In Washington DC, “[o]ne of the lead prosecutors in the case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has stepped down, as the U.S. Justice Department moves to dismiss the charges.”

Pro Bono Response

• In New Jersey, the state “Supreme Court has issued an order to allow attorneys not licensed in New Jersey to provide temporary, supervised pro bono assistance to individuals and small businesses impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.”
• In Chicago IL, “[t]he American Bar Association is unveiling a new online portal designed to better connect pro bono attorneys with individuals and families who need free legal services because of the national COVID-19 emergency.” You can access this portal here.
• In Kentucky, “[l]egal aid societies statewide have launched free training for lawyers who agree to provide pro-bono work in exchange for specialized training on the civil issues Kentuckians are expected to need the most help with.” The initiative, “Together Lawyers Can”, is available at this link.
• In New York, “[a]lmost two years after the New York Workers’ Compensation Board approved rules to allow law students and interns to represent injured workers in medical-only claims, the program has gone nowhere, leaving many workers to represent themselves.”
• In Massachusetts, “Safety Net Project Director Julie McCormack and the students working with her on criminal record sealing (a mostly administrative process before the Massachusetts Probation Service) have taken advantage of the enforced slow-down brought about by COVID19 to develop audio-visual self-help materials for veterans and others seeking to remove the stigma of long ago involvement in the criminal justice system.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[s]tudent loan borrowers have filed a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for allegedly illegal wage garnishments…[as n]early six weeks after the effective date of the CARES Act and the associated mandated suspension of collections, however, the Department of Education has allegedly continued to garnish the wages of some defaulted student loan borrowers.”
• Also in Washington DC, “Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) has proposed new legislation to delay federal student loan payments for new college graduates for up to three years. The [] Act would apply to anyone who graduates college from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Interestingly, the proposed legislation would empower the Secretary of Education (who is currently Betsy DeVos) – not Congress – to extend eligibility to anyone who graduates in 2021 or 2022[.]”
• Business Insider published a guide to which student loans qualify for forebearance under the CARES Act.

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• The consultancy Bridgespan and Echoing Green, “an organization that invests in and provides support for leaders of emerging social enterprises,” released a report finding that “[o]rganizations led by people of color win less grant money and are trusted less to make decisions about how to spend those funds than groups with white leaders[.]”
• In Arizona, “[t]he Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, an advocacy group representing more than 20,000 nonprofits, estimates the state’s nonprofit sector has already lost more than $40 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic and anticipates a $433 million loss be year’s end.”
• In the United States, “[a]lthough it remains unclear when or if the United States will effectively “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus outbreak, federal agencies appear poised to begin calling at least some employees back to the office in the coming weeks.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] new bill in the House would ensure that federal workers who cannot take vacation this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and end up exceeding annual limits on how much time off can carry over from year to year. would not lose their paid leave.”

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• In New Mexico and Texas, detained immigrants “are barred from placing free, private calls to their attorneys, hindering their access to counsel and robbing them of attorney-client confidentiality, a new lawsuit in New Mexico federal court alleges.”
• In Cambridge MA, “Harvard Law School immigration experts said a recent executive order suspending immigration to the United States will especially harm young children and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients.”

Access to Justice – Criminal & Decarceration

• The Appeal commented on how state bar exam delays may impact indigent accused persons’ access to justice: “what will happen to the marginalized—and Gideon’s mandate—when an entire class of public defenders cannot begin their jobs as scheduled in the fall of 2020?”
• In Missouri, “[s]even judges have been dismissed from a lawsuit over Missouri’s public defender wait lists. Circuit Judge William Hickle ruled the judges were not necessary parties to the lawsuit, which seeks to end the use of wait lists for public defenders.”
• In New York, the Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit “argu[ing] that…[named] inmates particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their race and pre-existing medical conditions [should be released immediately].”
• In New Mexico, the state “Supreme Court…denied a request to hasten the release of some inmates from prisons across the state to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Legal Services Corporation’s Board of Directors will meet remotely on Tuesday, May 19, 2020…Unless otherwise noted herein, the Board meeting will be open to public observation.”
• In Charlottesville VA, “[the] Legal Aid Justice Center call[ed] Governor Northam’s pending decision to begin reopening the state’s closed businesses “reckless”. Executive Director Angela Ciolfi told Morning News Virginia is nowhere near where [the state] need[s] to be in terms of testing capacity and contact tracing in order to make the move.”
• In Utah, the state Bar Foundation “has released a report addressing the unmet legal needs of lower-income Utahns. The report…highlights the civil legal needs of the roughly 26% of Utah’s population living at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.” The full report is available here.
• In Washington DC, “[f]ederal relief aid in the CARES Act was supposed to ensure the country’s indigenous peoples were not forgotten. Instead, tribes have been embroiled in a legal fight with the Trump administration over attempts to send the money to for-profit Native corporations in Alaska. While a federal judge sided with the tribes last week, the U.S. Treasury Department has yet to release any of the funds…[w]hen the money finally does flow…Native Hawaiians won’t see any of it.”
• In South Carolina, “legal experts said…in the weeks and months ahead, they expect a deluge of renters and homeowners who will be unable to keep up with payments.”
• In San Francisco CA, “Mayor London Breed received a demand letter…insisting she follow the Board of Supervisors’ unanimously passed ordinance to procure 8,250 hotel rooms and put vulnerable homeless people in some 7,000 of them.”
• In New York NY, local reporting argued that “[a]mid this pandemic, it is imperative that New York City expands the Right to Counsel law by increasing legal capacity to meet the inevitable COVID-19 eviction demand, and, building on this model, establish a new initiative to provide free legal representation to vulnerable small businesses.”

Criminal Justice Reform