January 27, 2023 at 12:25 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public!
It’s a blockbuster of a news week, kicking off with a series of stories covering ChatGPT and the discussion of AI-generated answers in a legal context. Other major news includes guidance from the DOJ concerning discharging student debt in bankruptcy and a wide-ranging series of stories discussing recruitment and retention problems for local government attorneys. Connecting the dots on this subject, the Marshall Project reported on a decline in local government jobs over the period of the pandemic (see “Non-Profit & Gov’t Management”), while local examples of this nationwide trend can be found throughout the “Access to Justice” sections (both Civil & Criminal).
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Focus: AI-Driven Legal Services
In California, DoNotPay’s planned experiment with an AI-lawyer (covered in previous editions of this digest) “has been scrapped after ‘State bar prosecutors’ threatened the man behind the company that created the chatbot with prison time [presumably for unauthorized practice of law]. Joshua Browder, CEO of DoNotPay, on Wednesday tweeted that his company ‘is postponing our court case and sticking to consumer rights.’ ”
At the University of Minnesota Law School, “[a]n artificial intelligence tool called ChatGPT averaged a C-plus on exams[], according to four law professors who gave it a try… Its essays ‘were typically clear and well-crafted—perhaps even suspiciously so compared to real students writing a time-limited exam,’ the study said. And ChatGPT ‘displayed a strong grasp of basic legal rules.’ But when the essay answers were incorrect, ‘they were dramatically incorrect, often garnering the worst scores in the class,’ the study said. ChatGPT ‘struggled to identify relevant issues and often only superficially applied rules to facts as compared to real law students.’ ”
At the Suffolk University Law School’s Legal Innovation & Technology Lab, Prof. David Colarusso commented that “[f]olks keep joking their jobs are safe because #ChatGPT makes stuff up, but it's just a matter of time before folks address that. Case in point, I built a bot using GPT3 (the #LLM powering ChatGPT) that sources its answers from trusted texts. Here it is in "conversation" with my school's Clinical Information Packet: [] I have to work pretty hard to trip it up. We should be worrying about the centralization of power/scaling of bias that comes with monopoly. ”
In this editor’s opinion, a key hurdle people looking to deploy these tools in a legal context must clear is data privacy. Towards AI ran an informative article last Spring discussing the way OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) has been responding to requests from companies that text they use to train their tools not be retained by OpenAI for other purposes .
Finally, Barrons notes that “ChatGPT’s sudden ubiquity is raising a difficult issue. Are works created by ChatGPT protected by copyright laws? The answer is unclear. Unfortunately, the copyright code does not expressly address works of authorship created by machines…Microsoft is making a huge investment in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Analysts believe the AI technology will soon be available in products such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, the primary authorship tools of the business world. There is a strong likelihood that ChatGPT will soon be making paragraph-sized suggestions, real-time, as we write a story, type a report, or even write a contract. This reality makes it crucial to consider the legal protections (or lack thereof) around works created with generative AI and the current construction of the U.S. Copyright Act. ”
Student Loans & Student Debt
Reproductive Rights
In New Mexico, “[the state’s] top prosecutor…asked the state Supreme Court to nullify abortion ordinances that local elected officials have passed in conservative reaches of the Democratic-led state. ”
In Oregon, “[t]he Oregon Department of Justice and various law firms in the state announced a hotline Monday that will provide advice for people seeking access to abortions…Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a statement [that] ‘[t]his is especially important because we share a border with Idaho, which has a near-total abortion ban.’ ”
In West Virginia, “[s]tarting a nationwide courtroom battle over abortion pills that will likely end up at the Supreme Court, the drugmaker GenBioPro filed suit against West Virginia’s ban on the medication, mifepristone…In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, GenBioPro, one of two domestic makers of the drug, says that the FDA’s powers over interstate commerce, which allow sales of the drug, supersede state laws such as West Virginia’s, a legal concept known as ‘preemption.’. ”
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
In Indiana, “[t]he Indiana Supreme Court is seeking public comment on a proposed rule change that would broaden pro bono reporting requirements to include public service or charitable groups or organizations. ”
In the United States, “[a]fter three straight years of gains, foundation investments performed dismally last year, leading to a 19 percent decline in the value of their endowments, according to one estimate. The losses, which include grants and operating expenses foundations made last year, suggest foundations will have a difficult time maintaining their grant-making levels unless they dig into their endowments. ”
Also in the United States, HealthCareDive.com pointed out that “[a] plain reading of the [FTC] proposal would suggest that nonprofit organizations are exempt from the draft rule seeking to ban restrictive covenants in employment contracts. ” [Ed. The article’s author is likely referring to the text on pp. 111-112 of the draft rule, noting that “[s]ome entities that would otherwise be employers may not be subject to the Rule to the extent they are exempted from coverage under the FTC Act [including] an entity that is not ‘organized to carry on business for its own profit or that of its members.’ ”
Again also in the United States, “[a]n analysis of two years of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data shows a steady decline in both law enforcement and local government jobs during the pandemic. ”
In Washington DC, “[t]he Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget…issued long-awaited guidance on how agencies can expand their use of internships and ensure more of those opportunities are paid. ”
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
In Toronto ON, “[a]n advertisement posted to Instagram by a Richmond Hill-based legal services firm has been drawing a lot of attention across the Greater Toronto Area at a time when inflation has bloated food prices. The ad, created by the firm We Defend You, tells potential clients “we defend anyone arrested for shoplifting food from the grocery stores for FREE!’ ”
Also in Ontario, “[t]he Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) and Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) have entered into a new service agreement, increasing LAO’s investment in the legal aid and services ALS delivers. ”
In California, “[a] coalition of disability and civil rights advocates filed a lawsuit Thursday asking the California Supreme Court to block the rollout of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s far-reaching new plan to address severe mental illness by compelling treatment for thousands of people. ”
In Philadelphia PA, “[o]n Feb. 1, the city is expanding its Right to Counsel initiative, which started last February as a pilot program for tenants living in zip codes 19139 and 19121 in West and North Philadelphia…Now, tenants in the 19134 and 19144 zip codes, which includes small sections of West Mount Airy and East Falls, can access lawyers for free. ”
In Martinsville & Henry Counties VA, “Virginia Legal Aid Society Inc. has received a three-year funding amount of $428,230 from The Harvest Foundation to expand its eviction reduction programming[.] ”
In South Carolina, “[f]ollowing the success of the [Charleston Housing Court Pilot Project] in the Charleston area, [the Supreme Court of South Carolina] authorize[d] the expansion of the [program] to all counties in South Carolina[.] ”
In Washington DC, “The White House is preparing to roll out new measures as soon as this month to protect tenants in the wake of post-pandemic price spikes, according to housing advocates and industry lobbyists who have met with administration officials. ”
Also in Washington DC, “[t]he lead of the independent organization within the IRS charged with advising the agency on taxpayer issues wants it to provide its own free, direct e-file tax return system. ”
In Massachusetts, “[t]he chief justice of the state’s highest court…called on lawmakers to support a requested $49 million in the state’s fiscal 2024 budget to continue closing th[e justice] gap. ”
In Minnesota, the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, supported by others including the president of the Minnesota Bar Association and the Executive Director of the State Board of Public Defense, argued that “added stress and workload is contributing to a staffing crisis across our justice system, including shrinking numbers of courthouse clerks, public defenders, prosecutors, civil legal aid attorneys and law enforcement, probation and corrections officers. Recruiting new workers to fill these vacancies has become nearly impossible without the ability to offer competitive pay in this tight labor market. ”
In Nevada, “litigation on behalf of siblings Sylvia and Elvin Fred, who are both members of the Washoe Tribe, cuts to the heart of [civil rights advocates’ criticism decrying the lack of due process in civil asset forfeiture proceedings]. If successful, it stands to reshape the forfeiture process in Nevada — and give the Fred family members their three-bedroom Carson City house back for good[.] ”
In Utah, “[t]he Access to Justice department of the Utah State Bar has launched a new Utah Pro Bono Opportunity Portal in partnership with the Pro Bono Commission and sponsored by the Utah State Bar. This is a centralized dashboard using a system called Paladin that tracks pro bono opportunities in Utah in real time. These opportunities include Utah State Bar programs and listings from community partners. ”
Access to Justice – Criminal
In Maine, “[the] lead public defender for the state’s commission on indigent legal services has resigned, roughly one month after taking the position. ”
In Oregon, “[o]fficials have approved a plan for spending $10 million of emergency funding to address Oregon’s public defender crisis, which has left hundreds of people languishing in jails or in the community awaiting legal representation. ”
In Kansas, “public defense is at a crisis point, officials say, with overworked attorneys struggling to provide adequate services in the midst of a worker shortage. ”
In Minnesota, the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, supported by others including the president of the Minnesota Bar Association and the Executive Director of the State Board of Public Defense, argued that “added stress and workload is contributing to a staffing crisis across our justice system, including shrinking numbers of courthouse clerks, public defenders, prosecutors, civil legal aid attorneys and law enforcement, probation and corrections officers. Recruiting new workers to fill these vacancies has become nearly impossible without the ability to offer competitive pay in this tight labor market. ”
In Milwaukee WI, “[c]ounty officials ma[de a] desperate call for help with court backlog[.] ”
In Louisville KY, “public defenders continue to fight for [a] contract one year after [their] vote to unionize. ”
In Florida, “[f]or the first time in three years, Florida prosecutors and assistant public defenders got raises in the 2022-2023 budget — some $5,000 to $10,000 along with an inflation adjustment increase of more than five percent. But it’s still not enough in many cases to compete with private law firms, a state attorney and public defender told lawmakers Tuesday. ”
In Jefferson City MO, “[a] House bill was presented in the Judiciary Committee hearing Monday, which would modify past language in policy related to the funding for the Missouri State Public Defender. The purpose of HB 663 is to create the ‘Public Defender – Federal and Other Fund.’ ”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
In King County WA, “King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion laid out her policy and practice changes for her new administration…in a press conference at the King County Courthouse. Among the announcements was the creation of two new divisions — one focused on gender-based violence and one tackling economic crimes and wage theft. ”
In New Mexico, “[state] Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon…used the opportunity of the State of the Judiciary address — given once every four years — to defend bail reform and counter rhetoric alleging it made New Mexico less safe. ”
In Florida, “[a] federal judge upheld Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' suspension of a state prosecutor who DeSantis viewed as "woke" — but in doing so, condemned the governor for violating the prosecutor's right to free speech…In his order on Friday, [Judge] Hinkle wrote that, ‘The assertion that Mr. Warren neglected his duty or was incompetent is incorrect. This factual issue is not close.’…[but] Hinkle said that, while DeSantis was wrong to dismiss Warren, it was not within the court's power to reinstate him, and thus ruled in favor of the governor. ”
In Louisiana, “[t]he [US] Justice Department announced…that it has concluded there is probable cause to believe that the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LDOC) routinely confines people in its custody past the dates when they are legally entitled to be released from custody, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment…Between January and April 2022 alone, 26.8% of the people released from LDOC’s custody were held past their release dates. Of those overdetained people, 24% were held over for at least 90 days, and the median number of days overdetained was 29. ”
An attorney at the Federal Defenders of San Diego argued that “a new vacancy on the country’s largest federal appellate court [the 9th Cir.]…gives President Joe Biden a chance to remedy one of the federal judiciary’s most glaring oversights: More than 140 years after its establishment, the Ninth Circuit has never had a public defender among the ranks of its judges. ”
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