PSJD News Digest – February 9, 2024
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello, interested public! We’re back with another week of news from the world of public service law. The biggest story this week concerns student loans. This story and others are in the links below.
Sam
Editor’s Choice
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Navient Outsources Servicing Of 2.7 Million Student Loans To Its Rival MOHELA—Is Your Loan Affected? (Forbes; 6 Feb 2024)
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MOHELA slow to process Public Service Loan Forgiveness applications, class action alleges (Top Class Actions; 1 Feb 2024)
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Student Loans & Student Debt
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Employers can now match student loan payments as 401(k) contributions. Here’s what that means (PBS; 8 Feb 2024)
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Graduate and professional students advocate for continued access to federal student loans amid debates over proposed Pell changes (Yale Daily News; 9 Feb 2024)
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Rural Attorney Program Repays Student Loans (Court News Ohio; 8 Feb 2024)
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Attorney Shortage Leads One State [OH] to Offer Student Loan Relief (Newsweek; 2 Feb 2024)
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Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
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Biden administration to extend salary history ban to federal contractors (Government Executive; 31 Jan 2024)
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OPM offers guidance for agencies implementing salary history ban (Government Executive; 2 Feb 2024)
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The jobs boom is hitting the federal sector, too (Government Executive; 2 Feb 2024)
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Public Sector Bodies Required To Comply With The Accessible Saskatchewan Act (Mondaq; 31 Jan 2024)
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San Diego County has a new public defender, but the selection process troubled some (inewsource; 5 Feb 2024)
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CT public defender union schedules 'no confidence' vote on chief Bowden-Lewis (Hartford Courant; 6 Feb 2024)
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New turmoil arises for CT public defenders: Email accounts of chief's critics accessed (Hartford Courant; 7 Feb 2024)
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Study: Civil Legal Services Lawyers Make as Much as 45% Less Than Public-Sector Counterparts (New York Law Journal; 5 Feb 2024)
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How Foundations Can Co-Create Movement Infrastructure (Nonprofit Quarterly; 6 Feb 2024)
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As DEI policies come under legal attack, philanthropic donors consider how to adapt (Associated Press; 8 Feb 2024)
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
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At risk of eviction in L.A.? These outreach workers are looking for you (LA Times; 9 Feb 2024)
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Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid to provide legal services for seniors (Kanabec County Times; 9 Feb 2024)
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Free legal aid for veterans comes to New London [CT] (The Day; 2 Feb 2024)
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Legal Aid Society grows along with eviction-defense program (Central NY Business Journal; 8 Feb 2024)
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Tacoma [WA] tenant protection law in full effect despite city’s lack of engagement (Real Change News; 31 Jan 2024)
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Boston [MA] City Council exploring pilot that would fund lawyers for evicted tenants (Boston Herald; 2 Feb 2024)
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[OH] Eviction filings creep back up to pre-pandemic levels (Spectrum News 1; 1 Feb 2024)
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Need for eviction protection increasing (The Berkeley [CA] Independent; 2 Feb 2024)
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Right to counsel for [NE] public housing residents considered (Unicameral Update; 7 Feb 2024)
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A Shortage of Immigration Lawyers Is Another Barrier to Integration for Immigrants (Immigration Impact; 31 Jan 2024)
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Nonprofit brings loan program to Pennsylvania for immigrants who can’t afford legal assistance (witf; 5 Feb 2024)
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Boosting civil legal aid: How Florida’s IOTA program leads the way (Business Observer; 1 Feb 2024)
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Pushing To Make The Formerly Incarcerated A Protected Class (Law360; 2 Feb 2024)
Access to Justice – Criminal
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Proposed [South Dakota] state public defender commission gets term limits added during floor debate (Sioux Falls Argus Leader; 8 Feb 2024)
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Alameda County [CA] Public Defender blasts governor for sending more prosecutors (KRON 4; 8 Feb 2024)
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Court-appointed [NY] lawyers are victims of stolen check schemes, prosecutors say; 6 people charged (ABA Journal; 8 Feb 2024)
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'No one takes a pay cut': More funding needed for state takeover of Louisville public defenders (WHAS 11; 2 Feb 2024)
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Wilt's Bill For Public Defender's Office Heads To [VA] House Of Delegates (Daily News Record; 4 Feb 2024)
Prosecutorial and Public Defense Office Hiring Crises
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Last public defender in YSL trial moves to withdraw as counsel, says she can’t earn ‘livable wage’ (WSB-TV Atlanta; 8 Feb 2024)
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[Memphis TN] Public defender’s office also faces pay-disparity problem (Daily Memphian; 5 Feb 2024)
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County prosecutor makes plea for 3 more positions amid attorney shortage (WRTV Indianapolis; 8 Feb 2024)
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Could judge have issued ‘less extreme’ remedy to address Oregon’s public defender crisis, appeals court asks (The Oregonian; 6 Feb 2024)
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
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California criminal justice system moving slowly to confront biases, discrimination (Courthouse News; 2 Feb 2024)
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Jackson County [KS] prosecutor started a conviction review unit. Some say it’s ‘smoke & mirrors’ (The Kansas Star; 5 Feb 2024)
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Ninth Circuit considers reviving law regulating defense attorneys’ access to victims (Courthouse News; 5 Feb 2024)
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Hennepin County [MN] Attorney Mary Moriarty opens application process for incarcerated people to request reduced sentence (Star Tribune; 7 Feb 2024)