Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Some major stories this week, including most notably the Supreme Court’s rejection of a request from the Biden administration to lift a pause imposed by a lower court on their student debt relief plan. In other news, the Arkansas government has averted layoffs of its public defenders, and both public defenders and prosecutors are on strike in Sacramento California. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• Wanted: Lawyers to help with this year’s election (ABA Journal; 26 Aug 2024)

Student Loans & Student Debt

• Supreme Court Keeps Biden Student-Loan Relief Plan on Hold (Bloomberg News; 28 Aug 2024)

  • Kamala Harris says 'won't stop fighting' for student debt relief after Supreme Court blocks Biden's SAVE plan (WIONews; 29 Aug 2024)

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• [OR] Consumer Justice Nonprofit Expands Legal Services (KBND; 23 Aug 2024)

• Could This Right-to-Counsel Program for Evictions Become a Statewide Model in Virginia? (Next City; 27 Aug 2024)

• Southwestern Law School Joins with Lawyers for America to Expand Legal Training and Public Service (Southwestern Law; 28 Aug 2024)

• Colorado court's pilot program to aid self-represented prisoners launches after delay, tweaks (Colorado Politics; 28 Aug 2024)

• IU law students fill in legal staffing shortage gaps in rural Indiana counties (News at IU; 29 Aug 2024)

Access to Justice – Criminal

• Arkansas panel OKs $1.25 million to public defenders to forestall layoffs, clear case backlog (Arkansas Advocate; 23 Aug 2024)

• Sacramento Public Defenders, Prosecutors Strike – Decarcerate Group Charges Indigent May Be Getting Better Deal Now from Private Lawyers (Davis Vanguard; 27 Aug 2024)

• Youth facing municipal charges in Denver get public defenders, something other municipalities across Colorado want (CBS News; 27 Aug 2024)

• MSU College of Law opens Public Defender Clinic (Newswise; 23 Aug 2024)

• Why there’s a huge need for more public defenders in CSRA [GA] (WRDW; 26 Aug 2024)

• Oswego County [NY]’s first public defender resigns (Oswego County News Now; 27 Aug 2024)

• [Hillsdale MI] Commissioners narrowly approve public defender administrator contract (Hillsdale Daily News; 30 Aug 2024)

• [Travis] County [TX] to fully staff lawyers at bail hearings beginning Oct. 1 (Austin Monitor; 29 Aug 2024)

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Lots of big news this week, including our featured story, where the IRS has given employers guidance on providing matching retirement plan contributions based on student loan payments. Additional stories include a funding crisis for public defense in Arkansas and a staffing challenge for new public defense offices in Maine. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• Employers now have interim guidance on student loans and retirement plans (Journal of Accountancy; 20 Aug 2024)

Student Loans & Student Debt

• Federal Appeals Court Ruling Could Put Other Student Loan Forgiveness at Risk (Nat’l Assn of Student Fin Aid Admins; 21 Aug 2024)

• Student Loans: 1 in 3 Borrowers Have Slowed Repayment (Nerd Wallet; 20 Aug 2024)

• Student Loan Update: Forgiveness Program Ends This Month (Newsweek; 22 Aug 2024)

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• Could this right-to-counsel program for evictions become a statewide [VA] model? (Virginia Mercury; 19 Aug 2024)

• Skagit Legal Aid [WA] to significantly expand immigration services (Skagit Valley Herald; 19 Aug 2024)

• Stanford-LA County Court Judicial Access Project Gets Grant (Law360; 20 Aug 2024)

• Legal aid and AI help poor Americans close 'justice gap' (Context News; 22 Aug 2024)

Access to Justice – Criminal

• Arkansas public defenders face layoffs without state financial aid, commission director warns (Arkansas Advocate; 19 Aug 2024)

• Washington bar changes to help public defenders, questions remain on funding (NonStop Local; 16 Aug 2024)

  • Would overhaul of WA’s public defense lead to better outcomes or ‘vigilante land’? (The News Tribune; 19 Aug 2024)

• Idaho is overhauling its public defense system, but some argue it won’t fix issues providing attorneys (Inlander; 22 Aug 2024)

• ‘No easy fix’ to Maine’s indigent defense crisis, director tells lawmakers (Portland Press Herald; 21 Aug 2024)

  • Public defender’s offices are opening across Maine. The next step: staffing them. (The Maine Monitor; 18 Aug 2024)

  • Bangor’s new public defender office is struggling to hire lawyers (Bangor Daily News; 20 Aug 2024)

• [Coweta County GA] Public defender, district attorney seeks additional funds for upcoming fiscal year (Newman Times-Herald; 20 Aug 2024)

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Stories for this week include a legal aid initiative in El Paso involving partnerships between US nonprofits & law firms and the Mexican government, ongoing stories about public defender and local prosecutor shortages, and the White House reaction to a federal appellate ruling against its student loan forgiveness plan. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• Mexico offering free legal clinics in US (Border Report; 14 Aug 2024)

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• OPM and OMB unveil a new plan to improve the federal hiring ‘experience’ for both workers and HR managers (Government Executive; 15 Aug 2024)

• FTC ban on noncompete agreements comes under legal attack (AP; 14 Aug 2024)

Student Loans & Student Debt

• Federal court halts Biden student loan forgiveness plan (Spectrum Local News; 13 Aug 2024)

  • White House backs ‘legal merit’ of canceling student loans despite court setbacks (The Denver Gazette; 14 Aug 2024)

  • Waiting on Student Loan Forgiveness Updates? You May Have to Wait Even Longer (CNET; 15 Aug 2024)

• Blumenthal demands immediate fix to doubled student loan account balances (Fox 61; 15 Aug 2024)

• When the Student Loan Payment Pause Ended, Did Borrowers Pay? (US GAO; 14 Aug 2024)

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• SJC names new co-chair for Access to Justice Commission (Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly; 14 Aug 2024)

• Legal Aid Society slams Mayor Adams for again railing against NYC’s sanctuary laws (Politics NY; 14 Aug 2024)

• A pro bono project that prevents poverty? Now that's impact! (California Lawyer Daily Journal; 15 Aug 2024)

Access to Justice – Criminal

• [IN] Attorney shortage commission makes budgetary, legislative recommendations (Indiana Capital Chronicle; 16 Aug 2024)

• [Bartholomew County IN] Judges ask to increase public defender pay (The Republic; 14 Aug 2024)

• Court says ACLU can name state of Maine in indigent defense lawsuit (Maine Public; 14 Aug 2024)

• Prosecutor pay varies locally during countrywide shortage (KIII 3 News; 14 Aug 2024)

• Montco [PA] will seek to hire 15 new public defenders to address a longstanding staffing shortage (The Philadelphia Inquirer; 15 Aug 2024)

• ACLU given green light to sue State of Maine for failing to provide legal counsel (Maine Morning Star; 15 Aug 2024)

• Changes coming to public defense in Idaho (Lewiston Tribune; 16 Aug 2024)

• Biden Public Defenders Turned Judges Begin to Make Mark on Bench (Bloomberg Law; 12 Aug 2024)

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! We’re back with a handful of stories for the week, including the possibility of a dramatic expansion of the federal judiciary and a new student loan relief effort from the Biden Administration.

Take care,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• US Senate approves bill to create 66 new federal judgeships (Reuters; 1 Aug 2024)

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• Judges’ Clerk Ban Over Israel-Hamas Protests Ethical, Panel Says (Bloomberg Law; 5 Aug 2024)

• Senate appropriators endorse 2% pay raise for feds next year (Government Executive; 2 Aug 2024)

Student Loans & Student Debt

• Biden Administration Says It Will Finalize Second Attempt at Blanket Student Loan Forgiveness This Fall (Reason.com; 5 Aug 2024)

• Biden’s Plan Resets Debt for 23 Million Student Loan Borrowers to Original Amount (MSN.com; 4 Aug 2024)

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• Texas Justices Look To Non-Attys To Narrow 'Justice Gap' (Law360; 6 Aug 2024)

• Why did LA take the ‘right’ out of the city’s plans for a renter’s ‘right to counsel’ in eviction court? (LAist; 7 Aug 2024)

Access to Justice – Criminal

• Audit: Colorado public defender's office has high workloads, must study staffing (The Denver Gazette; 7 Aug 2024)

• Newsom sends California National Guard attorneys to prosecute Alameda County cases (Courthouse News; 2 Aug 2024)

  • Alameda Public Defender Pushes Back on Governor’s Use of State Prosecutors – Warns It Will Continue Cycle of Mass Incarceration (Davis Vanguard; 3 Aug 2024)