PSJD Public Interest News Digest – November 17, 2017
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! After a Veterans’ Day hiatus and some technical difficulties with the collection of woodland creatures that bring me the news, the Digest returns! Among other things, this week has seen minor disagreements between judges and defenders over caseloads in Michigan, and major ones in Missouri. Student loan debt was also a theme, as legislators in DC and Wisconsin floated new loan relief assistance plans.
Enjoy Thanksgiving next week; more from me here, after the holiday,
Sam
Student Loans
- The Huffington Post reported on how “[m]any major cities and states are already helping their residents pay back their student loans,” focusing on a new bill proposed in Washington DC aimed at establishing an LRAP for the city.
- Lawmakers in Wisconsin proposed offering loan repayment assistance–up to $20,000 a year– to lawyers who agree to represent poor defendants in rural counties.
Federal Hiring
News in Canada
- A new non-profit in Canada, the East Coast Prison Justice Society, wants to identify and address gaps in the prison system.
- According to a new report from the Law Foundation of Ontario, the Access to Justice Fund it has been administering since 2010 has made a significant impact on access to justice issues in the country.
- The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report finding that a wide variety of people in Manitoba province lack equal access to justice; the report concluded that “legal services need to be easier to navigate, more community-driven and more co-ordinated with each other”.
- The Law Society of Upper Canada released a set of recommendations related to legal fee issues and attorney advertising, intended to reform Canada’s contingency-fee system and protect consumers.
- A new legal service organization–The Child and Youth Legal Centre–opened in British Columbia to focus on the needs of vulnerable young people.
Access to Justice – Criminal
- In Michigan, counties have continued submitting plans for indigent defense to the state to meet new requirements: The Board of Commissioners in Ionia County approved a new public defender’s plan over the objections of local attorneys, who believe that their stated target that defenders handle no more than 150 felony cases or 400 non-traffic misdemeanors is still unreasonably high. Van Buren and Allegan counties proposed a joint office, with similar “encouragement from judges but [] criticism from attorneys.”
- Tensions between Missouri public defenders and the Missouri judiciary continued to run high, as “[l]ocal public defenders gathered in Jackson County Circuit Judge Patrick W. Campbell’s courtroom to protest the assignment of another case to an office already overburdened. This protest was triggered in part because they feel they are at risk of losing their licenses to practice law because they cannot give a proper defense to every client they have.”
- “The American Civil Liberties Union has accused Nevada of routinely violating the constitutional rights of criminal defendants in 11 rural counties by failing to provide them with adequate legal representation when they cannot afford their own lawyers.”
Access to Justice – Civil
- A panel at Harvard Law School brainstormed around access to justice, focusing on two key questions: “Whom are we educating, and for what kind of service?”
- Congressman Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) announced efforts by the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs to improve Veterans’ access to free legal services.
- The Venable Foundation awarded a one-time impact grant of $750,000 to five legal aid organizations in Venable LLP’s respective communities: Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC.
- Tenants’ rights groups in San Francisco, CA were highly critical of a proposed “right to counsel in evictions” measure crafted without their input which they feel offers insufficient protection in a variety of ways.
- After unsuccessful efforts to address its shortage of lawyers in rural areas, the “Eliminating Barriers to Justice” conference at Georgia State University College of Law explored the potential of do-it-yourself solutions.
- The Baltimore Sun published a powerful profile of Maryland Legal Aid’s “Lawyer in the Library” program.
- The Idaho Statesman profiled the access-to-justice work of Concordia Law’s burgeoning clinic programs.
Music Bonus!
Just because: