By: Steve Grumm

Wow, it’s hot.  That’s about all I can muster for a greeting this morning.  This week’s Bulletin includes news running from legal services funding hither and yon to volunteer federal prosecutors in New Jersey to “Courtmageddon” in the Bay Area.  There are a couple of news items out of Chicago, which may or may not have been included because they would give me an opportunity to note that the Glorious Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Franchise marched into Wrigley Field and took 2 of 3 from the Cubbies this week.  And hello to my friends at the Chicago Bar Foundation!  Well it turns out I could muster a proper greeting after all.

This week: the Texas legal services community gives props to those who went to bat for state funding; don’t run, walk to benefit Chicago Volunteer Legal Services!; speaking of the Windy City, a look at the work of the Legal Aid Bureau; Minnesota’s 2012-13 budget plan a mixed bag for public interest lawyers; Uncle Sam is recruiting volunteer federal prosecutors?; Lone Star pro bono; the proposed 26% drop in LSC funding is “cutting to the bone”; speaking of funding, it’s tough times for Garden State legal services programs; a North Carolina county cuts funding to an “aggressive” legal services program; “Courtmageddon” in San Francisco; how will LSC cuts impact Western Michiganders?; some legal services shuffling in Louisiana.    

• 7.21.11 – From a press release entitled Texas Access to Justice Commission and Foundation Applaud the Texas Legislature for Providing Funding for the State’s Legal Aid System: “In a tremendous show of bipartisan support, the Texas Legislature has appropriated $ 17.5 million for civil legal aid and $7.6 million for county indigent defense programs in general revenue during the recent Special Session. Gov. Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 2 that included an amendment for funding civil legal services on July 19.  This funding makes up for the $20 million awarded in the 2009 Session to mitigate the decline in interest on lawyers’ trust accounts (IOLTA) funds, a primary source of funding for legal aid. IOLTA funding has declined more than 75 percent since 2007.”

• 7.20.11 – when it comes to record-setting heatwaves, the biggest concern among public interest lawyers is typically the health of elderly, low-income clients who may not be able to stay cool at home.  But the heat can affect the public interest community in other ways.  To wit (and on a lighter note): with Chicago temps exceeding 100 degrees, “[o]fficials on Wednesday made the decision to turn [the 18th annual Race Judicata 5K fundraiser] into a walk, with food and beverages served before and throughout the untimed ‘race,’ due to concerns over high heat.   Proceeds from the event benefit the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, Chicago’s first and pre-eminent pro bono provider of free civil legal aid to citizens with financial need.”  Race Judicata took place yesterday, 7/21.  Kudos to the participants, and here’s to your continued hydration!  (Report courtesy of NBC Chicago.)

• 7.20.11 – more Chicago.   WGN News highlights the work of the Legal Aid Bureau of Metropolitan Family Services, including LAB’s work today and the many changes that Chicago’s legal aid movement has spawned, both on the criminal and indigent defense fronts.

• 7.19.11 – Minnesota’s FY 2012-13 budget plan (which characterized as a “working agreement” between the governor and state legislators), is a mixed bag for public interest lawyers.  According to the Twin Cities Daily Planet (great name!), civil legal services funding would be cut.  “State funding for civil legal services has already fallen below 2006 levels. The working agreement cuts civil legal services by nearly $2 million in FY 2012-13, or seven percent…”  On the other hand, courts and public defenders will see a funding boost.  As to defenders: “There is a $2.5 million increase, or two percent, in funding to help address a deficiency in public defenders, who represent low-income clients in criminal cases. Past budget cuts have taken a significant toll – in half the state’s counties, there no longer are sufficient attorneys on staff to represent clients at their first court appearances.”

• 7.18.11 – volunteer AUSAs?  United States Attorneys are getting creative in the midst of a DOJ hiring freeze.  From the New Jersey Law Journal: “Newly announced openings at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey could provide valuable experience and serve as a resume booster, but there’s one thing they won’t provide: a paycheck.  The office on Wednesday posted the job openings in Newark and Camden for uncompensated ‘Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys,’ following the recent example of other offices across the country….  The full-time positions — for which the office requests a one-year commitment — are open to newly minted lawyers and those wrapping up judicial clerkships… Ineligible are attorneys who were deferred by but received a payment from a law firm, as well as those who will be receiving any sort of compensation from a firm during the unpaid employment period.”  And here’s an interesting twist: “…[S]pecial assistant hires will not necessarily have an advantage in seeking a job with the office. In fact, they are prohibited from applying for any position in the office that might arise during the unpaid employment term.  That restriction was put in place so that candidates who can financially afford to take on the unpaid position ‘don’t necessarily get an immediate advantage’ over outside candidates.”  The piece notes that U.S. Attorneys in Connecticut and Pennsylvania have also posted for volunteers.  Here’s some more coverage from Main Justice.

• 7.18.11 – a piece in the Texas Lawyer highlights some of the Lone Star State’s all-star pro bono firms, namely Akin Gump, Fulbright & Jaworski, Hunton & Williams, and Weil Gotshal.  As for pro bono among Texas’s large-law firm community more generally: “The State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association recommend that attorneys donate 50 hours each year to pro bono activities. Twenty-two of the largest firms in Texas provided Texas Lawyer their pro bono statistics for 2010. The 22 firms had an average full-time equivalent (FTE) Texas attorney count of 5,457 in 2010 and donated an average of 33 pro bono hours per attorney.”

• 7.18.11 – a National Law Journal article, “Cutting to the Bone,” covers the threatened 26% cut to the Legal Services Corporation’s federal appropriation.  The article notes that this large proposed cut would take place at a time when other legal services funding streams have tapered to a trickle; highlights the plight of cash-strapped legal services providers in California, Florida, and New Jersey; and looks at what’s driving the LSC debate here in steamy Washington.  On a related note, we blogged yesterday on the importance of adequately funding the legal services community, and the role that pro bono plays in supplementing, but not substituting for, the work of legal services organizations.

• 7.16.11 – the Express-Times reports on the toll that large state budget cuts will take on Legal Services of Northwest Jersey: ” [T]he nonprofit program took its biggest hit in recent years this month from a severe budget cut.  Democrats asked for an additional $5 million in next year’s Legal Services budget. Instead, Gov. Chris Christie cut $5 million…. By the time the Christie cuts hit, [Legal Services of Northwest Jersey] — which serves Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties — will have lost 31 percent of its budget since 2008. They’ve cut staff, implemented salary freezes, stopped retirement contributions for employees, and curtailed benefits. But its caseload remains substantial.”

• 7.16.11 – amidst all the recent discussion of politicians cutting legal services funding out of fiscal necessity, here’s some nostalgia: politicians cutting legal services funding because the program is “going overboard” in its “aggressive” representation of clients.  We’re not talking about much money here, but in the current economic climate every dollar counts.  And North Carolina-based Pisgah Legal Services is losing all of its funding from Henderson County.  From the Hendersonville Tribune: “The [county] commissioners retained removal of the county’s entire $16,745 that would have gone to Pisgah Legal Services….  This change late in the budgeting process was led by commissioners’ Chairman Mike Edney. Edney, an attorney himself, explained he is among those who have seen indications of or who are concerned with allegations that PLS is overzealous. He cited as an example charging its attorney fees from landlords…. But PLS Executive Director Jim Barrett countered June 15 to the commissioners that there were very few cases of charging attorney fees, typically from a landlord defeated in court for an illegal practice. He said the average case costs $523 in PLS legal fees.”

• 7.15.11 – California has recently suffered two “-mageddons.”  One, Carmageddon, seemed a bit silly to your author, an East Coast city dweller who has difficulty grasping how the weekend closure of a freeway would cause such havoc.  The second, up in the Bay Area, is anything but silly.  This one is “Courtmageddon.”  Earlier this week we blogged about the looming closure of 25 out of 63 courtroom in San Francisco Superior Court.  As reported by the Bay Citizen: “[T]he cuts are the result of a state budget that eliminated $350 million from courts throughout California, leaving the San Francisco Superior Court with a $13.75 million deficit.  ‘This is the worst crisis in legal services that I can think of in my professional career in more than 20 years,’ said Bill Hebert, a San Francisco lawyer who is president of the State Bar of California.” 

• 7.15.11 – the Herald-Palladium reports on how the proposed LSC funding cut would affect Western Michiganders.  If the $100+ million cut goes through in Washington DC, LAWM would stand to lose about $500,000.  According to the program’s deputy director, Mary Drolet, “It would probably mean closing one office [among its seven].”  The trouble, of course, is that there is no shortage of clients.  “Drolet said 30 percent of people living in the 17 counties are eligible for services because they meet the income standard, which is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. ‘With those kinds of numbers the need is greater than it’s ever been,’ she said.”

• 7.15.11 – in the Pelican State, WAFB reports that Southeast Louisiana Legal Services is opening a Baton Rouge office:  “SLLS was recently selected by the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to receive federal funding for civil legal aid in Baton Rouge and other parishes previously served by the Capital Area Legal Services. The LSC grant began in July. But, the entire LSC grant for the Baton Rouge area will not be available to SLLS until January.”