By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  All other news this week was eclipsed by the Glorious Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Franchise’s personnel decisions.  In the midst of a woeful season, the Phils traded away center fielder Shane Victorino, a fan favorite because of the grit, grace, and enthusiasm with which he plays the game.  I commemorate Victorino’s (a/k/a “The Flyin’ Hawaiian”) splendid Philadelphia years in haiku:

Flyin’ Hawaiian

Embodied Philly baseball

He’s gone; I’m dyin’

I don’t often post my original poetry here.  YOU’RE WELCOME.  Heh.  Before turning to this week’s access-to-justice news, here is a pair of other, more serious items that have caught my attention:

• Much ink has been spilled over the questions of whether and how the widening income gap between the U.S.’s wealthiest and poorest is impacting American culture.  Much of the spilled ink takes form as speculation; relatively little hard data is available to help us explore the question.  But some interesting Pew research shows that we are increasingly segregated by income with respect to the neighborhoods/housing-clusters we live in.  There are fewer mixed-income and middle-class neighborhoods.  Here’s a Washington Post article and here’s a link to the Pew research overview.
• The Chronicle of Philanthropy put out research on a salary gender gap among junior-level nonprofit employees: “Even early in their careers, women are likely to make less than their male counterparts, according to a Chronicle survey of entry-level nonprofit workers. The study of more than 900 people who have been in the nonprofit workforce less than five years also found that women have lower salary expectations than men do.”  Read more here and play around with charts that sort the data by education level, including one sorting for “Law degree, medical degree, or PhD.”

Okay, access-to-justice and public interest news (which happens to be heavy on indigent defense this week):

• the Nat’l. Center for Access to Justice has launched a survey on law student pro bono;
• The Montana Legal Services Association benefits from national mortgage foreclosure class-action settlement funds;
• The Virginia Legal Aid Society shutters an office;
• Some public defenders in the Peace Garden State (great nickname!) face swollen caseloads;
• Four NorCal immigration legal services providers splitting $650K in foundation funding;
• Short-staffed Philly public defender’s office pulls out of 3 busy courtrooms;
• A community-based diversionary court program is lowering recidivism in D.C.;
• NOLA defender sues traffic court, says “Show me the money!”;
• the Show Me State’s high court issues a (limited) decision on public defender caseload limits;
• the Legal Services Corporation releases its 2011 annual report;
• the Wisconsin ATJ Commission begins a series of public hearings;
• a possible prosecutors’ strike in Contra Costa County, CA(?);
• a county near Pittsburgh, PA may go to more staff defenders, fewer appointed counsel;
• Garden State pro bono numbers;
• grant funding available for state ATJ commissions;
• a look at caseload pressures on Bluegrass State public defenders;
• Why can’t we end poverty in the U.S.?;
• a look at the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society;
• Calcasieu defender’s office in Louisiana forced to cut back on conflict counsel;
• Music!  And Space!

The summaries: 

• 8.1.12 – “The National Center for Access to Justice is preparing a Guide to Strengthening Law Student Pro Bono to Increase Access to Justice and is seeking your help.  If you work in a court, legal services program, law school, law firm, Access to Justice Commission, bar association, or other justice system setting, we hope you will respond to this call. The Guide is focusing on ‘volunteering,’ as distinct from clinics, externships, fellowships, and other activities which law students pursue for credit or pay.  The Center is gathering examples of best practices in which law students, as volunteers, are making a difference….  The Center seeks your input via a survey monkey instrument or via email, info@nc4aj.org. Please also feel free to email the Center’s Executive Director with any questions, David Udell, udell@yu.edu.”  

• 8.1.12 – Montana’s attorney general announced how the state’s share of settlement funds from a class-action over shady lending and foreclosure practices are being divvied.  The Montana Legal Services Association will receive $863,000 to serve low-income homeowners facing foreclosure-related problems.  (Here’s the AG’s announcement.)  

• 8.1.12 – the Virginia Legal Aid Society, citing a 20% decrease in funding, is closing its office in Emporia.  (Here’s a short article from the Independent-Messenger.)

• 8.1.12 – public defenders in North Dakota are facing swollen caseloads and are short on attorneys to handle them.  The state’s indigent defense program director cites a “crushing” caseload in one rural office on the state’s western edge.  (Full story from the Williston Herald.) Unsolicited speculation by your author: North Dakota has enjoyed a natural-resource-driven economic boom of late, and droves of people have found employment there.  I suspect that with all of this inflow and churn, the state government – including its indigent defense program – is feeling some strain to keep up with the need for services.  Also, speaking of western North Dakota, if you’ve never been to Theodore Roosevelt National Park you’re missing out.

• 8.1.12 –  The Silicon Valley Community Foundation “announced Tuesday, July 31, that it is donating $654,090 in grants to organizations providing immigration [legal] services for low and moderate-income residents of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. This is the foundation’s third year of donating to legal services for immigrants in the area. The money will be divided between four organizations: Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, the Mission Asset Fund, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the International Institute of the Bay Area.  The organizations receiving the grant money all offer various immigrant services, including visas, naturalization, asylum and assistance to survivors of violence.”  (Full story from the Mountain View Voice.)

• 8.1.12 – the Philly public defender’s office has pulled out of three courtrooms on account of longstanding attorney shortages: “Staffing has been eliminated for now at three of the busiest Common Pleas courtrooms in Philadelphia.  The action is not being taken by city officials.  Rather it’s a form of protest by the defender’s association. (Here’s a WHYY interview with Philadelphia Public Defender Ellen Greenlee.)

• 8.1.12 – a report from the D.C. Superior Court (our trial-level court) highlights the success of a neighborhood court diversionary program, most of the participants of which are minor drug offenders.  The main takeaway is that the recidivism rate among East of the River Community Court (ERCC) participants was markedly lower compared to defendants in the regular court system. Here’s a link to the report, courtesy of the Legal Times.

• 7.31.12 – “The chief public defender in Orleans Parish and the state board that oversees indigent defense in Louisiana filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the four New Orleans Traffic Court judges, seeking millions of dollars they claim the court has illegally withheld in fees slated for poor defendants. The lawsuit, filed in East Baton Rouge Parish, claims the judges have failed to follow state law in collecting and turning over an indigent defense fee that rose from $35 to $45 per conviction this year. The lawsuit follows a standstill between the state Public Defender Board and the judges over the court’s responsibility to make up for past failures and pay what it owes.”  (Full story from the Times-Picayune.)

• 7.31.12 – “A divided Missouri Supreme Court concluded Tuesday that a judge exceeded his authority when appointing a public defender despite a rule that restricts new clients to control caseloads…. The state public defender system has set maximum caseload standards for its offices. When limits are exceeded for three consecutive months, the public defender director can certify that the local office has limited availability for cases. Officials then are supposed to work with prosecutors and judges to reduce demand for public defenders and can refuse new cases if an agreement is not reached…. The Supreme Court ruled, in a 4-3 decision, that the caseload rule should have been applied because nothing was shown to suggest that the protocol was invalid or inapplicable.”  (Here’s the full AP story.)  More coverage:
  • “With Tuesday’s decision, the Supreme Court affirmed that Missouri State Public Defenders Commission has the authority to set rules governing procedures for the district offices.  But the twist: The court did not decide whether this specific rule, which allows a district office to close when caseloads reach a maximum level set by the commission, was proper.”  (Full article from the Springfield News-Leader.)

• 7.31.12 – the Legal Services Corporation has released its 2011 annual report.  Here are some key data points from the report’s “By the Numbers” section:
  • The number of Americans eligible for LSC-funded legal assistance reached an all-time high: 64.6 million.
  • LSC’s 135 grantees employed 8,363 full-time staff at 915 offices throughout the United States and its territories.  4,097 were attorneys, 1,447 were paralegals.  [Ed. note: according to prior year’s (2010) report, there were 9059 full-time staff working with LSC grantee programs.]
  • 32,101 private attorneys accepted pro bono cases through LSC-funded programs.
  • Cases closed: 899,817, including 79,578 with the involvement of pro bono attorneys.
  • 117,595 clients were at least 60 years old.
  • 637,426 were women.
  • 105,090 of the cases involved domestic violence.
  • Total number of people in all households served: 2,284,162.

• 7.31.12 – “On Tuesday [7/31/12], the Wisconsin Access to Justice Commission hosted a public hearing to learn more about that challenge.” The committee is hosting a total of six hearings throughout the Badger State, and intends to produce a report based on the data and stories it gathers.  (Full story from WQOW.)
  • Here’s earlier coverage from Wisconsin Public Radio.

• 7.30.12 – From Contra Costa County in N. California: “Contra Costa supervisors voted Tuesday to impose a labor contract on [unionized] county prosecutors that includes deep pay cuts, despite District Attorney Mark Peterson’s assertion that he can find savings the county needs elsewhere in his budget…. The District Attorney’s Office is the most understaffed, overworked prosecutorial unit in the Bay Area, and cutting compensation further will hurt morale and likely lead to more attorneys leaving, Peterson said…. The supervisors said they were only able to pass a balanced budget this year because the county’s employee unions have made sacrifices, and that deputy district attorneys need to do the same…. The prosecutors say they have been discussing striking, and could challenge the contract in labor court.”  (Full story from the Silicon Valley Mercury News.)

• 7.30.12 – Westmoreland County (PA) officials are mulling a plan to cut the number of private lawyers appointed to represent criminal defendants. Court administrators estimate that about $150,000 a year can be saved by retaining a staff of five attorneys earning an annual salary rather than the current system in which dozens of lawyers are appointed and paid on an hourly basis. ‘Other than personnel, this is the courts’ largest line item,’ said court administrator Paul Kuntz.  Last year, judges appointed more than 50 private lawyers who represented about 330 defendants. The county paid $368,000 for those lawyers.  Attorneys are appointed by the courts to represent criminal defendants when there is a conflict of interest with the public defender’s office. For the last several months, court officials have explored methods to reduce these costs.  Kuntz surveyed 33 counties throughout Pennsylvania and found that most — 25 — used independent staff to deal with these cases.  (Full story from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.)

• 7.30.12 – Garden State pro bono numbers.  “New Jersey’s top 20 firms racked up 100,746 pro bono hours in 2011, breaking 100,000 for the second time but leaving intact last year’s record of nearly 104,000 hours.  Still, the 2011 figure represents an impressive average of more than 33 hours for each of the 3,027 attorneys at the top 20 firms.  And the proportion of those who did 20 hours or more of pro bono went up in 2011, from 25.7 percent to 28 percent.  Leading the pack once again were the same firms that have held the top four spots since 2008: Lowenstein Sandler in Roseland, Gibbons and McCarter & English, both in Newark, and Porzio Bromberg & Newman in Morristown.”  (Full story from the New Jersey Law Journal.)

• 7.30.12 – funding available for state access-to-justice commissions: “With funding from the Public Welfare Foundation, the ABA Access to Justice Commission Expansion Project is making grants to strengthen the Access to Justice commission movement nationally by facilitating development of new Access to Justice commissions and expanding agendas and promoting innovative initiatives in existing commissions.”  (Here are grant application process/timeline details from the ABA.)  Tip of cap to Richard Zorza’s Access to Justice blog.

• 7.29.12 – here’s an article looking at the pressures weighing upon Kentucky’s indigent defense network (the Department of Public Advocacy), with particular focus on the very busy Bowling Green office.  (DPA just released its 2011 annual report.)  From the article: “The picture of the overworked public defender buried in casework is rooted in fact, particularly in the Bowling Green office….  The Bowling Green office handled 5,437 new cases, the fifth-highest total among the 30 trial offices. The average caseload of 515.1 new cases per attorney in the local office is the third-highest average in the state, and when ongoing criminal cases are factored into a public defender’s caseload, the Bowling Green office had the highest average attorney caseload, with each attorney responsible for 799.8 cases….  Overall, Kentucky’s public defender caseload, which includes the Trial and Post-Trial divisions, has increased by about 43.5 percent from 2002 – when 108,078 new cases were assigned to the DPA – to last year, according to the DPA’s annual report.”  (Full article from the Bowling Green Daily News.)

•  7.28.12 – Prof. Peter Edelman, chair of the D.C. Access to Justice Commission and longtime supporter of civil legal aid, asks why we cannot end poverty in the U.S.  Edelman IDs federal programs that have helped the poor – Social Security, food stamps, and the Earned Income Tax Credit, and then asks: “With all of that, why have we not achieved more? Four reasons: An astonishing number of people work at low-wage jobs. Plus, many more households are headed now by a single parent, making it difficult for them to earn a living income from the jobs that are typically available. The near disappearance of cash assistance for low-income mothers and children — i.e., welfare — in much of the country plays a contributing role, too. And persistent issues of race and gender mean higher poverty among minorities and families headed by single mothers.” (Read the full New York Times op-ed.)

• 7.28.12 – the Indiana Business Journal’s publisher just joined the board of the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society, and he’s put pen to paper extolling the importance of ILAS’s work. (Here’s his piece in, naturally, the Indiana Business Journal.)

• In Louisiana, “Calcasieu Public Defenders Office announced it must cut back services due to budget shortfalls and that the office will withdraw as counsel for about 400 felony cases it’s now appointed to handle.  A spokesman says they will work with the judges to assign new attorneys from the private bar.”  The positions being cut are four of the office’s six conflict attorney slots.  (Full story from KPLC.)  

Music!  Hard to withstand The Temptations if you want to smile on a Friday morning. (Edit: link fixed.)

Space!  Check out this extraordinary time-lapse footage of Earth as seen from the International Space Station.  As trite as this notion may seem, perspective is everything, and viewing Earth from above is somehow humbling, frightening, and tremendously satisfying at once.

The National Center for Access to Justice is gathering information about law student pro bono:

We are preparing a Guide to Strengthening Law Student Pro Bono to Increase Access to Justice and we are seeking your help.  If you work in a court, legal services program, law school, law firm, Access to Justice Commission, bar association, or other justice system setting, we hope you will respond to this call.

The Guide will focus on “volunteering,” as distinct from clinics, externships, fellowships, and other activities which law students pursue for credit or pay.  We are gathering examples of best practices in which law students, as volunteers, are making a difference.  Law students may represent clients, assist lawyers, carry out policy advocacy, conduct legal research, provide legal information, help litigants complete court forms, conduct court-watching projects, and more.

The models we seek come in many forms.  Some draw on efficiencies of scale, attract new resources, or have systemic impacts.  Some are based in courts, involve multiple law schools, or rely on private attorneys.  Some are valuable to legal services programs or courts, or fill niches in particular communities, including in rural areas far from other law schools and courts. We are especially interested when models help people in underserved practice areas, such as family law, housing law, foreclosure law, consumer law, public benefits law, and immigration law.

Please share your ideas and examples with us.  We welcome your input via a survey monkey instrument located here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9BTCF6C, or via email, info@nc4aj.org. The survey is also posted on our web site at:  http://www.ncforaj.org/law-student-pro-bono.  Please also feel free to email me with any questions, David Udell, udell@yu.edu.  Let us hear from you.

There’s something in it for you, too: If you know of any awesome law student volunteers, you can also nominate them for PSLawNet’s Pro Bono Publico Award!

By: Steve Grumm

That’s the question that Prof. Peter Edelman of Georgetown Law (also chair of the DC Access to Justice Commission and a longtime supporter of civil legal aid) asks in this NYT op-ed.  His answer comes in four parts:

With all of that, why have we not achieved more? Four reasons: An astonishing number of people work at low-wage jobs. Plus, many more households are headed now by a single parent, making it difficult for them to earn a living income from the jobs that are typically available. The near disappearance of cash assistance for low-income mothers and children — i.e., welfare — in much of the country plays a contributing role, too. And persistent issues of race and gender mean higher poverty among minorities and families headed by single mothers.

Read the piece for Edelmans’s examination of each.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers, from a sweltering, sun-drenched Washington, DC.  There is much public interest news to cover this week.  Before that, two other items of interest:

• Is the U.S. experiencing the highest poverty levels in the last half-century? With new poverty data set for release in several weeks, experts expect that the poverty rate will hit its highest mark since the mid-1960s.  “Poverty is spreading at record levels across many groups, from underemployed workers and suburban families to the poorest poor. More discouraged workers are giving up on the job market, leaving them vulnerable as unemployment aid begins to run out. Suburbs are seeing increases in poverty, including in such political battlegrounds as Colorado, Florida and Nevada, where voters are coping with a new norm of living hand to mouth.”  (Story from Washington Post.)
  • Another trend that augurs poorly for the poor is the potential for a continued rise in food prices as a result of drought conditions throughout most of the U.S. (Again, the Washington Post.)
• From the law-firm world…the National Law Journal has published “The Equity Gap: a Special Report on Women in the Partnership.” The intro: “Virtually every firm claims to be committed to helping women succeed, and they all seem to offer an array of women’s programs — affinity groups, business-development training and work/life balance initiatives. But are large firms committed to promoting women into the equity partnership? Our study of the largest firms in the United States by headcount shows that women represent just 15 percent of equity partners. At just five firms surveyed, women make up more than 25 percent of equity partners.”  (Here’s the multi-part report.)

On to the public interest news.  This week in very short:

• Access to justice a la Canadien;
• Legal Aid Foundation of Colorado raises $1.4m;
• Cal. Western Law’s bridge-to-practice incubator program includes a public service component; 
• This weekend: the Public Defender Advocacy Hiring and Training Conference for law students;
• “So how do we define pro bono, and does clinical work count?,” asks a law professor;
• civil legal services providers across the country benefitting from national mortgage foreclosure settlement funds;
• the funding woes confronting Peach State legal services providers;
• DC’s local court expands limited-scope representation to allow pro bono counsel to serve low-income litigants who would otherwise go pro se;
• The Legal Services Corporation’s board is meeting in Michigan;
• Birmingham, AL is moving from an appointed counsel system to a staffed public defense program;
• Everything’s bigger in Texas, including pro bono;
• A concise overview of successful pro bono models;
• Recent innovations in legal education highlight a move toward experience-based learning.
• Mick Jagger is 69 years old and I don’t know what to make of that.  Happy weekend.

The summaries:

• 7.27.12 – ATJ news from our northern neighbors: “The Canadian Bar Association will take on pro bono family law and poverty law test cases as part of a major push in the coming year to improve the public’s access to justice, says its incoming president.  Robert Brun told The Lawyers Weekly that the CBA will provide representation to litigants pro bono in select cases that could set important precedents on the right to legally aided counsel in areas including prison law, mental health law and refugee law….  The CBA is also announcing a ‘major access to justice initiative’ at its Vancouver annual meeting next month, Brun said. The two-year project will include representations to governments.”  (Story from The Lawyers Weekly.)

• 7.24.12 – “The Legal Aid Foundation [of Colorado] raised nearly $1.4 million in its 2011-12 Campaign for Justice, providing a welcome funding boost to a system strapped for cash.  Donations from law firms accounted for about 68 percent of the total, with many donor firms giving at the foundation’s suggested leadership level of $350 per associate…. The foundation is the fundraising arm of Colorado Legal Services, which has seen its budgets slashed in recent years.”  (Full story from Law Week Colorado.)

• 7.24.12 – “California Western School of Law started the Access to Law Initiative last month. It places eight attorneys who each operate their own practices in an office in downtown San Diego’s Symphony Towers. In exchange, the attorneys pledge to provide at least 100 hours per year of pro bono, public service and ‘sliding scale fee’ legal service.  The new lawyers are mentored by professors and practicing attorneys.  Attorney Eric LaGuardia, a consumer rights lawyer who said he ‘represents the little guy,’ told KPBS the program acts as an incubator for recent law school graduates.  The program was started by California Western professor Robert Seibel and modeled on an initiative at City University of New York. San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law is currently establishing a similar project….” (Full story from KPBS.)

• 7.24.12 – “Hoping to attract law students and young lawyers facing an increasingly dismal job market, representatives from public defender offices across the country are converging in Washington this weekend to make their pitch.  Since 2008, the D.C. Public Defender Service has organized a biennial conference dedicated to raising the profile of indigent criminal defense work. Public defender offices are often represented at general public interest job fairs, but PDS director of legal recruiting and conference organizer Jennifer Thomas said they saw a need for an event focusing on topics unique to public defender recruitment and jobs.  ‘In the civil legal services…everybody assumes you’re on the side of the angels. In criminal defense, the public perception is very different,’ she said.”  (Full story from the Blog of the Legal Times.)

• 7.23.12 – in a blog post, Prof. Stephen Ellmann of New York Law School ruminates on the definitional ambiguity of “pro bono” and argues that clinical work performed by law students, even though credit-bearing, should count as pro bono for purposes of NY State’s to-be-imposed 50-hour pro bono requirement for admission to the bar.  (Here’s the full blog post.)

• 7.23.12 – a look at how the civil legal services community is using funds from the national mortgage foreclosure class action settlement.  Attorneys general across the country are granting some of the settlement funds to legal services providers to bolster housing advocacy for those facing foreclosure and related legal problems.  (Here’s the information from a DOJ Access to Justice Initiative press release.)  

• 7.23.12 – the funding woes of Georgia’s legal services providers: “Funding for the Georgia Legal Services Program, the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation has dropped 13.5 percent since 2008, when their combined total budget was $24.2 million. To weather the losses, they’ve reduced staff, cut programs and dipped into reserve funds, even as the population they serve — people with civil legal problems who can’t afford a lawyer — has increased….  Atlanta Legal Aid, for example, has suspended its retirement plan for employees and for the past three years has dipped into its endowment to avoid layoffs, said its executive director, Steven Gottlieb.  But this year, Gottlieb finally had to lay people off. He said attrition and layoffs have shrunk Atlanta Legal Aid’s staff from 133 employees to 115 since the recession began. Another five to 10 people are also working fewer hours.”  And as is the case in many other jurisdictions, IOLTA revenues have fallen through the floor.  (Full story from the Daily Report.)

• 7.23.12 – “In two high-volume branches of the District of Columbia Superior Court, civil legal services groups hope to prove that when it comes to pro bono representation, a little is a lot better than none. A policy recently adopted by the court gives the green light for pro bono lawyers to enter temporary appearances for low-income litigants in small claims and debt collections cases. Legal services lawyers say the change means they can provide much needed representation using minimal resources…. Under the new policy…lawyers can file a notice with the court that they’ll be representing a client for a single day of proceedings. Once proceedings are over for the day, the attorney-client relationship ends. There is precedent at the court for limited-scope representation. Beginning in 2007, the court began allowing temporary pro bono representation in the landlord and tenant branch. Last June, a similar policy was put in place for the paternity and child support branch.” (Full, but password-protected, story in the National Law Journal.) 

• 7.23.12 – from a press release, details about the Legal Services Corporation board meeting which is taking place in Michigan on the 27^th.

• 7.23.12 – “Jefferson County [Birmingham and vicinity] courts will switch to a public defender system as part of a statewide effort to control the spiraling cost of providing lawyers for criminal defendants unable to afford counsel, officials said. The new public defender’s office will replace the current system of judges appointing lawyers for indigent defendants.  It’s hoped that a new defender will be in place this fall, and s/he will hire staff.  “Officials estimated the Birmingham division public defender’s office will have 40 lawyers and support staff.”  (Here’s the full story from the Birmingham News and here’s more coverage from the Montgomery Advertiser.)

• 7.23.12 – “Despite having fewer average full-time equivalent lawyers in 2011 compared to 2010, the 18 firms sharing pro bono information for their Texas lawyers donated more hours than the previous year.” (It’s password protected, so that’s all I’ve got from this Texas Lawyer article.)

• 7.20.12 – from the “PhilanTopic” blog, a concise overview of the different pro bono models which nonprofits and law firms or corporations use to collaborate. 

• 7.17.12 – the National Jurist looks at innovations in legal education: “Law schools are pushing the boundaries of the traditional law school model and experimenting at a level that legal education has not seen for several years, a new story reveals.  The National Jurist invited every law school in the U.S. to submit a nomination for how it is innovating its curriculum. More than 40 schools responded, showing that schools are experimenting with boot camps, mentoring programs, technology and programs that mirror the medical school model.”  The magazine’s next issue, due out in late August, will highlight some schools’ novel approaches to training tomorrow’s lawyers.

Music!  Yesterday marked the 69^th birthday of Mick Jagger, a rock & roll legend who is nonetheless rightly criticized for wearing tights way past his time (if ever a time there is).  Here’s one of the Rolling Stones’ best.

So, you’re done (or almost done!) with the bar. Feel free to come join us in D.C. to let out all your frustration; you’ll be right at home. Politico reports that D.C. leads the nation in cursing at work:

The District is first in the nation when it comes to swearing at work, with 62 percent of employees confessing to cussing on the job, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey.

Of all respondents, 51 percent said they swear at work.

“The majority of those (95 percent) said they do so in front of their co-workers, while 51 percent cuss in front of the boss,” the survey notes. “Workers were the least likely to use expletives in front of senior leaders (13 percent) and their clients (7 percent).”

A potty mouth may not be entirely without consequence, however; 57 percent of the survey respondents said that they’d be less likely to promote a swearer.

By: Steve Grumm

Law students looking for jobs in civil legal aid are probably all too familiar with the litany of bad funding new coming out of that community.  But one practice area has seen a funding boost lately.  Funds from a national settlement over improper home lending practices are being channeled, via state attorneys general, to programs that support struggling homeowners.  Civil legal aid providers who do work in housing and foreclosure defense are benefitting from millions of dollars.  Here’s the latest from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative:

 On February 9, 2012, the Justice Department announced that the federal government and 49 state attorneys general reached a $25 billion agreement with the five largest mortgage servicers in America, to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses.  While the majority of the settlement funds will go to various forms of relief provided directly to borrowers, $2.5 billion may be used by state governments to fund foreclosure prevention services including housing counselors, legal aid and other similar public programs as determined by the state attorneys general.

…

Since the date of the settlement, a number of states have made plans to use a portion of the settlement funds to implement funding initiatives geared toward increasing support for services that assist homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

…

Illinois is dedicating at least $20 million in funding from the settlement to legal counseling programs that help borrowers who are currently underwater or facing foreclosure.  In Michigan, Attorney General Schuette is backing legislation that would direct $20 million in funds from the settlement to foreclosure counseling and legal aid services for homeowners.

These states are not alone. Attorney General Roy Cooper of North Carolina has committed over $30 million to provide housing counselors and legal services to distressed homeowners. Attorney General Dustin McDaniels of Arkansas plans to direct $3 million of the settlement funds to the Arkansas’ Access to Justice Commission, and to two University of Arkansas law school clinics that provide legal aid and assistance to low-income residents.

“Maryland has led the nation in its swift response to the foreclosure crisis,” said Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. In May, Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler and Governor O’Malley announced that $14.8 million from the settlement will be used for both housing counseling and legal aid assistance programs. “This plan sticks to the spirit and the letter of the settlement by using these resources to help the Marylanders most affected by the housing crisis. As a result, all Marylanders will benefit,” said Gansler. And Attorney General Martha Coakley of Massachusetts created a new program, HomeCorps, funded by settlement funds. HomeCorps will provide direct legal representation to distressed borrowers through local civil legal aid attorneys.

Attorney Generals in Alabama, California, Colorado, Indiana, and Tennessee have also announced plans to use settlement dollars to fund programs for low and moderate income residents that include counseling support, legal services, and hotline support referral services.

This isn’t to say that, in one fell swoop, dozens upon dozens of jobs will appear for law grads.  A lot of providers that receive this funding are likely to bolster their programs by avoiding layoffs and creating a new position here and there.  Nonetheless, this funding windfall presents a true opportunity for law grads seeking staff attorney positions, along with those who are interested in creating postgraduate, project-based fellowships.   

Continue to use PSLawNet’s cover letter and resume resources, as well as our fellowship resources.  And speaking of fellowship resources, here’s the recording from our recent “Pathways to Postgraduate Fellowships” program, which included much discussion of Equal Justice Works and Skadden fellowships.  Good luck!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  The presidential election season, quite like law school on-campus interview programs, no longer waits until late summer to shift into fifth gear.  Oh, what unmitigated joy.  I find it a challenge, amidst minute-by-minute coverage of campaign tiffs over tax returns, allegations of cronyism, and the like, to keep an eye on what the truly important news is.  Lately I’ve been focused on economic matters.  The global economy is humankind’s most complex creation.  And we live in a time of extraordinary economic uncertainty.  Two evolving news stories seem highly important to me.           

First, Congress and the Obama Administration face a serious decision on what to do about expiring tax cuts and the prospect of drastically reduced federal spending.  As is explained in this Washington Post piece, we are approaching the so-called “fiscal cliff”: “Economists say the automatic actions slated to take place at the end of the year — an increase in payroll taxes and in income tax rates, as well as large cuts in domestic and defense spending — would tip the country back into recession.  Congress could prevent that outcome, but lawmakers are pledging to do so only on their terms, creating fears of more partisan gridlock. Democrats insist that taxes rise for higher-income earners; Republicans want to include the affluent in any renewal of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts.  Meanwhile, the prospect of a government-induced recession is already taking a toll on the economy.”

Second, PBS’s Frontline series “Money, Power, & Wall Street”, which aired this spring, provides excellent insight into the evolution of American investment banking, its role in 2008 global financial crisis, and present state of the Wall Street investment sector.  As to the latter, the question of whether or not appropriate systemic checks are in place to avoid a future financial bubble-burst is an open one.  And of course opinions differ as to whether and how regulatory safeguards can keep up with rapid investment-market innovation.   Upshot: the Frontline reporting on these aspects of a very tumultuous past five years, which have left us looking into an uncertain future, is excellent.

On to public interest news.  This week in very short:

• joint military/civilian pro bono initiatives to benefit servicemembers;
• the public defender caseload limits in Washington State are a victory for the justice system;
• in NY, nonprofits can now get their bail-posting on;
• more attorney support for an understaffed PA defender’s office;
• an NYC task force convened to look at the poor legal job market includes several public service lawyers;
• eleemosynary sentiment benefits a Vermont Law legal clinic;
• the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says “no” to a cy pres proposal;
• the Chicago Bar Association and Foundation say “congrats!” to pro bono award winners;
• impact of legal services funding cuts in northeastern New Jersey;
• a glass ceiling shatters in the Ocean State;
• legal services funding news from Down Under;
• a look at insufficient indigent defense funding in several states;
• Washington State’s public defenders are uncertain about implementing the state’s new caseload limits;
• more stringent standards to determine eligibility for a public defender in the Bay State;
• the Pro Bono Institute’s report on Biglaw pro bono in 2011 is a mixed bag, with overall good news but some trouble spots;
• cy pres funding allows two Peach State law schools to create new public interest scholarships.
• Music!

The summaries:

• 7.19.12 – the Navy JAG’s blog looks at the ABA Military Pro Bono Project: “The…Project, established in 2008, is an innovative collaboration between the military and civilian bars designed to expand legal support for active-duty enlisted service members nationwide.  The Project accepts case referrals from military legal assistance attorneys on behalf of junior-enlisted, active-duty military personnel and their families regarding civil legal problems; working to place those cases with qualified civilian attorneys ready to provide free (pro bono) assistance beyond what can ordinarily be provided by military counsel.   The Project is also the platform for Operation Stand-By, an ABA clearinghouse designed to link military attorneys with local civilian attorneys who may provide guidance and expertise in specific subject matters to best serve military clients.

• 7.18.12 – an op-ed in the Seattle Times voices support for the newly imposed public defender caseload limits in Washington State.  The piece notes that King County’s (Seattle and vicinity) well-respected indigent defense system has operated with caseload limits for some time, and those limits have contributed to high-quality defense work.  

• 7.18.12 – “Non-profit groups can post bail for poor defendants charged with minor crimes under new legislation signed Wednesday by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Supporters say the law creates more fairness in the bail system for indigent defendants facing low-level offenses. Some defendants frequently languish in jail, unable to afford even low bail amounts, according to public defenders.  The bill exempts “charitable bail” organizations from the licensing requirements imposed on for-profit bail-bond businesses, which typically charge interest or require collateral when hired to post bail for criminal defendants.” (Story from Thomson Reuters.)

• 7.17.12 – some progress in resolving an understaffed-public-defense-office problem in PA – one that spawned an ACLU lawsuit.  “Indigent defendants who were denied representation by the Luzerne County Public Defender’s Office earlier this year will be represented by a pool of 10 attorneys employed by the county to handle cases in which the office has a conflict.  Deputy Court Administrator Mike Shucosky said the attorneys, known as conflict counsel, agreed to take on the cases in order to assist the county in resolving its obligation to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who cannot afford a lawyer.  Hundreds of defendants were left without representation after Chief Public Defender Al Flora announced in December that his office, due to a lack of staffing, was limiting the types of cases it would accept to serious felonies, with certain exceptions.”  (Full story frm the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader.)

• 7.17.12 – the NYC Bar has convened a task force to explore the anemic lawyer job market.  The task force includes several attorneys from the nonprofit and government arenas.  “The Manhattan and Brooklyn District Attorneys; New York City’s Corporation Counsel; Deans and leaders of Columbia, Harvard, Georgetown, CUNY and Cardozo Law Schools; law firm leaders from Paul Weiss, Simpson Thacher, Skadden Arps and Freshfields; the chief in-house counsel from BNY Mellon, Morgan Stanley, Pfizer, Xerox and Con Ed; and the heads of The Legal Aid Society and Legal Services of New York are among those convening at the New York City Bar Association to address what City Bar President Carey Dunne has described as the ‘plight of young lawyers’…. The New York City Bar Association’s ‘Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession’ will be led by City Bar Vice President Mark Morril, who said, ‘The group we have assembled has the depth and breadth of experience necessary to assess the problem and the leadership position to be heard on significant recommendations for change if they are warranted’.” (Full story in the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel.) 

• 7.17.12 – a $100K gift will support a Vermont Law School clinical program.  “Alden Fiertz [widower of a former Vermont Legal Services attorney] has given $100,000 to strengthen the social justice partnership between Vermont Law School’s South Royalton Legal Clinic (SRLC) and the Upper Valley Haven, which provide a range of legal, housing, food and other services to needy families.  The two institutions have had an informal partnership for years, but the Fiertz family’s donation will allow the SRLC to expand its free legal services for people in poverty.”   (Full story from Vermont Business.)

• 7.17.12 – (Full disclosure: I love Frosted Mini-Wheats.)  A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision has cy pres implications.  Essentially, the court rejected the idea that cy pres funds could go to charities that support feeding the poor in a case involving a false advertising claim against a cereal maker.  “The Ninth Circuit found that the cy pres provisions bore no resemblance to the claims in the case, which were about false advertising to consumers, not food for the indigent. The court cited its own precedents in Six Mexican Workers v. Arizona Citrus Growers, issued in 1990, and Nachshin v. AOL LLC, issued on Nov. 21. Both rulings struck down settlements because no nexus existed between the cy pres provisions and the class members.  ‘The gravamen of this lawsuit is that Kellogg advertised that its cereal did improve attentiveness,’ [Judge] Trott wrote. ‘Thus, appropriate cy pres recipients are not charities that feed the needy, but organizations dedicated to protecting consumers from, or redressing injuries caused by, false advertising’.”  (Full story from the National Law Journal.) 

• 7.17.12 – the Chicago Bar Association’s and Foundation’s joint pro bono awards were presented at a luncheon ceremony on Tuesday.  Good to see my friend Bob Glaves of the foundation smiling in the group photo.  Pro bono awards and a streaking Chicago Cubs baseball franchise will do that.   

• 7.16.12 – this Jersey Journal piece looks at the impact of legal services funding cuts in the Garden State’s northeastern counties: “[F]unding for Northeast [New Jersey] Legal Services, which represents Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties, has been cut in half in the last three years. The staff has been reduced from 40 to 20, with the number of attorneys slashed from 22 to 11, [according to NNJLS’s director]. 

• 7.16.12 – a glass ceiling shattered in the Ocean State: For the first time in Rhode Island, a woman is leading the Office of the Public Defender.  Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Monday swore in Mary McElroy to head the office, which he says critical to the state.  (Full story from WPRI.)  

• 7.16.12 – for those whose interests know no borders, here’s some legal services funding news from kangaroo country: “COMMUNITY lawyers are calling for a doubling of federal spending on legal assistance services to help the estimated half a million Australians who miss out on legal help each year.  Community Law Australia, a coalition of community legal centres from across the nation, says the federal government must inject an extra $330 million a year into the system to ensure all Australians can access a basic level of legal assistance.”  (Full story in the Sydney Morning Herald.)

• 7.16.12 – the Take Part website looks at the issue of insufficient public defense funding and its affect on several states’ criminal justice systems. 

• 7.15.12 – this short piece notes that Washington State’s public defenders are still sorting through the impact that the state high court’s recently imposed caseload standards will have on their offices. (Full story in The Daily News.)  [Editor’s note: the article refers to the court’s “ruling” and “decision.”  Strictly speaking the new rule is an order of the high court.  The order did not stem from a case that the court heard, but rather from the court’s authority to govern law practice in the state.] 

• 7.13.12 – more stringent standards to determine eligibility for indigent defense in Massachusetts: “Criminal defendants in Massachusetts must prove that they can’t afford their own attorney before a judge can appoint a lawyer to represent them at taxpayer expense, the state’s highest court ruled Friday.  In a series of rulings, the Supreme Judicial Court tightened rules governing when defendants can get court-appointed lawyers.  The SJC also found that retirement account funds can be considered when calculating whether a defendant is indigent.”  (Full story from the Associated Press.)

• 7.12.12 – “The Pro Bono Institute’s Law Firm Pro Bono Project has released its report on the 2011 Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge^® data. One hundred thirty-four participating firms reported in 2011, performing a total of 4,476,866 hours of pro bono work – a slight increase over 2010. This is the third highest year since the inception of the Challenge in 1995….   A particular point of concern is that service to persons of limited means or to charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental, and educational organizations in matters which are designed primarily to address the needs of persons of limited means decreased by 9.7 percent from 2010. Challenge firms donated 2,578,958 hours to this group in 2011.  Charitable giving by firms, however, was strong.” http://www.probonoinst.org/newsroom/press-releases/law-firm-pro-bono-performance-remains-steady

• 7.12.12 – two Georgia law schools, the University of Georgia (Bulldogs!) and Mercer University (Bears!) are benefitting from hefty cy pres residual awards which will go to funding public interest scholarships.  (Full story in the National Law Journal.) 

Music!  How about Boise, Idaho’s finest, Built to Spill, with “Center of the Universe”?

By: Maria Hibbard

Despite the controversy throughout the 2000s about the No Child Left Behind Act, it’s given educators and policy makers a way to measure the progress of children in crucial years throughout crucial years of their education.  Systemic educational reform, however, has yet to have an impact in some areas, at least, and it’s being challenged in Michigan. This week the Michigan ACLU filed a suit against Michigan government departments and one Detroit school district, asserting students’ “right to read” at grade level and receive appropriate assistance if needed. CNN reports:

Filed as a class action on behalf of eight students who, the ACLU said, represent nearly 1,000 students in the district, the lawsuit cites individual cases of students struggling with basic literacy.

One of the student plaintiffs reportedly failed the state’s standardized tests in his fourth, fifth and sixth grade years without receiving “any specialized reading intervention in 4th or 5th grade,” the lawsuit says.

Another student plaintiff has, according to the suit, attended Highland Park schools since first grade and after completing eighth grade earlier this year “his reading proficiency level is appropriate for the 2nd or 3rd grade.”

Highland Park is one of the worst performing school districts in Michigan, according to the state Department of Education, and its high school currently ranks in the bottom 1% statewide.

“No case ever filed anywhere in the U.S. has addressed a school system in such dire straits.” said attorney Mark Rosenbaum, a member of the Michigan ACLU legal team.

Highland Park can hardly be the only district where resources do not exists to provide struggling students the help they need. Even if your interests do not even remotely touch education law and policy, the possible implications of this case – and the very fact that it was filed – touches something that connects all attorneys and law students. In some way or another, the first step to becoming an attorney was becoming literate; the very basis of the legal profession is founded on the sound ability to read. If students in struggling districts continue to take standardized tests and fail them, they will also have trouble finding the basics of adult life later on. Essentially, ACLU’s “right to read” suggests where the very basis of the justice gap begins. As Michigan ACLU Executive Director said, “Literacy is the gateway to all other knowledge.”

If you’re interested in learning more about careers in education law, you can read Harvard’s guide to education law here.

Do you know a law student who’s a public interest/pro bono rock star?  NALP and PSLawNet are seeking nominations for the 2012 PSLawNet Pro Bono Publico Award.

Download the Nomination Form Here!

Purpose: To recognize the significant contributions that law students make to underserved populations, the public interest community, and legal education by performing pro bono or public service work.

Eligibility: The Pro Bono Publico Award is available to any second- or third-year law student at a PSLawNet Subscriber School. The recipient will be honored during an Award Luncheon at NALP’s Public Service Mini-Conference on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at the Washington, DC office of Crowell & Moring, LLP. The award recipient will receive transportation to Washington, a one-night stay in an area hotel, a commemorative plaque, and a small monetary award.

Award Criteria: Law students are judged by the extracurricular commitment they have made to law-related public service projects or organizations; the quality of work they performed; and the impact of their work on the community, their fellow students, and the school. Though a student’s involvement in law school-based public interest organizing and fundraising is relevant; actual pro bono and public interest legal work will be the primary consideration. 

Nomination Deadline & Packet Contents: Nominations must be received by Friday, September 7, 2012 at 5pm Eastern Time, by fax, mail, or email (see contact information at bottom). Along with the nomination form and a résumé, nomination packets may include any materials which support a nominee’s candidacy; such as letters of recommendation, statements detailing a nominee’s work, and media articles. 

Thanks!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Things are busy, so this week you’re spared from my rambling preamble.  Lucky you, Friday the 13th notwithstanding.  Here’s the week’s access-to-justice news:

• budget cuts hit North Penn Legal Services hard;
• pro bono up in the Volunteer State (thus marking the 1546th time I’ve made a pro bono/Volunteer State pun);
• a look at California’s pilot Civil Gideon projects;
• Shpoonkle Pro Bono(?);
• Uncle Sam’s new hiring processes are officially in place;
• Chicago’s John Marshall Law School secures HUD grant to fight housing discrimination;
• an Illinois county goes online with civil legal aid resources for clients;
• cuts in indigent defense funding in the Empire State;
• how Washington State indigent defense programs are responding to newly imposed caseload limits;
• a 16-county, West Texas indigent defense project is a clinical program housed at Texas Tech Law.
• Super Music Bonus

The summaries:

• 7.12.12 – terrible news out of Pennsylvania: “A budget shortfall of $1 million for North Penn Legal Services, the only free civil legal aid provider in Northeast PA and a member of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, forced the organization to lay off 15% of its staff, and close two offices effective June 30. Those layoffs consist of attorneys, paralegals, support staff, intake workers, and administrators. The combined loss of service from office closings and staff layoffs will be 1,538 fewer cases handled and mean that NPLS employs one legal aid advocate for every 10,000 people living in poverty in its twenty county service area.”  (Full story on the PA Legal Aid Network website.)

• 7.12.12 – this data had surfaced a few weeks ago, but it’s a pleasure to re-report on Tennessee’s increased pro bono numbers: “More attorneys in Tennessee are performing free, or pro bono, work for clients. That’s according to new data from the state Board of Professional Responsibility, which show that more than 46 percent of Tennessee attorneys reported performing pro bono work for deserving clients.  The percentage is up 6 percent from last year. Not only that – it’s the highest percentage of pro bono reporting since attorneys began to voluntarily report their pro bono work in 2009 and more than twice the level of reporting during the initial year. The 46  percent figure does not include attorneys who have yet to renew their licenses and report hours.”  (Full from the Memphis Daily News.)

• 7.11.12 – Tiela!  My friend Tiela Chalmers does an interview with ProBono.Net about her stewardship of a pilot program in California to expand the availability of civil legal services for individuals whose basic needs – housing, health, etc. – are threatened.  “The Shriver projects were created by statute in California with the idea of exploring what it would look like if we provided legal services on a really large scale. The Legislature, via the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act, ultimately funded seven pilot projects in areas of basic human need – essentially housing and family law –around the state. LA’s Housing Project is the largest. It’s a collaboration between the LA Superior Court and four legal aid agencies: Inner City Law Center, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles (NLSLA) and Public Counsel.  The system is based on centralized intake in the downtown courthouse, at the Eviction Assistance Center, run by Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles. Once cases are taken and initial papers done, we decide whether the case should be full scope, or limited scope. If it’s appropriate for full scope, we refer the case to Inner City, LAFLA, or Public Counsel.”  Here’s the full interview.   

• 7.11.12 – via a press release, lawyer-client matching site Shpoonkle (yes, that’s the name) announces that it’s getting into the online pro bono clearinghouse game with the launch of Shpoonkle Pro Bono: “Shpoonkle Pro Bono is an innovative non-profit organization focused within the legal community, whose mission is to serve as a national exchange for various charities and legal aid organizations by offering a centralized portal for both online fundraising and vetting legal work to attorneys.”  (I’d never heard of Shpoonkle before.  Wikipedia says it’s a recently created “reverse auction” clearinghouse, through which people with legal needs solicit dollar bids from attorneys on how much their legal work would cost.  It’s evidently stirred controversy in the legal community.)

• 7.9.12 – big news for law students and recent grads who want jobs with Uncle Sam: “The government’s new program to attract students and recent graduates to public service takes effect Tuesday.  Agencies must transition from the current system to Pathways Programs, an initiative that grew out of a 2010 executive order directing agencies to make it easier for students and recent grads to pursue careers in the federal government. The new program includes three tracks: for current students, recent graduates and Presidential Management Fellows. Participants will be classified under a new Schedule D within the excepted service, and each program will honor veterans’ preference. Excepted service positions are designed to streamline the hiring process and have different evaluation criteria from the competitive service, in which applicants compete for jobs under the merit system.”  (Full article from Government Executive.)

• 7.9.12 – in Chicago, the John Marshall Law School gets a big grant to fight housing discrimination.  From a press release: “With a 20-year history of working on behalf of those discriminated in their housing choices, The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Clinic announces $840,000 in new HUD funding to help continue its initiatives.  Work on behalf of those discriminated in their housing choices will continue through the Fair Housing Legal Clinic at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago thanks to a three-year grant of nearly $840,000 from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  The grant will help the Clinic continue its broad-based, full-service work assisting those who have been discriminated against in their housing choices.”

• 7.8.12 – an Illinois county is going online to connect residents with civil legal aid resources: “Legal assistance for low-income residents of Woodford County is as close as their personal computers. Or, absent those, their local library. The Woodford County Legal Self-Help Center came online last week. The website is designed to provide information and answers to questions about simple, civil legal issues.”  Illinois Legal Aid Online developed the website.  Here’s the site itself, and here’s the reporting from the Peoria Journal Star.

• 7.8.12 – “[New York State] is reducing funding to counties for indigent defense by 25 percent – and offering the same amount through grants to improve the quality of the defense.”  This piece in the Hornell Evening Tribune homes in how Steuben County, NY will handle the cuts.

• 7.8.13 – a glimpse at how Washington State counties are responding to the state high court’s newly imposed public defender caseload limits: “In the three weeks since the state Supreme Court announced a new cap on public defender caseloads, Tri-City court officials have been busy crunching numbers from almost 9,000 criminal cases spanning two years.  As head of the Benton & Franklin Counties Office of Public Defense, Eric Hsu must devise a numerical case-weighting system that will satisfy the newly adopted standards and each county’s budget constraints.  Yet, while the annual limits might be dropping for many contract lawyers who represent poor defendants, it does not necessarily mean they will see fewer cases.  That’s because the value given to each crime based on its complexity and other factors could end up being just a fraction of one point, leaving room for adding more cases before hitting that magical number set by Washington’s highest court.  Of equal concern is the fact that private law firms that handle some of the defense work in the Tri-Cities may no longer be allowed to continue taking cases.”  (Full story in The Tri-City Herald.)

• 7.3.12 – here’s a piece looking at a West Texas public defense program, serving 16 counties, which is housed at Texas Tech Law and incorporates students into its operations.  It’s a sort of large-scale clinical office.  “The [Caprock Regional Public Defender Office], a program administered through the Texas Tech University School of Law Clinical Programs and funded by a Texas Indigent Defense Commission grant to Dickens County provides representation to indigent and juvenile defendants in 16 counties in Northwest Texas….  The CRPDO works to give access to legal counsel and increase the quality of representation provided to indigent citizens and juveniles accused of crimes. The CRPDO uses a cost-effective delivery model for indigent defense services and uses experienced defense counsel, and the resources available through the Texas Tech School of Law, including the assistance of qualified law students. The program is the first of its kind and will serve as a model for the state of Texas and possibly the entire country.”  (Full story from Texas Tech Today.)

• Music!  Everybody should listen to Centro-matic on Fridays.