By: Maria Hibbard

Although NALP just released a dismal report on the employment statistics for law grads of the class of 2011, legal jobs in the federal government may represent something of a growth area. I spent some time in FedScope, the Office of Personnel Management’s federal human resources database, and found that over the last 5 years, the number of attorneys working for the government in jobs classified as “general attorney” has increased by almost 6,000. These jobs include attorney-advisor positions, and trial attorney positions, and other jobs for which a J.D. is required. (FYI – see how the government defines “general attorney” in these 35 pages) Since the general mood throughout the Great Recession has been less jobs for everyone, everywhere, I expected to see a steady downward trend in the number of federal legal jobs as well–instead, the number attorneys employed in federal agencies has increased steadily by about 1,000 jobs per year from 2007-2011.

Although we don’t know if these new jobs are entry-level or more advanced career positions, this is certainly an encouraging trend. All of these newly-created attorney positions in the federal government aren’t going away even as the economy rebuilds–from December 2010-December 2011, the number of attorneys employed by federal agencies held steady at around 35,000. What’s more, in 2009 the Partnership for Public service predicted in their Where the Jobs Are report that the federal government would need to hire over 23,000 legal-related jobs in the next three years, 5800 of which would be attorney positions. The general employment market may be suffering, but the federal government has certainly shown a need for more attorneys–in part because Baby Boomers have begun to retire in large numbers.

So–where, exactly, are all of these mystical federal attorney positions? Reference our Federal Government Resources page for more information, but some quick stats on “General Attorney” positions from FedScope:

• 10,796 at the Department of Justice
• 2, 297 at the Department of the Treasury
• 2,035 at the Department of Homeland Security
• 1, 639 at the Securities and Exchange Commission
• 1, 127 at the Environmental Protection Agency

Changes in federal hiring for recent graduates are about to take place, too–look out for the “Pathways Program” set to take effect in July, a program aimed at making federal hiring more streamlined and transparent. We’ll post more about it on PSLawNet at that time, but in the meantime– federal attorney hiring is a positive trend that warrants some thought.

By: Maria Hibbard

Grasping the degree of disparity in access to civil legal aid is something that is a little hard for me to wrap my head around at this point in my legal career; although Legal Services of New Jersey has made it a little easier with the release of the report “New Jersey’s Civil Legal Assistance Gap,” the statistics are not at all comforting. New Jersey Today reports that because of funding cuts, the staff of Legal Services of New Jersey, the statewide legal assistance organization, is increasingly unable to handle the demand for legal services, and these issues are compounded by both an increase in poverty and an increase in legal problems throughout the state. Among other statistics:

• Legal Services staff has decreased from 720 attorneys in 2007 to a staff of 415 at the beginning of 2012.
• The loss of these attorneys has decreased the amount of new cases the organization is able to take by over 10,000.
• Although 1 in 3 people below 200% of the federal poverty level have at least one civil legal aid problem per year, nearly four out of five people did not have the help of a lawyer in solving these problems.
• Data from New Jersey state courts indicates that between 90-99% of defendants in tenancy, small claims, and foreclosure cases proceeded unrepresented, and a great part of these cases resulted in defaults because the defendant did not show up to a hearing.

The idea that civil legal problems are this prevalent–and this underrepresented–is especially documented in the New Jersey study. Even though 75% of people in poverty do not seek the help of a lawyer for their legal problems, 2/3 of those who do in New Jersey are turned away. The report did highlight a number of individuals who have been helped by civil legal services or pro bono attorneys in New Jersey, however–these stories help confirm the idea that civil aid is crucial in helping to protect real legal issues:

• Legal Services of Jersey helped Scott Morell, a long time worker in construction and other physical-labor jobs, secure social security disability benefits once he could no longer work–the $1400 a month he receives now gives him much more breathing room than the $210 was originally receiving.
• Rhonda Taylor was referred to a pro bono attorney by Legal Services to help settle her child custody case when her ex-husband filed for custody of one child after their divorce.
• Akavar Dylutra, a former corporate worker who fell into depression and financial distress after he was downsized, was able to apply for disability benefits through the help of civil legal aid services while he got back on his feet.

The end of the report highlights a number of exterior realities in the legal world that interfere with access to legal aid services and pro bono attorneys–associates at big firms working long hours with little time left for volunteer work, solo practitioners struggling financially in the recession, and complicated court proceedings, among others–but it also includes a number of calls to action and concrete steps to improve access to civil legal aid even a little, in the face of funding cuts. Essentially, the report isn’t comforting, but it is what is, and New Jersey Legal Services highlights what can be done about it.

By: Maria Hibbard

We posted last week about how Michigan has appointed a special commission to study how to improve access to justice  in an effort to reform the quality of representation indigent defendants receive; the Supreme Court of the state of Washington has taken this idea one step further. In a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that public defenders representing indigent defendants can only take 150 felony or 300-400 misdemeanor cases a year.

Although the math about what constitutes a new “case” against the total has yet to be determined, the limit could possibly allow public defenders to provide better representation without being overburdened by a huge caseload. That said, however, the limit may cause budget-stretched public defender offices to be forced to hire more staff, even though the ruling doesn’t take effect until September 2013.  According to the Associated Press, Washington’s solution is definitely one remedy in order to avoid cases like these:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is suing the cities of Burlington and Mount Vernon, saying those cities jointly contracted with two part-time lawyers to represent indigent defendants in misdemeanor cases.

The two lawyers together handled more than 2,100 cases in 2010 alone, the plaintiffs said. In allowing the lawsuit to go forward, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said the evidence could support a finding the lawyers were so overburdened that the appointment of public defenders in those cities is “little more than a sham.”

Grant County has spent the past seven years making changes to its public-defense system, including a reduction in caseloads, under a court settlement with the ACLU and Columbia Legal Services.

In a 2010 state Supreme Court ruling, a Grant County boy who was convicted at age 12 of sexually molesting a young neighbor was granted a new trial after his public defender, who handled about 500 cases annually, failed to investigate his case and urged him to plead guilty. The boy was eventually exonerated.

Since Grant County’s settlement, the county’s felony caseloads per public defender have dropped from about 500 per year to 150.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Some miscellany before getting into access-to-justice news:

• Needless to say this week’s huge legal story involves the lawsuit against the Phillie Phanatic, in which it’s alleged that the Phillies mascot carried his antics too far by throwing a party reveler into a swimming pool.  (The pool did have water in it, so presumably things could’ve been worse.)
• Both Florida’s and California’s high courts this week looked into the question of whether an undocumented immigrant may receive a license to practice law in those respective jurisdictions.  Here’s coverage from the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
• Sign of the fiscal times from New Jersey: “Recognizing that Lawrence Township would receive an additional $2.5 million in municipal taxes this year if nonprofit organizations were required to pay taxes, township officials plan to ask for “voluntary contributions” from these tax-exempt groups. The [t]ownship administration and council are in the process of drafting a letter that will be sent out to tax-exempt and nonprofit organizations in the township seeking “voluntary contributions” in lieu of the municipal taxes these groups do not pay.”  (Full article from the Lawrenceville Patch.)

As for public interest news, its’ been a busy week:

• an AtJ commission formed in Illinois;
• LSC funding cuts will wreak havoc in Puerto Rico;
• the need for reform in Michigan’s indigent defense program;
• pro bono patent work;
• a Chicago law school gets HUD funding to smite housing discrimination;
• Legal Aid of W. Virginia gets desperately needing funding from state AG;
• bad news for the Public Defender Corps;
• prosecutor layoffs in Sacramento?;
• access-to-justice bonanza in the Treasure State;
• 5 tips for fixing the civil justice system;
• a Wake Forest Law clinic promotes rural economic development;
• Alaska Legal Services Corporation opens its 11th office;
• business is booming in an Oklahoma veterans court;
• the June edition of LSC Update;
• civil Gideon in San Fran.

This week:

• 6.14.12 – an access-to-justice commission in Illinois: “The Illinois Supreme Court announced Wednesday the formation of a commission to remove barriers and increase the ease of interacting with courts by those persons who can’t afford lawyers to represent their interests and needs.  It will be known as the Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and is made up of 11 persons, seven of whom are appointed by the Supreme Court. The Illinois Bar Foundation, the Chicago Bar Foundation the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois and the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation appoint one member each.” (Full story from the Aledo Times Record.)

• 6.14.12 – “Puerto Rico’s Legal Services office faces $5 million in federal budget cuts next year, a reduction that officials say will force attorneys to drop thousands of civil cases in this U.S. territory where nearly half the people live in poverty.  The budget cuts are occurring at a national level, but the 32 percent decrease announced for Puerto Rico is the largest compared to cuts facing U.S. states, executive director Charles Hey Maestre said Thursday. He added that the funds being cut represent a fourth of the organization’s budget.”  (Story from WTOP.)

• 6.14.12 – will Michigan’s long-troubled indigent defense system finally be reformed?  NPR takes a look.

• 6.13.12 – transactional pro bono is no longer a new thing, but there has been a recent upsurge in pro bono patent work done on behalf of DIY inventors.   Full story in the National Law Journal.

• 6.12.12 – bad news for Chicagoans who like housing discrimination: “The John Marshall Law School in Chicago is receiving more than $1 million in funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that will help maintain its Fair Housing Legal Clinic, Fair Lending/Home Preservation Law Project and its Fair Housing Internship Program to train college students in fair housing law and investigations.  The funding of the three programs is divided into a three-year grant of nearly $840,000 to underwrite the work of the Clinic; a $97,100 grant for the law school’s ongoing Fair Lending/ Home Preservation Law Project; and $99,800 that is allowing the law school to continue its groundbreaking fair housing law course and internship for college students.”  (Full press release here.)

• 6.12.12 – “Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced Tuesday that his office has secured $1 million in funding for the beleaguered Legal Aid of West Virginia, which had to lay off 12 case handlers and consider shuttering its Logan and Mingo County office because of budget cuts last year. McGraw said in an afternoon news conference at the Chief Logan Conference Center in Logan that the $1 million will help keep the office open for the next three years. The money comes from a small portion of a massive national mortgage settlement that the attorney general’s consumer protection division reached earlier this year, which netted more than $33 million for West Virginia consumers affected by foreclosure abuse from large banks.”  (Full story from the Charleston Gazette.)

• 6.11.12 – a rotten development for the Public Defender Corps: “Equal Justice Works and The Southern Public Defender Training Center have recently learned that the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, will not provide funding for the Public Defender Corps program in 2012-2013 and beyond. As such, the application process for the Public Defender Corps class of 2013 will not open on July 6 as previously planned.  We are actively seeking alternative funding sources for the program. We recommend that you periodically check our website for updates.”  (Message from the Equal Justice Works’ website.)

• 6.11.12 – a risk of prosecutor layoffs in Sacramento: “District Attorney Jan Scully says she’s made cuts to close a budget gap, but will have to lay off 8 staffers including 4 attorneys unless she gets an additional $2.1 million dollars from the Board. She says prosecutors will concentrate their efforts on felony cases in which suspects pose a danger to citizens. Scully’s office has already backed off on prosecuting certain drug and property crimes and she may raise the threshold on prosecutions.” (Story from Fox 40.)

• 6.11.12 – good news from the Treasure State: “the Montana Supreme Court has taken a pair of steps designed to increase the availability of lawyers and other resources for people who cannot afford them, responding to a nationwide drop in funding for legal aid programs and a rise in recent years in the number of people arguing their cases “pro se,” or without professional legal representation.  May 22, in a 5-1 decision, the high court launched an appellate “pro bono” program, effective July 1, with a mission to create an online database of attorneys and law students who will volunteer to help self-represented parties in appeals before the Montana Supreme Court. The court also unanimously agreed to establish an 18-member Commission on Access to Justice to advise the court on the needs of low-income people and their business interests in the justice system.”  (Story from the Helena Independent Record.)

• 6.11.12 – the director of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, Rebecca Love Kourlis, offers five steps for fixing the civil justice system.  (Full post on The Atlantic website.)  

• 6.11.12 – Wake Forest Law’s Community Law and Business Clinic offers students meaningful transactional experience while promoting economic development in rural areas.  (Story in the Winston Salem Journal.)

• 6.10.12 – Alaska Legal Services Corporation’s newly opened Barrow office is the organization’s 11th location in the state.  I wonder if they can see Russia from there.  (Story in the Arctic Sounder.)

• 6.10.12 – business is booming at the Oklahoma County veterans diversionary court. Story from The Oklahoman.  

• 6.8.12 – the June edition of “LSC Update” recaps funding news, LSC personnel changes, and a Washington Council of Lawyers report on the state of legal services funding nationally. 

• June, 2012 – a piece in the California Lawyer looks at San Francisco’s experiment with a civil right to counsel.  My colleague Maria did a write-up on this earlier this week.

Let’s close out with music.  I am a child of the 80s.  This means a lot of things as regards my musical tastes, some of which are more defensible than others.  One thing that happened is that, while riding around in the back of the family station wagon, I heard lots of songs that were at the time called “oldies.”  To my young ears the oldies broke into two groups: horrendous music from the 50s and amazing music from the 60s.  Included in this latter group was Motown, which for my money is one of the most moving, soul-stirring genres in the history of American music.  I have my dad to thank for that wonderful introduction.  And this Four Tops song has long been a favorite.

By: Maria Hibbard

Access to justice for non-criminal cases may just be a little easier in the western U.S.; with the adoption of a new ordinance, San Francisco has become the first city in the U.S. to implement a program advocating for right to counsel in civil–not just criminal–cases. In 1963, in Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court declared that indignant defendants have the right to pro bono counsel in criminal cases, but no such right exists in civil cases even when basic human needs are at stake, like shelter or child custody.

“Civil Gideon” is a movement by various bar associations and groups across the country to support the right to counsel in civil cases–in addition to the support already provided by civil legal aid groups. Because civil legal aid groups have traditionally struggled with funding and are able to help only a fraction of people in need, civil Gideon programs could be a way to more equitably serve the needs of poor people.

The San Francisco program is a one-year pilot program that will become permanent if successful. Although the city recognizes that there will not be an immediate right to counsel just because San Francisco is a “Right to Counsel City,” the ordinance states that it is the first step “to progress steadily toward the goal of providing counsel whenever the court, in its discretion, believes that such counsel would assist in the fair administration of justice.” This is the first “Civil Gideon” program supported by city government–other pilot programs in recent years have been run by bar associations or special commissions, like the Philadelphia Bar’s Civil Gideon Task Force. Although these programs are still small and proceeding with caution, it will be interesting to see if San Francisco’s program, backed by the city, will be able to provide realistic access to counsel for those in need on a larger scope. Although it will require more administrative support and legal staff work, John Pollock of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel says that the program may end up being more cost-efficient than not providing access to representation: “By not providing counsel, cities and states end up paying the costs down the road in extended foster care or more police enforcement or homeless shelters. The San Francisco ordinance is very innovative and noteworthy. It’s a milestone.”

Although Michigan’s indigent defense system has long been criticized, including in this 2008 report by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, NPR reports on changes that may be ahead:

Court-appointed lawyers in Michigan, Steinberg says, “have to encourage their clients to plead guilty and keep the docket moving in order to generate the volume that they can make a living. So the incentive is to get your client to plead guilty as quickly as possible doing the least amount of work as possible.”

Steinberg and the ACLU have an unlikely ally: state Rep. Tom McMillin. The son of a retired General Motors executive, he’s a Republican and a former leader of the Christian Coalition in Michigan.

“Conservatives are really talking about, what is the proper role of government? Has it expanded too much?” McMillin says. “And I think many of us feel this is one of the proper roles — providing as much equal justice as possible.”

That issue captured the attention of Michigan’s Republican Governor, Rick Snyder, too. Last year, the governor named McMillin to a commission to study how to improve the patchwork system of justice for the poor. The group is planning to present its recommendations to the governor this month.

Jeff Sauter is eager to read them. Sauter testified before the commission last winter, on behalf of a group of prosecutors in Michigan. After 21 years as the elected prosecutor in Eaton County, near Lansing, Sauter has seen a lot.

“I’ve seen instances actually, both appointed and retained attorneys, where the defendant I don’t think is getting good representation,” he says.

By: Maria Hibbard

Two men who recently passed the bar in their respective states–Florida and California–have completed all of the on-paper requirements to become an attorney–college, law school, character examination, and bar passage–but Supreme Courts in both states are considering whether Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio and Sergio C. Garcia can be admitted to the bar and actually practice law. Both Godinez-Samperio and Garcia are undocumented immigrants, and U.S. law generally forbids these individuals from receiving professional licenses. Due to a gray area in federal law, however, they may work as independent contractors. According to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog:

…federal law doesn’t require those who hire independent contractors to ask for proof of immigration status. Stephen Yale-Loehr, a law professor at Cornell Law School, told the Associated Press that a client who pays for services isn’t breaking the law even if the contractor isn’t authorized to work in the U.S.

While the cases play out in California and Florida, Cesar Vargas, a CUNY School of Law graduate who entered the country illegally when he was 5 years old, has opened a legislative lobbying firm, DRM Capitol Group LLC — a nod to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the Dream Act, which would provide illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before age 16 with a path to citizenship.

The Dream Act remains in political gridlock, but these cases raise important issues about access to justice: the LA Times reports that hundreds of individuals from Garcia’s community showed up to see him be sworn in as a lawyer last year. Law graduates who have achieved law school graduation and bar passage–even without citizenship–may be able to provide access to attorneys to hundreds of communities who previously saw legal counsel as far out of reach. Even if these individuals do not practice in their home communities, should these law graduates be limited to work as independent contractors, or can they be licensed to practice like any other graduate with good qualifications? The cases in California and Florida will surely set a precedent.

By: Maria Hibbard (and the PSLawNet staff and Advisory Group!)

A few weeks ago, the PSLawNet staff and Advisory Group contributed their recommendations to PSLawNet’s Summer Reading List. If you can’t bring yourself to read a whole book this summer–or you just want to stay informed–here are some favorite online periodicals and blogs to peruse. As a student I’m often tempted to stay focused on my little “law school bubble” and not know what’s happening in the “real world,” but staying updated on both the daily news and trends in the legal profession gives me perspective. In addition to these suggestions, you can find even more at the ABA’s annual Blawg 100 list.

General sources of information for being an educated person/lawyer:

• Clearinghouse for major legal news: http://law.com/jsp/law/index.jsp
• Keep updated on Supreme Court decisions as they happen: http://www.scotusblog.com/
• Broad coverage of court decisions and the legal industry: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/
• ABA Journal: http://www.abajournal.com/
• The Am Law Daily: http://www.americanlawyer.com/amlaw_daily.jsp
• NALP’s own news digest, published every Friday: http://www.nalp.org/newsdigest

General non-profit/public interest/access to justice blogs:

• Nonprofit Law Blog: http://www.nonprofitlawblog.com/home/
• Equal Justice Works Blog: http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/blog/
• ABA Center for Pro Bono Exchange blog: http://centerforprobono.wordpress.com/
• Richard Zorza’s Access to Justice blog: http://accesstojustice.net/
• Amnesty International’s Human Rights Now blog: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/
• The Brennan Center for Justice Blog: http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/

Public Health

• The Shriver Brief: http://www.theshriverbrief.org/

A number of larger cities have daily law bulletins or law journals, some of which require a subscription or login. A sampling:

• Chicago Daily Law Bulletin: http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/
• New York Law Journal: http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/
• Los Angeles Daily Journal: http://www.dailyjournal.com/

Academia

• Class Bias in Higher Education: http://classbias.blogspot.com/
• Law Professor Blogs: http://www.lawprofessorblogs.com/

What’s the easiest way to keep track of all of these resources? Use an RSS reader/aggregator! After you set one up, this service gathers the data from all your favorite sources and combines it into one readable format. Here’s a post on a number of RSS aggregators that are available—although I personally check my Google Reader every day: http://email.about.com/od/rssreaderswin/tp/top_rss_windows.htm.

By: Steve Grumm

One of the constant challenges in lawyering generally – but particularly in public defense work – can be putting aside personal sentiment and focusing entirely on a client’s best interest.  With that in mind, here’s an interesting story from the Chicago Tribune about an African American federal defender who is representing a man accused of a racially motivated crime.  This is a good read for aspiring public defenders.

It wasn’t until [federal defender MiAngel] Cody reached the courtroom and leafed through the indictment that she learned the details of the charges against the heavily tattooed white man sitting next to her — he was accused of setting fire to his neighbor’s home because the family was black.

Cody is African-American. She had just been appointed to defend an alleged white supremacist.

Cody privately conferred at some length with defendant Brian James Moudry and then stood next to him before a federal judge to enter a plea of not guilty on Moudry’s behalf. Appointed by the court to represent the indigent Moudry, Cody is scheduled to be by his side again when the case is back in court later this week.

…

Sitting in court late last month, Moudry’s tattoos provided a billboard of his white supremacist views: “Blue Eyed Devil” is scrawled on the back of his shaved head and the number “14” is imprinted on his throat — an apparent reference to a 14-word pledge to white power.

Several criminal-defense attorneys said it isn’t uncommon to represent a client whose beliefs are abhorrent to them. One recalled a defendant who was bothered by the lawyer’s Jewish faith. In Cook County, a defendant once unsuccessfully tried to ditch his public defender because she was a woman.

Most of the times, the attorneys said, they strive to provide a vigorous defense for those clients — sometimes even more so because of the ideological clash. And the truth is clients are often won over, they said.

Yet Cody’s race goes to the heart of the charges against her client, adding an extra layer of scrutiny for her, said one lawyer who faced a similar predicament.

“She is going to have to decide if she can separate his potential hatred for her … or the potential hatred for African-Americans … to do her job,” said Nishay Sanan, an Indian-American attorney who represented a self-avowed white supremacist in federal court in Chicago. “Good lawyers have to separate their feelings from their clients’ ideologies. Otherwise, a lot of clients wouldn’t be defended.”

One lawyer who knows Cody says she’s up to the task:

“Our job is to represent people charged,” said Terry MacCarthy, who ran the federal defender’s office in Chicago for 42 years and still has an office there. “A good criminal-defense attorney can handle anything … He’ll be in real good hands with her. She is one very good and very bright lawyer.”

Yakima, Washington! (courtesy: eagle cap communications)

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  I’ve largely tuned out of non-legal news coverage this week.  The weather in DC – no humidity and plenty of sun – has been awfully seductive.  And things around the office have kept me occupied.  But one of my favorite weekly rituals is to rise around 4:30 on Friday mornings to enjoy the quiet predawn, go for a run, and catch up on news I’ve missed.  It’s a sort of relaxing beginning to the end of the week. 

So having looked at the news, the two big political items have been the presidential race taking form – both in terms of fundraising and messaging – and of course the Wisconsin recall election.  I do not underestimate how difficult and divisive are the times in which we live.  Pressures in the economy, the workplace, and the home will pull at our social fabric.  But it has still surprised me to see Wisconsinites so bitterly divided over the past several months.  (In my view, the recall’s real outcome has less to do with Gov. Walker retaining his post and more to do with the cloud of long-term uncertainty looming over unions.)

As for the recall itself, what a weird bit of business.  While dozens of local and state officials have been recalled throughout U.S. history, only two governors have.  Of course the infamous one that everybody remembers is the……1921 recall of Gov. Lynn Frazier of N. Dakota.  He was a popular guy but the agricultural economy went south and he got booted.  Then there was that other one from America’s beautiful, wondrous loony bin – California.  In that one The Terminator ousted Gray Davis to save Cal-eeee-for-knee-yaa from itself.

Oh, and speaking of California, it’s June and they’re still playing hockey in Los Angeles to determine the NHL’s Stanley Cup winner.  June.  Los Angeles.  C’mon now.  Shorten up the playoffs, NHL.

I’ll segue into public interest news with news of the broader legal economy.  NALP just put out employment data for the graduating law school class of 2011.  Not rosy.  View some data points and analysis here.  Two items worth highlighting:

• The overall employment rate for this cohort was 85.6%, which is the lowest since 1994.  But more alarming is this: [O]f those graduates for whom employment was known, only 65.4% obtained a job for which bar passage is required. This figure has fallen over 9 percentage points just since 2008—when it was 74.7%—and is the lowest percentage NALP has ever measured.

• The figures in the public service arena have been relatively static.  But one must remember that the greater number of law-school funded “fellowships” and bridge programs which place grads in public service positions factors into these data.  And this report measures the percentage of grads going into different types of jobs, not how many jobs there are all told.  Anecdotally we’ve all seen cuts in public service jobs.

Okay, this week in short:

• Florida’s high court hears arguments about whether overly burdened public defenders can limit caseloads;
• the CBS law department’s successful, wide-ranging pro bono program;
• IOLTA disbursement in the Hawkeye State;
• county budgets & weighty criminal dockets & prosecutorial discretion – it’s a tough mixture;
• NALP research shows that public interest lawyers took greater advantage of clinical programs while in school, relative to law firm attorneys;
• DOJ promotes AtJ on the international stage;
• some long-form reporting on LSC’s funding history;
• great legal services funding news from the Empire State;
• Oklahoma City School of Law put DOJ anti-domestic-violence funds to use;
• an Illinois attorney license fee bump will benefit legal services providers;
• foundation funding to support public interest scholarship programs at U. of Minnesota Law;
• huzzah, Illinois Legal Aid Online!;
• discussion of the NY 50-hour pro bono rule continues.
• BONUS MUSICAL TREAT! for those who read all the way to the bottom.  Or just see this and scroll to the bottom.  It’s a loophole.

The summaries:

• 6.7.12 – from the Miami Herald: “Grappling with whether poor people are getting adequate representation, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday about whether the Miami-Dade County public defender’s office should be able to decline to take cases because of overwork. The dispute raises constitutional questions about the quality of representation provided to criminal defendants and the relationship between the courts system and the Legislature. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office and a statewide group of prosecutors have fought the Miami-Dade public defender’s attempts to decline to take certain types of felony cases.”
  • More coverage from the Associated Press.
  • And here’s a Tampa Bay Times editorial published before the arguments. “What’s needed are objective workload standards for public defenders that set manageable limits. Florida’s high court should allow public defender offices to decline new appointments when caseloads exceed reasonable limits, pushing the Legislature to provide the necessary resources. A new workload study will soon be conducted through the Florida Public Defender Association with money appropriated in 2012 by the Legislature.  In the meantime, the justices have a responsibility to ensure that public defenders are not so overwhelmed that poor defendants receive an attorney in name only.
  • And a little more from the Orlando Sentinel. 

• 6.7.12 – here’s an informative interview with the CBS Law Department’s bigwigs about their corporate pro bono program, which was started in 2006 and has since grown considerably in breadth and depth.  (From the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel.)

• 6.7.12 – the Iowa Supreme Court has made IOLTA fund disbursements, splitting $232,000 among 14 organizations.  (Short story from KCRG.)

• 6.7.12 – here’s an interesting piece that highlights how concerns of budgeting and efficiency affect county criminal justice systems.  A recent report out of Yakima, WA is critical of the county prosecutor’s policy of taking so many cases to trial.  Fully 82% of the county’s general funds have been going to courts and law enforcement.  The report also dismissed the idea of doing away with the county’s public defense program, noting that mix of full-time defenders and assigned counsel seems to work efficiently in Yakima.  (Story from the Yakima Herald-Republic.)
  • The reason you got a picture of Yakima atop this week’s bulletin is because I spent some time there before law school.  Some of my fondest hiking memories involve hiking the Cascade foothills in Eastern Washington. 

• 6.6.12 – “Law firm leaders have made it clear in recent years that they want to hire “practice-ready” associates, but government and public interest lawyers are more likely than associates to take advantage of clinics and other so-called experiential learning while in law school.  A survey of lawyers in a variety of jobs conducted by NALP…reached that conclusion regarding clinics, externships, practical skills courses and pro bono work.  Nearly 56 percent of the responding public-service attorneys said they had participated in a clinic during law school, compared to slightly more than 30 percent of law firm associates.”  Full story from the National Law Journal.

• 6.6.12 – DOJ is promoting AtJ on the international stage.  From the Dep’t. of Justice’s blog: “Recognizing that criminal legal aid – or indigent defense – “is an essential element of a fair, humane and efficient criminal justice system that is based on the rule of law,” the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (the UN Crime Commission) adopted the first international principles and guidelines on indigent defense at its recently concluded 21^st session.  The United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems affirm the importance of legal aid at all stages of the criminal justice system.”  The U.S. was one of the cosponsors pushing this initiative through.  

• 6.6.12 – here’s a thoroughly reported article exploring the up-and-down history of LSC funding, including look at how much of a political football LSC has become in spite of its straightforward mission to advocate for those on society’s margins: “At first glance, it appears that the LSC’s current budget is marginally higher than it was in 1981: a total of $348 million in this fiscal year versus $321 million back then. But this comparison fails to take into account either inflation or the increasing number of people who are eligible for services. Even if the number of those eligible for services had remained constant, Congress would have had to appropriate $812 million this year to account for inflation over the past three decades.  In view of the fact that the number of people eligible for LSC-funded services had, by 2010, grown to more than 60 million from just under 43 million, the inflation-adjusted and eligible-population equivalent to 1981 services would require a budget of at least $1.1 billion (in fact, the LSC estimates, an additional 5 million people have been eligible for services since 2010, which would mean that a 1981-equivalent budget would need to be in excess of $1.2 billion). Thus, that ostensible 8 percent increase over 31 years represents in real terms a cut of between 69 and 71 percent.”  (Full story on the Remapping Debate website.)

• 6.6.12 – some great legal services funding news from the Empire State: “Nonprofit groups that provide free civil legal services to low-income people in New York have received twice the state funding they were awarded last year, state court administrators said.  At the request of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, state lawmakers this year doubled to $25 million total funding for the programs, court administrators announced on Tuesday. The programs have lost millions of dollars in federal and local funding over the last few years.”  (Story from Thomson Reuters.)

• 6.6.12 – great use of DOJ funds by the Oklahoma City School of Law: “The Native American Legal Resource Center (NALRC) housed at Oklahoma City University School of Law, in partnership with the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, is using a $450,000 grant from the Grants to Indian Tribal Governments Program to assist victims of sexual assault in southwest Oklahoma.  The law school received the grant from the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women.  With the grant funds, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) examination equipment has been purchased and placed in hospitals in Caddo, Grady, Jefferson and Stephens counties to assist law enforcement with the collection of evidence in sexual assault cases.  Previously, victims would have to travel hours to be examined by a sexual assault nurse.”  Full announcement from OKC School of Law. 

• 6.6.12 – an attorney license fee increase in Illinois may not rub every member of the bar the right way, but it will generate desperately needed funding for legal services providers: “Attorneys will now have to pay an additional $53 a year to practice law in Illinois…. The state high court this week announced the rule change…. Under the amended rule that took effective Tuesday, the annual attorney registration fee jumped from $289 to $342. The court has earmarked the $53 hike for The Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois (LTF), a nonprofit foundation that awards grants to some of the state’s civil legal aid providers…. The Lawyers Trust Fund has been hit hard in recent years as the tough economy has forced banks to reduce the amount of interest they pay out on pooled trust funds. The court said in its press release that in 2008, LTF received about $17 million in interest from the trust accounts it administers, but expects to get only about $2.7 million this year.”  (Story from the Madison Record.)

• 6.5.12 – some great news for the U. of Minnesota’s Law School’s public interest students: “The University of Minnesota Law School has established a public-interest scholarship program with a $3.5 million donation from the Robina Foundation. The school announced the gift on June 4, saying the program will assist students interested in public-interest law careers from the time they enroll to when they enter the job market. The Robina Public Interest Scholars Program will combine elements of existing programs at other law schools into one, including scholarships; financial support for summer public-interest projects and post-graduate fellowships at public interest organizations; and loan repayment assistance.”  (Story from the National Law Journal.) 

• 6.4.12 – kudos to Illinois Legal Aid Online: “A decade ago a small group of Chicago attorneys mapped out plans on a bar napkin to deliver Internet-based legal services to the poor. Today, 2.5 million people access Illinois Legal Aid Online’s statewide websites, mobile apps and community-based self-help centers when a lawyer is out of reach.”  (Read more via the Skokie Review.)

• 6.2.12 -and how could I go a full week without mentioning the New York 50 pro bono hour rule?  Last week the New York Times solicited reader input on about the rule’s propriety and effectiveness.  Sentiment was most favorable toward the rule, but some interesting points were made on both side.  Check it out here. 

If you’re made it to the bottom of this week’s rather robust – if not meandering – bulletin, you deserve a treat.  Here’s a song from punk rock outfit Bouncing Souls that speaks to me about staying true to my principles as a public interest lawyer.