From New Hampshire Public Radio:

The most recent State budget slashed funding for legal services for the poor. Last week, the House passed a bill that would put even more aid at risk. . . .

Until December 2010, participation in IOLTA [Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts] was voluntary for New Hampshire attorneys. . . .

When a client hands money over to a lawyer for a short period of time, say, while a real estate deal is being closed, the lawyer puts the money into a pooled account. That account earns interest. . . .

But when the recession hit, interest rates plummeted and the real estate market dried up. IOLTA funding fell off a cliff, dropping from nearly $2 million a year down to $800,000.

To help shore up the funds, the State Supreme Court decided to make IOLTA mandatory.

But that mandate hasn’t sat well with the small group of attorneys.

“I moved to New Hampshire because this was the one state left in the Northeast where a person could own his own soul,” says Representative Gregory Sorg. . . .

The Republican is sponsoring the bill to revoke the mandate and return IOLTA to a voluntary program. . . .

This bill has upset a lot of people in the legal aid world. They already lost over half of their funding in the last State budget. . . .

Read more here.

By: Steve Grumm

That kind of rhymed.  Anyway, from the Washington Post:

The burden of paying for college is wreaking havoc on the finances of an unexpected demographic: senior citizens.

New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans 60 and older still owe about $36 billion in student loans, providing a rare window into the dynamics of student debt. More than 10 percent of those loans are delinquent. As a result, consumer advocates say, it is not uncommon for Social Security checks to be garnished or for debt collectors to harass borrowers in their 80s over student loans that are decades old.

That even seniors remain saddled with student loans highlights what a growing chorus of lawmakers, economists and financial experts say has become a central conflict in the nation’s higher education system: The long-touted benefits of a college degree are being diluted by rising tuition rates and the longevity of debt.

Some of these older Americans are still grappling with their first wave of student loans, while others took on new debt when they returned to school later in life in hopes of becoming more competitive in the labor force. Many have co-signed for loans with their children or grandchildren to help them afford ballooning tuition.

As noted, some of this debt was incurred by parents and grandparents who co-signed on others’ education loans.  Nevertheless this story offers a helpful scare about how even our own “first generation debt” can hang with us if we don’t borrow wisely and take full advantage of repayment solutions.  You can learn more about solutions/resources through folks like Heather Jarvis and the people at Equal Justice Works.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

California Attorney General Kamala Harris has joined officials from 10 other states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Arizona’s immigration law, saying the law exceeds state authority, conflicts with national policy and would drive illegal immigrants into other states.

The law would require police to demand proof of legal status from anyone in their custody whom they suspect of being in the country illegally. Largely blocked by court order since its passage two years ago, it is scheduled for a Supreme Court hearing on April 25, with a ruling due by the end of June.

Harris said Tuesday that the Arizona law would disrupt a “cohesive federal immigration policy” that is particularly important in California. She cited a 2011 report by the Pew Hispanic Center that said California has more undocumented immigrants – 2.5 million – making up a greater share of the workforce – 9.7 percent – than any other state.

. . .California and other states opposing the law told the Supreme Court that the Arizona statute goes beyond federal law in several respects – making it a crime, for example, to be in the country illegally and to seek work – and would interfere with a uniform national approach to immigration.

“Arizona is impermissibly attempting to chart its own course in the identification, apprehension and detention of undocumented immigrants for purposes of expelling them from the state,” said the brief, drafted by the New York attorney general’s office and signed by Harris and her counterparts in nine other states.

Read more here.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  It was a pleasure to see friends and colleagues from out of town as both the Association of Pro Bono Counsel and the Pro Bono Institute held meetings in DC this week.  Especially now, in the aftermath of a recession that gutted legal services funding, and with further cuts to the Legal Services Corporation’s budget quite possible, it’s critical for access-to-justice stakeholders to find effective ways to channel law-firm and corporate resources into public interest work.   It’s fitting then that this week’s bulletin features several items related to this important task.  

• Florida’s legal services community is hoping for a $2 million appropriation from the state legislature;
• President Obama has asked the Senate to reappoint five LSC directors for new board terms;
• the intersection of pro bono and attorney professional development;
• a look at pro bono successes in my hometown, which is also home to universe’s most glorious baseball franchise, about which you will read much more next week (teaser or warning?);
• a Massachusetts legislator wants to narrow the scope of indigent defense eligibility;
• the fundraising success of D.C.’s “Raising the Bar” initiative.

This week:

• 3.28.12 – the stakes are high in Florida, where the legal services community is depending on a state government appropriation to fund their work.  Bill Abbuehl, exec. director of Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, highlights the fact that IOLTA proceeds in the Sunshine State, which historically have been a key legal services funding stream, have plummeted by 88% in 3 years.  State legislators have appropriated $2 million for legal services, but this has to get past Gov. Rick Scott.  (Full piece in the Daytona Beach News Journal.)

• 3.28.12 – President Obama is seeking reappointment of five Legal Services Corporation board members.  Those directors are: Robert Grey, John Levi, Laurie Mikva, Martha Minow, and Gloria Valencia-Weber.  Next stop: the Senate, for confirmation. 

• 3.28.12 – the intersection of pro bono and attorney professional development inside law firms.  Pro Bono Institute president Esther Lardent looks at why and how pro bono work offers skills development opportunities for law-firm associates.  As it happens the folks I work with at NALP, who approach this from the professional development side, will be doing some work on this issue over the next few months.  I’m very much looking forward to spending time in pro bono issues again after having started my career with a pro bono clearinghouse.

• 3.27.12 – the Philadelphia-based Legal Intelligencer has run a “Pro Bono 2012” special edition.  It includes pieces on how pro bono work aid in attorney professional development and on law school pro bono.

• 3.26.12 – a Massachusetts state representative, citing budgetary concerns and questions financial eligibility screen system for clients who request indigent defense services, is advancing a bill that would limit access to those services based on the type of crime alleged and severity of possible punishment.  From Wicked Local (great name!): “To reduce spending, [Rep. David] Linsky has proposed indigent defendants charged with misdemeanors unlikely to lead to jail time shouldn’t get court-appointed lawyers.  ‘We’ve identified 41 very minor offenses that wouldn’t be eligible for court-appointed counsel. In 99 percent of the cases, they don’t lead to jail time,’ he said.” 

• 3.25.12 –3.23.12 – the Blog of the Legal Times reports on the fundraising success of the D.C. Access to Justice Commission’s new “Raising the Bar” initiative.  “Raising the Bar” encourages law firm monetary donations to legal services providers by asking them to donate certain portions of overall revenue.  Twenty-three firms’ combined donations totaled $3 million in contributions.  Here’s more about “Raising the Bar” from the AtJ Commission’s website.  

From NPR news:

When community leaders wanted justice for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, they went knocking on the door of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. And that’s been happening a lot lately.

Over the past three years, the unit has brought record numbers of hate crimes cases, uncovered abuses in local police departments and challenged voting laws in Texas and South Carolina.

“I wish discrimination were a thing of the past,” says Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. “I wish we were living in a post-racial America. I wish my phone were not ringing, but regrettably it’s ringing off the hook in the voting context; it’s ringing off the hook in the hate crimes context and in so many other contexts.” . . .

“The Civil Rights Division I think is the conscience of the Justice Department,” Holder says.

But for political conservatives, this unusually active Civil Rights Division represents something else.

“It’s a very liberal Civil Rights Division. I think by far the most liberal I’ve seen,” says Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank that follows issues of race and ethnicity.

According to Clegg, this Justice Department is pushing the boundaries of the law when it comes to voting rights and fair lending, and it’s not doing enough to prevent racial quotas in school admissions.

Read or listen to the rest of the story here.

From Fox News Latino:

¡Sí Se Puede! -Yes, We Can– echoed throughout the halls at the U.S. Department of Labor.  The standing-room only crowd, their applause, and chants of a simple mantra born of the farm worker strikes fifty years ago electrified the main auditorium as it was renamed the César E. Chavez Hall of Honor.

The co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union and civil rights icon admitted that in his lifetime, he would likely not see a national union for these laborers.  And although this is one of the movement’s unfulfilled goals, the commemoration is at once an honor for Chávez’s work and should serve as an inspiration for the struggles ahead, such as more protections for field workers and comprehensive immigration reform which is stalled in Washington, says Paul Chávez, son of César and leader of the National Farm Workers Service Center. . .

Chávez’s teachings which mixed those of civil rights icons Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhihave inspired thousands to work to advance social justice and equality for all.  Still, members of the Chávez family acknowledge that this attention would have made the humble activist uncomfortable.  UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta reminded the audience that the best way to honor her colleague’s memory is by leading through his example of commitment and peaceful action.  “Leadership can be learned, not taught,” she said.

From Savannah Morning News:

Attorney Wanda Andrews is the type of person you wouldn’t even know was there unless you needed her or injured one of her clients.

“I’m just another lawyer,” said the low-key senior staff attorney at the Georgia Legal Service Programs office on Abercorn Street.

She handles domestic cases — including domestic violence issues — for the office’s low-to-moderate income clients in an 11-county region.

That seems rather mundane, except for many of those clients, she is their only shot at getting access to justice or a voice before a judge.

“I think the ability to be of service is important,” Andrews, 56, said. “A lot of people need legal assistance but would not be able to afford equal access to justice without our help.”

For Andrews, legal aid has dominated her life since law school at Northwestern’s law school in Chicago, where she earned her law degree in 1981. While doing so she worked for two years in the school’s clinic before returning to her Savannah home and the Georgia Legal Services office.

She credits her grandmother, Agnes Key, and mother, Mildred Stewart, for her work ethic and desire to help others.

“They believed in work, being independent,” Andrews said. “I grew up with the work ethic.”

The Statesboro native moved to Savannah when she was 14, later graduating from Beach High School in 1974. She graduated from Fisk University in 1979, then law school in 1981.

She never seriously pursued going into private practice, Andrew said, and never really considered leaving the legal aid work. That work, while personally rewarding, does not offer the big-bucks opportunities of the private-practice arena.

Money is not everything, she explained.

“I think what I do makes a difference in the lives of a lot of people in a variety of ways,” she said.

Read more here.

From Fox News Latino:

Local officials in a Dallas suburb [Farmers Branch]  say they plan to continue pushing for a ban on undocumented immigrants renting property within the city limits — a measure that has cost the city $5 million and remains unenforceable due to court challenges. . . .

City officials and law backers argue that undocumented immigrants strain local schools and police resources. They also note that local voters supported an early version of the law five years ago by a 2-to-1 margin.

The new law would require all renters to obtain a city license and the city’s building inspector to check the status of any applicant who wasn’t a U.S. citizen. Undocumented immigrants would be denied a renters’ permit, and landlords who knowingly allowed them to stay could have their renters’ license barred. . . .

Glancy emphasized that the city is targeting undocumented immigrants, not documented immigrants or U.S. citizens, noting that the city’s library hosts English classes. . . .

The mayor also said that since the law was first passed, the number of car accidents involving uninsured drivers has declined and fewer students have moved in and out of local schools. . . .

Elizabeth Villafranca sees things differently. Villafranca owns a local Mexican restaurant and moved to Farmers Branch after the push to ban undocumented immigrant residents began. She ran and lost for city council.

Villafranca said she and other U.S.-born Latinos, along with legal immigrants, are more often pulled over by police or threatened by other residents. Though the law never went into effect, Villafranca said, supporters “had the effect they wanted.”

By: Steve Grumm

John Payton, most recently the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, died yesterday at a young 65 years of age.  Here’s more from the National Law Journal:

Celebrated civil rights attorney John Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, died late March 22 following a brief illness, the organization confirmed.
 
Payton’s career spanned more than three decades in private practice, where he was one of the first African-American partners at a major law firm in Washington, and public service. He was a renowned member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar as well as a fierce advocate of pro bono work.
 
Payton, 65, was a “true champion of equality,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “The legal community has lost a legend, and while we mourn John’s passing, we will never forget his courage and fierce opposition to discrimination in all its forms.”

Mr. Payton’s Washington, DC roots ran deep.  After graduating from Harvard Law School, he became one of Washington’s first minority partners at a major law firm.  Payton’s work included a tenure as chief counsel for the DC government and a term as president of the DC Bar.

The NLJ article includes praise of Payton from those who occupy rarified air in DC’s legal community, and is worth reading.

Photo Credit: ChicTraveler website

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  The Spring Equinox has…equinoxed, and with it come Washington DC’s cherry blossoms.  The annual explosion of cherry blossoms, tulips and other cheerful-looking flora has become one of my favorite observances in almost six years of DC residency.  This year marks the 100th anniversary of the planting of two cherry trees just off the tidal basin which sits between the National  Mall and Potomac River.  As for the public interest funding news… 

This week:

• private seed funding for a new diversionary program serving at-risk offenders in Philly;
• a group antagonistic towards LSC enters the appropriations debate;
• Florida’s family lawyers fork over $ to support legal services for children;
• indigent defense funding in Maine needs a boost;
• some judges in Houston aren’t referring cases to the newly created PDs office;
• fiscal woes for Pelican State public defense offices;
• LSC president talks about funding, using technology, and his career path while speaking in NY;
• the DC Bar Foundation awarding over $3 million in grants to local providers;
• the importance of boosting state funding for legal services in Florida;
• a new federal defender’s office in the W. District of Arkansas will open….whenever it gets funding;
• UVA law students volunteered about 10,000 hours over the recent winter break.

Here are the summaries:

• 3.22.12 – a public-private partnership including the Philadelphia DA’s office, the local defender’s office, and two charitable foundations has launched “The Choice is Yours,” a diversionary program that will offer education and other supports for at-risk offenders to help them avoid future criminal activity and offer opportunities to better their education and income prospects.  No tax dollars are used to fund the program.  The story notes that participants in a similar program in San Francisco have a recidivism rate of 10%, compared with a 54% recidivism rate for other offenders.  (Story from the Philadelphia Inquirer.) 

• 3.22.12 – the National Legal & Policy Center, a small-government-minded watchdog group which has long been critical of the Legal Services Corporation, has entered into the LSC appropriations fray with “What the Legal Services Corporation Doesn’t Want Congress to Know.” 

• 3.21.12 – the Florida Bar’s family section donated $75,000 to support legal aid for Children in the Sunshine State.  (Story from the Sunshine State News.) Between IOLTA revenue shortfalls and other funding cuts, Florida’s legal services programs have been among the hardest hit in the Great Recession’s aftermath.

• 3.20.12 – from the Maine Public Broadcasting Network: “The state commission that provides legal services to the poor may run out of money for court-appointed lawyers six weeks before the fiscal year ends June 30. The latest projected budget shortfall for the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services may delay payments to the lawyers who represent low-income clients.  The commission requested $1 million in the state’s supplemental budget, an amount that was reduced to $400,000 in the budget proposed by Gov. Paul LePage.”

• 3.20.12 – Houston launched a public defender’s office for the first time in 2011, but some local judges are still referring cases through the old appointed counsel system rather than using the defender.  Is this force of habit?  A form of protest at the decision to move away from the appointed counsel system?  Are politics involved?  It is alleged that the local Republican Party sent a letter to judges urging them not to use the defender’s office.  (Story from Fox 26.)

• 3.19.12 – in Louisiana, the Daily Iberian looks at fiscal woes of Pelican State public defenders’ offices.  

• 3.19.12 – while in Rochester, NY, Legal Services Corporation president Jim Sandman praised New York’s Chief Judge’s efforts to promote access to justice, looked at the state of legal services funding generally, highlighted the effective use of technology in serving clients, and talked about his motivation for leaving law-firm practice for the “best job in American law.”  (Story from the Daily Record.) 

• 3.19.12 – some good AtJ news on the local front.  The DC Bar Foundation is awarding over $3 million in grants to local service providers, according to the Blog of the Legal Times.  This amount is slightly up from last year’s awards.  The Bar Foundation administers funds appropriated by the DC city council, runs the District’s IOLTA funding program, and conducts other fundraising initiatives to raise money for the legal services community. 

• 3.19.12 – an editorial in the Lakeland Ledger urges Florida Gov. Rick Scott to include civil legal aid funding the in the forthcoming budget.  

• 3.18.12 – the go-ahead’s been given to open a new federal defender’s office that would operate in the Western District of Arkansas.  But this development has to wait for funding to materialize.  From the AP: “Available funding from the government will determine when the federal court system’s western Arkansas district can establish its own federal public defender office.  The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August approved a request from then-Chief Judge Jimm Larry Hendren that the Western District be allowed to open such an office.”  

• 3.17.12 – UVA Law students did some serious volunteering between semesters.  From the Daily Progress: “Students at the University of Virginia School of Law volunteered a record number of hours of pro bono work over winter recess. More than 200 students donated their time and legal services, logging about 10,000 hours in less than a month.”