Much, Much More Missouri: the battle regarding Missouri’s strained indigent defense system continues in counties and courtrooms throughout the state.  Last week the PSLawNet blog provided a summary of news coverage.  In the past week:

• The  St. Joseph News-Press covered some prosecutors’ criticisms of what they see as cynical attempt by public defenders to exaggerate the scale of the current situation to secure more funding – “just nonsense” is how one county prosecutor referred to the idea of a systemic crisis.  The Missouri Bar Association president suggested, though, that there is “no doubt” that a crisis is looming. 
• KTVI, the FOX affiliate in St. Louis, featured a piece about the statewide sparring between defenders and prosecutors and noted that defenders in six Missouri counties are refusing to take new cases (and St. Louis County could soon join them).
• On August 10th, a Christian County judge reaffirmed an earlier decision he had made appointing a public defender to represent an indigent defendant in a burglary case, in spite of the public defender’s earlier notification that it could not accept any more cases.  The judge noted that he was “not ruling on whether the public defender system is overworked or not but whether he could allow a defendant who qualifies for a public defender to go without.” (Columbia Daily Tribune – 8/12/10).  This decision was derided by the Missouri State Public Defender’s office. (KRCG  Website – 8.11.10).  Additional coverage of the decision is available from KSPR. 

And in other news:

• 8.11.10 – The Columbian (Washington State) – in Clark County, the chief prosecutor and members of the criminal defense bar are sparring over the prosecutor’s request for additional government funding, which he says is necessary because lawyers representing indigent clients are increasingly calling expert witnesses.  The prosecutor referred to the county’s assigned counsel system (there is no public defender’s office) as a “big sucking machine.”  Defense counsel responded that amidst advances in forensic science, they owe it to their indigent and fee-paying clients to provide the best defense possible, and that it is not the province of a prosecutor to determine how defense constructs its case.

• 8.11.10 – Portland Press Herald [Editorial and Reply Concerning Maine’s New Indigent Defense System] – [Ed. note: on 8/3, the Press Herald’s editorial board authored a piece arguing that, while Maine’s newly implemented system for assigning counsel to indigent defendants has received “mixed reviews,” it has only been operational for a month and should be given more time for kinks to be worked out.  The older system relied on judges to assign counsel on a case by case basis.  The new system relies on the newly created, and independent, Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services to coordinate counsel assignments.  In response to that editorial, a defense attorney who represents indigent clients volleyed back, noting that while the new assigned-counsel system went into effect recently, the law creating the Commission is more than a year old.  By now, he argues, the concededly “underfunded and understaffed” Commission should have had more infrastructure in place to make the system work smoothly.

• 8.9.10 – Fort Worth Business Press – “Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, an LSC grantee and the nation’s 5th largest legal aid organization, “is enhancing its presence with newly renovated headquarters in downtown Fort Worth, a just-launced capital campaign, new outreach programs, a revamped website and technology, and a rebranding that emphasizes its mission of ‘equal justice under law’.”  One of LANWT’s goals is to raise its profile as a provider of free services to low-income clients who most need them.  LANWT has 15 branch offices and serves 114 counties in Texas.

• 8.9.10 – National Law Journal [Opinion Piece authored by Esther Lardent of the Pro Bono Institute] – the recent news coverage of the immigration debate has also shed light on flaws in the current operation of the immigration system.  “Fortunately, we are seeing law firms undertaking immigration pro bono work in record numbers.”  These contributions are necessary because the system is laden down under the weight of swollen dockets, and at the same time resources to preserve and defend immigrants’ rights have become more scarce, with too few advocates to represent immigrants.  “Not only are there too few advocates; our immigration system is broken.  A recent report done on a pro bono basis by Arnold & Porter for the American Bar Association, Reforming the Immigration System: Proposals to Promote Independence, Fairness, Efficiency, and Professionalism in the Adjudication of Removal Cases (excutive summary here), presents 60 comprehensive recommendations for reform to the system.”  But until policy-level reform arrives, pro bono advocates must continue working to preserve immigrants’ rights and promote systemic change.  Link to piece.

• 8.8.10 – Issaquah Press (Washington State) – a King County (which includes Seattle) board is contributing $12,000 to fund an Americorps Fellowship at the Northwest Justice Project.  “The fellow will be a full-time attorney assigned to work with Northwest Justice Project staffers and coordinate with other organizations to provide services to at-risk and homeless veterans.”  The impetus for King County’s action was a vote in 2005 that created a levy “…to help local veterans military personnel, and their families.”

• 8.6.10 – American Bar Association – a program at the ABA’s annual meeting in early August, “Law Firm Legal Aid: Where Are We One Year Later,” examined the phenomenon of deferred law firm associates taking temporary volunteer placements with public interest organizations.  Presenters explained that this unexpected turn of events has benefited the associates, who have gained hands-on practice experience, and their public interest host organizations which have used associates to bolster client service capacity.

This week: Professor Laurence Tribe proposes innovations in achieving access to justice; Missouri public defenders say “Show me lower caseloads!”; volunteer prosecutors are all the rage; Connecticut legal services providers expand use of the Internets to reach low-income residents; West Virginia does same telephonically; funding cuts portend bad times for the New Jersey legal services community; and finally, the Hennepin County (that’s Minneapolis) public defender tries to make budgetary ends meet by enticing older lawyers to retire. 

• 8.3.10 – National Law Journal – Laurence Tribe, Senior Counselor for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice, addressed the Conference of [state court] Chief Justices in late July.  He called on “…the judges to engage in a form of ‘judicial activism’ – not ideological, but rather, as he put it, the ‘opposite of passivity’ – [and]…laid out specific measures that the chief justices could take to make pro bono and pro se representation easier, as well as to enforce the rights of juveniles and indigents to counsel.”  Link to article.

• 8.3.10 – PSLawNet Blog Coverage of Indigent Defense Resource Crisis in Missouri – last week we documented moves by some public defenders in the Show-Me State to refuse new cases on account of excessively high caseloads, and pushback by some prosecutors.  This week, we’ve aggregated the ongoing media coverage and posted a summary of developments.   We’ll keep updating as events unfold.

• 8.3.10 USA Today – state and federal prosecutors’ offices throughout the country are taking on volunteer lawyers to augment the work of their (often overextended) paid staffs.  “Despite the financial downturn and, in some cases because of it, state and federal officials said the work experience alone offered by the prosecutor jobs is drawing unexpected numbers of willing applicants to positions across the country.”  Link to article.

• 8.2.10 – Hartford Courant – the Connecticut legal services community has launched a new website – Connecticut Network for Legal Aid – to assist low-income residents who are seeking free legal services or who need help navigating the court system as pro se litigants.  Link to announcement.

• 8.2.10 – Press of Atlantic City – South Jersey Legal Services plans to lay off “about a third of its employees – including about a quarter of its attorneys – by the end of the year.”  The organization has been hit hard by falling IOLTA revenues and a recent state budget cut to legal services funding.  Link to article.  [Ed. note: we covered the state budget cut in our July 30 Public Interest News Bulletin (Item 2), and our July 23 Bulletin (Item 10).  Last week John D. Atlas, former executive director of the Passaic County Legal Aid Society, blogged an opinion piece critical of the state budget cut.  He further noted that “quality legal representation, especially for the poor, is one of the lynchpins of a fair and equal justice system.  Concerned citizens should fight back but we should also take this opportunity to rethink how to help the poor.”  Atlas argues that since there will never be enough legal services lawyers to directly represent all of the poor people who need help, legal services programs could partially refocus their delivery models to support other social services providers that work to stop problems plaguing poor communities before they start.]

• 7.31.10 – Star-Tribune (Minnesota) –  the Hennepin County public defender’s office is already short-staffed, but in order to comply with a county request to cut budgets by 5%, the defender “plans to offer $400 tax-free for every year of service to veteran county employees who retire or resign this fall.”  The staff-reduction idea comes with an obvious downside: “Diminishing the ranks of an office that handled 54,000 cases last year and now has 116 lawyers – who already carry double the caseload recommended by the [ABA] – is a sobering prospect.”  Link to article.

• 7.30.10 – State Journal (West Virginia) – “The West Virginia State Bar and Legal Aid of West Virginia are partnering together to launch Lawyer Information Service.   The service is a collaborative effort to provide legal information and services to West Virginians who need legal advice and help but cannot afford to pay for it.”  Volunteer attorneys will staff phone lines once a week to speak to those with legal problems.  “Legal Aid said the Lawyer Information Service cannot guarantee legal representation, but it does offer people the opportunity to speak with a lawyer who can offer up legal information.”  Link to announcement.

We included several stories in our Public Interest News Bulletin last week about the public defense situation in Missouri, but it just keeps getting more exciting. So we thought we’d do another focused news roundup for you (like we recently did on pro se representation).

First, a little background. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Missouri determined that the Missouri Public Defender Commission has the power to determine how to use its limited resources. The Court also concluded that limiting case load is an appropriate response, so the Commission established a rule that allows an office, if it is over its recommended caseload for three months in a row, to refuse to take new cases (after providing notice to the prosecutor’s office and the local presiding judge). This piece from the editorial board at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this past weekend does a good job providing some more background. Another highlight from the 2009 decision is that the “Supreme Court made clear that it ‘expects that presiding judges, prosecutors and the public defender will work together cooperatively.'”

So, this summer, after another year of not receiving any funding increases from the state legislature, many public defender offices around the state started hitting their three months over the recommended caseload (which is in line with the ABA and U.S. Department of Justice guidelines). This led to the Springfield office, which covers three counties in Southwest Missouri, to refuse to take any new cases starting July 22nd until August started. The Missourian has a good article covering this decision and how the state’s system got into crisis mode to begin with. The office in Troy followed suit.

Then, towards the end of last week, the public defender office for St. Louis County warned that it was taking steps to refuse new cases too, setting off some angry reactions from local prosecutor’s office. The Post-Dispatch has some good coverage of this from last Thursday. The chief prosecutor for the county has been particularly vocal, calling the public defender office closings a “contrivance.” This Tuesday, two former public defenders who are now law professors wrote a compelling editorial explaining the different challenges criminal cases present to prosecutors and public defenders.

The Springfield office closing was challenged last week when a local judge assigned a public defender to a defendant after the office announced it would not be taking any new cases. The Springfield News-Leader covered this case, which is being appealed and could potentially wind up back before the state Supreme Court. The News-Leader also wrote this week about the limbo status of those cases brought before the court during the week or so the public defender office was refusing new cases. The office has said that it will not take any of the 24 cases it missed during that window, and so far no local private attorneys have volunteered to serve pro bono.

Today, the president of the Springfield Bar Association wrote an editorial in the News-Leader discussing the need to either reduce incarceration (and thus the need for public defenders), or frankly address ways to increase funding. He ends saying, “our choice is simple: we either increase taxes to incarcerate, or we find ways to reduce incarceration. We cannot have it both ways.”

Finally, last week the Director of Research for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) guest-posted on the American Constitution Society blog last week on this controversy, and provides some more history on the Missouri public defender system. It’s definitely worth reading for some larger historical context.

This is a fascinating conflict that could teach important lessons to many other states whose public defense systems also sit on the brink of catastrophic overload. We will definitely keep an eye on this as news develops.

In fact, during the recession the one place “business is booming” is in the courts, which are trying to manage swelling dockets with shrinking funding.   Stephen N. Zack, who will assume the ABA’s presidency in a few days, wrote a piece in the National Law Journal calling on legislatures to adequately fund courts:

There is no question that legislators confront hard choices in times of recession, but it is time for our lawmakers to recognize the value of our judicial branch as more than a line item in a budget. A strong judicial branch is essential to maintaining responsible government and protecting citizens’ rights.

It is time to ensure that, in a country founded on the rule of law and the principle of access to justice, our judicial branch does not wither under the burden of financial stress.

Zack notes that state and federal court resources are strained:

[E]ight states have resorted to closing courts on certain days every month; 19 states have instituted furloughs … The National Center for State Courts reports that states have significantly cut judiciary budgets, forcing such cost-saving measures as hiring freezes in 26 states, salary freezes in 12 states, layoffs in 11 states, pay cuts in nine states, early retirement in six states and increased filing fees in six others.

…[T]he Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts…reports that bankruptcy filings are at their highest since 2006. For the 12-month period ending March 31, bankruptcy filings were up 27% compared to filings for that same period the previous year. The majority of the 1.5 million bankruptcy filings involved consumer debt. Filings for business debt totaled 61,148, up 25% from the previous year

This week’s Bulletin carries news of a possible indigent-defense caseload crisis in Missouri, more bad news about legal services funding in New Jersey, good news about clinic funding at Albany Law School, staff expansion at Pisgah Legal Services, a successful diversionary program for wayward Connecticut yoots, and a medical-legal partnership in the Lone Star State.   

• 7.29.10 – Saint Louis Post-Dispatch – an official from the Missouri State Public Defender System notified Saint Louis County’s top prosecutor and judge that the local defender’s office has “begun steps to refuse to take new criminal cases” because the office does not have the resource capacity to handle its caseload.  The county’s chief prosecutor has been sharply critical of the developments, charging that the claim of being so overworked is a “contrived issue.”  “St. Louis County is the defenders’ third battleground. Last week, they closed the offices in Troy, Mo., and Springfield to new cases through the end of July.”  Link to article.  [Ed. note: here is additional coverage from the KTVO TV station website.  Last week the Columbia Missourian reported on the Springfield office’s decision to stop accepting new cases, as did the Springfield News-Leader.  And here is a brief AP blurb on the Troy office decision from the KOAM TV station website.]

• 7.29.10 – The Record (New Jersey) – “[L]ow market [interest] rates and a weak housing market — which means less money set aside in trust for real estate closings — have devastated [New Jersey’s] Interest on Lawyers Trust Account fund, resulting in the loss of scores of New Jersey legal aid jobs, and far fewer clients being served.”  IOLTA revenue recently fell by 80%.  Link to article.  [Ed. Note:  state funding for legal services in the Garden State was also recently cut by 33%, according to a July 17 Record article.

• 7.28.10 – Press Release – “Albany Law School recently received a $205,000 grant from the New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation (HTFC) to fund a new Housing Clinic within the law school’s Clinic & Justice Center.  In the Housing Clinic, students will work with Albany Law faculty to offer legal services, outreach, educational opportunities and housing counseling to homeowners and tenants affected by foreclosure in Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties.”  Link to press release.

• 7.27.10 – Mountain Express (North Carolina) – with the addition of four staffers to its Mountain Violence Prevention Project, Pisgah Legal Services has doubled its person-power in providing assistance to domestic violence victims.  Link to article.

• 7.25.10 – Connecticut Post – a Connecticut program to divert teens who are status offenders (skipping school, running away, etc.), but who do not actually commit crimes, to support centers rather than detention facilities has met with considerable success. “[T]he model is seen as so successful it’s being touted as a “best practice” by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.”  Link to article.

• 7.23.10 – Brownsville Herald (Texas) – a medical-legal partnership between Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the Brownsville Community Health Center, forged in 2008, promotes collaboration between medical and legal professionals and allows them to take a holistic approach to helping l0w-income client populations.  “For years, the traditional health-care system and the legal system have treated low-income, underserved populations in isolation, despite the strong connection between social stressors and health, partnership members said. But the health center’s medical-legal partnership…allows doctors and attorneys to work together…”  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: in March the PSLawNet Blog covered the trend of similar medical-legal partnerships springing up across the country.  Public-interest minded law students who have a background or interest in the healthcare system should think about how they may connect to this “growth field” in the legal services community.  Often the lawyers participating in such partnerships will be working on matters unrelated to healthcare, such as housing or public benefits, but a knowledge of how low-income communities access healthcare would still be a terrific asset for a lawyer who is working with medical professionals.]

 This week’s Bulletin brings news and commentary on how resource shortages in Michigan and Missouri public defense offices are being addressed (or not), the spike in pro se litigation throughout the country as more lower- and middle-income people find themselves with legal problems but are unable to afford lawyers, public benefit administration troubles in Indiana, legal services funding cuts on both sides of the Delaware River, how we should be assessing the value of pro bono work, a prison sentence for a former legal services employee who raided the till, and U. of Maryland law students bringing Terrapin love and legal skill to clients all around the globe.

• 7.22.10 – Columbia Missourian – “Criminal defendants in southwest Missouri will not be eligible for a state public defender until next month because of high caseloads and overworked lawyers. The state public defender system said Thursday that its Springfield office would not accept new cases until August because its 20 lawyers cannot handle any more defendants.”  State government officials from all three branches have been grappling with high public defender caseloads for years, but have been unable to agree on a solution.  It is unclear what courts will do to keep the criminal justice system’s wheels turning in light of this development.  Link to article.

• 7.22.10 – Wall Street Journal – As a result of the recession, “[a] growing number of people have found themselves in court facing costly financial proceedings such as declaring bankruptcy, fighting foreclosure and litigating employment fights. Adding to the challenge, for many: The high cost of legal representation often prompts them to go it alone.”  Some observers argue that “lawyers have created quasi-monopolies” that ultimately restrict the public’s access to legal services.  And as for low-income individuals who would qualify for free legal services, service providers are dealing with overwhelming client demand and with their own resource shortages.  Link to article.  [Ed. note: also see item 6 below for Washington Post coverage of a recent ABA report on the spike in pro se representation across the country.  And see this 7.22.10 PSLawNet Blog post which aggregates other media coverage of the pro se spike and reactions to it from the legal community.] 

• 7.20.10 – Associated Press – “For at least a decade, potentially thousands of Indiana’s neediest adults have seen some of their state aid payments slashed simply because they receive food stamps — a practice that advocates and legal experts say is a clear violation of federal law….Under the current system, when the federal government raises food stamp amounts, Indiana officials reduce grocery allowances so a person’s total food benefits do not exceed $200 a month.  But since 1964, federal law has barred states from counting food stamps as income or using them to reduce any other public benefits.”  A spokesperson for the state’s Family and Social Services Administration says that the agency does not think the benefit calculation policy ran afoul of federal law, but “…legal experts say courts have consistently upheld the law that says other assistance cannot be reduced because someone is receiving food stamps…[and]…welfare officials in other states said they were surprised Indiana would even try to count food stamps against other benefits.”  Link to article.

• 7.20.10 – The Citizen (Georgia) – “A Pike County death penalty case…has drawn national headlines and an effort to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The appeal centers on whether the state, by not allowing adequate funding for defense attorneys for Jamie Weis, is violating Weis’ right to a speedy trial.”  When the state’s public defense agency had no funding to continue paying two appointed defense attorneys, the prosecutor in the case requested that the court assign it to two public defenders.  The court did so, and the “removal of Weis’ original attorneys drew the attention of The New York Times, which last week took aim at the theory that [the prosecutor] was able to pick his opponent in court.”  After months of continued delays the defendant appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court on the argument that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated by the state.  The court disagreed, but the case may now go to the Supreme Court of the United States.  Link to article.  [Ed note: the PSLawNet Blog has covered the Weis case in several recent posts.  The New York Times article referenced above and links to prior coverage are available in item 3 of our July 9, 2010 Public Interest News Bulletin.]

• 7.19.10 – Centre Daily Times (Pennsylvania) – MidPenn Legal Services, which serves clients in 18 Keystone State counties, “saw a 23% increase in the demand for its services last year” while dealing with funding decreases totaling $1 million.  The “flat funding has meant a hiring freeze program-wide.”  The economic downturn has caused state funding of legal services programs throughout Pennsylvania to drop from $3.17 million to $3.04 million in the past two years.  This decrease comes in tandem with a much more precipitous drop in IOLTA revenue streams.  Link to article.

• 7.19.10 – Washington Post – “The economic downturn has sent more people into the court system at a time when they are less able to afford representation and fewer organizations have the resources to provide it pro bono or at a reduced cost.”  A recently issued report from the American Bar Association contains results of survey responses from judges that showed increasing caseloads in home foreclosure, domestic violence, and other issues.  Along with the risen caseloads, many parties are acting pro se, which strains courthouse resources.  “Of the 78 percent of judges who said self-represented individuals had a negative impact on the court, most noted that it slowed courtroom procedure and used more staff time to assist pro se litigants.”  One of the reasons that so many more litigants are representing themselves is that legal services organizations which could provide free help to low-income parties are fighting rising caseloads and shrunken revenue streams of their own.  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: here is a link to the ABA report, the findings of which are characterized as “preliminary”: Report on the Survey of Judges on the Impact of the Economic Downturn on Representation in the Courts.]

• 7.19.10 – National Law Journal [Opinion Piece] –  law firm pro bono contributions, as measured quantitatively, have not dropped during the recession.  And many more firms have created “pro bono counsel/partner” positions in the past 10 years.  But when it comes to assessing the value of pro bono work, “a fundamental difficulty involves the dominance of ranking systems that use hourly rates as the sole measure of performance.”  Many pro bono stakeholders are concerned that a “preoccupation with quantity [diverts] attention from quality and social impact.”  To better measure the effectiveness of pro bono programs, one option is to expand assessment criteria to include more qualitative measures, such as how firms evaluate and prioritize pro bono projects in light of community needs, and how pro bono culture is rooted inside firms.  Link to piece.      

• 7.19.10 – a former program manager at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid has been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for defrauding the legal services provider out of nearly $135,000 between 2003 and 2006.  Link to article.

• 7.17.10 – Baltimore Sun – 13 University of Maryland School of Law students joined four law professors last spring as the school opened clinics in Mexico (migrant labor issues), China (micro-entrepreneurship/small-business issues), and Namibia (water and reproductive rights issues), carrying forward the mission of the school’s clinical program to give students a diverse array experiential-learning opportunities and to offer help to poor client populations.  Link to article.

• 7.17.10 – The Record (New Jersey) – Legal Services of New Jersey is facing a 33% cut in state funding that will result in layoffs of 100 staff members.  LSNJ, a statewide program composed of 6 regional programs, “has dropped from 720 staffers at its peak in 2007 to around 590 now…[and]…by the end of 2010 it will have fewer than 500,” according to LSNJ’s president.  The cuts in staff – which is 60% attorneys – will greatly reduce the number of cases that LSNJ, which already routinely turns prospective clients away, can handle on behalf of low-income Garden State residents.  Link to article.

• 7.16.10 – The Detroit News – “The Michigan Supreme Court reversed itself today and threw out a lawsuit that was aimed at holding the state responsible for failure to provide adequate funding to hire lawyers for poor people accused of crimes.  The state’s high court in April upheld earlier favorable lower court decisions for the lawsuit brought by eight men and women…against the state and Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Intended to become a class-action lawsuit that would include all people convicted of crimes in Michigan while represented by court-appointed counsel, the case appeared headed for trial in Ingham County Circuit Court until today’s abrupt reversal.”  Link to article.

The ABA Coalition for Justice, which focuses on access to justice issues, released a report last week on a recent survey of state trial judges (pdf). The survey was examining the effect of the recession on the number of self-represented, or pro se, litigants in their courtrooms.  We’ve blogged a lot here about the increase in pro se litigation, and thought this would be a good time to round up all our old stories with some new ones.

The ABA Journal wrote a brief article about the survey and its findings, highlighting some of the more distressing news, such as 62% of the judges responding believe that self-representation leads to worse outcomes for litigants. The Washington Post followed that up with an article this week explaining the survey, and reminding readers that a lot of people who might normally be able to get help from civil legal aid resources have been shut out due to organizations facing decreased funding because IOLTA revenues have fallen so far (you can learn more about IOLTA from this earlier blog post).

Back in April we included a story out of Maine in one of our news bulletins, where one judge estimated that fully 75% of litigants appearing in his court are unrepresented. That blurb also had links to stories about Michigan (now requires a paid subscription) and Texas facing similar situations.  We also blogged separately about the situation in Texas. This piece from the Texas Tribune discusses what some courts are doing to try to help pro se litigants – specifically starting self help centers so people can find the necessary information to represent themselves effectively (and not slow down the courts as much).

Finally, last week the Baltimore Sun had an article about a self-help center in the Glen Burnie district courthouse.  The Center is staffed by employees of the Legal Aid Bureau, and while it seems to be quite popular the Bureau and other legal aid offices are already stretched very thin between decreased funding and increased demand. One potential bright spot for law students in all this is that there may be more internship and pro bono opportunities available in these self-help centers as they expand across the country.

 This week’s Bulletin carries news of law firm pro bono, legal services funding in North Mississippi, an expansion in law school clinical programs at DePaul, criticism of the Legal Services Corporation, indigent defense resource shortages in New York and Nevada, Maryland’s efforts to help pro se litigants, some changes in the Presidential Management Fellows program, and, ending as we began, more law firm pro bono.

• 7.14.10 – American Lawyer Daily – in Florida and elsewhere around the country, law firms are helping to soften the foreclosure crisis’s blow for low-income individuals, even in circumstances where firms traditionally haven’t done pro bono because of potential conflicts with financial institution clients.  For instance, the Florida Attorneys Saving Homes (FASH) program uses the services of pro bono attorneys who help mortgage borrowers by restructuring their loans before a lender forecloses.  The attorney can negotiate, even in some cases with a law firm client or business prospect, without worrying about having to actually litigate against that party.  In other cities, firms are finding other ways to represent borrowers’ interests without fouling relationships with institutional lenders.  Link to piece.

• 7.14.10 – WTVA Television Station Website (NBC Affiliate in Northern Mississippi) – “North Mississippi Rural Legal Services has been awarded a $75,000 grant by the Mississippi Bar Foundation Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts….NMRLS officials say the funds will be used to enhance program operations including operation of our telephone intake system known as the Call Center.”  This year, the Magnolia State’s IOLTA program has channeled over $612,000 in grants to the public interest community.   Link to article.

• 7.14.10 – Chicago Tribune –  DePaul University College of Law has “doubled the number of [law student] clinics in the past four years.”  The school’s nine clinics cover family law, civil rights, death penalty appeals, special education advocacy, and more.  Aside from serving low-income clients, the clinics give students hands-on experiential learning opportunities that do not exist in the classroom.  “[I]n an economy that has seen lawyers laid off from even the most prestigious firms, employers have their pick of attorneys and want graduates who arrive knowing how to interview a witness or negotiate a settlement…”  Link to article.  

• 7.13.10 – U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report on Legal Services Corporation Practices: “Improvements Needed in Controls over Grant Awards and Grantee Program Effectiveness” –  a GAO report, which is dated June 2010 but which appears to have circulated publicly for the first time this week, is critical of LSC’s management/administration policies regarding its financial grants to the 136 independent legal services providers that it funds throughout the U.S.  Link to report.  Link to National Law Journal coverage.  Link to LSC Press Release in response to report.  [Ed. Note: shortly after the GAO report’s release, the Center for Public Integrity published a piece that is highly critical of LSC management practices, and that highlights three instances of former employees at LSC grantee organizations embezzling funds for personal use.  In response to this piece, Jonathan Smith, executive director of the (non-LSC funded) Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, posted a blog entry in which he criticizes the CPI piece as being incomplete and painting an inaccurate picture of the legal services community.   It is noteworthy, and indeed Smith mentions in his blog post, that the criticism directed at LSC comes as the organization’s budget appropriation is being considered on the Hill.]  

• 7.13.10 – Times Herald-Record (New York State) – resource shortages plague indigent defense networks in New York counties, and “[a] number of reports by defense and constitutional advocacy groups have concluded that the public defender system needs better funding and better standards, or there will be no equal justice.”  Link to article.

• 7.12.10 – Baltimore Sun – as Maryland’s courts try “to cope with an onslaught of people representing themselves”, a self-help center for pro se litigants in Anne Arundel County is serving as a test model to ease strains on the court system and help parties who are not represented by counsel.  “Staffed by members of the Legal Aid Bureau, the pilot program is aimed at the meat-and-potatoes civil cases — small claims, landlord-tenant disputes, creditor-debtor issues and protective orders — that can clog the court system and lead to frustration when people try to handle the cases themselves.”  Link to article.

• 7.11.10 – Reno Gazette Journal – “A state commission tasked with determining whether Nevada’s court-appointed lawyers are doing a good job representing poor defendants has stalled amid arguing over…how…cases should be counted.”  Last year, a report commissioned by the Nevada Supreme Court concluded that the indigent defense system was in trouble.  But as public defenders, prosecutors, and other court officials have come together to look for solutions, they are disagreeing over threshold questions about how to define the scale and scope of the problem.  Link to article.  [Ed. note: here is a link to the July 2009 report – Assessment of the Washoe and Clark County, Nevada Public Defender Offices.] 

• 7.9.10 – FedBlog (a blog of the Government Executive news website) – the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is planning to improve some aspects of the Presidential Management Fellows program, including bolstering outreach to schools, shoring up the fellow placement infrastructure, and solidifying alumni networks.  Link to blog post.

• July, 2010 – Pro Bono Institute – “In 2009, 134 of the nation’s largest law firms reported their pro bono statistics to the Pro Bono Institute. Not all respondents provided information on every question. These firms performed a combined 4,867,820 total hours of pro bono work, as compared to 134 firms that performed 4,844,098 hours in 2008, an increase of 0.5% in pro bono time contributed by [participating] firms. While this percentage increase is statistically insignificant, it speaks volumes for the commitment to pro bono made by…firms at a time when law firms and, indeed the world, were experiencing untold changes.”  Link to report.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report on practices of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), entitled “Improvements Needed in Controls over Grant Awards and Grantee Program Effectiveness.”  As is suggested by its title, the report takes a fairly critical tone, particularly regarding LSC’s administration of financial grants to the 136 independent legal services providers that it funds throughout the U.S.:

Although LSC’s controls over reviewing and awarding grants are intended to help ensure fair and equitable consideration, they need improvement. Final award and fund decisions are documented and approved; however, LSC’s grant application evaluation process and associated decisions were not documented, including key management discussions in the evaluation process…

…At times, LSC did not adhere to its budget execution process in awarding contracts supporting its key grant-making responsibilities…

…Missing or flawed internal controls limit LSC’s ability to effectively manage its grant award and grantee performance oversight responsibilities.

 

 

The report contained several new recommendations to correct the problems it identified, mostly centered on improving internal management/administration procedures.  And as is reported in today’s National Law Journal, there are some silver linings:

But it wasn’t all bad news. The GAO noted that it issued two reports about LSC in 2007 with 17 recommendations, and that LSC had implemented 11 of them. Nonetheless, GAO came up with 17 new actions to improve LSC’s operations… LSC president Victor Fortuno in a letter to GAO accepted all the recommendations, though he asserted several have already been implemented.

In a press release issued yesterday, LSC evinced a willingness to carry out recommended changes:

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) will implement recommendations of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to improve internal controls over grant awards, LSC President Victor M. Fortuno said today…  “The stewardship of taxpayer dollars is one of our most important responsibilities,” President Fortuno said. “We accept all GAO recommendations and will closely work with the GAO and the Congress to enhance oversight of grant awards and the performance of the independent nonprofit programs that receive LSC funding.”

This comes during a time when LSC and advocates for equal access to justice are hoping for an appropriations boost in order to channel more money into legal services.  The recession has not only profoundly impacted poor people, but it’s created more poor people as individuals and families have slipped toward poverty.  As  a consequence, the need for legal services within low-income communities has swollen.  But legal services providers are struggling with diminished revenue sources as they’re trying to meet the greater need.  For more, see this piece from the Brennan Center’s Emily Savner.

The PSLawNet Blog took a news bulletin vacation last week in order to celebrate liberation from the rule of King George III and, on Saturday, to attend a baseball contest in which the Glorious Philadelphia Phillies soundly defeated the Pirates of Pittsburgh.  (Unfortunately, the Bucs took the series.)  In any event, we are now back to our weekly posting schedule. 

• 7.7.10 – National Law Journal – a new, statewide Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, is intended to offer financial relief to debt-laden public interest lawyers who are working with IOLTA-funded organizations in the Keystone State.  Link to article.

• 7.6.10 – American Lawyer Daily – Andrew Ardinger, a deferred first-year associate with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe reflects on how his temporary placement with the Public Interest Law Project has allowed him to experience, and see the links between, direct advocacy for clients on discrete matters and more systemic advocacy that is intended to serve larger constituencies.  Link to blog post.  [Ed. note: this post is the fourth that Ardinger has contributed to AmLaw during his deferral experience.  Here are links to the first, second, and third.]

• 7.5.10 – New York Times – the legal saga surrounding Jamie Weis, a man charged with murder in Georgia but who has yet to be tried after four years, highlights how weak the indigent defense infrastructure is in the Peach State.  The state sought to establish a statewide public defense network in 2003, but it has since been plagued by budget and other resource problems.  In Weis’s case, he has sat in jail as a capital defendant for four years amidst problems finding resources to put on a defense.  In a very unusual move, the prosecutor had urged a trial judge to appoint two specific public defenders, and the judge did so.  The defenders sought to remove themselves from the case on account of insufficient resources or capital trial experience to mount a defense.  The Georgia Supreme Court sanctioned the lower court’s arrangement, but these proceedings have taken some time to play out.  Weis is now seeking relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, which has not decided whether to hear the case.  Link to article.  [Ed. note: the PSLawNet Blog reviewed coverage of the Weis case earlier this year, and included links to other articles looking at insufficiencies within the Georgia indigent defense system.] 

• 7.3.10 – Palm Beach Post – following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year banning life-without-parole sentences for juveniles convicted of non-homicide crimes, a question has arisen in Florida about what to do with the 77 inmates in state prisons who were already sentenced to life for non-homicide crimes committed while juveniles.  (Florida is apparently hosting the large majority of inmates nationwide who are in this circumstance.)  The problem lies in the fact that, by state law, there is currently no parole eligibility for anyone with a life sentence in Florida.  “The state’s public defenders and the attorney general’s office now are debating just what should be done to comply with the [Supreme Court’s] May ruling.”  Link to article.  [Ed note: here is National Law Journal coverage of the Supreme Court’s Graham v. Florida decision.]

• 6.30.10 – Press Release on LSC Budget Development –  “The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies approved a $440 million Fiscal Year 2011 budget for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) on June 29…[representing] a nearly 5 percent increase in the LSC budget….The Subcommittee bill continues existing restrictions on the use of funds, but lifts the restriction on the ability of LSC-funded programs to consolidate related client cases into class-action suits.”  Link to press release.

• 6.28.10 – Cincinnati Enquirer – Ohio’s state public defender commission is exerting pressure on Hamilton County (which includes Cincinnati) to devote more resources to its public defender program.  The state is demanding that a written improvement plan be produced this month.  A draft of a memorandum obtained by the Enquirer suggests that the improvements will include increasing salaries, hiring additional staff and attorneys, and moving to a larger office with improved office technology.  Right now, attorneys are “working out of 30-by-60-inch cubicles, with no computers of their own.”  One county official noted that this is a difficult time to find funding to support improvements, but supporters of the changes say that the current state of affairs has resulted from years of under-funding, and that there is no choice but to live up to constitutional obligations to provide adequate resources for indigent defendants.  Link to article. 

• 6.28.10 – National Law Journal [Opinion Piece] – “Lawmakers should take steps to increase access to civil legal services while the poor continue to be battered by the recession: increase federal funding for legal services, lift federal restrictions hindering representation and pass legislation currently pending in Congress…to…revitalize the federal commitment to legal aid, the Civil Access to Justice Act.”  The number of people qualifying for legal services is rising, and along with that increase, “[t]he legal needs of the poor and working poor are rising in both volume and intensity.”  Legal services programs in New York, Maryland, and Florida, for instance, have seen double- or even triple-digit percentage jumps in requests for help.  This comes at a time when, nationally, “IOLTA revenue dropped from $371 million in 2007 to an estimated $92 million in 2009, a 75% decrease.”  Link to piece.

• 6.28.10 – NJ.com (New Jersey news website) – Legal Services of New Jersey will see one-third ($9.7 million) of its state funding cut for the fiscal year beginning July 1.  This compounds the extraordinary strain put on the program’s budget by a collapse in IOLTA yields, which fell from $40 million in 2007 to $8 million in 2009  Link to article.  [Ed note: the Jersey Journal offered pre-budget-vote coverage of how Northeast New Jersey Legal Services would be affected by the anticipated state budget cut.  The program had already lost 21 employees to layoffs or attrition over the past year.  The budget cut was predicted to result in additional layoffs and services cuts.  Link to article.]

• 6.26.10 – Houston Chronicle [Editorial] – In Texas, one of the chief criticisms of the death penalty’s administration is that “a higher percentage of poor defendants represented by court-appointed counsel are executed than those who can afford their own defense lawyers.” It is a “welcome step” that the state has created an office specifically to provide appellate advocacy for indigent clients on death row.  The lawyer chosen to head the office, Bard Levenson, is currently a federal defender in California, and brings experience with capital punishment issues and a willingness to face down injustice.  Link to editorial.  [Ed. note: news coverage of the office’s creation and Levenson’s hiring is found in this Chronicle article.]

• 6.25.10 – The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) [Editorial] – at a time when Tennesseans face increased barriers to accessing legal services, the state’s high court and the American Bar Association have taken positive steps toward promoting access to justice.  The Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice initiative, in particular, is producing self-help resources for pro se litigants and convening a pro bono summit to discuss how low-income Tennesseans can be better served.  Link to editorial.  [Ed note:  PSLawNet’s June 25 Public Interest News Bulletin featured coverage of the Tennessee Access to Justice Commission activities and a report on the increased need for legal services for low-income people.]

• 6.25.10 – Washington Business Journal (Washington, DC) – according to a report by the DC Bar, pro bono hour contributions ticked upward by 2.5% among large Washington, DC law firms in 2009 compared to 2008.  Link to short piece.  [Ed. note: more information about the report, which surveyed law firms participating in the DC Bar’s Pro Bono Initiative, is available on the DC Bar’s website.]