The National Law Journal today has an article summarizing many of the budget cuts state courts have faced(link requires free subscription) over the past year, and are planned through 2010 and 2011. Due to budget struggles, courts have been losing staff and thus have become slower at processing cases just at a time when more people are becoming involved in the legal system. As Access to Justice commissions across the country are exploring ways of improving access to attorneys for low-income individuals, determining ways to shore up state court systems is an absolutely necessary goal as well.

The Legal Services Corporation has announced that three board nominations, made by President Obama last December, were approved by the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The three nominees are Sharon L. Browne, a principal attorney in the Pacific Legal Foundation’s Individual Rights Practice group and a member of the foundation’s senior management; Charles Norman Wiltse Keckler, who teaches civil procedure and evidence at Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law, and Victor B. Maddox, a partner in the Louisville, Ky., law firm of Fultz Maddox Hovious & Dickens, PLC.

…

They join five other LSC Board nominees, announced August 6, 2009, awaiting Senate confirmation. They are Robert J. Grey, a partner in the Richmond, Va., and Washington offices of the Hunton & Williams law firm; John G. Levi, a partner in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin, LLP; Martha L. Minow, dean of the Harvard Law School; Julie A. Reiskin, executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, and Gloria Valencia-Weber, a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law.

Ms. Browne’s nomination had stirred controversy in some legal services circles because of her and her employer’s positions on issues which were seen as antithetical to the legal services mission.  We documented opposition to her nomination from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) and others in a previous post.

According to yesterday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a lawyer appointed to represent an accused double murderer urged Georgia’s high court to either dismiss the charges or prohibit the prosecution from seeking the death penalty because the state’s indigent defense fund has “been unable to pay for attorneys fees, investigators, or expert witnesses.”  The Gwinnett County district attorney agreed that the state’s public defense system, which was created by the legislature in 2003, is broken, and went so far as to argue that “the indigent defense statute violates the separation of powers because it transfer[s] control of funding capital cases from trial judges to the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.”  But, the prosecuting attorney contended that the matter should be sent back to trial as a capital case.

The Dover Post of Delaware has a brief-but-illuminating interview with Delaware’s Public Defender, Brendan O’Neill, in which he talks about the public perception of defenders “trying to get the bad guy off the hook” as opposed to being guardians of all citizens’ rights, the overwhelming caseloads which many defenders are carrying, and his motivation for the career path he’s chosen.

Jonathan Smith, Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, and Peter Edelman, Georgetown Law professor and chair of the D.C. Access to Justice Commission, co-authored an article in this month’s Washington Lawyer on the impact falling funding and rising demand is having on legal aid providers. The article talks about the importance of legal aid in the lives of low-income clients, the shifts in government funding during the economic crisis, the importance of pro bono support, and more.

Also new on the Legal Aid Society blog is a link to a recent interview Smith gave with the Meyer Foundation after winning an award for non-profit leadership. In it he talks about some of the challenges his organization has faced in the economic downturn.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave a speech today in Selma, Alabama to announce and clarify the Department’s increased focus on civil rights efforts. The New York Times has a good summary both of some of the planned efforts as well as a variety of statistics Duncan planned to include in the speech highlighting the need for increased enforcement. The Office for Civil Rights will be focusing on cases implicating race, gender, and disability, as well as other important civil rights issues, in K-12 school systems, colleges, and universities across the country.

To help support these efforts, the Office for Civil Rights is currently hiring attorneys in field offices across the country – be sure to check PSLawNet postings as well as the EdHires link through USAJobs.

While there is no formal count out there, the Big Apple is very likely home to the most deferred associates engaged in public service placements during their deferral periods.   In a report issued last week, the City Bar and its public interest arm, the City Bar Justice Center, detailed progress made through their Deferred Associate Law Extern Support Project, which took form in 2009 to connect deferred associates to the public interest community and to provide ongoing support to help ensure that their public-service placements were fruitful both for them and their host organizations.  This is the most robust infrastructure that has been built to promote success in deferral public-service placements (which is no surprise, given the relative size of the market).  Indeed, the Deferred Associate Law Extern Support Project was funded in large part through a grant from the New York Community Trust, which allowed for the creation of a project director position.  Here are some interesting findings from the report:

• Among deferred associates who responded to survey efforts, “more than three-quarters of the respondents were in placements of more than nine months with 25% on deferrals of 12-24 months. Over 90% reported they were receiving a financial stipend, 50% had health insurance and over 60% received a bar exam stipend.”
• “[O]ur data shows that many of the deferred associates went to more well-known larger public interest legal organizations and to those that had long-standing relationships with the law firms. As a result, there were smaller organizations still seeking deferred associates at the start of the fall 2009 training program (and many continue to seek them today).”  [A chart in the report shows that the Legal Aid Society is hosting or did host 37 deferred associates, the Kings County District Attorney’s Office 35, and the NYC Law Department 13.   A piece in the New York Law Journal last year noted that the Brooklyn D.A.’s office was hosting 35 deferred associates.]
• “Almost 92% of those responding would recommend their placement to a future deferred associate; 89% thought the skills they had acquired in their placement would be helpful to them in their future career; and 73% responded that their interest in pro bono had increased as a result of their placement.”
• “Interestingly, when asked to rate satisfaction with placement, “Office Space and Resources,” “Training,” “Clients” and “Supervision” were the areas of greatest satisfaction [among deferred associates] while “Colleagues,” “Integration within the Office” and “Legal Work” received lower ratings.”

Check out the whole report to learn about the professional development curriculum and networking opportunities made available to deferred associates through the project, as well as recommendations and lessons learned from the project’s first few months of operation in dealing with an unprecedented employment phenomenon.

UPDATE: the New York Law Journal is running an article about the report today.  Also, for those following deferred-associates-in-public-service-placements news and developments over the longer term, 1) a previous post of ours had collected news accounts from last fall, and 2) like us, you need to find some hobbies.

The WDSU television station reports:

The chief public defender said in the next two months half his staff will have to refuse new felony cases because the New Orleans office is saddled with more than it can handle. Lawyers are handling an average of 300 felony cases a year. That’s twice the amount for state and national standards. The reason: the public defender’s office needs more money.

In addition to underfunding, another strain on the defender’s office is the district attorney’s practice of accepting a high percentage (90%) of cases for prosecution.

Related:

• The New Orleans Times-Picayune had reported on previous funding shortfalls at the defender’s office last December.
• The PSLawNet Blog interviewed Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton earlier this year, and asked him about funding issues in the long-term.  Mr. Bunton expressed cautious optimism, but of course the bar is pretty low because indigent defense funding in Louisiana has historically been weak.

 We begin this week’s Bulletin with a whole lot of news from Minnesota…

• 3.4.10 – MinnPost Website (Minnesota) – Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance is seeking an order to restrain the state government from terminating the General Assistance Medical Care program, which provides healthcare for low-income adults without children.  The GAMC program’s termination was taken as an austerity measure as the state government tried to cut spending.  The legislature had attempted to restore the program, but that effort was vetoed by Gov. Pawlenty and an override attempt came up short.  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: the GAMC program had been scheduled for termination on March 1, but was extended through the month after another legal services organization  had threatened legal action.  Previous coverage of those developments is available here.]     

• 3.3.10 – Mankato Free Press (Minnesota) – the public defense system in Minnesota is facing serious cuts in state funding.  “Statewide, the Board of Public Defense [could lose, under a current funding proposal,] $3.3 million in funding in 2010-11 and another $4.8 million in 2012-13.”  The chief public defender for the state’s 5th Judicial Circuit worries that additional cuts to an already strained system would be “drastic” and would effectively prohibit defenders from giving their clients the time needed to properly defend a case.  “A study completed by Minnesota’s legislative auditor supports [this] argument.  The study found the state’s public defenders are handling too many cases.  Many have double the caseload recommended by state and national guidelines.”  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: the report referenced in the article was issued on 2/16/10 by the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor.  It is available here.]

• 3.2.10 – MinnPost Website – with fewer than three months left in the Minnesota state legislature’s session, both the state bar association and the legal services community are pushing their agendas.  The Minnesota State Bar Association is seeking funding to shore up a strained court system, while Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance’s legislative arm is pushing for borrower/consumer protection legislation.  Link to article.

 And now, let’s turn to news from places that are not Minnesota:

• 3.2.10 – San Jose Mercury News (California) – Santa Clary County officials have authorized $1 million to flow to the county public defender’s office in order to staff misdemeanor arraignment hearings.  “The lawyers’ presence in thousands of misdemeanor arraignments a year will end an unusual system that has for decades barred many indigent defendants from easy access to legal advice … Public Defender Mary Greenwood said she will immediately hire three additional lawyers and support staff to represent jailed misdemeanor suspects and those first facing misdemeanor domestic violence charges. The new lawyers would staff the county’s busiest misdemeanor arraignment sessions.”  Link to article. 

• 3.2.10 – Philadelphia Inquirer  – among local nonprofits sharing in $331,000 in grant money from the Philadelphia Foundation are Community Legal Services and Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania, both of which received funding to support their foreclosure prevention programs.  Link to article. 

• 3.1.10 – Herald News (Massachusetts) – Richard McMahon, a longtime legal services attorney and manager in Massachusetts, has been appointed executive director of South Coastal Counties Legal Services.  Link to article.

• 3.1.10 – Detroit News – while divorce rates in the Detroit metro region have slightly declined during the recession, among those that are filed the number of parties going pro se has risen notably.  “These do-it-yourself divorces are crowding legal aid offices and court dockets and slowing proceedings with incomplete paperwork and tutorials judges must deliver from the bench. And as more couples represent themselves, many are losing out on property and custody claims that are legally theirs, judges and attorneys say.”  Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s Family Law Legal Aid Clinic saw requests for help from low-income clients jump from 57 in 2008 to 104 in 2009.  Family law advocates are exploring solutions, which range from making filing forms more accessible to allowing limited scope representation in order to lower legal fees.  Link to article.

• 3.1.10 – The Hill’s “Congress Blog” (Op-ed) – Low-income tenants across the country face evictions and harassment from landlords and developers.  This is partly the result of the recession’s effect on the housing market.  “Too often, when landlords find themselves in foreclosure, their tenants are forced onto the street with little or no notice.”  A key to protecting tenants’ housing rights is for Congress to reauthorize the Legal Services Corporation by passing the Civil Access to Justice Act.  The bill, which has the support of many social justice advocates, would 1) increase LSC’s annual budget appropriation to $750 million from the current $420 million (at present, 1 in every 2 people who seek help from LSC grantees are turned away due to lack of program resources), 2) do away with a restriction on LSC grantees from filing class action lawsuits on behalf of their clients, and 3) eliminate restrictions on how grantees use non-LSC funds to carry out their missions.  Link to op-ed written by Emily Savner of the Brennan Center for Justice.  [Ed. Note: the op-ed references a Brennan Center report called Foreclosures: A Crisis in Legal Representation and, while not explicitly naming it, appears also to reference LSC’s Documenting the Justice Gap in America report, which was updated in 2009.]

• 2.28.10 – Florida Times-Union (Editorial) – the Florida Bar has launched a “One Client, One Attorney, One Promise” campaign in order to bolster pro bono by encouraging lawyers to take at least one pro bono case this year.   “There’s no shortage of people who need legal help in this age of high unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. Clients who need legal help of some kind are first screened by legal aid agencies before being referred to attorneys who agree to take on the cases without charge….Lawyers take a lot of flak on the joke circuit, but they also do a lot of charity work that goes unrecognized.  The Bar’s campaign is a good way for more lawyers to cast their profession in a positive light.”  Link to editorial.

• 2.27.10 – North Platte Telegraph (Nebraska) – Lincoln County Public Defender Robert Lindemeier joined, at the invitation of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, a Department of Justice Symposium aimed at addressing resource gaps in indigent defense programs across the country.  Lindemeier noted that poor clients not having access to effective counsel is a problem in Nebraska and nationally.  He was “impressed with Holder’s goals, saying that the U.S. Attorney General appears to believe that if the justice system is going to have a strong law enforcement and prosecution system in place, then to ensure justice is served means to make sure that the indigent criminal defense system is equally strong.”  Link to article.  Ed. Note: additional coverage on the DOJ’s Access to Justice Initiative from National Public Radio is available here. 

• 2.27.10 – Billings Gazette – the new Billings Adult Mental Health Court, a diversionary program intended to help defendants with mental disabilities or disorders, makes a priority of helping participants to “creat[e] new bonds to the community through education, employment or volunteer service and treatment programs…”  For court officers who facilitate the program, some of the traditional adversarial edges are dulled as prosecutors, public defenders, judges and others review cases and review participants’ treatment options.  Link to story.  [Ed. Note: not explicitly mentioned in the article is that, aside from providing participants with the best resources to remain integrated with society and avoid the criminal justice system, the mental health court could promote financial efficiencies for courts and detention facilities.  According to a chart accompanying the story, “[b]etween 50 and 70 percent of the [Yellowstone County Detention Facility’s] population suffers from a mental illness or co-occuring disorder, such as addiction.  Further, “[a]s much as 40 percent of the general housing costs at the jail are spent on mentally ill people incarcerated on misdemeanors.”]

• 2.26.10 – New Orleans Times-Picayune – New Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro and Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton agree on a proposal to change the way that cases are assigned to courtrooms in the parish’s criminal court system.  During a City Council hearing, both the top prosecutor and defender spoke in favor of making the change, but noted that the courthouse’s judges, who retain ultimate authority for the case assignemnt system, have been cool to the proposal.  Cannizzaro and Bunton believe that changes would increase efficiency by allowing attorneys to stay with cases from beginning to end, rather than having to pass them off to colleagues and jump from courtroom to courtroom to keep up with their dockets.  One reason they support a change: It may open doors to federal dollars.  Some federal grants require that “the same defense attorney or prosecutor stay on [a] case from beginning to end.”  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: late-January Times-Picayune coverage of the issue is found here.  Also, the PSLawNet Blog conducted a short interview with Mr. Bunton (on unrelated matters) in January.]

• 2.26.10 – Boston Globe – in Massachusetts, a group of legal immigrants is suing the entity that administers the state’s healthcare program, charging that the state’s decision to deny health coverage on account of their immigrant status violates state and federal equal protection principles.  The move to exclude or limit coverage options for legal immigrants under the Massachusetts landmark Commonwealth Care health plan was a budget-cutting measure.  The executive director of Health Law Advocates, which sued the state on behalf of legal immigrant clients, contends that, “You can’t violate people’s constitutional rights just because you don’t have the funds.”  Link to article.

In a story from the San Francisco Chronicle today, an unusual result came out of the immigration law world – in an arena where flexibility can be rare, a family got an extension on their deportation proceedings. This case highlights an interesting intersection between two worlds which often report zero-tolerance policies: immigration and school security. The case of the Washingtons was brought to the attention of immigration officials because their 13 year old son was in a fight at school and stole 46 cents from another boy. While in the past, issues like this were dealt with through school disciplinary hearings (the boy likely would have been suspended for a few days and faced an extended bout of detention), now schools are increasingly partnered with the criminal justice system. So in this story, the 13 year old was charged with felony offenses of robbery, assault, and extortion, which mandated reporting to immigration.

So far the Washingtons have avoided the potential extreme consequences of these actions, but many other families are not so lucky and can face permanent deportation for actions which in the past would never have been in the bailiwick of the criminal justice system.