By Lauren Forbes

Happy Friday, everyone! This week: more unfortunate legal services cutbacks in North Carolina;  a profile on Wisconsin’s first woman state public defender; exploring limited-scope representation in Wisconsin;  shortfall woes in Oregon will likely lead to 20 positions being eliminated;  (good news!) a grant in Northern Florida that will help victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill access justice; a piece on Washington, DC’s Public Defender Service Director, Avis Buchanan; Indiana’s innovative program defrays the costs of providing defense attorneys. 

• 8.17.11 -Unfortunate cutbacks in North Carolina as per the nationwide trend– Johnston, NC’s The Herald reports that low-income Johnston County residents will soon have to travel to Raleigh or Wilson for legal help in civil-court matters.   “With legislative and Congressional cuts, we had nothing left to trim back,” North Carolina Legal Aid Director George Hausen said, noting that the organization has been in a hiring freeze for years. “We looked around at our 25 offices and felt that we could close some offices because these offices are close enough that the bigger offices could cover the ground.”
• 8.17.11 – Wisconsin Bar Association’s Inside Track features a story on Kelli Thompson, who is the first woman State Public Defender in Wisconsin, and one of only a very few across the country.  Thompson is a 12-year veteran in the State Public Defender’s (SPD) office – starting as an intern while a student at Marquette Law School.  “Kelli is a great communicator and really understands the mission of the public defender’s office,” said Paige Styler, attorney manager at the SPD Milwaukee Trial Office.  Best of luck, Kelli!
• 8.17.11 – Also from the Wisconsin Bar, Wisconsin is exploring “unbundled” legal services or limited-scope representation, which allows clients and lawyers to agree on a lawyer’s more limited role in lieu of full representation.  Expanding limited-scope representation has the potential to provide pro se litigants with affordable access to lawyers and improve court efficiency, according to a recent report by a subcommittee of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Planning and Policy Advisory Committee (PPAC).  “It is anticipated that recommendations for rule changes or amendments will be submitted to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the fall of 2012,” Inside Track reports.
• 8.16.11 –  A story in the Statesman Journal delivers more bad news: low-income families receiving legal aid in Oregon may soon see a cut in services because of layoffs resulting from a 15 percent revenue shortfall.  Sandra Hansberger, executive director of The Lawyers’ Campaign for Equal Justice, estimates that 20 positions, both filled and vacant, would be lost statewide.  “Oregon lawyers have been generous in supporting legal aid by contributing over $1 million each year and by donating their time through legal aid’s pro-bono efforts,” said Steve Piucci, president of the Oregon State Bar, in a statement. “We need these other sources of funding to help meet the tremendous and growing unmet legal needs of the poor.”  Oregon Public Broadcasting also covered the issue, citing Legal Aid Board Chair Michael Mason in saying,  “We closed the Klamath Falls office in 1997 after major federal cuts. And it had a huge impact. People who are unwilling to follow the law by all accounts ran amok.” The union representing Legal Aid attorneys offered a package of wage freezes and furloughs that would have stabilized funding for a year.
• 8.15.11 – A small ray of sunshine, as The Panama City News Herald announces that legal Services of North Florida has received a grant for $200,000 to provide outreach and legal help to low-income residents and small businesses who were affected by the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.  Legal Services of North Florida (LSNF), a private nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing free legal representation to low-income people with civil legal problems, will use the money over the next 18 months to provide outreach and support to those who either have not been able to file claims or are having difficulties with the claims process.
• 8.15.11 – The National Law Journal’s Legal Times features a piece on veteran DC Public Defender, Avis Buchanan.  As a staff attorney with PDS in the 1980s, Buchanan had a gentle style with judges and jurors, but her style did not prevent her from taking on clients who were “rough around the edges.” She left PDS, but returned as director in 2004. Caseload pressures are a nationwide problem for PDs, but the Washington Office is admired for its ability to put its foot down when attorneys are overloaded, said David Caroll, NLADA’s director of research.  Public service in her DNA, Buchanan is looking to implement technological upgrades and recruit top legal talent over the next couple of years.   Acknowledging PDS’ extensive history, Buchanan said, “We will work with what we have.  As long as the right people are in place, we’ll achieve what we need to achieve.”  [Note: premium access subscription required]
• 8.14.11 – Not a Tupelo Honey situation for Mississippi legal aid, as the Associated  Press reports.  A legal aid office for low-income individuals in north Mississippi faces closing down because of the budget cuts Congress is imposing. Ben Cole, the executive director of the North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, said the Tupelo office or another one in north Mississippi may have close.  The agency’s 25-member board is scheduled to meet Aug. 27 and budget cuts are on its agenda.
• 8.14.11 –  An interesting approach to provide criminal defendants with representation in Indiana:  The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports that  52 Indiana counties received more than $15.7 million during the last fiscal year to help defray the costs of providing defense attorneys to people who can’t afford them by using court fees and money set aside by the state legislature.  Counties are obligated to provide lawyers for criminal defendants who can’t afford to pay for representation.  “Established in 1989 by the state legislature, the Public Defender Commission recommends standards for, among other areas, determining who may have public defense attorneys, how many cases a public defender may handle, and the qualifications of attorneys seeking to be public defenders.  The commission reimburses participating counties for a portion of the money they spend providing public defense attorneys.  To qualify for reimbursement, counties must adopt an ordinance, establish a public defender board, adopt a comprehensive plan, have the plan approved and meet other standards set by the state commission – largely drawn from the American Bar Association.”

By Lauren Forbes

And you thought the DC Beltway had too many acronyms…

Roger Williams University invites applications for the position of Assistant General Counsel for Labor & Employment (AGCL&E) in its Office of General Counsel(OGC). Reporting to the University Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel, the AGCL&E provides the full array of legal practice endemic to a labor organized, private institution of higher education with a distinct emphasis on labor and employment law services. By way of illustration, this shall include employment and labor relations liaison, advisement and advocacy, litigation and alternative dispute resolution, legal research and writing, and legal advice on all matters as assigned concerning the entity. The AGC is expected to contribute to the University community as attorney, policy advocate, administrator, colleague, and ambassador.

This is an outstanding opportunity for an individual driven by challenge and rewarded by opportunity to make a difference. The position will be split time between OGC’s Providence office and the Bristol campus.

The successful candidate will possess a Juris Doctorate degree and an accompanying license to practice law as well as a minimum of 5+ years of distinguished, labor and employment experience as an attorney working within or representing a labor organized corporate entity. Rhode Island Bar admission is required within one year of employment at the University.

Click into the listing on PSLawNet for application instructions  (login required).

By Lauren Forbes

Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida (CCLA), a LSC grantee serving low-income residents of Broward County, Florida, is seeking candidates for an Equal Justice Works or other sponsored fellowship to begin as early as 2012 for a two-year period. CCLA is open to hosting candidates for other legal fellowship programs.

The fellow will be assigned to the Public Benefits Unit, which assists people with issues related to Cash Assistance, Medicaid and Medicaid Reform, Medicare, Food Stamps, Social Security Disability and SSI, and Unemployment Compensation Benefits. The Public Benefits Unit will be adding services for Veterans and their families.

The fellow will be supervised through CCLA’s main office and may have an opportunity to service clients at the office(s) of a community partner that provides services to veterans. The fellow will work directly with our experienced staff attorneys, paralegals, and other support staff.

The fellow’s specific tasks will include providing direct legal services to veterans in the following areas:

• VA Disability Compensation, VA Pension Benefits, VA Health Care Benefits, Military Upgrades and Discharge Issues, all areas of Public Benefits, Family Law and Domestic Violence Issues, Foreclosure and Predatory Lending
• Duties will also include extensive outreach and educational efforts by hosting self -help clinics for veterans, military personnel and military families.
• The position will offer an interested fellow the opportunity to develop skills in legal advocacy, case management, and the opportunity to work intensively with State and Federal administrative agencies.

Click into the listing on PSLawNet for application instructions  (login required).

By Lauren Forbes

The University of Kansas School of Law is looking for an Assistant Dean for Career Services.

The mission of the Office of Career Services is to assist students and alumni in their professional development by acquainting them with the range of career paths open to them, providing information on specific job opportunities, and working with students and graduates to enhance their job search skills.  The Assistant Dean is responsible for the implementation of this mission through the day-to-day administration and management of the office and through long-term strategic planning.  This includes monitoring and anticipating employment trends, assessing needs of students and alumni, setting goals for the office and devising innovative programming to maximize success of students. This is a full time, unclassified position.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

1. Juris Doctor degree
2. At least 4 years of legal career services, legal recruiting, or law practice experience
3. Demonstrated effective written communication skills as evidenced by application materials

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Demonstrated organizational skills and demonstrated ability to handle multiple projects and juggle priorities.
2. Familiarity with local and regional legal markets and legal hiring procedures.
3. Prior administrative or management experience, particularly in a University setting.
4. Excellent computer skills and demonstrated interest in the use of the Internet, databases, on-line research and new technologies.
5. Demonstrated experience in career counseling, legal recruiting or other related field

Click into the listing on PSLawNet for application instructions  (login required).

By: Steve Grumm

On the public interest job hunt?  Law student registration for interviews at the Equal Justice Works Conference & Career Fair opens today!  Learn more over at EJW’s career fair web page.   

Here’s are some important dates from their website:

August 16 – September 12:		Student and law school professional registration open
September 14 – October 6:		Student registration only for those not seeking an interview (can attend conference workshops and Table Talk)
September 14 – September 28:		Employers view applications and choose interviewees
September 30 – October 6:		Students accept or decline interviews
October 6, 5 p.m. EDT:		Last day to cancel student registration with full refund
October 21 – 22:		Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair

Good livin’ in the Silver State!

The Nevada Supreme Court is accepting applications for a staff attorney on its editing team. Under the direction of the court and the clerk of the court, staff attorneys on the editing team edit court decisions in all subject matters for substantive and technical accuracy and for proper English grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Staff attorneys must possess superior legal research, writing, and oral presentation skills, must be flexible, and must be capable of working independently. Applicants must have graduated from an ABA-accredited law school and need not be licensed to practice law in Nevada, but should be willing and able to take the Nevada bar examination at the next available opportunity. No prior legal experience is necessary; however, 1 to 3 years of trial or appellate experience or experience of a similar length with a court is desirable.

Click into the listing on PSLawNet for application instructions  (login required).

By: Steve Grumm (with a big assist from Jamie Bence)

Happy Friday, dear readers, from an astonishingly not-humid Washington, DC!  We try to keep the mood light around here, but in all candor it’s disheartening to read, week after week, stories from all corners of the country documenting how diminished legal services funding is impacting programs and the clients they serve.  With interest rates holding at record lows, IOLTA funding streams remain weak.  LSC grantees have already felt the small pinch that came with a modest cut in the FY11 appropriation.  Frighteningly, that will become a big squeeze if the proposed 26% cut to LSC’s FY12 appropriation goes through.  This week we learn of funding troubles in Florida, Maine, and Mississippi, as well as another office closure at Legal Aid of North Carolina.  It’s frustrating, at times, to be the aggregator of bad news.  But we hope our modest efforts to provide a nationwide snapshot of the goings-on in the public interest world may be of some use to advocates who over the next several months will be fighting to sustain legal services funding.  So, with that, let’s look at legal services and other public interest news…   

This week: the motivation for pro bono lawyers to fight in defense of civil liberties; legal services funding woes in Broward County (at least it’s not more hanging chads); a cynical attempt to kill the Legal Services Corporation?’; CAP offers some data to highlight the rise in pro se litigation; some more data, this time about funding troubles affecting state court systems; Magnolia State LSC grantees are bracing for more cuts; ditto up in Maine; solid career advice for tomorrow’s public interest lawyers; office closure and staff cut news from Legal Aid of North Carolina; the ABA’s outgoing president on funding the courts and legal services; speaking of pro se, the success of the Civil Law Self Help Center in Vegas; capital punishment is pricey in Indiana; strengthening pro bono collaborations in, appropriately, the Volunteer State; getting pro bono buy-in from law firm leadership. 

• 8.10.11 – if you’re looking for some public interest motivation, the New York Law Journal has run a nice piece by Arnold & Porter partner Peter Zimroth, who is part of a pro bono team fighting a zoning ordinance which was enacted to stop the building of a house of worship – a mosque – in New Jersey.  Reprinted in the article are remarks Zimroth delivered at a thank-you event for the pro bono team.  The remarks highlight common principles of justice and equal treatment running from the efforts of the mosque’s supporters back through older civil right struggles, and ultimately grounded in the framework of the Constitution.

• 8.10.11 – an op-ed in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel looks at the dire funding situation of the Legal Aid Service of Broward County, particularly as the specter (which I always spell “spectre” because I’ve seen too many James Bond films) of additional LSC cuts looms.  The Legal Aid Service, along with Coast to Coast Legal Aid, which is not an LSC grantee, is “facing additional 20 percent to 25 percent budget cuts for the upcoming fiscal year, meaning a new round of layoffs, wage freezes and five-day unpaid furloughs for workers. The agencies have gone from a peak of 50 attorneys to 39.  And because of cutbacks at big local law firms, fewer outside attorneys have been volunteering for pro bono work.” And on the issue of support from the private bar: “Making matters worse: As the agencies’ foreclosure defense caseload grows, banks and big law firms that represent lenders have stopped giving contributions.” 

• 8.10.11 – Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, known for his wry observations of the goings-on on Capitol Hill, takes an aggressive stance in criticizing freshman Congressman Austin Scott, who recently proposed his first bill: a total evisceration of the Legal Services Corporation.  The bill, Milbank writes, “says a great deal about Scott, because it is a transparent attempt by the young lawmaker to defend a company in his district that discriminates against U.S. citizens in favor of Mexican migrant workers. Scott introduced the bill abolishing Legal Services exactly three days after it became public that Legal Services had won a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determination that Georgia’s Hamilton Growers” engaged in discriminatory practices which adversely affected American farmworkers in favor of H2-A guest workers.  (Georgia Legal Services program, an LSC grantee, had represented workers in the action against Hamilton.)  Milbank goes on to argue that Rep. Scott, a “Tea Party favorite”, “chose to side with a large employer of foreign migrants in his district – against his out-of-work constituents.”  

• 8.9.11 – the Center for American Progress offers a by-the-numbers look of the woeful state of civil legal services funding in the U.S., along with the sharp rise in pro se litigation, as more and more poor people who can’t be helped by legal services due to resource shortages opt to represent themselves.  Some of the data CAP cites on pro se trends is dated, but there are also some noteworthy figures, including:
• “1-to-6415: The ratio of free legal services attorneys available to the number of low-income Americans who need one”;
• “235,000: The estimated number of low-income Americans eligible for civil legal assistance at LSC-funded programs that would be turned away if [a proposed 26% cut to LSC’s appropriation goes forward.]”

• 8.8.11 – the National Law Journal reports that a recent panel at the ABA’s Annual Meeting highlighted the work of the Task Force on Preservation of the Justice System.  Legal luminaries David Boies and Ted Olson lead the task force, which has been documenting the recession’s impact on state courts.  Among the group’s findings: 
• “26 states have delayed filling judicial vacancies, 31 have delayed filling judicial support positions and 34 have delayed filling open positions in clerks’ offices.
• 31 states have frozen or reduced judge or staff pay.
• 14 states have laid off court staff.
• 14 states have curtailed hours or cut operating days.”

• 8.8.11 – the Jackson Clarion-Ledger looks at the impact that an LSC funding cut would have on two of the Magnolia State’s three grantee programs: the Mississippi Center for Legal Services and North Mississippi Legal Services.  These programs rely very heavily on federal funds to support their work; about 80% of their funding comes from LSC.  As is the case in other jurisdictions, IOLTA funding has all but dried up: “North Mississippi Rural Legal Services and Mississippi Center for Legal Services each received $1 million last year from the
  IOLTA funds. This year, each program will receive $120,000.”  So one can see why a significant cut in LSC funds would be devastating.  And in terms of service capacity, the programs are already stretched to the breaking point: “The number of legal services attorneys is
  about one per 20,000 low-income residents.”

• 8.7.11 – the Bangor Daily News looks at how the House’s proposed 26% cut in LSC funding could impact Pine Tree Legal Assistance.  Pine Tree executive director Nan Heald “estimated that if the proposed reduction in funding is approved, her budget would be cut by about 35 percent.  ‘We’ve already lost six staff positions through attrition that we’re not replacing, including two in our Bangor office,’ she said. ‘We’ve also lost staff in Portland and Lewiston we can’t replace, including a full-time foreclosure attorney’.”

• 8.7.11 – the Washington Post carries profiles from three young attorneys who are making it in today’s economy. One of the featured attorneys, Laila Leigh, graduated from Catholic University Law and now works with the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau. She offers this advice to aspiring public interest lawyers (with which I can’t more strongly agree):  “A lot of law students think, ‘I have to be in law review, I have to be in moot court.’ I just stayed focused on what I wanted to do and selected internships and opportunities that would put me in a position to do what I wanted to do when I was done.”  In spite of the bad job market, there are public interest jobs out there, and they’re going to go to those law grads who have immersed themselves in the work and developed the best professional networks in the communities they wish to work in.  

• 8.6.11 – Mountain Express reports that Legal Aid of North Carolina will be closing more offices in the year ahead. “Cuts made this year to state and federal legislative appropriations amounted to annual reductions of more than $2M. With such substantial cuts to its core funding, Legal Aid of NC (LANC) could not avoid the closings and the elimination of about thirty staff positions. The LANC offices located in Smithfield, Boone and Henderson immediately will stop taking new cases and will close entirely by the end of September. LANC offices in Rocky Mount, Winston-Salem and Sylva also are affected.”

• 8.6.11 –in the Miami Herald, outgoing ABA president Stephen Zack expresses concerns that under-funding the nation’s courts and the civil legal services system – the need for fiscal austerity notwithstanding – could do fundamental damage to our system of government.  “In the weeks and months ahead, the American people and those we elected to represent us will have serious conversations about the size, shape and funding of our government. And naturally, there will be differing opinions. But on the issue of protecting our fundamental liberties, freedoms, rights and values by protecting our courts and legal aid, there should — and must — be complete support.”
  8.6.11 – For Nevada residents, access to civil justice has improved for the 55,000 people who have visited the Civil Law Self Help Center since it opened in December 2009. Free services range from assistance for small business owners to individuals facing eviction or foreclosure. The Las Vegas Sun has the story here.

• 8.6.11 – For Nevada residents, access to civil justice has improved for the 55,000 people who have visited the Civil Law Self Help Center since it opened in December 2009. Free services range from assistance for small business owners to individuals facing eviction or foreclosure. The Las Vegas Sun has the story here.

• 8.6.11 – a detailed piece in the Evansville Courier and Press looks at the high cost of administering capital punishment processes in Indiana.  Costs, which are borne partly by the state government and partly by county governments, continue to rise.  However, “[o]nly 16% of Indiana’s death penalty cases – 30 out of 188 – filed from 1990 through 2009 ended in death sentences, according to the Indiana Public Defender Council.  Such statistics have given death penalty foes a solid economic argument, and even supporters of the death penalty are calling for reforms to control skyrocketing defense costs often born by local and state governments.”     

• 8.5.11 – I can’t believe I let my Nashville Business Journal subscription expire!  Now I can only link to the teaser for this password-protected article about the Legal Aid Society for Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands’s efforts to engage the private bar on pro bono collaborations. 

• August, 2011: “If You Them to Lead, You Need to Speak Their Language: Strategies for Encouraging Law Firm Leaders to Support Pro Bono Work” (long title!) is a piece by SNR Denton’s Benjamin Weinberg on how pro bono proponents in large law firms can make both the moral and financial cases for pro bono in order to enlist the support of leaders in all corners of the firm.  Good read.  (Tip o’ the cap to our friend David Lash for passing it along.)  

By Lauren Forbes

The Public Justice Center seeks two staff attorneys – one with 2-7 years of experience and one with 7+ years of experience with a strong litigation background — to work in its Baltimore, Maryland office.

The Public Justice Center (“PJC”): The PJC is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that seeks to protect and expand the rights of people who are denied justice because of their economic status or discrimination. The PJC selects and designs its cases and projects to effect systemic legal and social changes, using diverse strategies including individual, class action, and appellate litigation; legislative and regulatory advocacy; and education. Most projects work in coalition with other advocates. Current projects focus on tenants, prisoners, workers, health care, education rights for homeless children, and establishing a right to counsel in civil cases. For more information, visit: www.publicjustice.org .

Position Description

Staff attorneys are assigned to work in one or more of the PJC’s projects.  As a member of the work team on that project, the attorney will be working with other attorneys and staff within the PJC, and collaborating with allies and partners outside the PJC.  The PJC is currently seeking attorneys for two positions:

(1)  An attorney with 7 or more years of legal experience, including a strong litigation background and a desire to be lead attorney, co-counsel, and/or mentor of other attorneys in litigation. Desirable traits include background in public interest law, supervision/training experience, and/or subject matter expertise in one or more of PJC’s focus areas.

(2)  An attorney with 2-7 years of legal experience.

By Jamie Bence

Washington Post runs advice today from three young attorneys who have been successful in today’s difficult job market. Laila Leigh, a 2010 graduate of the Columbus School of Law had advice which will ring true for aspiring public interest lawyers:

“A lot of law students think, ‘I have to be in law review, I have to be in moot court.’ I just stayed focused on what I wanted to do and selected internships and opportunities that would put me in a position to do what I wanted to do when I was done”

“I wasn’t trying to get an experience that looked good on my resume. I asked, ‘Where can I work with immigrant communities? Where can I work that will get me in a courtroom? Write briefs?’ I wanted to do substantial work. That’s what I sought out, those are what gave me an advantage.”

Read the full story here.

By: Steve Grumm and Jamie Bence

Happy Friday, Dear Readers!  Much of the content for this week’s Bulletin was drafted with assistance from Intern Extraordinaire Jamie Bence.  It takes a special kind of nerdiness to put together this news bulletin.  And Jamie’s got it!

This week: $12.5 million to New York State legal services providers; but in Montana, funding woes force a legal services branch office closure; speaking of funding woes, mounting pushback against Garden State legal services cuts; from the Upstream Swim Department, an Illinois prosecutor is pushing to raise his attorneys’ salaries(!); salt-in-wound: the debt-ceiling madness even managed to produce bad news for grad student loans; the San Diego D.A.’s prisoner re-entry program earns kudos; pretty big changes to Seattle’s indigent defense system; what will deficit-cutting measures mean for Uncle Sam’s civil servants?; LSC announces its star-studded Pro Bono Task Force; a Bay Area debate about employers looking at prior convictions of job applicants; NDAA appoints its first woman president; the growth in unpaid legal internships; a report on the Empire State’s strained indigent defense program; an op-ed out of Seattle in opposition the proposed 26% LSC budget cuts; more opposition to legal services funding cuts in New Jersey; Wisconsin’s public defenders are way, way short-staffed; and New York State’s new indigent defense office gets moving. 

• 8.3.11 – good news, for a change, concerning legal services funding.  In New York, the state judiciary has begun making good on its plan to bolster legal services by distributing $12.5 million among 56 organizations.  The New York Law Journal reports that the funds will be applied to serving clients who face troubles with the “essentials of life,” like housing, public benefits, and safety from domestic abusers.  The funding is seen by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman as the beginning of a steadier stream of funding to support legal services providers at a time when other funding streams have diminished.

• 8.3.11 – bad news from the Treasure State.  The Montana Legal Services Association is being forced to close its office in Butte, and to relocate that office’s sole staff attorney to Helena.  The Montana Standard reports, “Butte District Judge Brad Newman said Tuesday while the effect of the closure remains to be seen, he said that the office provided ‘critical legal services that would be difficult to replace’.”

• 8.3.11 – in New Jersey, the battle for legal aid funding continues. The Assembly Judiciary Committee requested a public hearing over the recent line-item veto, Shore News Today reports. Even fiscally conservative members point out that current funding will probably not sustain an already stressed system.

• 8.2.11 – in Kane County, top prosecutor Joe McMahon is seeking better salaries so that he can retain his experienced staff. McMahon pointed out that keeping a top-flight staff requires several years of training before new attorneys can prosecute the more difficult cases, and by that time they may move on to more lucrative private-sector jobs. “We need to take a significant step in closing the gap in the disparity of pay,” McMahon said according to the Courier News.

• 8.2.11 – while many in Washington were excited to avert a downgrade in the nation’s credit rating this week, our friend Heather Jarvis points out that the Budget Control Act of 2011 has some unfortunate consequences for graduate students. “The elimination of the graduate and professional in-school interest subsidy and the direct loan repayment incentives are estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to produce a savings of $21.6 billion.   $17 billion of that savings will go to shore up the Pell Grant program, and $4.6 billion will be used to reduce the deficit.”

• 8.2.11 – congratulations are in order for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, which recently won prestigious Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties (NACo) for the DA’s Helping Others Pursue Excellence (HOPE), a prisoner reentry program. Corrections.com has the story.

• 8.1.11 – more news from the Left Coast. This time, the City of Seattle is making changes to its indigent defense contracting.  The Seattle Times reports: “For the first time in 40 years, the King County public defense firm The Defender Association will not have a presence in Seattle Municipal Court.  On Monday, the Seattle City Council awarded a $1.5 million annual contract for a portion of the city’s misdemeanor public defense work to Northwest Defenders Association, said Eileen Farley, executive director of the Northwest Defenders Association. The city’s decision not to award the contract to The Defender Association had been met with a restraining order, a lawsuit and an appeal. But The Defender Association lost its legal battle.”

• 8.1.11 – Washington Post points out that the debt deal discussed above could also squeeze federal jobs. “I am pleased to see that the deal does not include any immediate cuts to federal pay or pensions,” National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen M. Kelley said in a statement Monday. “However, the impact on the federal workforce remains uncertain and agencies are likely to face reductions in their budgets.”   Government Executive has additional details, as well as perspectives from federal employees unions.

• 8.1.11 – LSC has appointed over three dozen public interest luminaries to its pro bono task force. The Blog of the Legal Times reports: “The task force is a project of the Legal Services Corp., the federally funded nonprofit that is the largest source of funding for civil legal aid. Republicans in Congress have warned the organization that it faces potentially deep budget cuts, and they’ve pushed it to find new ways to help the poor with problems like home foreclosures and domestic violence cases.”  Here’s a press release from LSC that lists all task force members.   This push for pro bono has historically been a double-edged sword.  On one hand, it’s absolutely vital to engage the private bar in efforts to support legal services.  On the other, pro bono should not be seen as a means to substitute for funding.  Pro bono to supplement the work of legal services providers: yep.  Pro bono to substitute for the work: nope.  We’ve already offered our thoughts on this topic in a prior blog post.

• 8.1.11 – Time Magazine reports from San Francisco on a new movement to keep employers from considering prior convictions when they review job applications. “‘These people are in the community regardless,’ said San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón. ‘Do we want to marginalize them and keep them on the edge’?”

• 8.1.11 – as we reported earlier this week, the National District Attorneys Association has named Sacramento District Attorney Jan Scully their new president. Ms. Scully becomes the first female president of that organization, but as PublicCEO points out, it’s merely the latest in a series of groundbreaking roles for her.

• 8.1.11 – PilotOnline investigates the growing number of unpaid internships for law students, and how many unpaid positions are becoming remarkably competitive. Even students at elite schools, and those working for large government agencies, face an increasingly tight market.

• August, 2011 – New York’s public defender and legal aid systems are in crisis, but with the state budget quickly shrinking, it’s unclear whether they will get a desperately needed overhaul. Some in the state are questioning whether public defenders, faced with growing caseloads, are meeting the constitutional standard of care, Gotham Gazette reports.

• 7.31.11 – LSC board chair John Levi and LSC board member Harry Korrell take to the pages of Korrell’s hometown newspaper, the Seattle Times, to pen an op-ed laying out the potential 26% funding cut that LSC is facing, and explaining how this will hurt Washingtonians: “In Washington, nearly a quarter of the population is eligible for civil legal assistance.  At the Northwest Justice Project, there are pleas from women trying to escape domestic violence and protect their children. There are requests for help from elderly people deceived by scam artists. Families who are desperate call, worried about losing the roof over their heads because of foreclosure or eviction. Often callers are seeking unemployment benefits, or feel financially overwhelmed and see bankruptcy as the only path to a fresh start.”

• 7.31.11 – more from the growing legal aid funding crisis in New Jersey. The New Jersey Record said the following in a Sunday editorial: “Legal Services President Melville Miller Jr. told legislators the new bottom line most likely will mean 100 fewer lawyers, the closure of at least three offices and 10,000 fewer people getting legal help by the end of the year. As a result of the last cuts, Miller estimates that two out of three people seeking help are turned away. This new round may mean three out of four people with a real need for attorneys’ services are out of luck. It’s a deplorable state of affairs.”  There has been considerable backlash on the legal services funding cut, and it will be interesting to see if Gov. Christie reconsiders.

• 7.29.11 – as we blogged about earlier this week, Wisconsin’s public defenders face a dire situation. Less than 25% of offices have enough attorneys to staff the cases referred to them. In many counties, public defense has been contracted out to private firms. WTAQ has the full story.

• 7.29.11 – New York’s newly created State Office of Indigent Legal Services has sent out its first contracts this week, Gotham Gazette reports. “If [you’re] a cynic you can look at it as a small step,” ILS director William Leahy said of sending out the first contracts, “but we look at it as an important step forward.” Leahy said that when discussing indigent services with county officials he was repeatedly told, that it was the first time they had ever, “talked to anyone from the state about public defense and what they need.”