Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! It’s been an eventful couple of weeks.

First, the elephant in the room: Operation Varsity Blues. The articles highlighted in this week’s NALP News Digest are worth a look. I’ll just add one more here: “Asha Rangappa [former Yale Dean of Admissions] says the biggest victims of the U.S. college admissions scandal are the bright and diverse students from less privileged backgrounds who will be discouraged from applying to Ivy League schools.“

In addition to that news, the Trump Administration released a budget packed with changes for the student loan world, the former student loan ombudsman of the CFPB and current head of the Student Borrower Protection Center testified to Congress, Texas attorneys are suing their state bar in objection to the bar’s diversity and immigration-related efforts, under a “forced-speech” rationale, and Civil Legal Aid is making headlines of all kinds in British Columbia, with an upcoming strike of the Association of Legal Aid Laywers leading the bill. You can find all this and more, below.

See you around,
Sam

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• The Pacific Standard reported that “[t]he number of infants under the age of one in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention at the border has increased since January, reaching levels that alarm immigration advocates.”
  • Meanwhile, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services “filed a civil rights complaint against the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that the Trump administration is blatantly flouting the Flores agreement–the law that dictates how long the U.S. government can keep children in custody.“
• In New York, as part of his “Liberty Defense” project, Gov. Cuomo announced two new measures to “help and protect immigrants targeted by ICE, [including] a Rapid Response Program which has regional providers and attorneys ready for any actions taken by ICE [and] 21 New Opportunity Centers…which will offer new, free services to immigrants…such as education, legal guidance, naturalization assistance, and guidance within their neighborhoods.“
• NBC News confirmed speculation from immigration attorneys (discussed in the March 1st digest), reporting that “Customs and Border Protection has compiled a list of 59 mostly American reporters, attorneys and activists who are to be stopped for questioning by border agents when crossing the U.S.-Mexican border at San Diego-area checkpoints…according to documents obtained by NBC station KNSD-TV and interviews with people on the list.“
• In California, N.D. Cal. “ruled that Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross’ efforts to place a citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. Census violate the Enumeration Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the [APA].“
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Trump administration is reportedly planning to freeze the hiring of immigration judges amid a massive backlog of cases due to budgetary constraints[.]“

Student Loans

• In Washington DC, the Trump Administration released its proposed budget, which includes a variety of changes to the student loan regime–most notably a proposed end to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Forbes has some excellent reporting on the specifics of all student-loan-related proposals and the potential implications of Trump’s plan to “consolidat[e] the multiple income-driven repayment plan programs into one “simple” income-driven repayment plan.”
• Also in Washington, DC “the U.S. House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…and the newly-introduced Consumers First Act.” During the testimony, the CFPB’s former student loan ombudsman “spoke at length about the $1.5 trillion in outstanding student debt [and] noted that his former position…has yet to be filled six months after his resignation and the the Bureau’s 2018 report on student debt is yet too be released….One committee member raised twice…that the job posting only went up the day prior to the hearing.“
• Also also in Washington, DC “Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. Mark Pocan…led a group of 42 members of Congress in reintroducing the Debt-Free College Act[.]“
• In Massachusetts, State Senator Lesser advocated for his “Student Loan Bill of Rights”–a bill similar to laws passed in recent years in California and Connecticut–in the pages of the Boston Globe.
  • Meanwhile, in California the Sacramento Bee discussed new bills in the state legislature intended to advance the state’s student debt reform approach still further.
• In Newburgh Heights, OH, a “2,000-person town[] less than 10 miles from Cleveland,” the local government announced plans to pay half of the student debts, up to $50,000 for student debtholders who purchase a house worth at least $50,000 within five years of graduation and live in the city for 15 years.
• The former chief of the US Department of Education’s Office of the General Counsel and current president of the National Student Legal Defense Network suggested “[f]ive steps Congress should take to repair the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.“
• In Iowa, “[t]wo bills in the [] Legislature would help student-loan borrowers in different ways, one with the implementation of a student-loan ombudsman and another [by] eliminating licensing sanctions against borrowers who are delinquent or default on their loans. These proposals have drawn bipartisan support.“
• Travelers Insurance joined other companies now “allow[ing] payments that U.S. employees make toward their student loans to be eligible for the company’s 401(k) matching program.“– a solution that the AP reported “a leading national retirement plan advisor [considers] a ‘Wow’ benefit that is budget neutral by simply allowing employees to allocate existing matching dollars without an additional cost to an employer.“

Public Service Management & Hiring

• The Hill reported that “[t]ax-exempt, nonprofit organizations across the country may be shocked this year to discover that, possibly for the first time, they must pay taxes simply for providing employees with access to transit and parking [while] a growing number of municipalities require, by law, that employers of a certain size provide transportation benefits to their employees.“
• In Texas, “three conservative lawyers are seeking to overturn Texas laws that require attorneys to join the State Bar of Texas and pay annual dues…argu[ing] that being forced to pay dues that support ‘inherently poiltical or ideological’ priorities violates their free speech rights.” In particular, the attorneys object to “being forced to subsidize diversity programs or efforts to help immigrants at the border with Mexico.“

Legal Technology

• A brief article in the National Law Review examined the growth of biometric data collection–and the growth in its regulations–to argue that “[c]ompanies, regardless of industry, should be reevaluating their biometric use practices and taking steps to compy with a growing body of law surrounding this sensitive information.“
• The Pew Foundation reviewed states’ efforts to adopt online dispute resolution, suggesting that “a national body could create standards for successful use of ODR in civil courts.“
• In New York, NY “[t]he New York City Legal Aid Society has released a searchable database of federal lawsuits brought against the New York City police, which it said could arm plaintiffs attorneys with crucial information for their own civil rights suits.”
• Also in New York, NY, “[a] new study from [NYU] and NYU’s AI Now Institute concludes that predictive policing systems run the risk of exacerbating discrimination in the criminal justice system if they rely on ‘dirty data’.“
• Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, MN “[t]he Hennepin County Attorney’s Office…launched a new online tool that gives the public access to years of statistical information involving criminal cases, including racial breakdowns.“
• In Massachusetts, a ransomware attack left “[t]he Massachusetts public defender agency [] unable to access its it network for weeks [and] unable to pay the bar advocates who handle 80 percent of the public defender caseload in Massachusetts…CPCS has since cleared the ransomware off its network and is gradually restoring its systems from backup data.“

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Oregon, the state’s Access to Justice Coalition released a study based on a survey of low-income Oregonians finding that “Oregon is meeting only about 16 percent of the need for low-income civil legal aid services.“
• In Wisconsin, “Gov. Tony Evers took some steps [in his budget] to address underfunded district attorney’s offices and staff public defender positions.“
• At the Pentagon, “top uniformed and civilian officials in the Army, Navy and Air Force…propos[ed] a new tenant bill of rights for military families, which would include the ability to withhold payment for housing th
• In The Lawyers’ Daily, the founding chair of the elder law section of the Ontario Bar Association argued for a right to legal help in case of separation or divorce.
• Many developments in British Columbia:
  • The BC Attorney General released an external report containing recommendations to improve legal aid service, which states that “[y]ears of underfunding and shifting political priorities have taken their toll on the range and quality of legal aid services, and especially on the people who need them.”
    • Meanwhile, “lawyers’ groups said…the 25 recommendations are impossible to evaluate because there are no cost estimates attached [and] the Association of Legal Aid Laywers[] maintained the report did not resolve the current crisis.“
  • “A British Columbia-based women’s advocacy group says the provincial government and…the legal aid provider in the province [] are failing to provide adequate legal aid for family law cases involving domestic violence, especially where women and children are concerned.“
  • “The members of the Association of Legal Aid Lawyers (A.L.L.) have voted to withdraw their services beginning April 1st. An overwhelming 97% of those members who case votes March 11-13 did so in favor of the job action [saying] the B.C. government’s shrinking legal aid budget doesn’t come close to meeting the needs of vulnerable people in British Columbia.“
  • The Law Society of B.C. “sent back for further study a seven-year-old proposal to allow licensed paralegals to offer cheaper legal services and rejected a suggestion to give nominal educational credit to lawyers for doing charity work.“
    • For further reading, see the Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice‘s article arguing that “Ontario introduced paralegal regulation over ten years ago with the promise that it would increase access to justice. Evidence suggests it has done so….[;] Law societies’ continued resistance to the regulation of paralegals is contrary to the public interest.“

Access to Justice – Criminal

• Law360.com reviewed “[c]ases…pending in Nevada, Idaho, Missouri, California, Pennsylvania and Washington, inspired by an ACLU-led lawsuit in New York that boosted state public defense funding there.“
• In Bexar County, TX the county “commissioned a formal student of its indigent defense system [in which r]esearchers will analyze three years of data, interview defendants and attorneys, and compare Bexar County with its peers.“
• In Travis County, TX the drama surrounding Austin’s ongoing efforts to create a “traditional public defender office” continued, as the Austin Monitor reported that the troubled county commission looking to create such an office received a “verbal commitment by [Texas Indigent Defense Council” Executive Director Geoff Burkhart to request waiving the [March 11th letter of intent deadline] in this case to buy the county some time.“
• In New Jersey, counties are reaching different conclusions about “municipal courts’ public defender ‘user fees,'” with Bayonne and Secaucus councils poised to raise fees from $50 to $200 while Jersey City “is planning to eliminate its user fee.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Madison County, MN, the county Public Defender and County State’s Attorney both argued “against expanding the use of ankle bracelets to monitor prisoners as an option to reduce jail population numbers.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! It’s March now, but the last week of February certainly packed a punch. There are two items I want to highlight for you:

First, Brooklyn Defender Services’ Director of Policy took to Twitter yesterday to highlight a two-justice dissenting opinion questioning Gideon v. Wainright. (Link to the opinion available below.) Second, any of you heading to the ABA’s Equal Justice Conference in May may want to check out the Law School Pro Bono Advisor’s Pre-Conference event.

If that isn’t enough, there’s also a legal aid strike brewing in British Columbia, a new FTC task force to police the technology sector, a report from the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing tying housing to the access-to-justice gap, and allegations of infants under one-year-old detained by ICE. As always, details are in the links below.

See you around,
Sam

Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “a federal court found [that when] the U.S. Department of Education changed its interpretation of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness regulation, it did not adhere to notice standards mandated under the Administrative Procedure Act, and those changes were arbitrary and capricious.“
• According to the New York Federal Reserve Bank, “[o]utstanding student loan debt stood at 1.46 trillion in the fourth quarter [of 2018], up $15 billion[, with] 11.4% of aggregate student debt [] 90+ days delinquent or in default.“
  • Meanwhile, Philly.com reported that “[FedLoan’s] profits have plummed by 90 percent over the last four years [and] the agency could soon start to lose money[.]“
• In Washington DC, Senators Warren and Rubio “introduced a bill that would prevent states from suspending, revoking or denying professional licenses as punishment for falling behind on student loan payments.“
• In Oregon, the Bellingham Herald surveyed the efforts across multiple states–including Oregon–to pass protections for student borrowers similar to “Connecticut’s so-called Student Loan Bill of Rights.” (See this article for developments in New York State on this issue.)
• Guardian Life Insurance released “College Debt in America: The Case for Tuition & Loan Repayment Benefits,” a report which includes this chart comparing the rise in costs for health care and tuition, relative to the consumer price index (see page 3 of the report).
• Governing.com reviewed the history-to-date of “income share agreements” as an alternative to student loans, a strategy for which “[f]ederal legislation…enjoyed bipartisan support last Congress and is set for reintroduction this year as well.“
• The New York Times published a story about a teacher who, after having finished with his loans under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, nevertheless received “a deliquincey report [from FedLoan] to the scorekeepers at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion that effectively wrecked his credit.”
• The Washington Post reported that “[a] contractor for the Education Department is suing the federal agency, alleging that billions of dollars in defaulted student loans go uncollected because the government is not lining up new private debt collectors.”

Nonprofit Management

• According to Fox News Oklahoma City, “[a] study from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project shows about a four percent decrease in donations under $1,000 to nonprofits in 2018, and a slight increase in donations over $1,000.” The Hill has more on the subject.

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In a letter to Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and its Inspector General, the American Immigration Council, American Immigration Lawyers Council, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network alleged that “there are at least nine infants under one year of age detained in the South Texas Family Residential Center (STFRC) in Dilley, Texas, at least one of whom has been detained for more than 20 days.” The letter calls for the release of the infants and their mothers, as well as a “review [of] any written decisions by the Department of Homeland Security to detain the infants,” along with other demands related to their medical care while in custody.
• In Texas, “[s]aying there is no evidence of widespread election fraud in Texas, a federal judge…blocked the removal of any registered voter after state Republican leaders loudly but wrongly questioned the U.S. citizenship of tens of thousands of people.“
• In Illinois, the state’s attorney general “joined an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s practice of denying people access to the asylum process at ports of entry on the southern border.“
  • Meanwhile, in Boston, WBUR published an account of recent events involving immigration attorneys’ difficulties crossing the southern border to provide assistance to migrant clients waiting in Mexico under the challenged policy.
• In Washington DC, UDC Law announced that “more than 40 clinical and experiemental programs across the country have requested the teacher’s guide to [the Legal Interviewing and Language Access Film Project], which coaches law students on client interviewing techniques in the immigration law context.” (UDC Law developed the project in collaboration with Tulane University Law School.)
• In New Haven CT, Yale’s “Rule of Law Clinic…in conjunction with over 60 former U.S. government officials, issued a joint statement challenging the validity of President Donald Trump’s Feb. 15 declaration of a national emergency at the southern border.”

Legal Technology

• In New York NY, Hotspot Law launched “a new legal technology platform that allows for real-time free phone consultation booking between consumers and attorneys….designed to provide free and simple access to justice for everyone.”
• In San Francisco CA, the city’s district attorney announced that his office used algorithms developed by Code for America “to erase 8,000 marijuana convictions and reduce felony convictions to misdemeanours.”
• In Palo Alto CA, Stanford News profiled the work of the law school’s “Administering by Algorithm” policy lab, which explores the question of what happens when government agencies can’t explain how the algorithms that they use to make decisions work.
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition announced the creation of a task force dedicated to monitoring competition in U.S. technology markets, investigating any potential anticompetitive conduct in those markets, and taking enforcement actions when warranted.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• At the 40th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing issued a report on Access to justice for the right to housing suggesting that “the global housing crisis is rooted in a crisis in access to justice because without access to justice, housing is not properly recognized, understood or addressed as a human right.”
• In Toronto ON, at the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers conference, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada re-iterated his position that “lawyers [] have a responsibility to help solve the access-to-justice problem” by taking on pro bono work.
• In Oregon, The Register Guard ran an opinion column calling attention to the law pay of civil legal aid attorneys in the state, as the newspaper and state legislators discuss the underpaid status of public defenders–who the letter-writer notes are still better compensated than legal aid attorneys.

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In British Columbia, “[legal services l]awyers say they will [strike] April 1, potentially leaving clients and criminal defendants without representation and the courts in chaos, if the government doesn’t dramatically increase legal-aid funding.” Against this backdrop, the Editorial Board of the Vancouver Sun argued, in a letter written by the director of the Association of Legal Aid Lawyers, that “B.C. has an access-to-justice and legal aid crisis [that] can be traced back to years of cuts and underfunding in the legal-aid system,” and suggested that “the legal profession in B.C. generates more-than-sufficient revenue directly from the tax on legal fees to fund a[n adequate] legal-aid system.“
• In Travis County TX, local news provided another account of the ongoing dispute among members of the commission charged with improving indigent defense in the county.
• In Bayonne City NJ, the city council introduced a bill proposing to quadruple their public defender “user fee”, “add[ing] Bayonne to a long list of municipalities that hav eraised their fees since 2015, when the state started allowing municipalities to do so.“
• In Michigan, “[t]here should be a public defender’s office…by late summer [as the board of commissioners] agreed to accept $2,217,515 from the state to fund a public defender’s office [for Van Buren and Allegan Counties].” Meanwhile, “[t]he newly created public defender’s office in Shiawassee County is up and running[.]“
• In dissent from the Supreme Court’s opinion in Garza v. Idaho, Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, argued that:

The right to counsel is not an assurance of an error-free trial or even a reliable result. It ensures fairness in a single respect: permitting the accused to employ the services of an attorney. The structural protections provided in the Sixth Amendment certainly seek to promote reliable criminal proceedings, but there is no substantive right to a particular level of reliability. In assuming otherwise, our ever-growing right-to-counsel precedents directly conflict with the government’s legitimate interest in the finality of criminal judgments.

Garza v. Idaho, No. 17-1026, slip op. at 17 (U.S. 2019)

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Major news this week includes investigative reporting from Bloomberg revealing a surge in student-loan delinquencies, British Columbia’s decision to provide amnesty for student loan interest, and a vigorous debate in Canada over recent comments by the Chief Justice indicating his interest in exploring mandatory pro bono strategies. Also, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously to curtail civil forfeiture practices by state governments. And lots more besides! To see what I mean, read below.

See you around,
Sam

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Manitoba, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on how “[t]he influx of asylum seekers [has] disproportionately affected Manitoba [relative to other provinces]” in the past year.

Workplace Discrimination and Harassment

• In Oregon, “[t]wo law school Oregon [sic] legislative interns who worked in former Republican state Sen. Jeff Kruse’s office filed a lawsuit…detailing how they were sexually harassed in Kruse’s office. The lawsuit also claims legislative leaders knew of the harassment and failed to protect the interns.“

Nonprofit Management

• In Missouri, a state appeals court ruled that “[a] nonprofit organization’s sole employee in the state of Missouri is entitled to unemployment benefits…[a] ruling that departs from decades of state interpretation of the Missouri Employment Security Law.”
• In Nevada, “lawmakers [are considering a bill that] aims to authorize county commissioners to form a nonprofit corporation to “aid the county in providing certain governmental services.”
• Professors Kuehn & Joy of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law

Student Debt

• In British Columbia, “the provincial government has eliminated interest charges on all BC student loans effective immediately.”
• Using the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s quarterly household-debt report, Bloomberg News calculated that “[s]tudent-loan delinquencies surged last year, hitting consecutive records of $166.3 billion in the third quarter and $166.4 billion in the fourth.“
• In Colorado, the State Higher Education Executive Officers’ Association officially responded to “a letter [Sens. Jones, Warren, Harris, and Masto] produced regarding racial disparities in student debt and broader challenges faced by students of color in college and career training.“
• NonProfit Quarterly reacted to the recent audit released by the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General, which sharply criticized the Department’s oversight of student loan servicers.
• MarketWatch summarized “[w]here the 2020 [Presidential] candidates stand on student debt and college affordability.”
• In Pennsylvania, The Beaver County Times reported that U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, while speaking about a town hall “said the nation’s student debt is about the same as the tax breaks given to corporations and the wealthiest Americans last year by Republicans so it is a ‘solvable problem.’”

Electoral Reform

• In Connecticut, the Yale Law School Rule of Law Clinic and the NAACP survived a motion to dismiss in their ongoing lawsuit alleging that “Connecticut’s 2011 Redistricting Plan reflects neither electoral nor representational equality [because it] count[s] the bodies of incarcerated persons in a place they have not chosen to live, to the political benefit of the people who live near prisons.“

Legal Technology

• In an episode of the Lawyerist podcast, Judge Dillard of the Court of Appeals of Georgia discusses “how judges have mostly been inaccessible to the public and how quite a few judges are now going against the grain and taking residence on Twitter.“
• According to the Washington Post, “[t]he Federal Trade Commission and Facebook are negotiating over a multi-billion dollar fine that would settle the agency’s investigation into the social media giant’s privacy practices…the largest the agency has ever imposed on a technology company.“
• In Illinois, the National Law Review called attention to a recent State Supreme Court Decision (Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp.), establishing strict liability for violations of the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, holding that “when a private entity fails to comply with one of [the] requirements, that violation constitutes an invasion…sufficient to support the individual’s or customer’s statutory cause of action.” The National Law Review believes that “the court’s reasoning…focused heavily on the nature of biometric information, which unlike a social security number or password can’t be changed.“

Environmental Justice

• In Toledo, Ohio, “[v]oters…will be asked this month to decide whether Lake Erie, which supports the economies of four states, one Canadian province and the cities of Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo, has the legal right ‘to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.’“

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Canada, Chief Justice Wagner recently predicted in an interview that “you will see more and more law societies who will require that part of being a lawyer is also give some pro bono work.” Since his remarks earlier this month, a number of attorneys have provided arguments against the idea of “mandatory pro bono,” including statements this week from the President of the Canadian Bar Association.
• In Alberta, Legal Aid Alberta released its three-year strategic plan.
• In Alaska, Gov. Dunleavy proposed a budget for the 2020 fiscal year that would eliminate funding for the Alaska Legal Services Corporation, a move the ALSC estimates will force them to “turn away an additional 1,363 applicants for legal help, impacting 2,809 Alaskans.”
• In New York, “[t]wo-thirds of legal service providers…that offer free counseling on foreclosure prevention for struggling homeowners could be forced to stop offering that aid in April,” following Govenor Cuomo’s failure to including such funding in his amended executive budget proposal.
• Also in New York, “Hofstra University has launced a program to help pro se litigants with civil issues at the Eastern District of New York’s Central Islip courthouse.”
• In Detroit, Michigan, the State Bar of Michigan, the ACLU of Michigan, several Michigan law schools, Ford Motor company, and other prominent institutions announced a “Detroit Eviction Right to Counsel Summit” [to] be held March 12 and include local and national experts along with tenants facing evictions.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Bonneville County, Idaho, Chief Public Defender Crane reacted to “legislation under consideration [that] would limit public defenders to 210 felony cases, requiring counties with higher caseload averages to hire more attorneys,” saying that “the county’s public defense office would have to see if the state would volunteer funds to help counties cover the cost of hiring additional attorneys.“
• In Wisconsin, “Republicans in [the] state Assembly are supporting raising the pay for attorneys who represent poor defendants as the state faces a class-action lawsuit over the issue.“
• In Saginaw County, Michigan, the county “is creating a public defender’s office to comply with new state mandates to provide legal counsel for indigent people[, composed of] a director and eight attorneys.“
• In Travis County, Texas, the county’s Indigent Legal Services work group “has composed a draft letter indicating their intent to apply for a Texas Indigent Defense Commission grant in May, but the Commissioners Court is concerned that moving too fast could be a mistake.” (Key members of the work group departed earlier this month, as previously mentioned in this digest.)
• In Coweta County, Georgia, new data related by the District Attorney’s Office indicated that “felony caseloads…have jumped nearly 40 percent since 2015.” District Attorney Cranford “recently proposed the possibility of a circuit split for the five-county Coweta Judicial Circuit.“

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Louisiana, State Public Defender Dixon explained to a legislative subcommittee that a significant amount of the Louisiana Public Defender Fund is “spent propping up local public defenders who otherwise rely on ‘unstable and inadequate’ local sources like traffic tickets”–a strategy that has become complicated as “police in many jurisdictions aren’t writing as many tickets as they used to.”
• Also in Louisiana, “Orleans Parish Public Defender Laura Bixby on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the city of New Orleans for refusing to turn over records showing the locations of hundreds of crime cameras it has installed since 2017.” (See Bixby v. New Orleans.)
• In Philadelphia, NPR interviewed reform-minded District Attorney Krasner.
• In Santa Clara County, California, the District Attorney’s Office released a “Race and Prosecutions” report. According to The Mercury News, “[b]esides chronicling an ongoing over-representation of Latino and black residents in felony and misdemeanor cases, the [report] highlights how prosecutors are paying close attention to the county’s most crime-affected neighborhoods, and are being tested with experimental “race-blind” case evaluations.”
• In New York, the state’s intermediary court (Appellate Division) “ruled [that] footage from police body cameras should be subject to New York’s public disclosure laws.” (See In re Patrolmen’s Benevolent Ass’n. of the City of New York v. De Blasio)
• In Washington DC, the Supreme Court unanimously “ruled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause to the states.” (See Timbs v. Indiana)
  • In addition to the new precedent, court watchers remarked on how Justice Gorsuch agreed with Justice Thomas, who reached the same result as the majority but through the Privileges and Immunities Clause.
  • Others are circumspect of the ruling’s impact: “how much it will matter will depend on how the court applies it in the future. After all, the Eighth Amendment has applied to federal civil forfeitures for more than two decades and yet, during that period, ‘the federal government took in $36.6 billion in assets police seized from people on America’s roads and in its poorer neighborhoods, many of whom never were charged with a crime or shown to have drugs.“

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Student debt new continues to dominate this week, as the Department of Education’s Inspector General released an audit highly critical of the DoE’s oversight of student loan servicers and Congress introduced bipartisan bills in both houses proposing to allow employers to contribute funds tax-free toward employees’ student loans. (Commentary below.) There are also stories on legislative developments at the state level, mostly concerning states deliberations about whether or not to regulate student loan servicers. There are also some major items in Criminal Justice Reform, where the ACLU released a new report on prosecutorial transparency and New York’s The Legal Aid Society coined the phrase “knock and spit” policing.

See you around,
Sam

Legal Recruiting

• In Boston, MA “the Boston University School of Law OutLaw chapter — the law school’s LGBTQ+ student organization — organized a protest against the school for allowing JAG to participate in a networking event for students interested in public service…The BU Law Student Veteran’s Association also issued a statement in opposition to the trans ban and in support of those who chose to protest JAG on campus.“
• In Quebec, “[t]he legal aide office in Kuujjuaq, the administrative capital of the Inuit region of Nunavik, Quebec, will be temporarily shut down in March after an inability to recruit staff for vacant positions.”

Immigration, Asylum, & Citizenship

• In Portland, ME the Innovation Law Lab , sued the Trump administration over its policy of “send[ing] asylum-seekers to Mexico while they await their immigration cases.“
• In Mission, TX “[t]he nonprofit National Butterfly Center has asked a federal judge to stop border wall activity on its property…say[ing] heavy machinery has been driving through their property for a week, including a road grader accompanied by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle. Wright alleged that someone had cut the lock on a center fence and replaced it with a lock belonging to CBP.“

Student Debt

• In Washington, DC, the Department of Education’s Inspector General released an audit “find[ing] that officials who oversee student loans haven’t properly tracked problems and rarely penalize servicers. The office that manages student loans says it disagrees with the finding but is implementing the audit’s recommendations.” (More on this story from NPR.)
• Also in Washington DC, “[b]ipartisan companion bills introduced in the Senate and House on Wednesday seek to allow employers to contribute up to $5,250 tax-free to their employees’ student loans[.]“
• In Washington State, the Washington Student Achievement Council created the position of “Student Loan Advocate” : “a new position stemming from state legislation, passed in 2018, to improve consumer protections for students.“
• In Virginia, “[s]tudent loan servicers in Virginia will still not be licensed after a House of Delegates committee killed a bill Tuesday to regulate the companies.“
• In New Mexico, “the [state] House Commerce and Economic Development Committee passed a bill to enact a ‘Student Loan Bill of Rights’ to protect student loan borrowers from exploitation.“
• In Connecticut, “lawmakers are looking at ways to help millennials with crucial student loan debt. Proposals being examined include free tuition and loan forgiveness programs.“
• In Colorado, a state lawmaker has introduced a bill “that would require student loan service providers [to] be licensed [and] would create an ombudsman in the Attorney General’s Office.“
• In Maine, legislators discussed their recently-filed bill that aims to introduce a referendum in an upcoming election asking voters,
  “Do you favor a $250,000,000 bond issue to provide funds for payment of student loan debt of individuals who agree to work and reside in Maine for five years and for reimbursement of employers that make student loan repayments on behalf of such individuals?”
• CNBC made a list of recent creative proposals for tackling student debt. Many of them have been mentioned in prior editions of this Digest, but SponsorChange.org and the Shared Harvest Fund were news to me.

Legal Technology

• In Washington, DC the Government Accountability Office published a report on internet privacy suggesting that “comprehensive Internet privacy legislation” is needed to protect consumers. (Commentary available from the Washington Post.)
• Also in Washington DC, “President Trump signed an executive order…direct[ing] the federal government to prioritize research and development of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, under coordination through the National Science and Technology Council Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.” Legal technology experts are already speculating that this development “could signal technology becoming more prevalent in the legal industry.“
• In San Francisco, CA, The SF Chronicle discussed how California’s data privacy law “has strongly motivated members of Congress to create a federal privacy protection regime.“
• In Albany, NY Albany Law School students “released a web-platform…to help lawyers efficiently serve clients [] attempting to gain nonprofit status in New York State.“

Environmental Justice

• In Minnesota, “the state’s largest Indian tribe, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, has passed a tribal law granting wild rice its own enforceable legal rights[,] includ[ing] the rights to ‘flourish, regenerate, and evolve.’ A similar law has been adopted by the 1855 Treaty Authority, a tribal group representing beneficiaries of an 1855 land pact the Chippewa tribes made with the U.S. government.“

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Washington, DC the LSC announced that it is “forming an Emerging Leaders Council to raise public awareness of the current crisis in legal aid and the importance of ensuring access to justice for all Americans.“
• The New York Times published an interview with Professor Rebecca Sandefur discussing her research on access to justice. Among other things, Professor Sandefur observes that “[a]cross a number of common justice problems….nonlawyer advocates and unrepresented lay people have been observed to perform as well or better than lawyers.” (For example, social workers have an excellent record in eviction cases in New York.)

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Wisconsin, WPR released an expose on “what’s behind the state’s low public defender pay rate, and how it’s impacting clients who can’t afford a lawyer.“
• In Travis County, TX, “the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association’s board voted unanimously at a special meeting…to withdraw from [a work group hoping to create a public defenders office for the county].“
• In Utah, a report from the Utah Indigent Defense Commission concluded that “[a]n influx of state funding to bolster county public defenders” under a recently-developed statewide funding scheme (replacing Utah’s earlier system in which individual counties funded their own programs) has transformed public defenders’ work: “attorneys have more time to spend with clients and defendants aren’t rushed into taking plea deals as often.” (As described in the Daily Herald.)
• In Montana, “[l]eaders with Montana’s Office of the State Public Defender told lawmakers Friday that they’re expecting higher caseloads in the coming years – and that could lead to higher costs.“
• In Minnesota, the Public News Service previewed upcoming contract negotiations between Public Defenders and the Board of Public Defense: “the contract negotiations won’t be simply about pay but rather improving and preserving the constitutional rights of those that can’t afford an attorney. Rights are being violated when staffing is at a low level. The public defender’s office has 68% of the attorney staff and 57% of the support staff that state and national standards say they should have.“
• In Indiana, “[t]he Public Defender Commission is pushing for lawmakers to pass two bills that would help fund and staff public defender offices statewide.“
• In San Francisco, CA “[l]egislation that would ensure all youth in San Francisco have access to legal counsel and a parent or responsible adult prior to a police interrogation cleared a Board of Supervisors committee on Monday.“

Criminal Justice Reform

• The ACLU released “Unlocking the Black Box,” a report finding that “the ‘few public statistics on prosecutorial decision making often only collect information at the broadest level,’ which makes it ‘nearly impossible to uncover individual abuses, systemic discrimination, or patterns that do not align with office policies.’” (As glossed by Reason.com)
• In New York, NY Allison Lewis of the Legal Aid Society reported that “the same law enforcement playbook that brought you stop-and-frisk [provides] the latest form of racial profiling and policing: the knock-and-spit. We’ve learned that NYPD officers are willing to knock on doors to take New Yorkers’ DNA, whether by “consent” or at the precinct by offering people a cigarette or drink to collect their spit. And once again, as the city’s primary public defenders, we see this latest law enforcement sweep is happening mainly to New Yorkers of color.”
• In Tampa, FL, in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, the President of the ABA asserted that “[n]o one should be jailed just because they can’t afford bail, fines, or fees.”
• In Vermont, “representatives from Vermont Legal Aid and the Attorney General’s Office…proposed a package of reforms that would allow more Vermonters with criminal histories to clear their records.“
• In San Francisco, CA “[i]n a direct challenge to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s position on the state’s new police transparency law,  a Bay Area-based First Amendment group sued the state Justice Department on Thursday over its refusal to release officer misconduct and use-of-force records.”
• In Honolulu, HI “[i]n an extraordinary move, the state attorney general on Tuesday filed a petition with the Hawaii Supreme Court calling for the ‘immediate suspension’ of Honolulu’s embattled city prosecutor [as his] refusal to step aside ― despite being the target of a federal public corruption investigation ― ‘has subjected every case being handled by the Honolulu Department of Prosecuting Attorney to potential ethical and legal challenges.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! This week’s news is defined by a dizzying array of responses to the issue of growing student debt from all levels of government as well as from private institutional actors. There are also a number of stories concerning the positive effects of legal technology and landlord-tenant-court right-to-counsel policies on Access to Justice. Also, Toronto has a fixed-fee legal cafe now!

See you around,
Sam

Professional Development

• According to NYNmedia.com, “[a] new report examines the barriers faced by women of color in the nonprofit sector. About 4,000 nonprofit professionals took part in the 40-page study, which was conducted by Ofronama Biu, senior research associate at Building Movement Project. She found that women of color are paid less than their male and white counterparts [and t]he social environments of nonprofits help explain why.”
• At Harvard, “[t]hirty-eight [law school] student groups signed an open letter calling on the school to continue its support of a pilot federal clerk hiring program [and] refrain from trying to work around its restrictions on hiring clerks before a certain point in their law school career.“
• The Indiana University Maurer School of Law and the Indiana Supreme Court “announced a pilot program in which up to five 1L students committed to public service with work with judges through the state [in order to] introduce Maurer students to different facets of rural and smaller-city practice.“

Student Loans & Debt

• In Washington State, “Democrats are pushing to fund a program that would give Washington high school graduates access to state student loans at a one percent interest rate. A program was created in 2009 to issue low-interest educational loans, but the program was never funded.”
• In Texas, a state legislator proposed a bill that “would change a state statute that can bar teachers, nurses and other professional license holders from working if they fall behind on their student loan payments.“
• In Washington, DC, “U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Scott Peters (D-Calif.) on Thursday reintroduced the Employer Participation in Repayment Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would allow companies to annually provide $5,250 in tax-free student debt relief for workers. Existing legislation allows companies to offer up to $5,250 in tax-free tuition reimbursement, but that incentive has not been in place for student loan repayment benefits.“
• Also in Washington, DC, “Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) cosponsored legislation to require that the annual percentage rates (APRs) for federal student loans are disclosed, giving Americans better information related to the associated costs of higher education.“
  • Meanwhile, in Iowa a state senator introduced a resolution “advocat[ing] limits on loan interest rates from the U.S. Education Department.“
• Also also in Washington, DC, “Senator Lamar Alexander…the chair of the Senate[] Committee…which oversees higher education[] proposed automatically withholding a borrower’s monthly student-loan payment from their paycheck, similar to the system already used for federal payroll taxes[,] in a speech outlining his priorities for reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.” (More coverage available here and here.)
• Again also in Washington, DC, “the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), a division of HHS, launched a new student loan repayment program that offers up to $75,000 to qualified health care professionals for three years of full-time service at an approved substance use disorder site, particularly in ‘health professional shortage areas.’“
• In Pennsylvania, state legislators “introduced a bill…that would bring legal cannabis to [Pennsylvania,] estimat[ing] that a regulated cannabis market could generate $580 million dollars in taxes [and proposing] to use half of that money to reduce student loan debt[.]“
• MarketWatch called attention to a “Voices of Despair,” a 2018 report from the National Consumer Law Center arguing that “[t]he government’s policy of seizing federal student loan borrowers’ EITC runs counter to almost every goal Congress set for the EITC and its student loan programs.”
• Looking at the way circuit courts are splitting on the question of whether federal student loan laws pre-empt state authorities, Professor Rubenstein of Washburn University School of Law predicted that “these cases [are] prime candidates for Supreme Court review in the foreseeable future” in an interview with MarketWatch.
• Dean Rodriguez of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law discussed his thoughts on “how law schools should collectively work to lessen the cost [of law school] and how students should be educated on debt management” in a Legal Talk Network podcast.
• In Portland, Maine, “[i]nsurance provider Unum has started a new program [under which] employees can use paid time off that they carry over to pay part of their student debt.“
• In a blog post on lawyers.com, a New York State tax attorney examined the case for student loan debt amnesty.
• CollegeHumor released Total Forgiveness, a show in which “two CollegeHumor personalities[] dare each other to complete increasingly challenging tasks–interviewing a student-loan expert while leeches roam your body or laying in a coffin for an extended period–in exchange for money from their employer to help pay off their student loans.“

Legal Technology

• LegalTech News reported that “Microsoft has completed work on the artificial intelligence powering the Legal Navigator, which could change the way that people with limited resources gain access to legal aid.”
• In Maryland, “[e]xpanded access to legal services was among the successes touted by Maryland Court of Appeals Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera in Wednesday’s State of the Judiciary speech…The state government branch has opened five self-help centers across the state. Lawyers working in the self-help center at the Frederick County Courthouse have assisted hundreds of people, primarily with domestic cases, since it opened in 2018. The judiciary also now operates services such as phone lines and online chat platforms.“
• In Akron, Ohio, Community Legal Aid announced that “[i]n the first three months since [upgrading its online application system] online intakes have tripled.“
• In the New York Law Journal, ethics and intellectual property attorney co-authors argued that “lawyers and law firms [should] treat information security and data privacy awareness and diligence as key components of their practice management–on an even footing with other critical issues such as conflicts of interest, confidentiality and privilege.“
• “Cisco has joined Apple in calling for a U.S. version of the European General Data Protection regulation, underlining the divisions among big technology companies over how to tackle privacy concerns.“
• In an open letter on Medium.com, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the ACLU, and 26 other technology & human rights organizations criticized the House of Representatives’ Democratic Caucus proposal for border security and its reliance on “various invasive surveillance technologies that would intrude on the liberties of travelers, immigrants, and people who live near the border.”
• “Amazon unveiled new proposed guidelines…for any national legislation regulating facial recognition technology following months of scrutiny over Rekognition, the tech giant’s facial recognition software,” as reported in The Hill.
  • Meanwhile, in San Francisco, CA a member of the Board of Supervisors has proposed “new requirements for police to obtain approach from the city’s Board of Supervisors before purchasing new surveillance technology [and] ban[ning] the use of automated facial recognition technology outright.“
  • Also this week, “[a] top Microsoft executive…said that stopping government agencies from using facial recognition software would be ‘cruel in its humanitarian effect,’ … referenc[ing] the fact that the National Human Genome Research Institute is using facial recognition to improve the diagnosis of DiGeorge syndrome.“

Access to Justice – Civil

• In North Dakota, “A shortage of lawyers…could be hindering people’s access to justice. Attorney job listings have increased 300 percent in the past year, according to Job Service North Dakota.”
• In Indiana, “a team of lawyers wants to force three [] counties to provide lawyers to all youth involved with the child welfare system.“
• In British Columbia, “[L]aw Society of British Columbia bencher and Access Pro Bono executive director Jamie Maclaren [] submitted his report on how to best delivery legal aid services to Attorney General David Eby.“
• In Alberta, “Legal Aid Alberta (LAA) [] released a three-year strategic plan that highlights…streamlining client service.“
• In San Bernardino County, CA, “the Superior Court…announced the official launch of the Tenant/Landlord Assistance Project.”
  • Meanwhile, in New York, NY, “[t]he de Blasio administration is crediting its program to provide free lawyers to low-income tenants for helping reduce New York City’s overall eviction rate[, which] dropped by 14 percent in 2018[.]“
• In Montana, “Republicans on a House panel…voted to kill a measure that would create a $900,000-a-year fund to aid low-income Montanans with civil legal disputes.“
• In Connecticut, a state senate bill “would give undocumented immigrant children access to an attorney.“
• In Wisconsin, the state bar profiled the work of April Faith-Slaker, associate director of research innovations at Harvard Law School’s Access to Justice Lab (A2J Lab), where she conducts work with the “hope [that] the legal profession will start embracing rigorous empiral research to inform changes in access to justice and other areas.“
• In Toronto, Canadian Lawyer Magazine profiled Lawyers & Lattes, “a new legal cafe [where] clients can order rental agreements, family trusts, employment contracts and all sorts of coffee off menus that clearly indicate each service’s price. The café also hosts free legal information sessions, one pro-bono Saturday a month and will soon introduce an LSAT prep course.“
• In Canda

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Indiana, “[l]eaders of state and national criminal justice organizations are declaring their support for the Indiana Public Defender Commission’s reform initiative, which the commission is presenting to the Indiana General Assembly this year in an effort to secure additional funds to expand and improve indigent defense services statewide.“
• In Wisconsin, “[t]he number of private attorneys willing to take on poor people’s cases is dwindling, and legal experts warn[ed] that Wisconsin’s inability to provide indigent defendants with representation is a serious problem in the state’s criminal justice system.“
• The New York Times vividly portrayed the crushing caseloads under which Louisiana public defenders struggle in an infographic-driven story.
  • For more on this story, see Louisiana local TV news and a local opinion piece arguing that “trip[ing the state’s] annual appropriation…would essentially enable some local defender offices to evade responsibility for better funding their operations.“

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Los Angeles, CA, “officials agreed Thursday to drop all criminal charges against one of the city’s most visible Black Lives Matter organizers as part of a negotiated arrangement after hundreds of activists filed petitions, filled courtrooms and led rallies in recent weeks accusing prosecutors and police of using the charges to silence a critical voice. “
• In Philadelphia, PA, “the District Attorney’s office announced major reforms to the juvenile justice system…hop[ing] to reduce the number further by declining to file charges in low-level cases and building up support services in the community.“
  • In related news, “student organizers of a Yale Law School conference have rescinded their invitation for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to serve as keynote speaker, citing his decision to appeal a judge’s ruling in favor of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.“
• In Baltimore, MD, “Baltimore’s top prosecutor has filed a rarely used legal petition intended to vacate 3,778 convictions for possession of marijuana, arguing an extraordinary legal strategy is necessary to ‘right an extraordinary wrong.’“
• In Nevada, the state attorney general “nam[ed] a former Washoe County public defender as a top legal adviser.“

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Lots of news this week, most of which is focused on the ongoing federal government shutdown. The Administrative Office of the Courts is running out of funding at the end of this month; once it does some Federal Public Defenders are worried that arguing cases while furloughed will have an asymetric effect burdening defense attorneys more than prosecutors (read about it below).

See you around,
Sam

Federal Government Shutdown

• The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced it has enough reserves to pay district clerks, court reporters, federal public defenders, and other employees their January salaries but in February they will have to work without pay. According to United Press International, “[s]ome civil cases have been put on hold in some districts during the shutdown. But criminal cases will continue to appear on judges’ dockets.“
  • Meanwhile, in Boston, MA federal public defenders are anxious about their ability to work successfully without any budget: “[i]t is ceratinly harder to mount a strong defense when, for example, the expert witnesses you want to hire can’t count on getting paid.“
  • The New York Times has additional coverage.
• The FBI Agents Association released “Voices from the Field: FBI Agent Accounts of the Real Consequences of the Government Shutdown.“
• The New York State Board of Bar Examiners offered to allow registrants for the DC Bar Exam unable to sit for their credentials because of the shutdown a seat in New York.
• In Connecticut, the chairman of the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance warned that nonprofit funding from the USDA and HUD will run out at the end of this month. “Those of us who get funding through those agencies are definitely at risk.“
  • Meanwhile, in Georgia, AJC.com reports that the shutdown is already complicating services for non-profits that work with USDA and HUD, as “key contacts…aren’t responding to calls or emails,” leaving legal aid attorneys unable to secure paperwork necessary to assist their clients.
• In several locations, local non-profits and governments are mobilizing to assist furloughed federal workers:
  • In New York State, “[t]he Food Bank of Western New York has set up special food distribution dates and locations for federal government employees furloughed or working without compensation.“
  • In Michigan, “[t]he Oakland County Board of Commissioners are joining with numerous regional non-profits in an effort to assist thousands of federal workers impacted by the government shutdown.“
  • In Ohio, a state legislator announced plans to introduce legislation tapping the state’s rainy-day fund in the event the shutdown disrupts programs “such as food stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program); cash assistance to families with children; and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program.“
  • In Virginia, the Northern Virginia Family Service “has received a grant from the United Way of the National Capital Area specifically to provide aid to federal workers and other people affected by the ongoing shutdown.“
  • In Florida, “Jacksonville-area groups and restaurants have come together to help those hit the hardest by the partial government shutdown.“
  • “Three Democratic governors urged the Labor Department to clarify whether their states may give unemployment benefits to the roughly 450,000 “essential” federal employees who must report for work without pay during the government shutdown.“
  • GoFundMe launched the “Government Shutdown Direct Relief Fund” “to help federal workers impacted by the ongoing shutdown.“
• Nasdaq.com profiled the ways in which schools that serve federal workers are attempting to compensate as their federally-employed students struggle without paychecks.
• Pacific Standard discussed the repercussions of Congress’ failure to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.
• U.S. News provided some proactive steps for furloughed employees with student loans.

Student Debt

• Forbes.com reported on private employers’ benefits schemes under which employees who make student loan payments can receive matching funds from their employers into their 401(k) account.
• In New York State, Governor Cuomo “again advanced controversial legislation that would establish a state licensing regime for student loan servicers.“
• Navient Corp. announced plans to originate private student loans to borrowers still in school, bringing it into direct competition with Sallie Mae.
• Senators and Presidential contenders Harris and Gillibrand announced support for allowing student debtholders to refinance their loans at a lower interest rate.
• In Maryland, Governor Hogan announced the release of the Student Debt Relief Act of 2019, “which will reportedly allow Marylanders to deduct 100 percent of their student loans from their state income tax.“

Legal Technology

• MIT Technology Review covered the recent “Data for Black Lives” conference.

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• The Southern Poverty Law Center Legal Aid Justice Center, and Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox filed a lawsuit demanding the government release detained children who have a sponsor in the US. “At issue is…a leaked government memo that revealed the motivation of policies like ‘zero tolerance’ and information sharing, [sic] was to deter migrants.“

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Indiana, the state Public Defender Commission presented their two-year budget to the state House Ways & Means Committee, asking for more than $15 million in additional funding.
  • Also in Indiana, the General Assembly took a “first step toward allowing counties to create regional public defenders’ offices, a change that has been championed as a means of reducing public defender caseloads and eliminating the appearance of judicial impropriety when appointing indigent defense.“
• In Louisiana, a state judge “advanced a class-action lawsuit alleging the state violates poor defendants’ constitutional rights, setting up for trial a case that could upend Louisiana’s struggling public defense system.“
• In Michigan, Manistee and Benzie counties “are working together to create a regional indigent public defender’s office, which is a component of statewide regulations aimed to improve the Michigan indigent defense system.“

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Arizona, an opinion piece in the AZ Capitol Times criticized a recent Arizona Supreme Court decision imposing increased financial penalties on litigants who refuse offers to settle and subsequently lose their cases: “The rule was intended to encourage people to compromise whenever possible in cases involving traffic accidents, breaches of contract, or other arguments over money or property. But it also applies to public-interest lawsuits against the government, in which citizens simply ask courts to decide important legal questions.“
• In New Mexico, State Supreme Court Chief Justice Nakamura announced that the state’s justice system is “no longer operating in a continual state of crisis. This small bit of breathing room has given court leaders an opportunity to pause, reflect and consider the future of our judicial branch.“

Legal Technology

• In Colorado, Attorney General Weisner “moved earlier this month to modernize his office with the hiring of its first-ever chief innovation officer…tasked with introducing new technological solutions the state’s top law-enforcement office can use in prosecuting its cases.“

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! What a couple of weeks it has been. You can read all about them below, but in particular there is a lot of news about the ongoing government shutdown and student debt. In particular, you will find information below about how the shutdown may complicate student loan payments, the Department of Education’s advice for furloughed student debtholders, and an opportunity for free legal assistance to furloughed workers from the Indianapolis Bar. (If anyone knows of similar offers of similar opportunities elsewhere, please contact psjd@nalp.org and help us get the word out.)

One more thing: according to the ABA, today is the last day the U.S. Administrative Office of the Courts will be able to sustain paid operations.

See you around,
–Sam

Student Debt

• MarketWatch published advice for borrowers about potential “snags” they might encounter while paying student loans during the government shutdown.
  • Meanwhile, Teen Vogue reported on how the shutdown is stalling financial aid applications for students seeking federal loans.
• In Washington DC, US Rep. Elissa Slotkin wrote Secretary DeVos to urge her to “proactively communicate with borrowers the available options to refinance given the extenuating circumstances, and, where possible, extend special dispensation to federal employees who may not otherwise meet the criteria for refinancing.”
  • Meanwhile, the US Department of Education released this advice for federal employees managing their student loans during the shutdown.
• GovExec.com reported that “[a]fter the [CFPB] declined for the first time to release an annual ombudsman’s report on student complains about loan servicing,” LendEDU released its own version, using the CFPB’s prior methodology.
• The US Federal Reserve released a report entitled Can Student Loan Debt Explain Low Homeownership Rates for Young Adults? in which the authors “estimate that roughly 20 percent of the decline in homeownership among young adults can be attributed to their increased student loan debts since 2005.” (The report was covered in publications such as The Hill and CNBC.)
• The same US Federal Reserve publication included an article on “Rural Brain Drain” concluding that “[i]ndividuals with student loan debt are less likely to remain in rural araes than those without it,” and therefore “[w]ith students borrowing at higher rates and in larger amounts to pursue postsecondary education, student loan debt may play an increased role in the dynamics of urban-rural migration.”
  • Meanwhile, in Maine, the Bangor Daily News observed that “[t]oo often, the choice between staying in Maine and leaving for a job that will pay enough to cover student loan bills finds Maine on the losing side,” in an opinion piece arguing that “Maine lawmakers must again consider student debt relief.”
• Experian released a study reporting that “[s]tudent loan debt in the U.S. more than doubled in the past 10 years”, with the average per capita debt carried by borrowers having increased by 20% since 2015. “[T]he good news,” Experian says, “is that borrowers seem to be on the right track when making their monthly payments.”
  • Meanwhile, Fortune reported on a new survey by CreditCards.com finding that “1 in 5 millennials expect they’ll die in debt.”
• The LA Times reported that “[t]he Society for Human Resource Management…said more companies are offering to help recruits with student loans–but the value of the perk varies widely.“
• In Washington DC, MarketWatch reported that “[t]he US Department of Education is about to pilot test a new debit card for students who get federal student loans.” While the program could save students the risk of overdrafts and potentially other banking fees, the article’s author warns that “the acquisition of the students financial behavior data” may be very valuable for issuing banks, while providing small efficiencies that will not address the overall loan crisis.
  • Meanwhile, a poll by Politico and Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that “[r]oughly 87% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans said it would be ‘extremely important’ for Congress to find ways to decrease student debt.”
• The New York Times profiled Lambda School, an online learning start-up founded in 2017 that is experimenting with “Income Share Agreements” — a financial structure under which “students go to school for free and are required to pay back a percentage of their income after graduation, but only if they get a job with a good salary.“

Government Shutdown

• The Washington Post spoke with the Partnership for Public Service about the federal shutdown’s potential to instigate a “federal brain drain”…with drags on recruitment.“
  • NB: the Partnership for Public Service is maintaining its own running updates on the shutdown.
  • Meanwhile, Rachel Pauley, who oversees D.C. externships for Columbia Law School, spoke with the New York Law Journal on the effect the shutdown is having on law students with initial interest in government service.
• In Indianapolis, IN, “[f]urloughed workers in the Indianapolis area will have the opportunity to speak directly with an attorney on landlord/tenant, bankruptcy, mortgage, debtors rights and child support issues arising as a result of the shutdown at a special free legal advice program sponsored by the Indianapolis Bar Association on Tuesday, January 22 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.” If readers are aware of similar initiatives in their respective area, please write to psjd@nalp.org and help us get the word out!
• New York Magazine profiled the various tasks for which newly “essentialized” federal employees have been asked to return to work over the last several days, arguing that “the administration [is turning] furlough plans into Swiss cheese at the behest of lobbyists and Republican pols.“
  • In related news, Judge Randolph of the D.C. Circuit dissented from a decision denying a motion from government attorneys in Air Transport Ass’n of America v. FAA, arguing that “[t]he majority’s order in effect directs a government attorney to perform work unrelated to any ’emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property’ and not otherwise ‘authorized by law’ in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act. 31 U.S.C. s.1342.” Judge Randolph reviewed a recent decision to grant the government an extended briefing schedule in another case and concluded that “our circuit has not settled upon any principled way of deciding these stay motions.”
• NBC News provided a brief summary of federal workers’ rights when forced to work without pay.
• Various areas of the country are reporting on the challenges nonprofits have begun to face during the shutdown.
  • In Utah, the CEO of the Utah Nonprofits Association is finding that “a lack of cash has some organizations in limbo,” as reported by local radio.
  • In Ohio, “[f]ive groups that represent advocate [sic] agencies across Ohio sent a letter to [Ohio’s senators] expressing concerns about the effect the shutdown is having on the agencies,” as reported by Ohio.com.
• Finally, the ABA Journal reported that “the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts [is] working toward a goal of sustaining paid operations through Jan. 18.” After today, “[c]ourts will continue operating, but not at full steam.“

Legal Technology

• The ACLU led “[a] coalition of over 85 racial justice, faith, and civil, human, and immigrants’ rights groups” in sending letters to Microsoft, Amazon, and Google “demanding the companies commit not to sell face surveillance technology to the government.”
  • Meanwhile, a group of Amazon shareholders filed a resolution they hope the company will consider at their annual meeting in May, which would block Amazon from selling facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies, as reported by USNews.
• The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, released a report recommending that “[f]ederal privacy legislation should rescind existing privacy laws, such as GLBA, FERPA, HIPAA, COPPA, and others, and have all sectors and functions under one unified privacy regulation, with differences between them based on the sensitivity of the data and the degree of consumer choice in providing the data.“
• In Oakland, CA, a federal magistrate judge ruled that “the Fifth Amendment’s protections against self-incrimination extend to phones equipped by biometric locks,” as reported by Reason.com.
• MuckRock released information collected in a joint project with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, crowdsourcing their efforts to study how law enforcement agencies are gathering and sharing Automated Licence Plate Recognition Technology.
• In Iowa, the state Supreme Court’s Chief Justice delivered a “Condition of the Judiciary” address in which he announced “several new initiatives where technology can be used as a tool to speed up [court] process and increase access [to justice], especially to rural Iowa,” as reported by local television.

Election Law

• In Washington State, the State Supreme Court upheld a ruling that pro bono legal services creating ballot propositions and sample municipal ordinances were campaign contributions subject to election law reporting requirements, as reported by LegalNewsLine.

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Canada, The Lawyers Daily spoke with an assistant professor at Schulich School of Law who is using readability analysis to assert that the federal Income Tax Act is so indecipherable it presents and access-to-justice challenge.
• In Vermont, Vermont Legal Aid released a report finding that eviction rates in the state could be cut in half if the state puts aside about $800,000 for rental support–a policy which “could save the state money in the long run”, according to local television news.

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Wisconsin, the StarTribune reported that “a group of defendants…is suing over funding and staffing problems in the state Public Defender’s Office[.]” The newspaper notes that “[s]tate officials say Wisconsin’s low compensation rate for private attorneys has contributed to the shortage of lawyers willing to represent [indigent defendants].”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public–and Happy New Year! It’s been awhile, so there’s plenty of news to bring you all up-to-speed with. I’ll jump right into it, beginning with a new blog post aggregating various responses to the featured piece from the December 21 digest (a critique of law school’s role in our democracy by Prof. Moyn of Yale Law).

Best wishes for 2019!
Sam

Immigration, Asylum, and Citizenship

• Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that “asylum-seekers presenting themselves at the southern border will be returned to Mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings, a process that often takes several years.”
• CNN reported on how the federal government shutdown is interfering with the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. The Washington Post ran a similar story.
• In Shelby County, TN, the County Attorney announced publicly his conclusion that a new state law requiring local authorities to obey federal requests to hold immigrants until federal agents can arrive does not apply to the county.
• In Minnesota, incoming Attorney General Keith Ellison named Josh Keller, Executive Director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, as his Chief Deputy Attorney General.
• The San Diego Tribune reported that “with as few as eight remaining eligible children moving toward possible reunification, the focus of [the family reunification effort] has shifted to restoring the rights of the migrants and to preventing such a crisis from happening again.”
• In San Francisco, CA, local public radio profiled the city’s Immigration Defense Unit, established last year to represent people threatened with deportation.
• In New York, Governor Cuomo announced his administration will “expand[] its first-in-the-nation legal defense project for immigrants to include social and health care services for families and rapid response to raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
  • Also in New York, the State Office for New Americans hired 20 full-time immigration attorneys to offer free legal services to immigrants.
• In Portland, ME, CentralMaine.com reported that as “the city and state are among the few that offer shelter and financial assistance to [] immigrants while their asylum cases are being processed…the arrival of so many asylum seekers has overwhelmed local services, including the city’s emergency shelter for homeless families.”

Government Hiring

• The Hill reported that new congressional representatives are facing difficulties setting up their offices–and hiring staff–while taking office during the federal government shutdown.
• Meanwhile, Newsweek reported that “Democrats are on a hiring spree for lawyers to help investigate Donald Trump in 2019.”
• In British Columbia, the Province Attorney General invited all law students in the province to visit his office.

Student Debt

• Forbes.com picked up the story that 99.5% of applicants to-date have been rejected by the student loan forgiveness program, amplifying the issue (already mentioned in previous editions of this digest). (Forbes also predicted that “the future of student loan forgiveness may change [in 2019].”) USA Today ran a similar story.
• Senators Doug Jones, Catherine Cortez-Masto, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren “submitted a letter to more than 100 stakeholders around the nation requesting feedback that can advance policies for student borrowers of color and work to make higher education more equitable.”
• In an opinion column, the Washington Examiner reported on research suggesting that “58 percent of independents and 47 percent of Republicans ‘strongly agree’ that student loan debt levels are at ‘crisis’ magnitudes,” urging Republican lawmakers to allow “[a]n employee signing up for a new 401(k) plan at work [to direct] his employer match…to his student loan until it’s paid off.” This idea is similar to–yet differences in crucial ways from–legislation recently proposed by Senator Wyden (mentioned in a prior edition of this digest), which would allow employers to make matching contributions to employee retirement accounts as employees paid off their student debt.
• Inequality.org profiled the “grassroots organizations [] pushing for sweeping change [concerning student debt] on a national level.”

Legal Technology

• Congress passed the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, which technology groups say will “ensure that the federal government releases valuable data sets, follows best practices in data management and commits to making data available to the public in a non-proprietary and electronic format.”
• Industry commentators predicted that “it’s likely that a Democratic-led House will reinvigorate a push for a federal data privacy regime. But it’s unlikely that such a big piece of legislation will have an easy path through Congress.”
• In Pennsylvania, legal groups launched mycleanslatepa.com — a website that aims “to help people figure out if they are entitled to get their criminal records sealed under [a] new law [that took effect in late December].”
• According to an online survey by the Harris Poll, “[j]ust over two-thirds of Americans…state they would definitely use online legal services to save money.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• The American Board of Trial Advocates adopted a resolution supporting the work of the Legal Services Corporation.
• In Newark, NJ, the City Counsel approved a right-to-counsel law to ensure low-income tenants facing evictions have free legal representation, making Newark the latest city to join the right-to-counsel-for-evictions movement (mentioned in prior editions of this digest).
• In Minneapolis, MN, the Volunteer Lawyers Network published a study tracking more than 300 eviction cases finding that 96% of “fully represented” tenants won or settled their cases, while only 6% of tenants without lawyers left housing court with a clear eviction record.
• In Ontario, The Agenda with Steve Paikin published a video feature discussing a recent report from the Province’s auditor general “rais[ing] several concerns about how a half-billion dollars in legal aid funding is deployed in [the] province.”
• In Iowa, the Vice Chair of the Iowa Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission gave an interview to the Des Moines Register in which she discussed

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Utah, Governor Herbert proposed expanding the state’s public defender system budget more than fourfold— move the San Francisco Chronicle observes “comes after the state was sharply criticized in a 2015 report by the Sixth Amendment Center [as] one of just two states that left public-defender funding entirely up to local governments.”
• In Oakland County, MI, “[c]ounty officials have taken the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission to court, arguing that the county needs more money to hire additional staff [and] seeking a court order that says they don’t have to comply with the state regulations until the county receives a grant to cover the cost.” (The work of the Indigent Defense Commission to reform Michigan’s indigent defense system has been mentioned extensively in previous editions of this digest.)
  • Meanwhile, in Livingston County, MI, the Indigent Defense Commission’s new standards translated into a 25% pay raise for six of seven public defenders.
• In Faulkner County, AR, Arkansas Online reported that “the Faulkner County Quorum Court has diverted more than $350,000 in restricted funds from the 20th Judicial Circuit public defender’s office to other programs. The prosecuting attorney’s office, which got part of the money, has agreed to return $23,500, but the Quorum Court has declined to reimburse any of the remaining money. That refusal leaves the public defender’s office without enough money to hire an investigator or a legal secretary to assist part-time defenders[.]”
• In Louisiana, State Public Defender Jay Dixon “told legislators some of the state’s public defender districts are at risk of becoming insolvent in a year or two if the state doesn’t provide more funding.”
• In St. Louis County, MO, the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals referred a case to the State Supreme Court that challenges structural reforms to the state’s public defender system, including a maximum caseload for individual defenders and a directive to focus attorney resources on defendants languishing in jail.
• In Washington County, NY, the County Public Defender reported that based on end-of-year statistics his office would be in compliance with new caseload standards imposed as part of a court settlement devised in 2014 which came into effect in the last six months of 2018.

Criminal Justice Reform

• The Associated Press reported about how “at least eight new reform-minded prosecutors will take office in cities around the country after winning their local elections by promising to be more compassionate toward drug addicts and more evenhanded in the treatment of minorities.”
• In St. Louis, MO, incoming District Attorney Wesley Bell announced his office “will no longer prosecute marijuana possession cases, among other changes…Bell wants to change the cash bail system, opposes the death penalty and pledged to hold police officers accountable if they step out of line.” The new district attorney has also fired some staff and suspended others pending termination hearings.
• In Dallas, TX, incoming District Attorney John Creuzot told reporters that his office may not prosecute “first-time marijuana offenders and simple criminal trespass [cases], ” asking his office to “join with me in another era of criminal justice reform.”
• In Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun Counties, VA, “liberal challengers are taking on prosecutors whose views they see as retrograde and excessively punitive.”
• In the Yukon, the Yukon Legal Services Society applauded the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision that “imposing mandatory victim fine surcharges on offenders is unconstitutional.”
• In Baltimore, MD, the public defender’s office called for an investigation into the Baltimore Police Department’s alleged “widespread practice of wrongly expunging internal affairs files of officers accused of misconduct.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! I hope you all have a chance to take a break from things in the near future, but in the meantime, some news. One big story is featured immediately below. For the other, check out the “Student Loans” section, where a new Senate bill aims to make it easier for debtholders to save for retirement via employer matching contributions, the DoE released new PSLF data, and a report from a new non-profit purports to expose misfeasance in the way the federal government has administered the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Editor’s Feature: “Law Schools are Bad for Democracy”

In a strongly-worded piece, Professor Samuel Moyn of Yale Law wrote an opinion piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education suggesting that legal education misdirects aspiring lawyers’ desire for social change into judicial activism and provides “social-justice work [that] harmonizes [] easily with elite credentialing for power and wealth.” Multiple responses followed, including this one from Dean Raymond of the University of Wisconsin Law School (printed as a letter-to-the-editor in the Chronicle), and this blog post from Prof. Lubet of Northwestern Law.

Immigration, Refugee, & Citizenship Issues

• The National Catholic Reporter profiled the logistical and procedural hurdles pro bono attorneys face while trying to represent individuals with pending asylum claims detained by federal authorities.
• Southern California Public Radio also focused on logistical hurdles for asylum seekers, reporting that “California’s high cost of living could push families out of the very places offering the most help.”
• In Denver, CO, the city “officially opened a fund in November for people who can’t afford legal representation in their immigration cases.”

Student Loans

• Senator Wyden introduced the Retirement Parity for Student Loans Act, which “would permit 401(k), 403(b) and SIMPLE retirement plans to make matching contributions to workers as if their student loan payments were salary reduction contributions.”
• The Department of Education released new Public Service Loan Forgiveness Data. Politico used this data to report that “[a]s of September 30, only 206 borrowers have had their student loans discharged under [PSLF]. More than 32,000 borrowers had their applications denied ‘due to not meeting program requirements’ and another 11,892 were denied for ‘missing information.'” MarketWatch reported further on the subject.
• Meanwhile, CNBC profiled one recently-rejected PSLF borrower who has launched a lawsuit against her loan servicer.
• The American Federation of Teachers and the Student Borrower Protection Center released Keeping the Promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a report that purposes to detail how “servicers have created roadblocks for borrowers at each step in the process of qualifying for PSLF”–and to provide a roadmap for holding the federal government and its contractors accountable for “irreparable harm to millions of borrowers.” The Washington Post reported further on the subject.
• Following a court order, the Department of Education prepared to erase $150 million worth of student debt under the “Borrower Defense to Repayment” rule, a move that “will benefit about 15,000 lenders and students who were taken advantage of by “for-profit” colleges.”
• In California, a state senator announced plans to introduce a bill “lift[ing] state income taxes on newly forgivable student loan debt.”
• In Pennsylvania, “a federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit alleging widespread abuse by student loan servicer Navient Corp. can go forward.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• The ABA announced its approval for iQualify Lending as a financing method for client legal fees. Under iQualify’s system, “the attorney can provide the client with an application form that’s submitted to iQualify Lending offices, and within a matter of minutes, qualified lenders will submit bids to the client to help finance the legal fees…The result is that the client is now able to pay their legal fee in full, upfront, [and a]ll loans made to the clients are non-recourse to the attorney.” (See also ABA Formal Opinion 484: “A Lawyer’s Obligations When Clients Use Companies or Brokers to Finance the Lawyer’s Fee“.)
• Meanwhile, the ABA Journal expressed skepticism that novel financing structures can help: “[t]he access-to-justice gap doesn’t exist because of absence of loans (sic) or the lack of technology or the intractable billable hour. It exists–and continues to grow–because the cost of life in America has increased dramatically while wages for most Americans have been stagnant or even falling for decades.”
• In West Virginia, the newly-appointed Director of the state’s Access to Justice Commission discussed his vision for the commission with WVNews.com. (The state’s A2J commission recently came under the administration of the West Virginia University College of Law, as previously reported in the Digest.)
• In New Jersey, the State Senate passed legislation which would “direct the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs to fund a portion of the legal services provided to homeless veterans and veterans at risk of homelessness.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Indiana, the Public Defender Commission sought funding for a pilot project that “would pair public defenders [representing parents in Department of Child Services court cases] with social workers.”
• In Louisiana, a professor of political science published a thorough and thoughtful critique of Louisiana’s newly-revised system for funding indigent defense, created earlier this year after criticism of the old system (as discussed in prior digest editions).

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Canada, the National Magazine reported on how the “Jordan Rule” capping the duration of criminal trials is affecting the administration of justice: “[n]ow that [the] backlog of pre-Jordan cases has been larged cleared…Crown and defense lawyers alike report that trial times aren’t speeding up.” Instead, the Magazine reported “a trend…of courts holding defence counsel responsible for questionable delays that violate the Jordan limits…imposing an extra burden on the defence as an ‘escape hatch’ to evade Jordan stays.”

Pro Bono

• In South Carolina, the State Supreme Court “has created a new honor for attorneys who provide over 50 hours of pro bono legal service each year.”

Music Bonus

Dee1, “Sallie Mae Back”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Things continue to be busy here at NALP. Looking forward to checking in with you all more in the New Year. In the meantime, here’s some news:

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• Professors Robertson (Case Western) and Manta (Hofstra) published an article alleging that the manner in which the Trump administration is working to de-naturalize citizens with criminal histories “carr[ies] a disturbingly high risk of mistakenly taking away citizenship from someone who committed neither crime nor fraud.”
• In California, the 9th Circuit conducted an en banc hearing of a case concerning whether the Fifth Amendment’s right-to-counsel guarantee extends to children facing deportation.
• Pro Bono attorneys from Hogan Lovells, in partnership with the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (DC) and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (TX), filed a challenge to the Trump administration’s attempts to keep asylum seekers from entering the United States.

Legal Technology

• In Chicago, IL, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) launched two new websites: www.a2j.org and www.a2jauthor.org. The sites are designed to allow anyone to create and host A2J Guided Interviews that help self-represented litigants complete legal forms or work through legal decisions.
• A survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Your Lawyers Online suggested that 69% of Americans would be willing to use online legal services if it would save them money.

Student Loans

• In Michigan, Eastern Michigan University has launched a program that aims to re-enroll former undergraduates who were unable to continue due to financial challenges by forgiving student debt when students perform community service.

Public Benefits

• In Massachusetts, the state is studying a series of changes to court rules and procedures after Northeast Legal Services revealed that district courts in the Salem area had been routinely “sign[ing] off on settlement agreements and judgments that force many low-income debtors to make payments of of public assistance, Social Security, or workers’ compensation payments.”

Pro Bono

• In Michigan, the State Bar launched its “A Lawyer Helps” Pro Bono Honor Roll, recognizing Michigan attorneys who provide 30 or more hours of pro bono legal services in a calendar year.

Access to Justice – Civil

• Martha Bergmark, a former LSC President, argued in the pages of USA Today that the new Congress should increase funding for the Legal Services Corporation and make other structural reforms to help narrow the justice gap.
• In West Virginia, West Virginia University College of Law became the home of the state’s Access to Justice Commission. According to WVU, “[o]nly two commissions in the country are administered by law schools.”
• In Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Legal Aid launched a fundraising campaign which aims to raise $10-$15 million over the next four years, 80% of which will go toward new programming at the organization.

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Montana, the Office of the State Public Defender

Criminal Justice Reform

• In King County, Washington, the County Prosecutor, Sheriff, Deputy Policy Chief, and a representative of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center announced plans to “work with Legislators to expand the statue of limitations for sex assault crimes.”
• In Solano County, CA, a longtime deputy public defender was appointed to a vacant seat on the County Superior Court bench.

Judicial Appointments

• “Vice President Mike Pence cast a tiebreaker vote in the Senate on Tuesday to confirm a federal appeals court nominee who received a “not qualified” rating from the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary… a second confirmed nominee to the appeals court, Leonard Steven Grasz, [also] received [a] not qualified rating[].” 

Music Bonus!

Brass Against the Machine, “Cult of Personality” (Living Colour Cover)