By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  And happy June.  June is the sunniest month, at least for those of us living on the Earth’s northern half.  Speaking of where we are, I am in motion – aboard an Amtrak train and destined for my hometown of Philly.  I’m in Maryland now.  This state’s beauty is sadly unheralded.  To cross the bridges spanning the Chesapeake Bay tributaries just after sunrise is to observe a wonderful bit of scenery.  And the City of Baltimore is like Philly’s cool little brother, except with crabs.  There has to be a better way to phrase that.

Shortly I’ll be at the Philadelphia Bar Association, where I’ll have the pleasure of speaking with a group of law students about maximizing their summer public interest experiences.  Later I’ll join my childhood friends Billy and Sean – neighborhood riff-raff like myself – to watch the Glorious Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Franchise reel in the Marlins of Miami.  (If you think it’s bad that we call a grown man by his yesteryear nickname of Billy, imagine how bad it is for our friend Stinky.  He’s a medical doctor these days.  He really wishes we’d call him Duane.)

As you know I focus mainly on access-to-justice developments in this newsletter.  I feel strongly, though, that the AtJ community must itself monitor happenings in the law-firm world, especially those affecting the “business of law.”  So I commend to you this incisive AmLaw article by Professor Bill Henderson.  He uses this week’s demise of the storied law firm Dewey & Leboeuf to explore how large law firms must quickly rework their business models lest they risk running themselves into the ground.  (You may be required to register to read the piece; a trial registration should be free.)  Also, every Friday NALP’s executive director Jim Leipold produces a terrific legal industry digest that you may access here.

On to our news:         

This week:

• Upside: the U.S. has a strong civil justice system. Downside: poor people don’t get to use it
• The New York State Bar’s incoming president is a legal aid leader
• Student loan debt is a real big problem
• Maine’s got some King-size indigent defense funding problems
• More debate around the 50-hour pro bono requirement for admission to practice in New York
• A veteran PA children’s rights advocate moves into retirement
• Merck’s in-house team has launched a pro bono project to serve vets in need
• The Northern District of Alabama is finally going to host some federal defenders
• A great new report out of Illinois about the economic benefits generated by civil legal aid

The summaries:

• 6.1.12 – an ABA Journal piece covers one of the central access-to-justice dilemmas in the U.S.: “Two recent studies provide news good and bad for the U.S. legal system. The good: The United States’ civil legal system is one of the best in the world, according to the results of the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index 2011.  And the bad? According to this same study, millions of Americans can’t use this fine system because they can’t afford it. They have legal rights—to child support, Medicare benefits or protection against an improper home foreclosure—but they find these rights meaningless because they can’t enforce them….  A plethora of government and volunteer programs provide free legal aid, but they are overstretched…. To make matters worse, the system for providing free legal services is a mess. There is “an enormous diversity of programs and provision models with very little coordination at either the state or the national level,” according to Access Across America, a 2011 report (PDF) authored by Rebecca L. Sandefur and Aaron C. Smyth and funded in large part by the American Bar Foundation.”

• 5.31.12 – a legal aid leader takes the helm of the New York State Bar.  “Seymour W. James, Jr. of Brooklyn, a 38-year veteran of The Legal Aid Society of New York, assumes office on June 1 as the 115th president of the New York State Bar Association….  James is the attorney-in-charge of the criminal practice for The Legal Aid Society, which provides criminal and civil legal services for low-income individuals in New York City.  The theme for his presidency is “making a difference” with an emphasis on access to justice.”  (Story from realMedia.)

• 5.30-31.12 – the PBS Newshour aired a two-part report on the increasing crisis of skyrocketing educational debt-loads being carried by higher-ed grads, including law students.  Indeed, part two contained a lot of content about the plight of law grads.
  • Here’s part one: “The State of Student Loans: More Debts, More Defaults, More Problems”
  • Here’s part two: “Student Loan Debt: To Pay or Not to Pay”

• 5.30.12 – “Maine’s Commission on Indigent Legal Services, which provides lawyers for criminal defendants who can’t afford their own, gets inadequate funding every year. Its budget for this fiscal year recently bottomed out, and it will not be sufficient to pay lawyers for the month of June. They will be paid at the start of the new fiscal year in July, but dwindling funds are an ongoing problem.”  Thanks for the (bad) news, Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

• 5.30.11 – debate continues around the new 50-hour pro bono requirement for admission to practice law in New York.  In the New York Times, David Udell of the National Center for Access to Justice at Cardozo Law defends the initiative as one that is not overly burdensome on law students and that could have great outcomes for students and clients.  (I believe that the devil remains in the details – e.g. will work satisfying the definition of “pro bono” for a law school’s internal program count toward the requirement if that work does not meet New York’s definition? – but I generally agree with David.  More importantly: what do you think? The Times writes: “We invite readers to respond to this letter for the Sunday Dialogue. We plan to publish responses and Mr. Udell’s rejoinder in the Sunday Review. E-mail: letters@nytimes.com.”
  • And here, from Bloomberg, is a nice summary of the key considerations driving the debate.

• 5.29.12 – we bid “Happy Trails” to a veteran, Pennsylvania-based children’s advocate.  From the Philadelphia Inquirer:  “Shelly Yanoff, a longtime champion of children’s causes, will step down this fall from her role as head of the nonprofit Public Citizens for Children and Youth, the organization’s board of directors announced yesterday.”  The Inquirer did a Q&A with Yanoff which captured her thoughts on what her job had taught her: “That people can respond to the needs of kids. That there are many different ways to get to a good result and that nothing ever stays done. You have to keep at it.”

• 5.29.11 – when pharmaceutical giant Merck began supporting veterans support group Community of Hope, Merck’s in-house lawyers “…realized that they could provide services through their substantial pro bono program that would be as helpful if not moreso than the checks their company was writing to support Community of Hope. Thus was born the Hope for Veterans Program.”  Read about it in the Huffington Post.

• 5.28.12 – some federal court news: the Northern District of Alabama finally has some full-time federal defenders.  From Al.com: “North Alabama’s first crew of federal public defenders, working out of Birmingham and Huntsville, in August will begin defending indigent clients charged with crimes…. The district is one of only four federal court districts out of 94 nationwide that don’t [presently] have some form of federal public defender’s office.”

• 5.24.12 – this may even cause my friend Bob Glaves to forget about the misery of the Chicago Cubs for a bit.  The Chicago Bar Foundation was one of a few stakeholders involved in producing “Legal Aid in Illinois: Selected Social and Economic Benefits.”  This report does a wonderful job of exposing the concrete, financial benefits that inure to Illinois’s population at large because of the work that legal aid organizations do to keep families in their homes, stop domestic abuse, secure government benefits, and obtain child support for clients.  This is the so-called “business case” for legal aid, and this report makes a strong one.  Here’s the report and an accompanying press release.

Finally, this being graduation season, I leave you with the transcript of this commencement speech by Professor Lawrence Lessig.  In it, he emphasizes that if lawyers are stewards for the rule of law and for meaningful access to justice, then we must not make it a priority to serve moneyed interests at the expense of society at large – particularly our society’s most vulnerable members.  I think 90% of commencement speeches are hot air – bromides strung together lazily so as to offend no one and congratulate everyone.  This one resonates with me, though.  Happy June.  Enjoy the sun

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Earlier this week I participated in a one-day conference focused on the role of New York State’s 15 law schools in addressing the civil justice gap.  Much discussion centered on the recent announcement by NY Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman that 50 hours of pro bono service will be required for admission to practice law in New York.  Most of this blog’s readers will have been aware of how much buzz this announcement has generated.  Ink has been spilled.  Articles and opinion pieces have run in legal and mainstream media.  The old debate about making volunteer service mandatory has been revived. 

Letting alone the “mandatory v. voluntary” policy debate, I think this requirement will prove fairly easy to satisfy.  Pro bono performed in law school satisfies the requirement.  Fifty hours of pro bono over three years is just less than 17 hours per year.  Frankly, that’s easy for any law student.  That said, there are two noteworthy considerations:

1. There will be some burden on law schools (both inside and outside of NY State) to make sure worthwhile pro bono opportunities exist for their students.  Two of the law school deans who attended this week’s program made the point over and over that pro bono also has to mesh with law school’s larger mission of training tomorrow’s lawyers.  So pro bono programs should be efficiently administered, and should offer skill-development chances for students.
2. The pro bono work itself must effectively serve client communities.  And public interest law offices should not be overly burdened in offering pro bono opportunities for students.              

But given that so many schools already have some infrastructure in place for student pro bono, I think the 50-hour requirement will not be too much of a burden on students, schools, or the public interest community.

This week:

• more on NY State’s 50-hour pro bono requirement;
• $300K in grant funding divided among NV legal services providers (and my thoughts on the Las Vegas bachelor party);
• mandatory pro bono in the Caymans;
• addressing legal needs long after Hurricane Irene struck NC;
• fewer death sentences in Ohio, tracking a national trend;
• tracking wrongful convictions nationally;
• for reasons of efficiency and expediency, an early intervention court program for nonviolent offenders in one county courthouse;
• the justice gap, and legal services funding shortages, in Cleveland;
• a 2012 law grad on why he’s chosen a career in indigent defense (hint: it’s not the money);
• a special master appointed in the PA lawsuit over an underfunded indigent defense program;
• one Maryland prosecutor, under the weight of an overwhelming caseload, is pushing hard for $ to hire new attorneys.

The summaries:

• 5.24.12 – more on the recent announcement in NY State about requiring 50 pro bono hours from all bar license applicants.  While the larger policy debate about mandatory vs. voluntary pro bono will continue both in the context of this announcement and more broadly, New York’s top jurist is moving into the implementation stage: “Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman yesterday announced the creation of an advisory committee that will make recommendations on how to implement a new pro bono service requirement set to become a prerequisite in 2013 for admission to the New York bar.”  (Story from Corporate Counsel.)  And here’s more coverage from the New York Law Journal and the Lower Hudson Blog. 

• 5.23.12 – in Nevada, the state bar is divvying up about $300K in grant money among legal services providers.  (Story from KLAS in Las Vegas.)  As a personal aside, I have never told you about the bachelor party I attended in Las Vegas last year.  There are many good reasons for this.  Suffice to say I am still angry with the erstwhile bachelor for deciding that, at 35 years of age, we’d be able to contend with Las Vegas’s many attractions and excitements.  We were not.  The Vegas bachelor/ette party is a young person’s game.  What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas if “soul-crushing physical exhaustion” can be said to happen in Vegas.  Rather, soul-crushing physical exhaustion flies home on the plane with you and stays in your place for a week.  Never again.

• 5.22.12 – more mandatory pro bono, this time with a tropical-tax-shelter theme.  “All practicing attorneys in the Cayman Islands would be forced to work a certain number of hours for free or pay an annual fee of $2,500, according to a draft of the Legal Aid and Pro Bono Legal Services Bill, 2012.  The draft bill was made public by the attorney general’s office
last week.  According to a summary of the proposal, every attorney-at-law in the Islands to whom a practicing certificate has been issued “shall render pro bono legal services to persons in accordance with this legislation”, or face discipline under the territory’s Legal Practitioners Law.”  (Story from the Cay Compass.)

• 5.21.12 – legal woes caused by a natural disaster can exist long after the disaster itself has dissipated: “A Raleigh law firm is working with Legal Aid of North Carolina to find what problems people still have from Hurricane Irene.  [Irene struck North Carolina in August, 2011.]   The Daily Reflector of Greenville reported that Womble Carlyle and Legal Aid are asking individuals who may be struggling with recovery problems from last August’s storm to call a toll-free hotline. Such issues could include insurance claims, construction scams and mortgage-related problems.”  (Story from the Associated Press.)  

• 5.21.12 – a trend in Ohio which basically tracks national developments: far fewer death sentences as lawmakers, prosecutors, and court officials contend with the high cost of administering capital punishment programs along with changing sentiment about the death penalty’s effectiveness and propriety.  (Here’s the article from the Columbus Dispatch.)  And here’s some related follow-up…   

• 5.21.12 – ….of course one of the long-running criticisms of capital punishment stems from the risk of executing an innocent person.  Here’s an AP report on wrongful convictions: “More than 2,000 people who were falsely convicted of serious crimes have been exonerated in the United States in the past 23 years, according to a new archive compiled at two universities.  There is no official record-keeping system for exonerations of convicted criminals in the country, so academics set one up. The new national registry, or database, painstakingly assembled by the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, is the most complete list of exonerations ever compiled.  The database compiled and analyzed by the researchers contains information on 873 exonerations for which they have the most detailed evidence. The researchers are aware of nearly 1,200 other exonerations, for which they have less data.” 

• 5.20.12 – “One of the initiatives that Bibb County commissioners are considering for next year’s spending plan is a $600,000 request designed to expedite the legal process in local courts.  The request, made jointly by the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office and the Macon Circuit Public Defender’s Office, would allow each office to hire two additional attorneys as part of an Early Intervention Program. The program, officials say, would reduce the number of cases in the court system by allowing for a quicker disposition of nonviolent crimes.”  (Full story in the Macon Telegraph, a newspaper with an oddly Tolkienesque tagline: “Middle Georgia’s News Source.”)
   
• 5.20.12 – in Cleveland, the local bar president and board president of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland make it clear just how much the organization’s funding situation has worsened, and explains how vital a service legal aid is in preserving justice.  (Op-ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.)   

• 5.20.12 – more Cleveland!  Jeffrey Stein, a 2012 NYU Law grad, explains his decision to pursue a career in indigent defense in the pages of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  “It’s hiring season for public defender offices, which means it’s also the time when law students pursuing jobs in indigent defense enjoy the privilege of justifying their chosen career to skeptical — and, inevitably, disappointed — relatives (“You’re sure you wouldn’t rather make $160,000 as a first-year associate at a firm?”), friends (“But what if you know they’re guilty?”) and professors (“Ah, that’s . . . great.”).  Like the populations we serve, we who devote our professional lives to defending poor people are not a monolithic group. But, to answer your questions, here are some of the reasons I have chosen to commit my life to public defense….”  

• 5.19.12 – in the Pennsylvania lawsuit about alleged underfunding of indigent defense, a special master has been appointed to help sort things through.  (Story from the Citizens Voice of Luzerne County.) 

• 5.18.12 – in Charles County Maryland, the state’s attorney is pressing hard for funding to hire new attorneys.  “…[P]rosecutors are so overworked that they soon will have to pick and choose which cases to pursue in court, State’s Attorney Anthony B. Covington warned the Charles County commissioners Tuesday.  He asked the commissioners to give his office a $989,000 budget increase, or 41 percent, which would include enough to hire five new prosecutors in fiscal 2013, which begins July 1. Over three years, his office will require a $1.7 million increase, enough to hire a total of eight new attorneys and at least one researcher, he said. (Story from Southern Maryland News Online.)

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  First, the Friday Trivia Question is a fairly simple one.  Four of the United “States” are actually commonwealths.  Which are they?

This week:

• bad news for Florida legal services providers;
• good news for Florida legal services providers;
• the House’s proposed LSC appropriation is $328 million;
• HUD money to Vermont Legal Aid;
• the tug of war for mortgage foreclosure settlement money in AZ;
• ABA Question of the Week: Should pro bono be required?
• this D.A. has remarkable success getting people out of jail(?);
• a pro bono appeal from a West Virginia justice;
• coverage and opinion about New York requiring 50 pro bono hours of bar applicants;
• indigent defense funding needed in Massachusetts;
• indigent defense funding needed in Tennessee;
• the increasing sophistication of corporate counsel pro bono programs;
• a report on the state of legal services funding nationwide;
• legislative efforts to raise funds for Louisiana indigent defense.

The summaries:

• 5.11.12 – the Orlando Sentinel looks at the problem of the “new poor” who are, in large numbers, seeking help from Broward and Palm Beach County legal services providers.  Those providers are laboring under extraordinary budget strains even while trying to deal with increased client demand.   

• 5.10.12 – on the other hand, class-action residuals will offer some financial help to cash-strapped legal services providers in the Sunshine State.  “More than $825,000 in unclaimed settlement money is about to be donated to eight local organizations. The donations came from four Tampa law firms, which said the organizations were selected because of their public service and consumer advocacy efforts. Recipients include Bay Area Legal Services and Gulf Coast Legal Services, two groups that provide free legal counseling for people who otherwise couldn’t afford it.”  (Story from Tampa Bay Online.)

• 5.10.12 – from the Legal Services Corporation: “The U.S. House of Representatives today approved funding legislation that provides $328 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in Fiscal Year 2013, after turning back two amendments that would have further cut or eliminated funding for the Corporation. Rep. Austin Scott’s (R-Ga.) proposed amendment to the 2013 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill, which would have eliminated all funding for LSC, was defeated Tuesday night by a vote of 289-122.  The House also rejected, 246-165, a proposal from fellow Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland to cut the Corporation’s budget to $200 million.

• 5.9.12 – some good news in Vermont.  The US Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded more than $324,987 to Vermont Legal Aid, Inc [VLA] to assist people in Vermont who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination.  VLA will use its grant to conduct a full service, coordinated and comprehensive fair housing program of testing, targeted private enforcement actions, broad systemic investigation, engagement with the land use and transportation planning process, and collaborative efforts to raise public awareness of housing discrimination….  The competitive grants are funded through HUD’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), and are part of nearly $41.18 million distributed nationwide to 99 fair housing organizations and other non-profit agencies in 35 states and the District of Columbia.  (Story from Vermont Business Magazine.)

• 5.9.12 – a debate in Arizona over the government’s distribution of national mortgage class-action settlement funds highlights the fiscal tugs of war at play in many states as cash-starved governments and public interest advocates try to wrestle – I am really maximizing this metaphor – away as much funding as possible for their causes.  “State Attorney General Tom Horne said Tuesday he has to implement an Arizona law taking $50 million from a settlement paid by mortgage lenders over their loan practices though he thinks the transfer to help balance the budget is poor public policy.  Public interest law firms are threatening to sue to block the transfer, contending the money should be reserved for helping stressed homeowners and coping with the effects of the housing collapse.”  This greatly impacts some legal services providers who would use settlement funds to aid clients in foreclosure.  (Story from Bloomberg Businessweek.)

• 5.9.12 – the ABA Journal’s Question of the Week: “Many readers and law bloggers had a strong reaction to last week’s Law Day announcement by New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman that all would-be lawyers will have to perform 50 hours of pro bono before they can get a law license in the state…. So this week, we’d like to ask you: Should all lawyers be required to do pro bono or monetarily contribute to legal services offices?

• 5.8.12 – the L.A. Times looks at Dallas (Texas) District Attorney Craig Watkins’ nationally acclaimed work on exonerating the wrongfully convicted. 

• 5.8.12 – “West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals [J]ustice Brent Benjamin is imploring attorneys to come to the aid of Legal Aid of West Virginia…..’Before the [recent round of Legal Services Corporation budget] cuts, Legal Aid only had 51 attorneys covering 55 counties…,’ Benjamin noted.  [Legal Aid was subsequently force to lay off staff and close an office.]   ‘Since the most recent cut happened, they are doing the best they can with what they’ve got. We, as a Supreme Court, are stepping up to try to help them as well as help lower income West Virginians by going to the lawyers and asking directly for help.”  (Story from The State Journal, whose tagline is “West Virginia’s Only Business Paper.  Hot Damn!”  (I added the hot damn.  I should have gone into marketing.)

• 5.7.12 – some coverage stemming from New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s much-publicized announcement that, starting later this year, would-be bar admitees will have to perform 50 hours of pro bono service to be licensed in New York.
  • 5.7.12 – a New York Law Journal piece looks at the raft of implementation questions that must be answered (including an interesting one from our friend Tom Maligno about whether pro bono performed in law school would count toward the 50-hour requirement);
  • 5.7.12 – likewise, Pro Bono Institute prez Esther Lardent, writing in the National Law Journal, moves past the question of policy wisdom to look at practical implementation challenges.
  • 5.3.12 – former Association of Corporate Counsel official Susan Hacket is critical of Lippman’s proposal.

• 5.7.12 – in Massachusetts, the state house is working on a bill to shore up funding for the state’s indigent defense program, whose coffers are depleted.  (Story from the Boston Herald.)

• 5.5.12 – in Memphis, two public defenders make the case for remedying a “20-year recurring state budget miscalculation that has resulted in a multimillion-dollar funding shortage for public defense in Davidson and Shelby counties.”  (Story from the Memphis Commercial Appeal.)

• 5.4.12 – the Washington Post looks at the increasing sophistication of in-house pro bono programs: “In-house attorneys have historically gotten their hands on pro bono cases through legal aid groups or law firms on an individual basis, often without systematic backing from their employers. Now that model is changing, with several major corporations such as DuPont pushing to create more structured programs for attorneys and legal staff to do pro bono work by allocating company resources and personnel to handle client calls and paperwork, and setting benchmarks for how much time should be spent doing pro bono projects. (Capital One suggests 20 hours a year; at DuPont, it’s 2 percent of total work time).” 

• 5.4.12 -the Washington Council of Lawyers, DC’s public interest bar association (of which I’m a board member), has released a report on the beleaguered state of legal services funding nationwide.  (Read the 2012 Legal Services Funding Report.) 

• 5.4.12 – the New Orleans Times-Picayune looks at efforts in the Louisiana Senate to boost funding for public defense programs.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  A few items of general interest before we get to the news:

1. Last week I posed the first-ever Friday Trivia Question.  My execution was flaw…ful.  I asked folks to name the three English words beginning with “dw-“.  The source of authority for this question was my own, vague memory of having been asked the question in or around 2007.  The words I wanted were “dwarf,” dwell,” and “dwindle.”  A troublemaker from Cornell Law School whom I shan’t name Karen Comstock emailed to offer “dweeb” as an answer.  Frankly I hadn’t heard the word “dweeb” since this happened.  But, on account of my abiding sense of fairness, I dusted off a dictionary.  And I beheld an entry for “dweeb.”  Finding this entry was as surprising to me as first having found a dictionary.  So, “dweeb” is fair game.  And I am one. 
   • This experience taught me to take my trivia questioning more seriously.  Next week the Friday Trivia Question will become a fixture.  Yay for us.
2. Staying with the themes of education and edification, PSLawNet released our 2012 Summer Reading List yesterday.  We asked a handful of NALP members and some other public interest lawyers for both fiction and nonfiction reads that may be of interest to students on summer break.  Not surprisingly we ended up with a terrific list with options for public interest advocates of all ages, shapes, and sizes.  Thanks to those who pitched in.
3. Lastly I wish to note how profoundly undemocratic is the District’s professional baseball team when it comes to ticket sales.  The Nationals made news earlier this year when they schemed to avoid having their seats filled with Phillies fans during the series in DC this weekend.  Why would any team wish to keep Phillies fans out?  We’re so pleasant.  DO YOU HEAR ME??  WE’RE SO DAMNED PLEASANT!!!  Anyway, I have some respect for the sheer moxie of it, but this is probably not a gauntlet the Nats should have thrown down in front of Phils fans.  We’ll soon find out.        

There’s much public interest news to review this week.  In brief:

• pro bono required to practice in NY State;
• ‘Nova Law grad secures a Fulbright to work on anti-trafficking issues;
• a Louisiana measure to boost defender funding may fall short;
• both the Philly DA and PD are seeking more $ from City Council;
• why the veto of state funding for legal services in Florida is bad;
• ditto;
• “Another Crisis Looming for Legal Aid?” in Connecticut;
• also in Connecticut, how the state’s dealing with a huge DV caseload;
• how serious a problem is law grads’ educational debt?;
• politics and policy affecting Houston’s nascent public defense program;
• Wisconsin pro bono rules relaxed to allow lawyers to help after natural disasters.

The summaries:

• 5.1.12 – pro bono will soon be required for a license to practice in New York.   The AP reports: “New York will become the first state to require lawyers to do 50 hours of pro bono work as a condition for getting a license starting next year, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said Tuesday.  With about 10,000 people passing the New York Bar Exam annually, Lippman said that means about a half-million hours of free legal work yearly, mostly from law students. That should help fill ‘the justice gap’ for the poor, working poor ‘and what has recently been described as the near poor’ whose needs have risen sharply in a tough economy, he said.”
  • additional coverage from the New York Law Journal;
  • a New York Times editorial is supportive.
  • reaction and questions from folks in the legal services and law school communities, including the question about how these thousands of pro bono hours will be administered, tracked, etc. (from the Lower Hudson Valley Blog).

• 5.1.12 – a graduating Villanova Law student’s passion for working on anti-trafficking issues has netted him a Fulbright scholarship.  John Rafferty’s work has taken him from the Navy to a public interest scholarship at Villanova Law, and will next move him to Quito, Ecuador to work with the International Organization on Migration.  Pretty impressive.  (Story in the Main Line News.) 

• 5.1.12 – In Louisiana, a bill which raises court filing fees to generate extra funding for public defenders’ offices was diluted via an amendment in the house.  It may not provide enough funding for some offices to avoid layoffs and close budget gaps.  (Story from the Daily Iberian.)

• 5.1.12 – in Philly, both the public defender and DA are seeking additional funding from City Council as the body puts together the next fiscal year’s budget.  “Chief Public Defender Ellen Greenlee says the mayor’s proposed budget gives the Defender Association the same money for the fiscal year beginning July first that it has this year.  Greenlee says that’s unacceptable and without new money for almost two dozen new attorneys the office cannot continue.”  Story from WHYY. 

• 5.1.12 – Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida’s board chair explains why Gov. Rick Scott’s veto of funding for legal services will hurt the state.  “This is not a partisan issue. A Republican-controlled legislature passed the Florida Access to Civil Legal Assistance Act in 2002. Republican lawmakers have provided funds each year — up to $2.5 million — for the FACLA program.  Scott’s veto means that the number of legal aid attorneys statewide will drop from 400 to fewer than 280 next year, and the number will shrink even more in 2014 — even as the demand for services is growing….  On top of that, Florida TaxWatch (which is no friend of government spending) conducted a study in 2010 that found that for every $1 the FACLA program spent, nearly $14 in economic activity was generated. That means that the $2 million that Gov. Scott didn’t think was needed would not only have provided desperately needed legal assistance for the poor, but would also have generated nearly $28 million in economic activity.”  (Op-ed in the Daytona Beach News-Journal.)

• 4.30.12 – the funding plight of Tampa-based Bay Area Legal Services: “Funding for Bay Area Legal Services, which helps the poor navigate the civil court system, is at an all-time low, forcing the agency to reach into the legal community for help.  An unprecedented $1 million in cuts this year translates to a 14 percent reduction from last year’s budget. Nearly every funding source, including federal, state and local contributions and a trust fund set up by The Florida Bar Foundation, has reduced its contribution.”  (Story from Tampa Bay Online.) 

• 4.30.12 – a piece in the Connecticut Law Tribune homes in on the fiscal woes confronting legal services providers in the Nutmeg State., asking “Another Crisis Looming for Legal Aid?”  (I would argue that there’s been a sustained crisis since about 2009.)  As for state IOLTA funding, while it topped out at $20 million in 2007, it’s projected to produce less than $ 1million this year.

•  while Connecticut’s legal services providers feel funding strains, the states courts feel hte strains imposed by the domestic violence caseload.   Stakeholders met recently to explore “the unique pressures that upward of 28,000 domestic-violence cases per year exert on prosecutors, public defenders, family-relations counselors, victim’s advocates and judges in the state courthouses. Statewide, 30 percent of all criminal cases arise from domestic violence.”  Courtrooms with DV-only dockets have been helpful in boosting efficiency.  Story from the Hartford Courant. 

• Are school loans the next “debt bomb”?  I could do without the headline hyperbole, but a law management expert lays out the frightening student debt numbers that have become the norm for today’s grads and wonders what impact the weight of this burden will have.  (Here’s the Minnesota Lawyer piece.) 

• a two-part series by a Houston Chronicle columnist looks at the lawyer who most staunchly opposes the operation of Harris County’s new public defense office.  The assigned-counsel system was in place for years in Houston. It worried some observers who saw cronyism and unfairness in its administration.  But even as the public defense office has taken root, some judges still refuse to refer cases there.  Part one and part two.

• we’ll end where we began: pro bono.  Wisconsin’s high court has loosened restrictions on pro bono practice rules with the intended effect of allowing more pro bono lawyers to act in a natural disaster’s wake.  From the State Bar of Wisconsin: [The approved petition] “will amend Supreme Court rules by allowing out-of-state lawyers to practice pro bono temporarily in Wisconsin after a after a major disaster in Wisconsin.  The rule will also allow such lawyers to provide legal services in Wisconsin related to the lawyer’s practice in a jurisdiction affected by a major disaster.  The petition, filed jointly by the Board of Administrative Oversight and the State Bar of Wisconsin, is patterned after a model rule adopted by the American Bar Association after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita….”

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Today is the 140th anniversary of Arbor Day, which has its roots, so to speak, in a Druidic tree-worship ritual.  I made that up.  It is the 140th.  But we’re just supposed to plant trees, not worship them.  Unless that’s your thing.  Anyway, for the occasion here’s the Screaming Trees’ 90s indie anthem “Nearly Lost You”, a favorite from my flannel-clad adolescence.  Great drums.  Blistering guitar lick.  (Far be it from me to give credence to gender stereotypes, but I predict the fellas will like this one more than the ladies.)

Unrelated: huzzah(!) to our partners at Street Law, Inc., who celebrated a 40th anniversary here in DC on Wednesday.  Special shout-out to exec. director Lee Arbetman, who, based on the photographic evidence I’ve heard about, was an even more dapper dresser in Street Law’s early days than now.  (Congrats, Lee, Megan and company!)

Friday Trivia: there are three words in the English language that begin with “dw”.  What are they?   

Now to business.  This week in access-to-justice, funding, pro bono, and related news:

• the websites of for-profit AZ law firms can use the ol’ dot-org, says ethics opinion;
• in Spokane, WA, client demand for legal aid rising but funding is a challenge;
• the NY AG directs $3 million to legal services on foreclosure matters;
• last week’s White House Forum on the State of Legal Assistance;
• $450K in grants from the NY Bar Foundation split amongst 67 groups;
• Two grants will help U. of Wisconsin law students help vets in need;
• funding challenges confronting the Vermont Bar Foundation and legal services community;
• in the UK, the House of Lords still opposed cuts to legal aid funding;
• Florida governor’s veto of $2 million legal services appropriation draws lots of reaction;
• support for state funding of legal services in Connecticut;
• the LSC board chair on closing the justice gap;
• Illinois AG directs $20 million to legal services.  Nice way to close.

The summaries:

• 5.1.12 (from the future!) – the forthcoming ABA Journal runs a short piece about an Arizona state bar ethics opinion that allows for-profit law firms to use “.org” website domain extensions.  I predict that the “.org” will never, ever be misused by a for-profit outfit providing “legal assistance services” or some such.  No chance.  Right? 

• 4.26. 12 – the Spokane Journal of Business looks at the increased demand for legal services within the local, low-income community even as providers struggle with funding pressures.  (Password-protected.  Sorry.)
  • Personal aside: I gained my first exposure to civil legal aid in Washington State while working as a Jesuit Volunteer with the Northwest Justice Project’s Yakima field office.  One of my fondest Eastern Washington memories is running Spokane’s annual Bloomsday race, a 7.5-miler that, amazingly, draws upwards of 50,000 people.  It’s a beautiful course. 

• 4.25.12 – the New York Attorney general directed $3 million to be shared by 31 public interest law offices for foreclosure defense funding.  The funding comes from settlements over questionable mortgage lending practices.  (Here’s the Legal News Line story.)

• 4.24.12 – last week’s White House Forum on the State of Legal Assistance gathered access-to-justice stakeholders from the legal services world, law firms, and government.  (Read the full summary from the DOJ’s Access to Justice Initiative.)
  • Phyllis Holmen, executive director of the Georgia Legal Services Program, recounts her experience participating in the forum: “Six of us were chosen from around the country, directors of legal aid and legal services organizations accustomed to toiling quietly in the hinterlands. We work on behalf of low-income folks with the kind of life-and-death legal problems that the poor face: the plague of domestic violence, the near impossibility of maintaining a family structure in the face of grinding poverty, the gut-wrenching choices that have to be made between paying medical bills or buying groceries.  The opportunity to tell the president of the United States why we think our work is important was unprecedented. It was a chance to speak at the highest level of our government about the cause to which I have devoted my career: justice for all.”  (From the Daily Report.)

• 4.24.12 – “Sixty-seven organizations across New York State have received grants totaling $450,000, The New York Bar Foundation announced today….Thirteen grants will support Youth Court activities, while others will support programs that assist domestic violence victims, low-income immigrants, public service attorneys, vulnerable senior citizens and incarcerated women.”  There’s a slew of organizations receiving grant money, all of which are listed in the story from the Saugerties Post Star.

• 4.24.12 – “Two new grants will help University of Wisconsin law students gain valuable experience while helping veterans who need legal assistance.  The two Pro Bono Initiative grants for $5,000 each come from the State Bar Legal Assistance Committee and have been awarded to Dane County Veterans Legal Clinic to start a free legal clinic and to the UW Law School Pro Bono Program to expand its efforts to involve more law students in pro bono activities.”  (Story from the University of Wisconsin’s website.)

• 4.24.12 – “[L]ike so many organizations, the Bar Foundation has found itself with less money to give out in the past few years, while the need for the kind of legal services it helps fund has risen.  Vermont Supreme Court Associate Justice John Dooley is a member of the board of directors of the Vermont Bar Foundation. He spoke with VPR’s Jane Lindholm about the financial challenges faced by the organization. (Listen to the interview on Vermont Public Radio.) 
  • As an aside, when I was a 3L my dad and I went skiing in Vermont.  We stayed at a family-owned place called the Swiss Inn.  Turns out the owner was a native Philadelphian (like me and Pa Grumm) and he owned a couple of the Jersey Shore video-game arcades that sucked quarters from my pockets like a vacuum cleaner when I was a youth.  He was very generous to me at the Swiss Inn afternoon happy hour.  My quarters, after all, had paid for his inn. 

• 4.23.12 – in the UK, the House of Lords still refuses to go along with broad-based proposed cuts to the legal aid system. Watch the video on BBC.  Watching British legislative sessions is downright enjoyable.  Ever seen the SNL spoofs? 

• 4.22.12 – all kinds of coverage about Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s veto of $2 million in proposed funding that would have supported the financially embattled legal services community.
  • A News Chief editorial, “Veto Takes Jobs, Help for Poor,” is critical of the governor’s action.
  • “Budget Cuts Impact Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County” is a WPTV story.
  • The Palm Beach Post runs “Lawyers for the Needy Decry Florida Veto.” 

• 4.21.12 – “Shelby County Public Defender Stephen Bush claims state finance officials have been misinterpreting state law regarding funding for the public defenders in Shelby and Davidson counties for 20 years and that the offices are owed $45.2 million — $28.4 million for Shelby and $16.8 million for Davidson.  The public defenders, who appeared before a state legislative committee this week, are asking the state legislature to restore that funding and fix the error going forward.”  (Here’s more in the Commercial Appeal.)

• 4.20.12 – a Hartford Courant op-ed makes the case for a legislative measure that would boost funding for legal aid in the Nutmeg State: “The Judicial Branch has recognized the seriousness of this problem. It has proposed legislation that would use increased court fees to raise $5.2 million for legal aid — enough to maintain the current level of services. There has been broad bi-partisan support to address the legal aid funding crisis. And the Judiciary Committee of the General Assembly has approved the bill on a 45-to-1 vote.  The pending legislation would successfully restructure funding for legal aid, and provide a future anchor to fund access to justice. It is vital that the Connecticut legislature approve this measure. Our system of justice depends on it.

• 4.20.12 – writing in The Hill, LSC Board chair John Levi, who has been very active in his public advocacy of LSC’s mission, explores the “widening justice gap, and why we must close it.”
  • Speaking of closing gaps, as noted last week a House proposal would cut LSC funding from the current, FY12 figure of $348 million –  which itself represents a ~14% cut from the FY11 figure – to $328 million.  A Senate proposal would ratchet funding back up to $402 million.  To put the House proposal in context: in 1981 LSC’s appropriation was about $321 million.  If that figure simply kept up with inflation, LSC’s funding in 2011 should have been over $800 million.  We’ll be lucky to get to half of that this year.

• 4.18.12 – great funding news out of Illinois, from the state attorney general’s website: “Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced that $20 million in funding from the national foreclosure settlement reached this year will be given to legal assistance programs in Illinois to address the current foreclosure crisis and to provide access to the justice system for homeowners and renters.” 

Credit: TrailerFoodDiaries

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Greetings from Austin, TX, where NALP’s Annual Education Conference will adjourn manana.  Over 1400 people, all told.  I’ve spent much of my time this week wandering about in a state of sleep deprivation with the law-school public-interest career advisors and clinicians who comprise NALP’s Public Service Section.  I realized once again how fortunate I am to work with a group of such selfless folks. Big high-five to Jessica Kitson, who’s just stepped down as the section chair.  Big Warning to incoming chair Leeor Neta: you’re stuck with me for a year.

Yesterday, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid attorney (and Equal Justice Works fellow) Adriana Rodriguez keynote-ed our public service luncheon.  Adriana’s doing impactful work, in an under-served area, at a time when low-income client needs are swelling.  If the next generation of access-to-justice advocates is anything like Adriana…well…I’ll rest easier.      

This week on the access-to-justice front:

• ABA on AtJ;
• Senate bill would boost LSC funding; House bill would slash LSC funding;
• Veto of legal services funding in Florida;
• Cornhuskers!  Omaha prosecutors and defenders to get salary bump;
• Asking legal services clients to pay it forward;
• Access-to-justice news from England;
• Florida’s high court to weigh in on public defender caseload woes;
• Maryland legislature scales back court ruling on right-to-counsel in criminal matters;
• Pro bono news from DC, Denver and North Carolina.

The summaries:

• 4.18.12 – ABA president William T. Robinson, III weighs in the importance of promoting access to justice.  (Op-ed in The Hill.)

• 4.18.12 – Good news/bad news.  Good: Senate appropriations committee pushed forward a bill that would fund LSC at $402 million in FY13.  This would basically bring the appropriation back to the level it was at before an FY12 cut slashed it to $348 million.  Bad: a house subcommittee bill would slash funding further, to $328 million.  (LSC announcements about the Senate and Housebills.)
  • On a related note, earlier in the week the Maryland State Bar Association’s president made the case for LSC (writing in the Baltimore Sun).

• 4.18.12 – state funding for legal services in Florida falls victim to Gov. Rick Scott’s veto.  “A $2 million veto by Gov. Rick Scott will mean fewer attorneys to represent low-income residents through foreclosure proceedings, domestic violence hearings and consumer fraud cases, legal aid officials and a top Democrat lamented Wednesday. A day after the governor vetoed $142 million from the budget, officials at an organization that provides legal help for low income Floridians said Scott’s decision will mean a 25 percent reduction in the number of attorneys available for legal assistance in the coming year. A year later, the number of available attorneys will drop even further.” (Story from the News-Press.)
  • More coverage from Ocala.com: “Legal Aid Funding Cut Hurts”

• 4.18.12 – a salary bump for prosecutors and public defenders in Douglas County, Nebraska.  (That’s Omaha.)  Salary specifics in the World-Herald.    

• 4.17.12 – Legal Aid Services of Oregon’s Roseburg office is asking clients to pay it forward.  “Legal Aid provides Douglas County with a vital service. They have a mission to give legal services to as many people as possible, but they knew they couldn’t do it alone.  So, they’ve started a new program. ‘The pilot program was our answer to the question of how to achieve justice for the low income communities we serve, with the resources we already have,’ said Sharon Lee Schwartz, the LASO Regional Director.  For every hour those at…LASO put in on a case, they’re asking the clients to do the same.  But not necessarily with legal work.  Those in the program can donate their time to non-profits, help someone with yard work, basically put their skills to work for the community.”  (Full story from KPIC.)

• 4.17.12 – a pair of stories from Blighty:
  • in the UK, a reversal by the government should open up legal aid access to more domestic violence victims. (Story from the UK Press Association.)
  • 4.17.12 – “The annual LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards were held recently, in the elegant surrounds of the House of Commons, to recognise the outstanding pro bono achievements of students and law school staff throughout the United Kingdom.” (Story from LawCareers.net .)

• 4.16.12 – “The Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments June 7 in a dispute about whether the Miami-Dade County public defender’s office can refuse to represent some clients because of excessive caseloads.”  (Story from the News-Press.)

• 4.13.12 – from the Baltimore Sun: “The Maryland General Assembly passed bills this month that effectively reverse a Court of Appeals ruling that would have required public defenders for indigent defendants at thousands of initial bail hearings held before court commissioners each year. The legislation instead requires lawyers for poor people at reviews of those hearings, which occur less frequently and take place in front of a judge — sometimes days later. That means some of those arrested and denied bail or unable to afford it could spend a weekend or longer in jail awaiting representation.”

• 4.13.12 – not sure if this was a pro bono conspiracy or not, but the local Business Journal publications in DC, Denver, and North Carolina ran articles on pro bono work in their respective communities.  They’re all password-protected, though.  Boo.
  • Denver!
  • North Carolina!
  • DC!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday (the 13th), dear readers.  This week I’ve been thinking about how I’m inspired – not what inspires me, but rather how inspiration strikes me.  The Atlantic is collecting readers’ thoughts on this topic.  My own conclusion is that I’m pretty boring.  Mostly, I’m a linear, process-driven thinker.  “Inspiration” comes after collecting data and viewpoints, consciously and/or subconsciously mulling them over, evaluating alternatives, and then crafting a solution.  If all of those wheels are turning subconsciously and at a quick pace, then I have what feels like an epiphanic moment.  But I still must consciously start the process if I’m to get to that endpoint.   In any case it seems to work for me.

And more importantly, the exercise of thinking about how we are inspired is in itself worthwhile.  By understanding how we work best we can bring those tools and approaches to bear on future problems.  I encourage you to think about your inspiration process (and contribute your thoughts to The Atlantic if you’re so moved).            

Okay, the latest access-to-justice, pro bono, funding, job market, and related news:

• Texas moving toward adoption of standard forms for pro-se, uncontested divorces;
• Minnesota law students are pitching in big-time to narrow the justice gap;
• a class-action lawsuit against a PA county alleges underfunding of indigent defense;
• MassMutual pledges pro bono assistance and funding in the Bay State;
• Community Legal Services of mid-Florida is one fine place to work;
• the “profound transformation” of pro bono over the past three decades;
• gun-totin’ prosecutors in Minnesota;
• pro bon-Oh, Canada;
• Texas high court honored for AtJ commitment;
• more pro bono volunteers in the Volunteer State;
• re-examining welfare reform’s “successes” in a recession’s aftermath;
• spotlight on South Texas College of Law’s Human Trafficking/Immigration Clinic;
• a Wisconsin-based legal services lawyer offers the basics on managing student debt. 

The summaries:

• 4.12.12 – from the Public News Service: “The state Supreme Court is considering whether to make it easier for low-income Texans to handle simple legal cases without hiring attorneys. An advisory committee will be hashing out recommendations Friday in Austin.  At issue is whether to require all Texas courts to accept standardized do-it-yourself legal forms in uncontested divorces.”  The San Antonio Express editorial board favors the move, writing, “Texas is only one of a few states without universal divorce forms. The majority of the 43 states that have adopted the forms also mandated their courts to accept the forms. Texas needs to follow suit.  As Public Citizen and other citizen advocates have noted, many Texans can’t afford the $203 median hourly rate Texas family law lawyers charge, but that should not keep them from having access to the justice system.”  The main argument against: standardized forms could encourage a large number of people to go pro se, and could thus clog up the court system. 

• 4.10.12 – the Minneapolis Star Tribune looks at the “…growing force of Minnesota law students who are wielding more influence in courtrooms as funding for legal aid services declines and economic forces reduce paid clerkships…. The number of law students who [completed a volunteer program via the] Minnesota Justice Foundation (MJF) has grown exponentially, from 43 in 2000 to 287 in 2010. Many…are placed with nonprofits that serve low-income clients. About 19 currently work in public defenders’ offices…”  The piece goes on to cite numbers about funding cuts and job losses in civil legal services.

• 4.10.12 –  in Pennsylvania, the “Luzerne County chief public defender…filed a lawsuit against the county…alleging that a lack of funding and staffing has led to his inability to represent indigent clients. The complaint, listed as a class action, was filed by the [Pennsylvania ACLU] and Dechert LLP in Philadelphia. The ACLU has had similar complaints about the Allegheny County public defender’s office.  Al Flora Jr,, who was named the Luzerne County chief public defender in 2010, stopped accepting new applications for representation on Dec. 19 except in [certain cases].  (Story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)
  • Update: following the class-action filing on Tuesday, “Chief Public Defender Al Flora Jr. on Thursday filed a motion seeking a court order that would permit him to immediately hire six more attorneys and direct Luzerne County to pay private attorneys to represent indigent defendants who have been denied representation by his office.”  (Story from Wilkes Barre Times-Leader.)

   

• 4.10.12 – in Massachusetts, a locally-based company pitches in to address the justice gap.  From a press release: “Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and the Hampden County Bar Association announced today MassMutual’s increased support for the Hampden County Legal Clinic, including a $15,000 grant and additional volunteer support through the company’s in-house legal team.  The grant is also intended to help support the expansion of pro bono activities currently administered by the Hampden County Legal Clinic.

• 4.10.12 – big props to Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, which is a mighty fine place to work.  “Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida has been named one of the nation’s “50 Best Nonprofits To Work For In 2012″ by The NonProfit Times.  For its third annual list…publication selected nonprofits in three categories: small, medium and large organizations.  Community Legal Services was ranked ninth among medium-sized nonprofits and 18th overall, according to a news release from the Daytona Beach-based nonprofit agency.”  (Story from the Daytona Beach News-Journal.)

• 4.9.12 – the Pro Bono Institute’s Esther Lardent has occasion to look at pro bono’s “profound transformation” in the past three decades.  Pro bono’s evolution toward a sophisticated national movement began with threats to eviscerate Legal Services Corporation funding in 1980 and continued with the institutionalization of pro bono in law-firm (and now in-house) culture.   (This National Law Journal piece is password-protected.)

• 4.9.12 – It’s cold in Minnesota, so now the state’s prosecutors can pack heat.  “Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill into law…that will allow prosecutors to arm themselves while on duty.  The legislation was drafted after a courthouse shooting nearly killed Cook County Attorney Tim Scannell last December. Previously, a quirk in state law had prohibited prosecutors from carrying weapons while on duty even though no such restrictions were imposed on judges or public defenders.  During debate on the bill, lawmakers were assured that judges will retain the right to ban guns from courtrooms and courthouse grounds.”  (Story from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.)

• 4.9.12 – Pro Bon-Oh, Canada.  (LOL!)  Help for pro se litigants in Ontario who wish to go to the country’s high court: “Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO), in partnership with the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and the Supreme Court of Canada, launched a new pilot project today to provide free legal services to low-income self-represented Ontarians seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Initiated at the Court’s request, the project will help eligible litigants determine the merits of their leave applications and offer assistance to those found to have prospects for success. The volunteer lawyers are former law clerks at the Supreme Court.” (Here’s the full press release.)

• 4.9.12 – everything’s bigger in Texas, including the high court’s AtJ commitment.  “The Texas Supreme Court will receive a 2012 American Bar Association Grassroots Advocacy Award for leading an extraordinary effort to preserve state funding for legal aid programs and also for encouraging support for legal services in other states. The award will be presented April 18 during a reception at the United States Supreme Court.  Last year, the Texas Supreme Court played a key role in obtaining funding for Texas legal aid programs at a time when state-directed support was in serious jeopardy. The…justices lobbied extensively in support of an amendment on a general appropriations bill, which led to $17.6 million in legal services funding from the Texas state legislature.”  (Full ABA release.)

• 4.7.12 -pro bono advocates in Tennessee appear to be answering the call to help overwhelmed legal services providers.  From the Tennessean: “The state Supreme Court requires lawyers to report their pro bono service each year. In 2010, 4,400 more lawyers reported volunteering their time than the year before, a 100 percent increase, according to a commission report that is headed before the Supreme Court later this year.

• 4.7.12 – in 2003, when I was a 3L, I wrote a paper on how the mid-1990s welfare-reform policy changes were faring over time.  One of the main concerns raised by reform critics was that if the economy went south, and welfare recipients ran up against newly-imposed time limits on how long they could receive benefits, thousands of people could fall through the safety net’s holes.  Fast forward to post-recession 2012.  From the New York Times: “Perhaps no law in the past generation has drawn more praise than the drive to ‘end welfare as we know it,’ which joined the late-’90s economic boom to send caseloads plunging, employment rates rising and officials of both parties hailing the virtues of tough love.  But the distress of the last four years has added a cautionary postscript: much as overlooked critics of the restrictions once warned, a program that built its reputation when times were good offered little help when jobs disappeared. Despite the worst economy in decades, the cash welfare rolls have barely budged.”

• 4.7.12 – the Houston Chronicle highlights the work of the Human Trafficking/Immigration Clinic at the South Texas College of Law: “By 2011, the…Clinic had scored some major victories.  [Clinic director Naomi] Bang’s students had helped secure visas allowing 15 Vietnamese human trafficking victims to remain in the country. Second- and third-year law students were clamoring to get into the class, and a long waiting list developed for the 10 coveted spots.

• Writing in the April edition of the Wisconsin Lawyer, 2009 law grad and current legal services lawyer Karen Bauer reviews educational debt relief options and repayment approaches for today’s grads.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  It pleases me to report that the Glorious Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Franchise is undefeated this season, having shut out the Pirates of Pittsburgh yesterday.  While we’re talking baseball, I encourage you to check out the artwork of Will Johnson.  Johnson, who is steeped in baseball history, produced a series of paintings that profile some of the game’s most fascinating and impactful personalities, like this one of Cubs great Mordecai Brown.  (That’s for you, Mr. Glaves.)  Johnson is also the frontman of Centro-matic, a great rock band out of Denton, Texas.

This week in access-to-justice, pro bono, and related public interest news:

• sharing the wealth across counties to fund indigent defense in Nebraska;
• making the business case for nonlawyer professionals to provide pro bono services;
• the early end of the Cincy defender’s tenure;
• the Wash. State Bar Association’s “Moderate Means” program provides sliding-scale legal help to the (not quite) poor by partnering with the state’s 3 law schools;
• the Virginia Legal Aid Society is charting a course to maximize services with less anticipated future funding;
• how law student pro bono is done by those hippie kids in Berkeley;
• the Early Resolution Project in Alaska seeks to make the legal dimension to divorces quick, inexpensive, and as pain-free as possible;
• more nonlegal pro bono, this time focusing on the value of “secondment” projects;
• the Media Access Project will soon cease to be;
• a New Hampshire lawmaker opposes the state’s move from a voluntary to mandatory IOLTA jurisdiction.
• the Illinois AG and defender press for funding to boost attorney salaries.

The summaries:

• 4.5.12 – a Nebraska state legislator has withdrawn a bill that would have diverted funds away from indigent defense in rural counties.  (Story from the Omaha World-Herald.) 

• 4.5.12 – a Taproot Foundation blog post explores the business case for pro bono, with a focus on how pro bono provides experiential learning opportunities.  But here, we’re dealing with pro bono by nonlawyer professionals who offer free technical and strategic planning assistance to nonprofits.  Recently I’ve seen more and more coverage of “nonlegal pro bono.”  This probably speaks to 1) the increasing sophistication of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement, and 2) the post-recession need among resource-strapped nonprofits for free professional services.   

• 4.4.12 – the rocky tenure of Cincinnati’s public defender came to an early end after a report pointed to an abrasive management style and failure to inspire trust among staff.  Full story from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

• 4.4.12 – the Washington State Bar Association’s Moderate Means “low bono” program: “Washingtonians of moderate means now have a better chance of getting legal representation when they need it.  More than 350 lawyers have volunteered to adjust their fees on a sliding scale to accommodate people who are neither rich nor poor. The attorneys are part of a partnership between the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) and the state’s three law schools….  People are eligible for the Moderate Means Program if their household income is between 200 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level for their family size. That would be household incomes between $45,622 and $91,244. The bar association said that includes about 30 percent of Washington households.”  Full piece in the Seattle Times.  And here’s more from the Seattle Business Journal.

• 4.4.12 – “Because of federal budget cuts, the Virginia Legal Aid Society needs help to determine how best to use limited resources to help residents.  While more low-income residents in Danville and Southside need free civil legal services every year, Legal Aid revenues have declined by about 20 percent in the past two and a half years, said VLAS Executive Director David Neumeyer. Next year, Legal Aid faces a deficit of $500,000 for a $2.6 million budget. Without significant help, the nonprofit law firm would need to reduce staff or close an office next year, he added.”  VLAS is seeking community input as it charts a course forward.  (Story from Roanoke-based WSLS.)

• 4.4.12 – law student pro bono. The ABA Center for Pro Bono’s blog features a guest post from our friend Sue Schechter (Hi, Sue!) of Berkeley Law.  Sue reviews Berkeley’s law student pro bono program, a model that provides staff and academic support to students but that also allows much autonomy as students make their own volunteer commitments with local agencies.  This latter dimension reflects the fact that pro bono at Berkeley law has historically been a student-run initiative. 

• 4.4.12 – the Early Resolution Project set up by an Alaska judge uses pro bono attorneys to help bring about amicable – and brief – divorce resolutions.  The underlying philosophy is that the longer divorces stay in litigation, the more painful and financially draining they are likely to be for the parties.  So brief, low-stress proceedings are the ERP’s goal.  Here’s the story from Alaska Public Radio and NPR.

• 4.3.12 – more nonlegal pro bono.  Global public relations outfit Ketchum blogs about the advantages of pro bono “secondments,” through which Ketchum professionals are embedded within a nonprofit organization to provide pro bono services for a period of time.  This pro bono model is of course not new to the law firm world, but it is still interesting to see how and why pro bono work is structured in other professions.   

• 4.3.12 – “The Media Access Project announced on Tuesday that it will be shutting down its operations in May because of funding difficulties.  The public interest law firm said its board has decided to suspend operations on May 1 because of the ‘difficult funding environment facing MAP and other progressive public interest groups.’  The group was founded in 1973 and represents clients that promote the free flow of information and free speech and diversity in electronic and other forms of new media.”

• 4.3.12 – in the recession’s wake New Hampshire’s high court converted the state’s IOLTA program from voluntary to mandatory in order to boost funding for beleaguered legal services providers.  One state legislator, attorney Gregory Sorg, is proposing a bill to undo this change and return to a voluntary program.  “’I moved to New Hampshire because this was the one state left in the Northeast where a person could own his own soul’, says [Sorg]…. But to [New Hampshire Legal Assistance exec. director John Tobin,]…Sorg’s focus on the principle of the issue ignores the very real consequences.  ‘Even if we lose the funding that costs us one lawyer or one paralegal, that means that several hundred New Hampshire people will not have an advocate,’ says Tobin. ‘And that means that some of them will lose their housing, some of them won’t get health care, some of them won’t be able to escape from domestic violence’.”  Story from New Hampshire Public Radio.

• 3.30.12 – In Illinois, the AG and state public defender pressed for higher salaries during budget hearings in the state senate.  (The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article is password-protected.)

By: Steve Grumm

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

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

This week:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo Credit: ChicTraveler website

By: Steve Grumm

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

This week:

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

Here are the summaries:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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