By: Steve Grumm

From the National Law Journal:

The policy-making arm of the federal judiciary on March 13 discussed steps to reduce costs as workload increases and congressional budget cuts loom.

The federal judiciary’s budget this year was funded at the same level as last fiscal year even as case filings increased, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said.

The administrative office reported today that total civil and criminal filings in federal district courts rose 2 percent to more than 367,600. The office reported an 11 percent increase in intellectual property cases and a 15 percent increase in consumer credit filings.

…

From Huffington Post:

. . . [Attorney Melva] Rozier founded a new type of law firm — or rather, a law store — inside the Boynton Beach Mall near West Palm Beach, Fla. The Law Booth counsels walk-in clients on divorce, foreclosure and other legal topics at discounted rates from a kiosk planted between American Eagle Outfitters and Victoria’s Secret shops. . . .

While lawyers can play a crucial role in helping those in need, the cost of their services is out of reach for many Americans. Free
legal services, offered by nonprofit organizations, typically serve only those most destitute, while private law firms tend to charge expensive fees. A 2011 survey by the World Justice Project called the U.S. judicial system “inaccessible to disadvantaged groups,” ranking it 52 out of 66 countries when it comes to “access to civil justice.” . . .

In Rozier’s regular law office, clients schedule appointments in advance and pay an initial $125 fee for a consultation. At the Law Booth, they can walk in at, say, 8 p.m. on a Saturday, sit in a chair, eat a pretzel and consult her or one of her two partners for a fee that starts at $25. People can stop in for preparation of a will, advice about starting a business or questions about bankruptcy or a personal injury matter.

The idea for the Law Booth grew out of Rozier’s experiences of working with clients affected by foreclosure. Palm Beach County has the fourth highest number of foreclosures of any county in Florida — a state that ranks among the ones with the highest counts, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure database. Rozier started her career by representing clients at real estate closings, only to see her business “dissolve” when the real estate downturn hit, she said. “I started realizing how much people were hungry for information.” . . .

Some lawyers argue that the commercialization of legal services has changed the industry for the worse, causing a huge surge in claims and a culture of litigation as people try to sue for just about anything. Others say that marketing and advertising simply help disenfranchised people learn about services that they wouldn’t otherwise know about.

“Allowing access [to lawyers] has been a great benefit for the community,” said Richard Carey, 28, one of Rozier’s two partners at the Law Booth. “We want to be where the people are. If people are shopping at 4 a.m., we want to make sure we’re there.”

Read more here.

Thoughts?

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Along with teaching us to embrace and cultivate a sense of searing guilt for the remainder of our earthly days, the nuns in my Catholic elementary school imparted to their pupils much common-sense wisdom.  One such bit of wisdom is “fall back, spring forward”, a phrase which reminds me what I’m supposed to do with my clocks twice a year.  So, a reminder to spring your clocks forward by one hour tomorrow night.

Speaking of our earthly days, this afternoon I’m joining my family at Arlington National Cemetery to bury a great aunt and uncle, the latter having been a retired Air Force pilot.  This will be a solemn, but not a sad, event.  Aunt Kay and Uncle Jim, who were married, died late last year after long, happy lives together.  Uncle Jim was one unique cat, and his life story offers an object lesson in cherishing every waking moment.  I knew him as an older man who sky-dived, scuba-dived, and bungee-jumped into his 70s.  My dad knew Uncle Jim as his mom’s gregarious younger brother who, on holiday leave from the military, would sweep into their house like a hurricane – showering gifts on the kids and ribbing my grandfather, a Philadelphia fireman whose German-American roots left him wanting quieter, more sedate family interaction.

Uncle Jim knew what sacrifice in life meant, and he endured hardships.  But I can truthfully write that only once did I see him without a smile on his face for any more than a few seconds.  That was at his wife’s funeral last October.  He died weeks later.  Throughout his life Uncle Jim seemed to know better than most that, come what may, our clocks spring forward faster than we may wish.  So we must seize every single moment as they try to pass us by.   

This week:

• Maryland’s public defender law getting a rewrite, but litigation about the right to counsel still likely to follow;
• Kentucky prosecutors and public defenders might need a stiff bourbon to deal with the next state budget;
• Badger student pro bono gets a boost;
• why mandatory pro bono ain’t the solution;
• in the U.K, proposed legal aid cuts run into a House-of-Lords buzz saw (a phrase that is fun to write and not often written, I’d wager); 
• chickens coming home to roost in battle between U. Md. legal clinic & state lawmaker;
• pardon this! A proposed law school clinic on executive pardon power;
• Presidential Management Fellows application snafu draws attention of lawmakers;
• show me more funding! LSC cuts will impact Legal Services of Eastern Missouri;
• juvenile justice developments in the Buckeye State. 

The summaries:

• 3.9.12 – “Lawmakers have reached a compromise to rewrite Maryland’s Public Defender Act to accommodate a Court of Appeals decision that found criminal defendants weren’t given proper access to attorneys.  The consensus amendments, if passed early next week, would not require judges to work weekends and would dramatically reduce the number of people arrested for crimes with shorter jail terms.  Lawmakers are looking at changing the law ahead of a mandate from the Court of Appeals that would require public defenders to be available within 24 hours after an individual is arrested.”  (Story from the Gazette.)

• 3.8.12 – in the “just because it could have been worse doesn’t mean it’s now good” department,” Kentucky’s next biennial budget isn’t likely to please local prosecutors or public defenders.  From Gannett: “The proposed state budget pending in the General Assembly has local prosecutors…concerned.  The House of Representatives in the Kentucky General Assembly passed a proposed budget…that would cut most state agencies by 8.4 percent… The Senate will take up the budget next week and will likely make some changes.  The House’s budget opted not to make the further cuts proposed by Gov. Steve Besher to prosecutors and public defenders but also won’t restore their funding cut out of this year’s budget. If this budget passes…it will mean a further backlog of cases and potential reduction in staff, prosecutors said.”

• 3.7.12 – the University of Wisconsin Law School will bolster pro bono programs through two grants from the state bar.  One grant will help launch a free, law-school staffed legal clinic for veterans.  The second will support the law school’s new Pro Bono Society, which will engage law students and alumni pro bono efforts.  Here’s more from the State Bar of Wisconsin.  

• 3.7.12 – the Pro Bono Institute’s Esther Lardent makes the “pragmatic and philosophical” case against mandatory pro bono as a solution to our country’s access-to-justice crisis.  Here is Lardent’s blog post on the Association of Corporate Counsel website.  

• 3.7.12 -House of Lords = Radical Progressive Revolutionaries(?)  Civil legal aid advocates in the U.S. are not the only ones facing waves of government funding cuts.  The present UK government is trying to push through measures that would considerably slash legal aid funds.  But the House of Lords, which hitherto I’d thought was a legislative body preoccupied mainly with things like croquet and ascots, is pushing back.  They are dealing blow after legislative blow to the government’s justice bill, as reported by the Independent. 

• 3.6.12 – a Maryland lawmaker opposed to the work of the U. of Md.’s law school environmental clinic has thrown down the funding gauntlet.  We’ve covered the particulars of this ongoing battle before (see my colleague Kristen’s great summary here, and more here).  This is the latest from the Nat’l. Law Journal: “State Sen. Richard Colburn has proposed a budget amendment that would pit the state’s two public law schools against each other, transferring $500,000 from the University of Maryland, which houses an environmental law clinic that has angered some Republican lawmakers, to the University of Baltimore School of Law, to start a law clinic that would represent farmers.   Colburn and state leaders including Gov. Martin O’Malley have spoken out against the environmental law clinic for representing plaintiffs in a pollution lawsuit against a local chicken farm that supplies Perdue Farms Inc. They contend that publicly funded law clinics should not file suits that hurt state businesses.”  It’s a fascinating story raising questions around academic free expression, use of state education funds, combating pollution, and the power of local business interests large and small.    

• 3.5.12 – Pardon this!  A novel idea for a law school clinic. From Pro Publica and the Wash. Post: “For years, lawyers, faith-based groups and students have helped file petitions for inmates seeking to cut short lengthy prison sentences. But there have been no comparable resources for felons who sought pardons after serving their time.  That may soon change. In response to stories published in December by ProPublica and The Washington Post, former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich (R) plans to launch the nation’s first law school clinic and training program devoted to pardons.  Ehrlich’s proposal takes aim at the inequities identified by ProPublica’s investigation into the dispensation of presidential pardons over the past decade.”  [The investigation showed disparities in pardons granted based on race and whether a petitioner had congressional support.]    

• 3.5.12 – a snafu with the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program application process has raised larger questions for Republican lawmakers.  From Government Executive: “The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked Office of Personnel Management officials to explain a recent [PMF] program mishap.  In a March 1 letter to OPM Director John Berry, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Dennis Ross, R-Fla….sought more information related to a Jan. 23 incident when OPM mistakenly sent acceptance emails to 300 semifinalists who hadn’t qualified for the [PMF] program. About a quarter of the 1,186 semifinalists received the erroneous letters. Later that day the same applicants received another email informing them there was an error in the system.  In the letter, Issa and Ross expressed concern that the notification mistake was ‘indicative of larger IT failures at OPM,’ including the agency’s recent troubles with retirement processing and USAJobs.gov.”  A Washington Post commentator wonders if the PMF issue is a mole hill rather than a mountain. 

• 3.3.12 – the Missourian looks at the impact of recent Legal Services Corporation funding cuts on Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.  [Nitpick: the article misstates the latest LSC funding cut, by saying LSC’s appropriation was chopped from $350m to $210m.  In fact the appropriation now stands at just under $350m, having been cut last November from about $404m.] 

• 3.3.12 – juvenile justice developments in the Buckeye State.  From the Dispatch: “Juveniles in Ohio who are arrested for offenses that could land them in a detention center or youth prison can waive their right to legal representation without ever speaking to a lawyer.  That will change if a proposal by the Ohio Supreme Court goes into effect. The new rule would require juvenile defendants to meet with a lawyer before choosing not to use one.”

And since we’re closing with Ohio, I leave you with Mark Kozelek’s achingly beautiful Carry Me, Ohio.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  This week:

• Maryland legislation would counteract state high court ruling requiring counsel for defendants at bail hearings;
• AIG’s in-house department launches pro bono program;
• How funding constraints slow the wheels of justice in Washington State;
• the dire funding straits of Tarheel State legal services providers;
• pro bono in Arkansas?  There’s an app for that;
• promoting volunteerism by professionals in Corporate America;
• Massachusetts governor Patrick’s plan to revamp public defense program runs into roadblocks;
• SUNY Buffalo law clinic puts the focus on harmful consequences for pets in households with domestic violence;
• what law-firm pro bono can learn from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Here are the summaries:

• 3.1.12 – “the Maryland Senate and the House of Delegates on Thursday passed measures to repeal a Maryland law requiring poor defendants to have a public defender present when they appear before district court commissioners, who decide bail and whether a defendant is detained after arrest….  Lawmakers are working to address a Maryland Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year that defendants must have an attorney present during appearances before court commissioners. Compliance with the ruling could cost tens of millions of dollars, if the law isn’t changed.”  The measures also try to cut down on the number of suspects who would be detained by allowing law enforcement officers to issue citations in lieu of arrests for some minor crimes.  Still, the issue of the constitutionality of some defendants not having counsel at bail hearings will likely be litigated again.  (Story from the Washington Post.) 

• 2.29.12 – Multinational insurance company AIG, which has about 500 in-house attorneys, is launching a pro bono program.  AIG general counsel Thomas Russo spoke to Corporate Counsel: “ ‘You want to give people the opportunity to contribute to the community, and you want to be supportive of that in a lot of different ways,’ says AIG general counsel Thomas Russo. ‘We wanted to do it right, and that took time.’  With the wholehearted blessing of Russo—who used to defend, pro bono, New York City street musicians accused of violating city ordinances—AIG joins a growing pro-pro bono trend among corporate law departments. But establishing the program is also a big part of how Russo conceives of the company’s comeback, after receiving the largest government bailout in U.S. history during the 2008 financial crisis.”

• 2.29.12 – from the Seattle Times: “Guest columnists Richard McDermott, presiding judge of the King County Superior Court, and Barbara Madsen, chief justice of the Washington Supreme Court, voice concern that at a time of increasing legal needs for low-income residents, legal aid resources are facing cuts.”  McDermott and Madsen highlight both the financial woes confronting courts (even as more and more pro se litigants seek help navigating the system) and the legal services community.

• 2.28.12 – the Public News Service looks at the dire financial straits of North Carolina legal services providers: “In the last 10 years, there’s been a 60 percent increase in the number of people eligible for free legal aid…. Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont saw a 25 percent state funding cut, as well as a serious reduction in contributions from lawyers who are also struggling in this economy…. Another free legal nonprofit, Legal Aid of North Carolina, had to close four offices and lay off 30 lawyers after last year’s budget cuts. 

• 2.28.12 – pro bono in Arkansas?  There’s an app for that.  From the Arkansas Business Journal: A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law recently developed a mobile app for Arkansas pro bono attorneys.  According to a news release, Stewart Whaley graduated from the law school in 2008. He and his team created the free app, called iProBono, and released it on the iTunes app store…. The program lets licensed Arkansas attorneys view pro bono cases representing low-income Arkansans. Attorneys can sort the cases based on legal topic and county. Cases can be requested through the app.

• 2.27.12 – speaking of the pro bono, Senator Mark Warner (D – VA) writes on the value of volunteerism in Corporate America.  From the Huffington Post: In tough times, when reaching for the checkbook isn’t as easy as it once was for individuals or businesses, we need to find more creative ways to help. And for a growing number of American businesses, the answer is clear: many have agreed to partner with their employees to donate pro bono services, leveraging the extraordinary talents of their workforce to help support community needs.” 

• 2.26.12 – “The state agency that oversees legal representation for the poor is raising some serious doubts about Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s legislation to overhaul the state’s system of indigent defense.  Saying he wants to save costs in a tight budget, the governor submitted legislation last month to hire 240 additional full-time state lawyers at the agency in order to replace some of the work currently done under contract by 3,000 private lawyers for the poor across the state.” In a battle of dueling reports, the executive branch and the Committee for Public Counsel services differ on whether Gov. Patrick’s plan is s money-saver or not.  (Story from The Republican.)

• 2.26.12 – an interesting new legal clinic out of SUNY Buffalo.  From a news release: “Domestic violence victims often remain in abusive relationships to prevent their partner from harming or killing their pets. The University at Buffalo Law School Women, Children, and Social Justice Clinic’s new project, Animal Shelter Options for Domestic Violence Victims, is designed to remove this barrier to safety for individuals and their pets.  With funding from Verizon and collaboration from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), law school faculty and students are working to provide individuals seeking emergency shelter with resources to help protect their pets as well as raise awareness about barriers escaping domestic violence faced by victims who have animals.”  

• February, 2012 – Pro Bono Institute prez Esther Lardent on what the legal pro bono world can learn from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) structures. Lardent reviews several key CSR components which are transferable to legal pro bono, including professional development practices, accounting and reporting of activity, and the importance of aligning pro bono work with a company’s strengths and goals. 

by Kristen Pavón

We all know participating in clinics, volunteering, and getting involved with legal aid organizations in your community are great ways to show commitment to public interest and even get a foot in the door.

However, at the ABA Midyear Meeting earlier this month, co-executive director of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Mark Moreau suggested something I had never heard before.

Moreau advised that if you’re interested in public interest law, you should have a strong tax law background. Yes, tax law.

“At a time where over half of legal services clients are working poor, a strong understanding in tax or welfare law is important,” he explained, noting that inadequate understanding of welfare and tax law is a major deficiency among legal aid providers.”

You can read more here.

Did you take tax law in law school? Will you take tax law?

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral argument on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum and I gotta say, I’m excited to see how this one turns out.

The substantive issue is whether corporations are excluded from tort liability for violations of the law of nations such as torture, extrajudicial executions or other crimes against humanity, or instead may be sued in the same manner as any other private actor under the Alien Tort Statute for such egregious violations (from petitioners’ brief).

From the LA Times:

. . .[I]n a major test of human rights law, the justices will decide whether corporations are like people when they are sued for aiding foreign regimes that kill or torture their own people.

It would “create a weird paradox” if the corporations are people when funding campaigns but not when they violate human rights, said Peter Weiss, vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. . . .

On Tuesday, the justices will hear an appeal of a suit accusing Royal Dutch Petroleum and its Shell subsidiary in the United States of aiding a former Nigerian regime whose military police tortured, raped and executed minority residents in the oil-rich delta. The victims included famed Nigerian author and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. . . .

Corporate lawyers chafe at these claims. They say it makes no sense to allow foreigners to sue in U.S. courts for actions that took place on foreign soil and under the auspices of foreign governments. Critics also say U.S. officials would not take kindly to foreign suits against American corporations if, for example, they were held liable for killing innocent people in Pakistan or Yemen because they had supplied drones or cruise missiles to the U.S. government. . . .

Obama administration lawyers joined human rights activists in appealing this decision to the Supreme Court.

“It would send a very bad message if we give corporations a blanket immunity if they engage in universally condemned human rights abuse,” said Jennifer Green, a University of Minnesota law professor. . . .

You can read the petitioners’ brief here. Thoughts?

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday Monday, dear readers. This is a special “72 Hours Late” bulletin edition.  The reason, of course, is that I spent the better part of last week preparing for the sublime glory of the Academy Awards.  I simply need to know whom Joan Rivers adores as Hollywood’s most glamorous promenade upon the red carpet.  This week we’ll return to the every-Friday schedule.  While we’re running with the movie theme, here’s a list of the all-time 10 best legal movie lines (from the people at Bloomberg Law).  And as for the public interest news:      

• A  proposal in the Buckeye State to move toward more state funding of the indigent defense program;
• Large-scale public defender layoff in NOLA forces legal luminaries into indigent defense roles;
• In Washington State, a class action alleging unconstitutionally overburdened indigent defense programs goes forward;
• Pay raises for Wisconsin prosecutors (and maybe public defenders) to support attorney retention;
• Yale Law School clinic files a federal suit challenging Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers;
• the boom in pro bono work by corporate counsel offices;
• plumbing the depths of Florida’s legal services funding crisis;
• continuing a national trend, a new veterans diversionary court in PA;
• to address swelling demand for legal services, stakeholders in Tennessee are serving clients by answering legal questions online;
• a Baltimore legal services provider partners with a social work school to provide more holistic services to clients.    

The summaries:

• 2.26.12 – a move to change the Buckeye State’s indigent-defense funding system.  From the Columbus Dispatch: “The County Commissioners’ Association of Ohio again has on its legislative agenda the issue of transferring the responsibility of providing indigent defendants with legal representation from the counties to the state…. Currently, counties set up their own ways of providing lawyers for indigent defendants, and they allocate money. The state then reimburses all counties at the same rate, which last year was about 35 percent. That’s down from the 50 percent the state promised when the system was set up in the early 1970s.

• 2.24.12 – a not-so-subtle message from the bench? It’s all hands on deck in the NOLA legal community as one judge calls upon high-profile lawyers for public defense work.  From the Times-Picayune: “Politicians, local media leaders and on-air pundits filed into a New Orleans criminal courtroom on Friday, under orders from a judge to take on the cases of poor defendants left without lawyers. Criminal District Judge Arthur Hunter, in a splashy move aimed at drawing attention to a wave of layoffs at the Orleans Parish public defender’s office, handpicked some of the city’s best-known lawyers to represent 32 defendants abandoned by the cuts.”  Those called into service included the state bar association president and the Times-Picayune’s publisher.

• 2.23.12 – from the AP: “A federal judge in Seattle says a lawsuit challenging the public defense systems in the cities of Mount Vernon and Burlington can proceed. Judge Robert Lasnik also granted the case class-action status Thursday.  The American Civil Liberties Union alleges that two part-time attorneys contracted by the cities fielded more than 2,100 cases in 2010. That’s although Washington state Bar Association guidelines specify full-time public defenders shouldn’t surpass 400 cases a year. The lawsuit alleges the cities fail to provide adequate resources to the public defender system.”

• 2.22.12 – from the State Bar of Wisconsin: “A bipartisan bill intended to retain experienced prosecutors by improving their compensation…advance[s] in the Legislature….  The legislation, 2011 Senate Bill 394 and Assembly Bill 488, establishes a pay progression program for assistant district attorneys (ADAs), but does not fund it in the current biennium, leaving that issue for a future Legislature to address in the next state budget….  On Feb. 15, legislators introduced a bill to create a similar pay progression system for assistant state public defenders.”  The public defender bill is not out of committee yet.

• 2.22.12 – “An immigration law clinic at Yale Law School has filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the use of detainers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and asked Wednesday that the suit be expedited now that ICE is rolling out Secure Communities in Connecticut statewide.”  (Story from the New Haven Register.)

• 2.21.12 – the Pro Bono Institute has gotten a lot of traction in American Lawyer Media publications of late.  Most recently, Corporate Counsel looks at the increase in pro bono work performed by, well, corporate counsel, with a focus on PBI’s work in the arena.

• 2.20.12 – a Miami Herald editorial plumbs the depths of the Sunshine State’s legal services funding crisis.  The state government does not fund legal services, so programs have long been dependent on IOLTA funds.  With the real estate market collapsed and interest rates at historic lows, IOLTA funding has been gutted by 80%.  This will lead to lawyer layoffs – “…some 120 of Florida’s 410 Legal Aid attorneys are expected to lose their jobs…” – and fewer clients served unless action is taken now to shore up funding.

• 2.17.12 – continuing a national trend, a suburban Philadelphia county is creating a veterans court to adjudicate some cases involving vets who run afoul of the law.  “Congressman Pat Meehan (R-7) hosted a roundtable discussion to iron out the details of Delaware County’s Veterans Justice Initiative. With representatives from the Veterans Administration…it was announced that a Veterans Treatment Court was ready to go in Delco…. The goal [is] the creation of a diversionary court track for non-violent offenders who served in the military.”  (Story from the Delco News Network.)

• 2.16.12 – “More than 100 low-income Tennesseans are receiving free legal assistance every month through the OnlineTNJustice.org website, but backers of the project want to serve more….  The initiative is a joint project of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the Tennessee Bar Association. The site allows clients to request advice about specific civil legal issues from volunteer lawyers and get their questions answered online.” (Story from the Tennessean.)

• 2.16.12 – a legal services office pairs with a graduate social work school to provide more holistic services to clients.  From the Public News Service: “The downtown Baltimore [Maryland Legal Aid Bureau] office has been trying something new: teaming up with social workers through the University of Maryland School of Social Work….  Legal Aid offices around the state want to replicate the Baltimore program, but it does require resources, and regular Legal Aid funding cannot be used for the social workers.”

Participate in the National Association for Law Placement’s 2012 Public Sector & Public Interest Attorney Salary Survey.  Every two years, NALP conducts this unique survey to gather important data on attorney salaries, benefits packages, and loan repayment assistance programs.  Public interest law offices rely upon this survey data to set salary scales, negotiate union contracts, implement loan repayment programs, and for other purposes.

Who should participate?

• Civil Legal Services Organizations
• Public Defenders’ Offices
• District Attorney/Local Prosecutors’ Offices
• All other nonprofit, public interest law offices (e.g. those organizations that promote civil liberties, human rights, advocate for the homeless, etc.)

A survey instrument was mailed to public interest organizations throughout the country on 1/19/12.  An electronic version is available here: https://survey.vovici.com/se.ashx?s=17CFEB607A3193C6.  A PDF is available for hard-copy printing here: http://tinyurl.com/89bjqqh.  (Please complete only one version of the survey.)  All survey participants will receive a free electronic copy of the report when it is released later in the year.  The survey response deadline is extended until March 16, 2012, but we encourage you to complete it as soon as possible.

Please contact Steve Grumm, NALP’s Director of Public Service Initiatives, with any questions: sgrumm@nalp.org or 202-296-0057.

by Kristen Pavón

From The Miami Herald:

This nation, a beacon of hope for so many around the world for upholding the rule of law for all, is facing a disaster if access to the courts is denied to the poor simply by economics. This is especially true in Florida. It is one of just four states that currently has zero state funding to help low-income people pay lawyers to dodge foreclosure and eviction or secure unemployment or disability benefits.

Where other states charge court filing fees or allocate money from the state budget, Florida does neither. That’s a black eye for the state that led the nation 30 years ago in finding a novel way to pay for lawyers to represent the indigent in civil cases.

Florida’s Legal Aid community still relies on that 1981 funding base: interest-bearing trust accounts — client money lawyers set aside in escrow for short periods of time. Unfortunately, record low interest rates the past few years have created an unsustainable situation.

Some 120 of Florida’s 410 Legal Aid attorneys are expected to lose their jobs. The Legal Aid Service of Broward will cut 20 positions. The 100,000 cases a year that the Florida Bar Foundation funds will drop by at least a third.

Not surprisingly, Florida Governor Rick Scott [and the entire legislature, for that matter] isn’t doing much about the access to courts situation. He vetoed a $1 million measure that would have helped the Florida Bar Foundation stay afloat (I’ve already mentioned how FBF’s budget crisis upsets me on a personal level).

However, The Miami Herald editorial staff proposed a couple of creative solutions:

• Charge a fee (even if temporary) for bar dues
• Charge sliding scale fees for clients able to pay something
• Claim a fee from retroactive court settlements

You can read the rest of the article here.

It’s tough to think about having our clients bear the burden of the dismal state of access to justice, but is this what we may have to succumb to? What do you think?

By: Steve Grumm

Particularly in the Great Recession’s wake, there has been much discussion about whether and how to make fundamental changes to the way we train new lawyers.  But this debate far predates the recession.  Stakeholders in legal education have for several years been examining the current orthodoxy, especially in asking whether we should be de-emphasizing the “casebook” model in favor of additional experiential learning opportunities and teamwork exercises.

In 2006 Stanford Law School undertook several measures to alter its education model.  Six years later they’re eager to tell us about their progress.  Here’s an excerpt from a detailed press release highlighting SLS’s expansion of team-oriented coursework, clinicals, joint degree programs, etc.. 

Stanford Law School today announced the completion of the first phase of comprehensive reforms to its legal curriculum that began in November 2006—successfully transforming its traditional law degree into a multi-dimensional JD, which combines the study of other disciplines with team-oriented, problem-solving techniques together with expanded clinical training that enables students to represent clients and litigate cases while in law school.

Read the full press release here.