Happy Friday, dear readers.  Below you will see a lot of news, from Florida, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere about crippling cuts in legal services funding. It can be easy, when reading reports that focus on dry items like IOLTA yields and budget lines, to forget that those dollar figures have real impacts on real people: low income individuals and families who are struggling to get by, to say nothing of legal services staffers who have lost their jobs in budget cuts.  

A story summarized below tells of Legal Services of Greater Miami’s work on behalf of a veteran of operations in Afghanistan whose wartime injuries have left him with physical, mental and psychological after-effects.  After a year of advocacy, LSGM secured $1000 in monthly benefits for their client, who is married with children.  Reading of this impacted me powerfully.  I often jog by the Dep’t. of Veterans Affairs headquarters.  Engraved in stone on the building are these words from Abraham Lincoln, spoken during his second inaugural address in the midst of the Civil War: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”

To me, this quote speaks to our shared obligation to provide support for those who sacrifice in service.  Sometimes it falls to legal services lawyers to ensure that that obligation is fulfilled.  So when I think of legal services funding cuts, I think of fewer veterans who access benefits.  I also think of fewer domestic violence victims who achieve legal protection from abusers, and fewer children who receive medical care.  There are tolls exacted on real human beings when figures on spreadsheets shrink. 

This week:

• Maryland’s high court considers the financial burden of ensuring that indigent defendants have counsel at bail hearings;
• New Mexico voters to decide if public defense program should become independent agency;
• an ACLU suit over allegedly over-burdened public defenders in Washington State;
• the Legal Aid Society of Orange County spins off a for-profit entity to help pro se litigants;
• the White House FY2013 budget proposal includes a $402 million LSC appropriation;
• the PA governor’s budget proposal would significantly cut legal services funding;
• to close or not to close the San Joachin County, CA public defender’s office;
• how last November’s LSC cuts are impacting programs in the DC metro area;
• funding woes for Alabama prosecutors’ offices and courthouses;
• federal employee retirements jumped by 24% in 2011;
• speaking of Uncle Sam, a Presidential Management Fellowship application snafu dashes the hopes of 300 candidates;
• Yale Law School cuts back on LRAP program;
• the impact of legal services funding cuts in Florida;
• ditto, West Virginia;
• ditto, Connecticut;
• ditto, Detroit;
• but closing with good news(!), $2 million to the Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation.  

Here are the summaries:

• 2.17.12 – Maryland’s highest court decided Thursday to wait for more information before issuing a mandate that would require lawyers to be available to a defendant within 24 hours of arrest, when it is decided whether he or she will be detained or released.  [T]he Court of Appeals decided to consider responses, due March 5, to motions filed by the Baltimore City District Court Commissioners and state Public Defender Paul B. DeWolfe Jr. before issuing a mandate to enforce its Jan. 4 decision.  DeWolfe, whose office would need an estimated $28 million more annually to make public defenders available at initial bail and bail review hearings, told the court in asking again for a stay of at least 180 days that his office does not have and is unlikely to quickly obtain the resources to comply.”  (Story from The Gazette.)

• 2.16.12 – the question of whether to separate the state’s public defense program from the executive branch so that it operates as an independent agency will be on the November ballot in New Mexico.  (Story from the Daily Times.)

• 2.15.12 – the ACLU is litigating over alleged over-burdened defenders in Washington State.  From the Seattle Times: “Attorneys for the cities of Mount Vernon and Burlington are sparring with the American Civil Liberties Union over allegations that the Skagit County cities knew their public defenders were overburdened with cases. In a federal lawsuit, the ACLU says the two part-time attorneys contracted by the cities fielded more than 2,100 cases in 2010, even though Washington state Bar Association guidelines say full-time public defenders shouldn’t surpass 400 cases a year.” 

• 2.14.12 – there has been much talk in the Great recession’s wake about the rise in pro se clients and the potential value of unbundling legal services delivery.  This SoCal development is interesting: the Legal Aid Society of Orange County is spinning off a for-profit entity, Legal Genie Inc., a “web-based program which combines the power of self-help technology with access to unbundled legal services, enabling self-represented litigants to complete and e-file legal pleadings.” Here’s a press release.

• 2.13.12 – the White House’s FY2013 budget proposal includes a request for $402 million in LSC funding.  This would be an increase over the current $348 million funding level.  For its part, LSC is asking Congress for a higher sum than the White House is: $470 million.  But LSC has also expressed its understanding concerning the White House’s lower proposal, according to the Blog of the Legal Times.  

• 2.13.12 – “Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget would keep general-fund money allotted to the judiciary the same as last year, but funding for civil legal services for the poor would be cut by $274,000….  Mr. Corbett has proposed that legal service s funded in a budget line within the state Department of Public Welfare be funded at $2.5 million, down from $2.74 million last year and down from $3 million two budget cycles ago.”  Story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

• 2.13.12 –  in northern California, San Joaquin County is debating the financial efficiencies of a proposal to close the public defense office.  Here’s the story from the Record. 

• 2.12.12 – the Washington Post reports on how last November’s LSC cuts are impacting grantee programs in DC, MD, and VA.

• 2.12.12 – funding woes are plaguing Alabama courthouses and prosecutors’ offices, and there are more clouds on the horizon.  From the Ledger-Enquirer:  “District attorneys and court officials who rely on state funding are reeling from recent budget cuts that have strained Alabama’s judicial system. The squeeze is being felt in East Alabama counties and elsewhere, prompting circuit clerks to shrink their staffs and scale back hours of operation despite mounting caseloads.” As for Gov. Bentley’s new budget proposal, “District attorneys would [experience] 20 percent cuts. And while the courts requested increased funding next fiscal year, the governor’s plan would slash the total judicial system’s General Fund appropriation by some 26 percent, mitigated mildly by about a 9 percent increase in earmarked funds.”

• 2.10.12 – no attorney-specific numbers, but Government Executive reports that, “[f]ederal retirements increased 24 percent in 2011 from the previous year, according to new statistics from the Office of Personnel Management…. The appeal of buyouts and early outs to agencies grew after the failure of the joint select committee on deficit reduction to agree on a plan to reduce spending by $1.2 trillion triggered across-the-board automatic spending cuts. Those cuts are slated to take effect in January 2013 unless Congress repeals sequestration. While there are no official figures available yet on how many employees accepted such incentives in 2011, tens of thousands were offered, and agencies en masse are likely to offer another round of buyouts heading into fiscal 2013.

• 2.10.12 – a glitch in the Presidential Management Fellowship program application process gave false hope to candidates before crushing said hope.  From Government Executive: “A prestigious postgraduate fellowship program run by the Office of Personnel Management has acknowledged it sent acceptance letters to about 300 applicants by mistake in January. The [PMF] program had 9,077 applicants, nominated for the program by their graduate schools, for 2012. Of those, 628 were ultimately chosen as fellows and 1,186 were semifinalists. All semifinalists were invited to conduct in-person interviews.  Approximately 25 percent of the semifinalists received erroneous acceptance letters, according to Fox News.”  Boy, it’s just never good to be one of The 300. 

• 2.10.12 – “Faced with increased enrollment and rising loan costs, the Yale Law School is scaling back its loan forgiveness program. The Career Options Assistance Program, which partially subsidizes tuition loan payments for Law School graduates should they enter relatively low-salary careers, will require a larger student contribution from members of…incoming…classes…. Under the previous policy, law school alumni who earn less than $60,000 [annually]…are eligible to have their loans payments fully subsidized by COAP, while those earning more than $60,000 are expected to contribute a quarter of their income above that baseline. The new policy sets the baseline salary lower, at $50,000, and expects participants to contribute varying percentages of their income toward loan payments, based on a sliding scale…”  (Story from the Yale Daily News.) 

• 2.10.12 – the Miami Herald reports on how legal services providers in Florida have struggled with federal and state funding cuts.  Florida’s IOLTA program was flush with cash and the envy of other states until the recession. IOLTA funds have taken an 88% hit since 2008.  The Herald article touches upon the work that legal services providers do to support veterans and their families.  To me, this powerfully humanizes what it means when we talk in much drier terms of “IOLTA” and budget appropriation lines. 

• 2.10.12 – legal services layoffs in West Virginia.  From the Charleston Gazette: “West Virginia Legal Aid executives announced Friday afternoon that they have laid off 15 case handlers and closed their Logan County office in response to federal budget cuts that promise to saddle the program with a $1.2 million deficit by 2013.”

• 2.10.12 – NBC Connecticut looks at the funding woes plaguing Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut, which is the Nutmeg State’s sole LSC grantee.

• 2.10.12 – the impact of legal services funding cuts in the Detroit area, as reported by the Daily Tribune.

• 2.10.12 –  two million dollars from the recent blockbuster mortgage/banking industry settlement will go to the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission.  The Sun-Times has the story: “The Arkansas Attorney General’s office announced the news on Thursday, and funds distributed to the Commission will be used to provide access to civil justice for Arkansans affected by the mortgage crisis

In September 2011, NALP conducted a snapshot survey on the public interest employment market to lend some statistical precision to hiring market changes and forecasts. We received survey responses from623 public interest organizations across 44 states, D.C., the American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

These responses were aggregated to report on recent law student and attorney hiring, hiring expectations for the immediate future, and employer advice for job applicants competing in today’s market.

Not surprisingly, the survey showed that the public interest job market remains tight as nonprofit and government sectors face budget cuts, hiring freezes, and layoffs. However, the results do show that there is hope of stability for more than half of the respondents expect hiring of 2012 law graduates and interns to remain steady in relation to 2011.

Here are some of the key findings:

• Almost 80% of respondents hosted law students for unpaid summer positions in 2011.
• Approximately 26% of respondents hired law students for paid summer positions in 2011.
• Over 13% of responding state attorneys general offices hired fewer paid summer interns in 2011 than they did in 2010. No responding attorneys general indicated that they would increase paid summer hiring in 2012.
• Approximately 76% of respondents expect to host the same number of paid law students in 2012 as they did in 2011.
• Overall, 18.7% of respondents hired Class of 2011 graduates for permanent staff attorney positions and postgraduate fellowships.
• About 27.6% of respondents hired lateral attorneys for permanent staff attorney positions and postgraduate fellowships.
• Approximately 1 in 3 respondent organizations was in a hiring freeze at the time of the survey.

Read the rest of the report and see the nitty-gritty details here.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  I’m traveling home to Philadelphia, where I will eat soft pretzels, catch hometown band Marah, and see photographer Zoe Strauss’s Phila. Art Museum exhibit.  Before the public interest news summary, here are some other news items that have captured my attention of late:

• Here’s a Wash. Post piece on managing Millennial Generation (a/k/a “Gen. Y”) employees that cuts through the criticisms that some Boomers and Xers lob at their younger colleagues – “they’re entitled; they’re know-it-alls” – and provides concrete tips for boosting Millennials’ happiness – and their productivity – in the workplace.  Now that that’s solved, how do we stop Millennials from dressing like it’s the 1980s?  No one needs that again.
• Despite the relatively positive jobs numbers reported last week, the government sector is faring poorly.  From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:  “Over the past 12 months, the [government] sector has lost 276,000 jobs, with declines in local government; state government, excluding education…”  This doesn’t speak directly to lawyer jobs, and based on data from NALP’s recent public interest employment market report I don’t think lawyers bore the brunt of gov’t. job cuts.  But the lawyer-employment picture isn’t rosy.  For instance, over half of local gov’t. law offices (excluding prosecutors and defenders) which responded to our Fall, 2011 survey were in a hiring freeze.
• This Wash. Post piece on a mini-trend of Chinese language immersion programs in U.S. elementary schools makes me wish I’d reconsidered immersing myself in 4 years of high school Latin.   

Okay, this week’s public interest news:

• indigent defense reform in Massachusetts plods along;
• needed: indigent defense reform, plodding or otherwise, in NOLA;
• Maryland legal services providers facing bad funding news;
• 5 myths about pro bono;
• DOJ to put ~$2.4 million in grant funding toward improving indigent defense;
• a $200K gift for a Philly legal services provider;
• but an inland California provider is going month-to-month with expenses;
• in Wisconsin, low prosecutor pay = high prosecutor turnover;
• the 25-year evolution of clinical legal education is the focus of a new law review volume;
• survey results shed light on what kinds of pro bono cases law firm lawyers are taking. 

The summaries:

• 2.8.12 – indigent defense reform in Massachusetts plods along…kind of.  For the second straight year, Gov. Deval Patrick has called for public defenders to [represent more] indigent clients, but members of the board overseeing the state’s public defense system are pushing back, suggesting the plan may be too much, too soon.  The governor’s budget proposes to hire 281 new public defenders to handle 50 percent of the case work for indigent criminal and civil defendants. If adopted, the state would shift further shift away from a reliance on private bar advocates and Patrick believes the state will save nearly $10 million in fiscal 2013.”  The board is concerned that Patrick is pushing change too quickly.

• 2.7.12 – in New Orleans trial judges are figuring out what to do following the public defender’s announcement about layoffs which include senior lawyers with large caseloads. (Report from WDSU TV.) A few days back a Times-Picayune editorial put the NOLA PD’s financial straits into context: “Eight out of every 10 criminal defendants in New Orleans are poor enough to need a publicly paid defense attorney. That makes the severe budget cuts in the Orleans Parish public defenders’ office a crisis that threatens the progress in prosecuting crimes…. [The defender’s office] announced this week that a budget shortfall had forced [the] lay off [of] 27 employees, including 21 attorneys.”  That’s one third of the office’s attorneys. 

• 2.6.12 – bad news for civil legal service funding in Maryland.  The Baltimore Sun reports: “A major funder of legal services for the poor will shave its grants by at least 5 percent across Maryland — even after dipping into its reserves.  The 34 agencies that receive money from the Maryland Legal Services Corp. have been told to submit requests for grants next month that are 5 percent below current amounts because it is facing a ‘significant’ funding shortfall…. The…two main funding sources — the surcharge on court filing fees for civil cases and [IOLTA proceeds] — have been hit by the economy.

• 2.6.12 – writing in the National Law Journal, Pro Bono Institute prez Esther Lardent identifies and debunks “Five Myths about Pro Bono.”  The myths:
  •  Law firms only want “sexy” pro bono matters;
  • Pro bono at large firms is dropping precipitously;
  • In-house pro bono is a passing fad;
  • Pro bono can supplant legal aid;
  • It’s all about the hours.

• 2.6.12 – from the ABA Journal: “U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder today announced two new [DOJ] programs aimed at helping to bolster indigent defense services at the state and local levels….  [T]he National Institute of Justice…will begin…soliciting applications within the next few weeks for grants to support research on fundamental issues of access to legal services…at the state and local levels. He said the institute will commit up to $1 million to support these grants.  Holder also said that, later this spring, the…Bureau of Justice Assistance will solicit applications from state and local jurisdictions for grants that would support on-the-ground efforts to help assure that defendants have access to counsel at the earliest stages of criminal proceedings; provide support for members of the private bar in representing indigent defendants; reduce caseloads; and support oversight of public defender and assigned counsel systems. Up to $1.4 million will be dedicated to this grant program.”  Here’s some Nat’l. Law Journal coverage of AG Holder’s remarks on the importance of a solid indigent defense system, made at the ABA’s midyear conference.

• 2.6.12 – good – nay, great – funding news, for a change.  The Phila. Business Journal reports that Community Legal Services received a $200K gift from Philly law firm Raynes McCarty.  Congrats, CLS!

• 2.5.12 – a story about the work of the Legal Aid Society of San Bernardino included a troubling passage about LASSB’s funding: “[A recent grant ensured that LASSB] could make payroll one more week and have a little money left over….  The organization, with an estimated $2 million annual budget, almost constantly searches for money to pay 13 employees, operate its office and provide services throughout the county….  ‘We are living right now from paycheck to paycheck,’ [executive director Roberta] Shouse said. ‘My bookkeeper tells me that we do not have enough money to go until Dec. 31.’  Since 2007, Legal Aid’s number of clients has increased from 4,485 to 5,071. Meanwhile, the organization lost nearly $139,000 from 2010 to 2011. It expects to lose about $110,000 in funding this year.  (Story from the Press-Enterprise.) 

• 2.4.12 – here’s a detailed report on the serious problem of low prosecutor pay and high prosecutor attrition – cause, meet effect – in Wisconsin.  One departing prosecutor, leaving after 5 years, referred to her “dead-end job.”  The low pay has led to a staffing reality that a lot of public interest organizations see: “There are newbies, potential retirees and not much in between in prosecutors’ offices.  Forty-two percent of assistant [DAs] have been in the field for fewer than five years and a third have more than 17 years of experience…”  Legislative proposals allowing for raised pay levels are in the works, but in the current fiscal climate few are counting on quick solutions.  (Article from the Appleton Post-Crescent.)    

• February, 2012 – the current edition of the New York Law School Law Review focuses on the evolution of clinical legal education over the past 25 years – 13 articles by my count.

• February, 2012 – some survey reporting from the folks at Pro Bono.net sheds light on what types of cases pro bono advocates are taking: “Family law and immigration were among the most popular areas for pro bono work in 2011, according to the 229 Probono.net members who took a recent survey on “Your Year in Pro Bono.” The survey, conducted during December 2011, looked at which areas of legal need were of interest, and why. Family law emerged as a top priority, with more than 27% of those responding having handled a family law matter as their last pro bono case. Following was immigration, at 15%. Other areas of interest included asylum, housing and military and veteran’s affairs. The survey showed a strong commitment to pro bono, with 52% of respondents having taken on their last case in the last three months, and 69% within the last six months. Awareness of the growing justice gap seems to be driving this activity.”

There’s only two weeks left to complete our Public Interest Salary Survey!

—

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 February 24, 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.

Did you miss last month’s educational debt webinars? Have no fear, EJW is hosting 3 more this month! Learn about the upcoming sessions below and register here!

Here are the deets:

Plan Before You Borrow: What You Should Know About Educational Loans BEFORE You Go to Graduate School

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2-3 p.m. EST

Interested in government or public interest work after graduating? This webinar will help you plan ahead and make sure you can take full advantage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the most significant law affecting public service in a generation.

The webinar will teach you about:

– Taking out the right kind of loans

– Consolidating or reconsolidating your previous student loans

– How the College Cost Reduction and Access Act can free you to pursue a public interest career

 

How to Pay Your Bills AND Your Student Loans: Utilizing Income-Based Repayment

Thursday, Feb. 16, 2-3 p.m. EST

Saddled with high student debt? This webinar reviews Income-Based Repayment, a powerful provision of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act that allows anyone with high debt relative to their income to reduce their federal student loan payments.

This interactive webinar will teach you:

– How to understand your federal loans

– How Income-Based Repayment works and if it is right for you

– How to sign up for Income-Based Repayment

Get Your Educational Loans Forgiven: Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2-3 p.m. EST

For recent graduates with jobs in government or at a nonprofit, this webinar explains how to make sure you immediately begin fulfilling requirements to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness so that your educational debt will be forgiven as soon as possible.

You will learn about:

– The importance of having the right kind of Federal Loans

– What you need to do to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

– How long it will take to have your educational debt forgiven

In Fall 2010, NALP conducted its first public interest employment snapshot survey to provide some statistical insight into hiring market changes and forecasts. In September 2011, we conducted the 2011 snapshot survey (with a few modifications), and now, the results are out.

The survey sought responses about 1) recent law student and attorney hiring, 2) hiring expectations for the immediate future, and 3) employer advice for job applicants competing in today’s market.

You can download the free 17-page report here.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers. We should take our wisdom where, and as, we find it.  This thought has reoccurred to me several times this week.  The reason: an astoundingly well-timed bit of wisdom emerged from unexpected quarters a few days ago.  It reminded me that when I am actively seeking wisdom, I tend to pursue the high-minded – hunting among the works of philosophers and poets for the perfect collection of words, constructed in perfect syntax.  But I wonder how much wisdom I miss in the everyday course – messages that evade me because I’m not listening, or too casually dismiss the messenger.

I should be more careful about judging messengers.  After all, I frequently must convince friends – and they tend to be highly sophisticated female friends in this particular case – of Yoda’s sublime brilliance.  (Yes, that’s a “d” and not a “g”.)  “His words are recitations of timeless wisdom,” is typically what I lead with.  Their counterpunch always goes, “How adolescent are you to invest anything at all in bumper-sticker distillations of Eastern philosophy as rendered through a muppet?  A muppet!!”  Well, stand by Yoda I do.

So I’ll remember the Yoda example, and I’ll remember what happened to me earlier this week.  The high-minded are not the only keepers of wisdom.  So whether from Epictetus (“Wealth consists not of having many possessions, but of having few wants”), or Anjelou (“Life loves the liver of it”), or Yoda (“Always in motion the future is”), or Yogi (“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours”), I will take my wisdom where, and as, a I find it.

***      

Oh, and as for the news: this week we’ve got several items about funding woes plaguing indigent defense programs.  Note too that NALP released our public interest employment market snapshot report, based on findings from a Fall 2011 survey of employers’ expectations about hiring law students and attorneys.  Here’s the rundown:

• new ruling requiring public defenders at bail hearings has Maryland PD’s office looking for $;
• layoffs at the NOLA defender’s office;
• keeping with a theme, the Delaware indigent defense program needs $ to pay appointed counsel;
• foreclosure prevention program in NY State may not be re-funded;
• just released: NALP’s public service employment market snapshot report (a fair amount of bad news, but also advice from employers about what they look for in job candidates); 
• Univ. of Detroit-Mercy Law clinical offices have new digs, and I really hope they kept the pole intact;
• Texas showdown over creating pro se forms for low-income people;
• continued uncertainty over indigent defense funding in the Bay State;
• scarce indigent defense resources again…this time…Nebraska;
• DC-based civil rights lawyers find work in nonprofits, government, and for-profit practices;
• disturbing numbers on veterans and homelessness;
• the impact of LSC cuts on Legal Services of South Central Michigan;
• ditto, this time Mid-Missouri Legal Services Corporation;
• Depressed yet by all this funding news?  Try this to lift your spirits;
• Mandatory pro bono in Minnesota?
• new graduate bridge program at Pace Law School.

Here are the summaries:

• 2.2.12 – downside: not enough public defenders in Maryland.  Upside: maybe they’ll hire more public defenders in Maryland.  From the Baltimore Sun: “The state would have to hire 284 new public defenders to comply with a recent Court of Appeals ruling requiring lawyers for indigent defendants at thousands of annual bail hearings, according to an affidavit filed Thursday by Maryland Public Defender Paul DeWolfe. ‘I have determined that the Office is unable to comply with the court’s mandate at this time in light of its current resource constraints,’ DeWolfe wrote in the eight-page, sworn document, filed in the state’s highest court. It accompanied a motion asking that the new requirement, outlined in a Jan. 4 opinion, be stayed for at least six months, until Aug. 1.  The Maryland Court of Appeals refused an earlier request to suspend the order, however, noting that judges ‘cannot declare that [defendants] have a statutory right to counsel at bail hearings and, in the same breath, permit delay in the implementation of that important right’.”

• 2.2.11 – bad news out of NOLA.  From the Times-Picayune: “Pleading poverty, the Orleans Parish public defender’s office has laid off about 10 percent of its staff of lawyers along with other employees in the latest move to trim a shortfall in the office’s $9.5 million budget The layoffs, accompanied by salary cuts for managers and supervisors, follow an earlier decision by Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton to cut off payments to private attorneys who work death penalty cases and conflict cases where the public defender’s office can’t represent a client, often because it already represents a co-defendant.

• 2.2.12 – cash needed from the Delaware legislature to pay appointed counsel.  From The News Journal: “The state’s public defender warned lawmakers Wednesday of an impending shortfall of funds to pay for private lawyers who represent defendants in cases where the public defender’s office has a legal conflict of interest.  At a hearing on his division’s budget request before the Joint Finance Committee, Public Defender Brendan O’Neill said the Office of Conflict Counsel will almost certainly require between $450,000 and $650,000 in additional funding this fiscal year, on top of the $3 million budgeted.” 
  • Historical Fun Fact: the word “Delaware,” which is the name of a state, river and bay, is mistakenly thought to be of Native American origin.  “Delaware” actually refers to this English aristocrat.  In addition to the state/river/bay, early European settlers even decided to (re)name the Lenape Indians as “Delaware Indians.”  How thoughtful. 

• 2.1.12 – New York State may discontinue funding a foreclosure prevention program that provides housing counseling and legal services to help homeowners in need.  From a Gannett story: “Non-profit groups that provide counseling and legal services to homeowners at risk of foreclosure and some lawmakers are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include $25 million in the state budget to continue the state Foreclosure Prevention Services Program…. Cuomo did not include money for the program in his proposed budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, which begins April 1. Without funding, the Foreclosure Prevention Services Program will shut down, lawmakers and the non-profit organizations said.” 

• 2.1.12 – NALP (hey, that’s us!) releases 2011-12 Public Service Legal Employment Snapshot report.  The report offers data-driven insight into the law student and attorney hiring climate in the public service arena. In September, 2011 NALP surveyed government and nonprofit law offices to gather data on summer 2012 law-student hiring expectations; attorney hiring forecasts in 2012; and information on recent and anticipated layoffs. NALP also gathered employers’ insights on how job candidates can stand out in a tight market and on practice areas that may grow in the near future. The Snapshot Report is available here.

• 2.1.12 – the law school clinics at the University of Detroit Mercy will have a cool new home.  From Crain’s Detroit Business: The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law will repurpose the historic Engine No. 2 firehouse downtown to accommodate the school’s 10 legal aid-clinics…. In the UDM clinics, law students and faculty provide about 1,500 Detroiters annually with immigration, foreclosure and veterans affairs legal assistance. ‘Our new facility is going to be much more accessible – right out there, visible to the entire Detroit community,’ Dean Lloyd Semple said. “We expect this will increase the demand for our services’.”

• 2.1.12 – a couple of weeks ago we noted a skirmish between the Texas Supreme Court and the state bar over the creation of pro se forms for use in family court.  Here’s the latest from the Courthouse News Service: “The Texas Supreme Court rejected a request by the Texas State Bar to stop work on uniform divorce forms for use by pro se litigants.”  The forms are intended to help low-income Texans who couldn’t get help from legal aid because of resources shortages.  But as noted in a Texas Lawyer article some private-bar family law lawyers had concerns along these lines: “[They] oppose the forms and claim their use: could hurt the interests of people who use them to file for divorce; will not be limited to low-income Texans; could harm the livelihoods of solos and small-firm family lawyers; and may expand into other practice areas besides family law.”

• 2.1.12 – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports on continued tension and funding uncertainty surrounding the Bay State’s indigent defense system, which employs both public defenders and appointed private counsel.  It’s noteworthy that Gov. Deval Patrick is pushing to raise the percentage of cases handled by public defenders, which would likely require hiring a large number of new attorneys.  But to some degree this is tied up on legislative wrangling as well. 

• 1.31.12 – another story driven by scarce indigent defense resources, but in this instance we’re also dealing with the “longtime rivalry between Omaha and Lincoln.”  These two quaint Nebraskan cities as the Jets and Sharks.  Who knew?  From the Omaha World-Herald: “A major spat is brewing at the State Capitol over how best to provide lawyers for indigent people charged with felony crimes.  On one side is the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy.  It is a state-financed shop of six defense attorneys charged with taking on felony cases for counties that don’t have their own public defenders or face conflicts of interest in using their own county-paid defenders.  On the other side is Douglas County, which argues that the commission was set up to help cash-strapped rural counties without attorneys and that it isn’t necessary in populous Omaha, which has plenty of private attorneys willing to work as contracted defense attorneys.”

• 1.29.12 – a short Washington Post article profiles the work of civil rights attorneys in the District, noting that a good number practice in boutique law firms rather than in government or nonprofit law offices. 

• 1.27.12 – Some disturbing numbers on veteran homelessness, which illustrate why it will continue to be critical for the legal services community to engage veterans as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs (sometimes adversarially). From Government Executive online: “Veterans are significantly more likely to be homeless than civilian adults, and these homeless vets are getting steadily older and sicker, researchers reported on Friday.  The new study predicts that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ health care system could be deluged with at least some of these sick and homeless vets…. ‘Male veterans were almost 50 percent as likely and female veterans were almost twice as likely to be homeless as nonveterans in the general population,’ [Prof. Jamison] Fargo’s team wrote in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ‘Among the population in poverty, male veterans were more than twice as likely and female veterans were more than three times as likely to be homeless as nonveterans’.”

• 1.27.12 – last November’s Legal Services Corporation funding slash will impact Legal Services of South Central Michigan to the tune of about 8% of their budget, From the Battle Creek Enquirer: “Last year the agency, which employs 55 lawyers and has a budget of $5.9 million, represented 27,619 people in 11,000 cases involving domestic violence, landlord-tenant disputes and obtaining access to health care and government programs.  But a 15 percent cut from the federal government and a decrease in money from the state will trim the Legal Services budget by $440,000.”  Legal Services’ Battle Creek office will likely run a budget deficit in 2012 and is trying to avoid staff cuts.

• 1.27.12 – the Columbia Missourian picks up on the Legal Services Corporation’s announcement last week about budget and staff cuts at programs throughout the country, and hones in on the Show Me State: “Mid-Missouri Legal Services Corporation…faced a $135,000 deficit in November when it prepared its budget for 2012. The 14-member staff reduced a full-time attorney to half-time and laid off a half-time attorney”.  Despite this and an almost 50% cut in IOLTA proceeds, caseloads at Mid-Missouri have risen 60% since 2008.

• 1.27.12 – Judith Sandalow, executive director of the Children’s Law Center here in DC, pens a touching piece about why legal services lawyers never give up.  Sandalow, writing in the Huffington Post, recounts the work of a CLC attorney who, after being appointed as the guardian at litem of a girl who was abandoned at birth and again later by an adoptive parent, refused to give up on the girl even after she gave up on herself.  Today, “Charline,” once a homeless dropout, is a high school graduate and moving forward with her life.  She is “one less statistic and one more success story,” thanks in large part to her tireless GaL. 

• 1.XX.12 – “Mandatory pro bono gets another look” is the title of this Minnesota Lawyer article which begins thusly: “Dwindling financial aid for free legal services has prompted a return to the argument that time, rather than money, is the best solution…”  The article’s password protected and I don’t have access, but FYI.

• November, 2011 – our friends at Pace Law School called our attention to their launch of a “school-supported law firm geared toward guiding students in their first years of practice.”  From the New York Law Journal: “The Pace Community Law Practice is set to open in September 2012…and will employ between five and seven recent Pace graduates. The new lawyers will offer low-cost legal assistance in areas including immigration, family and housing law while attending seminars on obtaining and billing clients, malpractice insurance and setting up a law office.  Jennifer Friedman, director of the Public Interest Law Center at Pace, who has been spearheading the project, called the initiative a “legal residency program,” similar to a medical residency, “providing intensive supervision and support” for the new attorneys.  Ms. Friedman said the economy, and the poor market for legal services jobs, played a role in the decision to start the project.”

by Kristen Pavón

With legal services providers closing their doors, fewer public interest attorney hires and a seemingly insurmountable need for civil legal aid, trying to stay positive about where public interest law is headed is beyond difficult.

As a new attorney who wants to work in a legal aid capacity and do “good,” the prospects are bleak and consequently, I’ve felt it necessary to broaden my own job search.

However, reading Judith Sandalow’s HuffPost DC piece, Why We Never Give Up, reminded me of why I, and you, should continue to search in the public interest field (but keep all your options open!).

Usually, I would quote the highlights here and then direct you to read the rest at HuffPost, but today — I’m just going to give you the last two paragraphs of the piece, which I’m confident will get you to head over to HuffPost to read the whole thing.

Charline’s birth parents gave up on her. Charline’s adoptive mother gave up on her. Charline had even given up on herself. But Gabby never did. She pursued Charline on the street and online. When Charline dropped out of one program Gabby found her another.

Gabby proved the pundits wrong. Helping Charline wasn’t cheap. And it wasn’t easy. But our community has an amazing return on Gabby’s investment: Today, Charline is a proud young woman heading toward a productive adulthood. She is one less statistic and one more success story. Every youth we meet has this potential, and that’s why we never give up.

WEAVE, Washington Empowered Against Violence, a holistic legal services provider in D.C. will be shutting its doors at the end of the week. Here’s what Weave’s Board had to say:

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  I often begin bulletins with my attempts at humor because the content that follows can be disheartening to public interest advocates and other access-to-justice stakeholders (to say nothing of those who visit our blog while on the public-interest job hunt).  The lightheartedness is meant as a sort of preemptive counterbalance.  However, it’s tough to lead with humor today because the bulletin’s first (and biggest) story is of survey results about staff losses in civil legal aid.  So we’ll dispense with a whimsical anecdote – which, today, would have centered on my recent introduction to yoga and why yoga is an enhanced interrogation technique – and get right into the news.  (For those law students among the readership, I close this week’s bulletin with some thoughts about keeping your chins up and navigating a poor employment market.)      

This week:

• LSC-funded programs forecast continuing layoffs in 2012;
• making the business case for legal services can get the state legislature’s attention;
• IOLTA shortfall’s impact in the Evergreen State;
• Legal Aid of Arkansas’s fiscal woes;
• the New Orleans public defender’s office is running on financial fumes;
• Vivit lingua Latina.  Lexis Nexis and Lex Mundi forge a pro bono partnership;
• the Hispanic National Bar Association launches a pro bono program serving vets;
• harnessing technology to enhance pro bono in Virginia.

Here are the summaries:

• 1.26.12 – the Legal Services Corporation has released results of a grantee organization survey focused on anticipated staff layoffs in 2012.  The news is perhaps not surprising; yet it is quite disheartening.  From LSC: “According to the survey, LSC-funded programs anticipate laying off 393 employees, including 163 attorneys, in 2012.  The reductions continue a staffing downturn that began about a year ago. In December 2010, LSC-funded programs employed 4,351 attorneys, 1,614 paralegals and 3,094 support staff. During 2011, LSC programs reduced their staffing by 833 positions through layoffs and attrition. They now anticipate a new round of layoffs this year, bringing the staffing loss to 1,226 full-time personnel.”

• 1.26.12 – something a bit more uplifting: when legal services programs make the case about the economic efficiencies of supporting their work, legislatures do listen.  From a Boston Globe op-ed: “A study by [the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation] estimates that legal aid boosted the state’s economy by $53 million last year through federal benefits won and state costs saved.  Those numbers have made an impression on Beacon Hill. Legislators recently proposed upping the Legal Assistance Corporation’s $9.5 million appropriation to $10.5 million. Governor Deval Patrick’s budget plan released yesterday bumps their funding for next year to $12 million. Powers and Jourdan, among others, will be on Beacon Hill today trying to persuade legislators in the House and Senate to go at least that far.”

• 1.25.12 – from a Seattle Weekly blog, a glimpse at how IOLTA shortfalls impact legal services providers in Washington State.  If you are a law student who has heard the term “Interest on Lawyers Trust Account” (IOLTA) but are not sure how it figures into legal services funding, the article nicely explains IOLTA’s workings.

• 1.24.12 – funding cuts are causing layoffs at Legal Aid of Arkansas.  From the 4029 TV news: “Blaming cutbacks in state and federal funding, an organization that helps poor people with legal services says it will lay off eight workers and close its office in Mountain View.  Lee Richardson, the director of Legal Aid of Arkansas, tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the group won’t be able to take on as many clients as a result. The organization serves 31 counties in northern Arkansas. It’s among the groups nationwide losing money because of a $56 million cut in federal funding to Legal Services Corp.  Legal Aid of Arkansas says it will lose about $345,000 in federal funding this year. The group says it’s also lost state funding because of a shortfall in the Arkansas’ Administration of Justice Fund, which receives money from filing fees and court costs.”

• 1.24.12 – bad funding news flows down the Mississippi River.  From New Orleans news site Gambit: “The Orleans Parish Public Defender’s office was down to $36,000 in the bank and may be unable to make its payroll this month, according to chief parish public defender Derwyn Bunton and Louisiana Public Defender Board Chairman Frank Neuner, who reported the budget problems at a Jan. 18 meeting of City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee. According to Bunton, the immediate financial problem results from an alleged failure by the New Orleans Traffic Court to hand over monthly indigent defendant fees, which were due Jan. 10.  Even if that’s resolved, the office still faces a $1 million shortfall for the year and may have to lay off as many as 14 staff members, Bunton said. The office already has instituted a hiring freeze and suspended payments to contractors in an attempt to save money.”

• 1.23.12 – I was honored as the Latin Scholar of the Cardinal Dougherty High School Class of 1994.  And I ain’t rusty.  Here is a press release wherein I have identified at least four and perhaps more Latin words: “The Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation and LexisNexis are pleased to announce a joint collaboration to strengthen the rule of law throughout the world. Working together, these two organizations are combining their skills and resources to support and empower social entrepreneurs who are working around the world to improve the lives and communities of the poor and disenfranchised and to mobilize leaders of the global legal profession.”

• 1.23.12 – keeping with a trend, a new pro bono program serving vets (from a press release): “The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) is proud to announce the new HNBA Veterans Legal Initiative Program (“Veterans Initiative”), a new effort to provide free legal services to the men and women of the American armed services and their families.”

• 1.13.12 – in Virginia, Capital One, a handful of prominent law firms, and other pro bono stakeholders are unveiling JusticeServer, online pro bono software that is intended to increase efficiencies in pro bono delivery.  Here are the details.

More bad news than good news in this week’s bulletin.  I started producing the bulletin several months ago as a way to help public interest stakeholders, law school career professionals, and law students track developments related to funding, economic health, and the job market in the public interest arena.  I believe that it’s always better to have information, even if the information conveys bad news.  But I’m mindful that law students reading the bulletin may feel exasperated by so much bad news, particularly regarding the employment market.

It’s simply a tough time to be looking for public interest work.  But it’s important to remember two things:

• Accept what you cannot control.  Control what you can control.  Life happens and we have to react accordingly.  We are much more subject to the course of events around us than we are masters of it.  This is certainly true of the job market.  Job seekers are stuck, at present, with poor economic conditions.  You cannot control those.  What you can control is the strength of your candidacy for public interest jobs.  Because the market is so tight, now more than ever it’s necessary to makes yourselves the best job applicants possible.  Work with career services staff.  Use PSLawNet and other resources to polish your cover letters and resumes.  Do mock interviews.  Network, network, network.  I know, it may seem to some of you like trite advice.  But the strength of your candidacy for jobs is one variable you can control.  It’s a hugely important variable.  Control it.
• There Are Jobs Out There.  “If it bleeds, it leads” is the saying used to convey the fact that bad news is what makes news.  Media will cover the laying off of 15 public defenders much faster than they will cover the hiring of 15 public defenders.  Just because most of the news you read focuses on the tightness of the job market, that doesn’t mean there aren’t jobs.  In the last week we posted 120 jobs on PSLawNet.  There are over 1100 job listings on the site right now.  Layoff news notwithstanding, there are jobs.  Again, the key is to make yourself the best job candidate possible.