This week: Wisconsin budget controversy extends to the public interest community; NYT says don’t slash LSC funding; is “holistic defense” the future of indigent defense?; worries about government funding cuts for a Pennsylvania legal services program; the same worries are troubling California-based LSC grantees; and Uncle Sam wants to improve his intern hiring processes. 

• 3.10.11 – are you tired of news about acrimony surrounding the Wisconsin budget?  TOO BAD!   Not noticed amidst the recent political kerfuffle is the impact that the Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget would have on Badger State public interest lawyers.  Short version: very bad for civil legal services, maybe good for defenders, and good for some prosecutors.
  • a Wisconsin Law Journal blog post highlights the danger faced by the Wisconsin legal services community: “The current budget provides approximately $5 million for civil legal services for the poor….  The proposed cut would eliminate 75 percent of the grant money annually issued to legal service providers….  Legal Action of Wisconsin would suffer the biggest hit, losing almost $1.3 million in grant money for each of the next two years.”  Legal Action’s executive director stated that this could lead to cutting over 40% of the staff.  And they would not face adversity alone: “Ten other legal service providers including Wisconsin Judicare Inc., Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee and Disability Rights Wisconsin would lose out on substantial grant money through WisTAF, as well.”  With all of this bad news, the WLJ piece does note that public defenders may have reason to sing a happier tune: The governor’s “budget proposal allocates approximately $10 million to support additional staff attorneys” at the State Public Defender’s office. The money would cover salaries and benefits for 45 new positions,.” according to the SPD.  Of course, nothing is guaranteed in this economic climate: “But agency officials are not taking anything for granted, given the SPD could also be adversely impacted by the passage of Walker’s budget repair bill.  The SPD is among 13 state agencies facing layoffs as a result of delayed passage of the state budget.”
  • Last week the Wisconsin State Bar weighed in on the budget proposal.  Reaction is mixed.  It is good news that the proposal would “[p]rovide funding for 45 new positions at the State Public Defender to handle workload generated by [recently expanded indigent eligibility guidelines].”  It’s also good to hear that funding is coming for experienced-prosecutor salary boosts.  But there’s bad news: “Unfortunately, much of the additional money designated in the budget bills for prosecutors and court interpreters comes from the elimination of funding for two initiatives the State Bar also strongly supports, indigent civil legal needs and data collection to study the extent of racial profiling in Wisconsin.”

• 3.8.11 – the New York Times editorial board opposes a proposal in Congress to slash Legal Services Corporation funding.  “House Republicans voted to cut $83 million from President Obama’s request for the Legal Services Corporation, the federally financed nonprofit program that provides civil legal help to low-income Americans….  Deficit-ridden states have cut their support for these civil legal services programs. Another source of financing — interest earned on lawyers’ escrow accounts — has evaporated because of historically low interest rates. That makes federal dollars even more crucial. Given the economic crisis, and the long line of desperate clients, this is the worst time to be cutting federal support for civil legal services.” 

• 3.8.11 – the Crime Report looks at the increasing popularity of “holistic defense” in providing indigent defense services, highlighting the work of The Bronx Defenders, which provides a wide range of services to indigent defendants in order to help them not only with the immediate criminal issues but to prevent adverse collateral consequences and to help clients steer clear of trouble in the future.  The Bronx Defenders “deploys an interdisciplinary team of criminal, civil and family defense lawyers, social workers, parent advocates, investigators, and community organizers created to serve clients and their families…”  The program has been viewed as a success.  As a result, the Department of Justice has given The Bronx Defenders grants to offer technical assistance to other indigent defense programs.  Nevertheless, observers in the indigent defense community are looking for more hard data to measure whether or not holistic defense present a viable means of reducing recidivism and strengthening communities.

• 3.7.11 – Mid-Penn Legal Services is featured in a piece about how federal and state budget cuts may impact social services providers who work with society’s most vulnerable in Central Pennsylvania.   As reported in the Chambersburg Public Opinion, Mid-Penn executive director James Kearney noted that, “‘We are already stretched to the max … We only take the most critical cases, we are concerned.'”  Even at its current funding level Mid-Penn “turns away about half of the low-income people who come for help in civil court cases.”

• 3.6.11 – The Ventura County Star looks at potential LSC funding cuts and how they may impact LSC grantees in the Golden State.  “California-based LSC programs received $51 million for fiscal year 2010. The House bill would reduce funding for California programs by $9 million, LSC spokesman Steve Barr said.”  California Rural Legal Assistance “would lose $2 million of its funding and 15 of its 100 lawyers.”  The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) “received $9.3 million from LSC in 2010 and has been analyzing potential impacts of the proposed cuts.  According to Silvia Arqueta, LAFLA’s executive director, cuts could mean up to a 25% reduction in services provided to clients.

• 3.4.11 – Government Executive website has a piece about a proposal in the House aiming to improve the process for recruiting and retaining (as future employees) federal interns.  “Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., on Thursday introduced the 2011 Federal Internship Improvement Act (H.R. 914) to increase the number of government interns who are converted to full-time employees. This legislation would establish reporting requirements so that the Office of Personnel Management could evaluate agencies’ implementation of intern programs based on conversion rates, as well as determine the quality of those programs through exit interviews. It also would also establish a central clearinghouse so that agencies can recruit qualified candidates who interned for another agency … Connolly expressed concern that agencies convert just 6.6 percent of interns to full-time employees compared with more than 50 percent in the private sector. Government will have to fill more than 200,000 mission-critical jobs in the next three years, he wrote.”

Wisconsin state politics have become national news of late. But here’s a bit of particularly bad news for the legal services community that hasn’t made it to the fore of news coverage…

The Wisconsin Law Journal reported last Friday that:

Civil legal service providers for poor people in Wisconsin are facing substantial cuts pending the inclusion of a budget proposal that eliminates all state money for those organizations.

Part of Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011-13 budget reallocates money collected by the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation and distributed to organizations such as Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee and Legal Action of Wisconsin to other aspects of the criminal justice system

…

Walker’s proposal would shift money allotted to civil legal service providers to support pay increases for assistant district attorneys and also for additional court reporters in the state.

The executive director of Legal Action noted in the piece that the cut could cause his organization to lay off over 40% of its staff.  The PSLawNet Blog is all for raising prosecutors’ salaries, but not – repeat, not – at the expense of cutting off legal services funding at a time of acute need.

UPDATE: here’s reaction to Governor Walker’s budget proposal from the Wisconsin State Bar. It offers some context for the funding changes which would affect public service lawyers, and notes that the budget contemplates adding 45 public defender positions statewide – a healthy development.

This week: attorney licensing fee increases to bolster Minnesota public defense and civil legal services programs; New York’s pilot program to provide counsel to homeowners facing foreclosure; jail time for a former Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services employee who embezzled $188K; a North Carolina law professor minces no words in criticizing those on Capitol Hill who would do away with LSC; the funding woes plaguing the Massachusetts legal services community; in Texas, legislative proposals to channel funding to legal services; more Minnesota – this explains why funds are needed to prop up legal services providers; a couple of law student group fundraisers, including the “Spartan War Helmet” mustache(?); the Pro Bono Institute puts the lie to the notion that pro bono contributions could make up for a poorly funded legal services infrastructure; the Nat’l. Law Journal looks at law school employment bridge programs for recent grads; and, “Law Schools Revamp Their Curricula to Teach Practical Skills.”

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• 3.3.11 – the Minnesota Lawyer reports that the North Star State’s high court has extended two fees on attorney licensing renewals in order to bolster funding for both indigent defense and civil legal services.  “The Minnesota Supreme Court has extended a $75 increase to the lawyer registration fee to help fund the state’s public defense system and made a $25 increase for legal services permanent.  The increases were sought by the Minnesota Board of Public Defense and the Legal Services Advisory Committee.”  (See below for coverage of the Minnesota legal services community’s funding troubles.)

• 3.2.11 – the New York Law Journal covers the launch of pilot program that will provide representation to homeowners who are facing foreclosure proceedings.  The program is launching in Orange and Queens Counties, where the need is high.  “Both counties have been hardpressed by the surge in foreclosures. Filings in Orange County have grown more than five times since 2005, while they have more than doubled in Queens.”  For more coverage, Lo-Hud.com (referring to the Lower Hudson Valley) also featured a story about this new initiative.  “In the next few weeks, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley and the Legal Aid Society in New York City will assign lawyers to foreclosure cases in Orange County and in Queens, respectively. Queens was chosen because it has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the state, and Orange County was selected as a typical New York suburb.”

• 3.2.11 – we don’t know whether to characterize this as bad or good news. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Cheri A. Logue faces 22 months in prison for embezzling around $188,000 from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services Corp., under a sentence handed down Monday [in federal court] … Logue…took the money by way of 467 transactions over seven years – writing checks, making withdrawals from accounts, steering agency funds to cover her bills, and wrongly using the company credit card.”  Logue said that a gambling addiction fueled her behavior.

• 2.28.11 – Professor Gene Nichol, of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center on Poverty, Work & Opportunity, minces no words in criticizing North Carolina congresspersons who voted to eliminate federal funding for the Legal Services Corporation.  Writing an op-ed in the News Observer, Nichol notes that “Every Republican member of the North Carolina delegation, except Virginia Foxx, voted to end legal services. For Howard Coble, Renee Ellmers, Walter Jones, Patrick McHenry and Sue Myrick, no aid to the one-third of North Carolina families qualifying for legal services was more than enough … Let me try to put those votes into perspective … Poor and near poor Americans are effectively priced out of the civil justice system. As studies have demonstrated for decades, in North Carolina and nationally, we leave millions unrepresented on some of the most crushing issues of life – domestic violence, child custody, housing, employment, education, health care, sustenance, vital benefits and the like.”  Nichol highlights the fact that, in comparison with the legal systems of other developed democracies, the U.S. has measured poorly in providing meaningful access to justice for all its citizens, in spite of the many platitudes suggesting that America’s civil justice system is exemplary.

• 2.28.11 – Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts’ board president, Gayle Flanders Weiss, highlights the “devastating” funding shortfalls confronting LACCM and other providers in the Bay State.  Writing in the Worcester Business Journal, Weiss notes that, “[LACCM] has suffered  crushing funding cuts, losing more than 30 percent of its revenue over the last two years. LACCM’s clients — laid-off workers denied unemployment benefits, lead-poisoned children in need of decent housing, victims of domestic violence — all rely upon LACCM to help them with their most basic needs, and all stand to lose when LACCM is unable to provide services because of its funding cutbacks.”  The piece closes with a call to tell state legislators to adequately fund the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC), a statewide agency which administers and distributes funding to legal services providers.

• 2.28.11 – the Houston Business Journal brings some news about state legislative proposals to prop up flagging legal services funding in Texas: “The Texas Legislature will consider bills soon that would help fund civil representation for poor Texans through fees. Preliminary state budget estimates reflect a reduction of 51 percent in funds for such legal aid, a decline of more than $23 million … Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, filed Senate Bill 726, the Judicial Access and Improvement Fund legislation, on Feb. 15. The bill relates to the establishment of a judicial access and improvement account to provide funding for basic civil legal services, indigent defense and judicial technical support through certain county service fees and court costs imposed to fund the account.  On Feb. 16, Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, filed House Bill 1392, which would impose a fee on the transfer of property following a foreclosure sale to fund civil legal services for indigents.  A proposal to mandate funds generated by consumer protection suits will also be proposed, according to statements made by the Texas Access to Justice Commission and the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.”

• 2.28.11 – MinnPost.com takes an in-depth look at the funding woes confronting the Minnesota legal services community.  The reporting is good; the news is bad.  IOLTA revenues plummeted by 85% between 2007 and 2010.  Even worse, the fund will exhaust its reserves in the next year.  Stakeholders in the legal services community are scrambling to prop up other existing funding mechanisms or to find new ones.  But it doesn’t look like providers will see an appropriations increase from the state government, and other solutions are limited at best.

• 2.28.11 – the Yale Daily News reports on fundraising efforts to support public interest funding.  The Public Interest Auction is at the core of the fundraising initiative: “Around 250 members of the Law School community attended the auction, which raised nearly $44,000 for the Law School’s public interest fellowships for recent graduates and graduating third year students.”  And although less lucrative than the auction, the mustache competition – a fundraising event which the PSLawNet Blog finds troubling and noble at the same time – brought in some welcome revenue: “Though it was not part of the auction, the Mustaches for Public Interest Competition garnered $750. Male and female law students raised money based on the impressiveness of mustaches they grew over the past few weeks.”  (The mustache competition winner was something known as the “Spartan War Helmet.”  Good stuff!)

• 2.28.11 – in the National Law Journal, Pro Bono Institute president Esther Lardent argues that cutting LSC funding would be unwise – not only because it would lead to constrictions among LSC grantees at a time of increased client need, but also because it will lead to diminished pro bono work.  “The reality is that effective pro bono service by attorneys in private practice is possible only if these attorneys can rely upon the expertise and consistent community presence of LSC programs. Pro bono is not a panacea. All too often, pro bono is not available or appropriate for a wide range of matters. Conflicts of interest, for example, have severely limited volunteer service in foreclosure matters and are often endemic in smaller cities and rural areas. And pro bono resources are difficult to secure in emergency matters. Without a strong core of full-time advocates, pro bono simply does not work … Our legal pro bono efforts are the envy of the rest of the world. Congress needs to understand that cutting funding for legal services will stop the flow of valuable and free private assistance. This proposed funding cut not only threatens the very core of access to justice; it is economically unwise.”

• 2.28.11 – A National Law Journal article explores the phenomenon of law school employment bridge programs which have sprung up in the recession’s wake as a way to help unemployed grads build skills and get jobs.  The piece looks at SMU Law’s “Test Drive” program, “in which “the school pays employers $3,500 to take in recent graduates for one or two months. Advocates said the program is an innovative way to help graduates get a foot in the employment door amid an exceptionally tight job market. Skeptics dismissed it as an attempt to game the U.S. News & World Report’s law school rankings by inflating job-placement data.”  Also covered are Duke’s “Bridge to Practice” program, which pays a stipend to the graduates as opposed to forwarding funds to employers, and the University of Miami’s “Legal Corps” program, which differs from SMU’s and Duke’s in that it sends graduates into public interest placements only.

• 2.27.11 – the Chronicle of Higher Education, in a (password-protected) piece entitled “Law Schools Revamp Their Curricula to Teach Practical Skills,” notes a small movement toward integrating more experiential learning opportunities into legal education: “Nationwide, law schools are integrating more clinical experiences and practical-skills training into their curricula in response to complaints that their graduates lack real-world experience. But few have gone as far as Washington and Lee, which has jettisoned the entire third year and rebuilt it from scratch … The change reflects a practice-based trend that has assumed greater urgency with the escalating costs of legal education and diminished job prospects for graduates.  The changes are also in response to criticisms from a number of national foundations and associations regarding the strictly theoretical approach many law schools have long taken to preparing students for legal careers.”  Highlighting curriculum changes at Washington & Lee, as well as Cal Western, Harvard, Stanford and Touro – the degree of change varies widely from school to school – the piece also reviews the chorus of calls for change, coming from the Carnegie Foundation, the ABA, the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), and many legal employers.

As February draws to a close, we’re pleased to report that PSLawNet has added 99 job listings in the past week, including 52 attorney positions, 27 summer internship announcements (some of which are seeking multiple interns),a nd 15 law-related professional positions.  All told, there are nearly 1000 opportunities listed on PSLawNet.

Featured Opportunities:

• Lawyering in Miami!  The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, is on the hunt for an entry-level attorney to work in a new Florida office: ” IJ-Florida seeks an attorney with 0-3 years of litigation experience, excellent communication skills, an entrepreneurial spirit, solid academic records, a passion for freedom, and a good sense of humor.”  Learn more about the position on PSLawNet.
• A career in career services!  “The University of Oregon School of Law, located in the beautiful Willamette Valley, invites applications for the position of Assistant Dean for Career Services. We seek a creative, ambitious, dynamic, and personable individual who can bring vision and leadership to the Office of Career Services with the ultimate goal of increasing student placement, both within Oregon and nationally.”  Learn more about this position on PSLawNet.
• Space Law!  NASA is looking for an intern.  “The General Law Practice Group (“GLPG”) of the Office of the General Counsel is looking for a summer legal intern to work with attorneys at NASA Headquarters (near L’Enfant Plaza). Selected intern would work with a small group of attorneys on a variety of legal projects related to litigation, administrative law, and government ethics. GLPG has a relaxed and professional atmosphere. Projects may include employment/EEO law, personnel law, administrative law, accident investigations, tort claims, FOIA, Privacy Act, legislative processes, conflicts of interest, fiscal law or other projects.”  Learn more about this position on PSLawNet.

This week, there are multiple stories highlighting reaction to a potential $70 million cut in LSC funding, which we covered in a blog post earlier this week.  Here’s what’s in the Bulletin:

• A loss of local funding here and a loss of local funding there could add up to a big subtraction for the Louisiana-based Capital Area Legal Services Corporation;
• Putting current threats to legal services funding in context: it’s bad, but it’s not new;
• KC gets in the Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) game;
• Legal Aid of East Tennessee labors against a spike in instances, and severity, of domestic violence;
• Pine Tree Legal Assistance makes the legal forest easier to navigate for veterans and their families;
• Show me a solution to the Missouri indigent defense crisis!  Or at least show me cautious optimism!;
• The American Bar Association won’t stand for LSC funding cuts;
• And neither will the Colorado Bar Association;
• A little bit of funding for a Tennessee MLP;
• Law & Order: Los Angeles, guest-starring volunteer prosecutors;
• Kudos for a foreclosure-right-to-counsel initiative in New York State;
• Profiling an incoming Skadden Fellow who will tackle juvenile justice issues in Detroit.

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• 2.24.11 – Louisiana’s Tri-Parish Times reports that “[l]ow-income individuals and families that have depended upon or might need legal assistance when dealing with civil matters in Louisiana could be left without representation as parishes cut back on their budgets in 2011.  Capital Area Legal Services Corp., which has been funded by contributions from 12 parishes, including Terrebonne and Lafourche, is faced with a loss of financial support that could range from $24,530 to $47,330 this year. In turn, the legal aid agency could soon be faced with cutting some of its services.”  CALSC is an LSC grantee, so while these parish funding cuts may not seem like very large amounts of money, every little bit will count as the federally funded programs stare down potential LSC budget cuts from Congress.  (More on LSC funding below…)

• 2.23.11 – in the Nonprofit Quarterly, Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation executive director Lonnie Powers authors a piece that looks at current threats to civil legal services funding in the context of the longer-term funding vicissitudes that the provider community has experienced.  Powers, who writes in his individual capacity and not on behalf of MLAC, notes that funding threats are traditionally either ideologically driven – in part by those who believe “…that low-income people do not deserve access to attorneys or in any event they do not deserve the same access as wealthy people” – or driven by the prevailing economic winds.  As to the latter, Powers highlights the dilemma that while “legal aid funding is tied to the economy [particularly regarding IOLTA funds] and therefore cycles with the economic health of the states and the nation, the demand for services is countercyclical.”  So, precisely at a time when providers are struggling to avoid layoffs and program constrictions, the numbers of eligible clients are swelling.  Powers also notes how severe an impact a current proposed LSC budget cut could have: “[T]he $70 million reduction in LSC funding voted by the House would, according to LSC, conservatively result in: a layoff of at least 370 staff attorneys in local programs, [and] closure of may rural offices…”

• 2.23.11 – a press release announces a new medical-legal partnership among Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City and Legal Aid of Western Missouri.  “Saint Luke’s Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) is modeled after similar programs that have succeeded in improving the health of indigent patients around the country since 1993. The partnerships integrate lawyers as a vital component of the health care team, to help patients deal with legal problems that directly or indirectly harm their health. The concept has earned the backing of groups such as the American Hospital Association, American Bar Association, American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics.”  The partnership “is based on a model known as I-HELP. I stands for income and insurance issues; H is for housing issues; E is for ensuring patient safety in domestic situations; L is for legal status; and P is for power of attorney and guardianship.”  As the PSLawNet Blog has noted before, there’s a lot of momentum these days in support of medical-legal partnerships.  There’s yet another story about MLP funding below…

• 2.23.11 – the work of Legal Aid of East Tennessee figures prominently in this Knoxville Metro Pulse story about a spike in local domestic violence.  Knoxville Police Department figures show that, between 2002 and 2009, reports of domestic violence grew by about 30%.  Along with more people reaching the breaking point, the violence is becoming more severe, says Dave Yoder, executive director of Legal Aid of East Tennessee, which closed 751 domestic violence cases from its Knoxville office last year. ‘Where we used to see more pushing and shoving and slapping, now we’re seeing more internal injuries,’ he says.”

• 2.22.11 – from Maine’s Portland Press Herald: “A website designed to be the nation’s leading resource for the legal needs and rights of military families,Statesidelegal.org, is up and running thanks to the work of Maine’s largest legal aid provider.  Portland-based Pine Tree Legal Assistance was the lead agency in the creation of the site … [which] serves as an online hub for legal information — including videos, self-help tools and other resources — specifically for military personnel, veterans and their families.”

• 2.22.11 – last week’s Public Interest Law News Bulletin contained a whole bunch of coverage of the indigent defense funding crisis in Missouri.  This week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s editorial board sounded a cautiously optimistic note about reform inching forward.  The editorial does a nice job summarizing the series of events that led to the current crisis, and notes that, in advance of an expected Missouri Supreme Court decision concerning a public defender’s refusal to accept new cases last summer, a retired state court judge has just issued a report shedding some light on where there are flaws in the state’s current protocol to handle swollen caseloads.  The piece closes with a statement supportive of the Show-me State defenders: “[T]he only reason the system might be inching toward reform is because public defenders put their professional responsibilities first — by saying “no” to an overload of new cases.”

• 2.22.11 – the ABA Journal on the ABA’s reaction to the House’s passage of a spending bill last weekend that would cut the Legal Services Corporation budget by $70 million: “ABA President Stephen N. Zack released a statement on Sunday opposing the budget reduction. “The promise of American justice and fairness cannot be an empty one,” Zack said. “But that’s what will happen if funding for legal help to poor and working class families is slashed as proposed. These cuts would hurt people in every region, from Kansas to Kentucky, Texas to Virginia, Ohio to Florida.  Earlier this month, the policymaking ABA House of Delegates voted to oppose any funding cuts to the LSC.”

• 2.21.11 – also stemming from the proposed LSC cuts, the Colorado Bar Association comes to the aid of LSC-funded Colorado Legal Services.  Colorado Law Week features a statement from the bar association, noting in part that “[t]he $70 million cut, which will have to be absorbed entirely in the next eight months, will have a devastating impact on all of LSC’s grantees, including Colorado Legal Services, our statewide legal aid program. More importantly, it would have a devastating impact on the low-income Coloradans who are served by Colorado Legal Services—LSC anticipates it will have to reduce its grants to 136 local legal aid nonprofit programs, including Colorado Legal Services, by an average of 18 percent.”

• 2.21.11 – and while we’re focusing on LSC grantee organizations, here’s a small but welcome bit of (good) funding news for the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands.  From the WREG TV station website: “Some families of low-income children who are sick, or fighting court battles for their children’s health, just got a little relief with a grant made to the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee.  The Baptist Healing Trust awarded $40,200 in grant money to continue its support of a partnership between Legal Aid and the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.”  As we’ve noted before, there’s a lot of momentum these days in support of medical-legal partnerships.

• 2.20.11 – volunteer lawyers prosecuting cases in LA.  From the Los Angeles Daily News: Faced with drastic budget cuts that have forced the early retirement of dozens of prosecutors, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has turned to training law school graduates or entry-level attorneys who volunteer to try criminal cases for free…. The volunteers, all of whom have passed the bar, go through a month of training and then prosecute cases for five months. They have helped fill in a gap left by the loss of about 70 prosecutors who took early retirement packages after an 18 percent cut to the office’s budget in 2009 as the city struggled to make ends meet.”

• 2.20.11 – the Journal News’s editorial board (of New York’s Lower Hudson Valley) looks favorably upon state Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s effort to level the legal playing field for those facing home foreclosures: “In his annual State of the Judiciary address last week, Lippman outlined a plan to make New York the first state in the nation to ensure that all homeowners facing foreclosure are represented by a lawyer — a leveling of the playing field long overdue. Any homeowner in foreclosure who doesn’t have counsel would be furnished one by Legal Aid or a similar group, which would be expected to staff foreclosure offices in courthouses  …  The assistance cannot come soon enough.  In 2010 alone, New York courts held more than 100,000 settlement conferences in foreclosure cases. In almost two-thirds of the cases…the homeowners appeared without a lawyer.”

• 2.19.11 – the Detroit Free Press published a swell profile of incoming Skadden Fellow Aisa Villarosa, who’s now a 3L at Wayne State and will be remaining in Motown to work on juvenile justice issues.  See our blog coverage of the Free Press piece and a note about the broadening of law-school pool from which Skadden draws its fellows.

Just a quick follow-up on our post last week about threats to LSC funding on the Hill.  LSC released a statement on Saturday, which reads in part:

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a $70 million cut in Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funding from the current level, reducing grants to 136 local legal aid nonprofit programs by an average of 18 percent.The proposed $70 million cut is from the Fiscal Year 2010 funding of $394.4 million provided to LSC programs. An effort to eliminate all funding for LSC programs was defeated on a bipartisan vote, 259 to 171, on February 16.

Under the House proposal, about 160,000 fewer low-income people would receive civil legal assistance and 80,000 fewer cases would be handled by the LSC-funded programs. The proposed funding cut would force layoffs of about 370 staff attorneys and shut down some offices in rural areas.

This cut is a part of a continuing resolution to fund federal programs through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011.  So a battle about FY 2012 is still to come, but it suggests that LSC’s opponents will be active in pushing for funding cuts.  In light of the fact that LSC has long had enemies – and, we should note, many friends – on Capitol Hill, it’s noteworthy that conservative budget hawks are not just targeting programs to which they are ideologically opposed.  Here’s a good Washington Post article highlighting the fact that even programs which traditionally received conservative support find themselves threatened as some on the Hill are determined to cut spending at all costs.  All of this suggests that stakeholders in the equal justice community must take an all-hands-on-deck approach in supporting legal services funding in the coming weeks.

We return after a week’s absence with a robust edition of the News Bulletin.  Below, please read our coverage of:

• Layoffs at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund (AppalReD);
• Legal services funding crisis in Texas – and proposed solutions;
• in Georgia, even a small cut to DV legal services funding will have a big impact;
• Maine indigent defense program still struggling with funding;
• Ditto, and it’s even worse, in Missouri;
• A profile of L.A. County’s public defender;
• Right to counsel in New York foreclosure proceedings;
• How an LSC funding slash could impact Florida’s legal services community;
• DOJ’s budget proposal calls for a modest increase in attorney positions, sheds light on agency priorities;
• Lots of coverage of FY 2012 LSC funding proposals;
• A 1,000-lawyer public defense agency in Massachusetts?;
• President Ronald Reagan’s legacy in spurring the growth of conservative public interest organizations;
• Cuts in Florida court funding will strain defenders and prosecutors;
• New academic work on exonerations via DNA evidence;
• Some props for the Tennessee Justice Center;
• Lawyers ensuring Florida farmworkers are paid for their labor;
• In Arizona, the Justice Bus rides again!;
• A political fight in Chicago (surprise!) – dispute about 10% cuts to the state’s attorney’s and defender’s budgets;
• Continued wrangling about the administration of Georgia’s indigent defense program;
• A solution to lowering criminal justice costs in Seattle: fewer capital-case prosecutions;
• Rhode Island U.S. Attorney not invited to party as DEA, state trooper make big drug bust;
• The importance of pro bono in Eastern Pennsylvania;
• Tennessee’s “attorney emeritus” pro bono program has launched.

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• 2.17.11 – as a follow-up to previous coverage of financial troubles at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund (AppalReD) – an LSC-funded legal services provider in Eastern Kentucky – a piece in the Richmond Register provides some detail about layoffs: “Layoffs are expected in Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky (AppalRed) offices around the state. A total of nine employees will be cut, according to a press release from Interim Executive Director Jonathan Picklesimer.”

• 2.16.11 – The Dallas Morning News reports on the efforts of stakeholders in Texas’s legal services community to counter an extraordinary decline in IOLTA revenue – nearly 75% since 2007.  “Representatives from the state Supreme Court, the Texas Access to Justice Commission and Foundation, and legal aid services said that low interest rates, an economic downturn and an increase in the need for legal aid services have created a crisis.”  As a result, they are advocating for state legislators to create new court filing fees that would generate funding to serve low-income Texans with legal needs.  Here are some specifics on the legal services funding crisis and proposed legislative solutions, from a joint Texas Access to Justice Commission/Foundation press release.  Finding creative solutions makes sense in light of the fact that the state appropriations picture doesn’t look pretty for legal services: the Houston Chronicle reports that a current proposal contemplates a cut of $23 million in legal services funding.

• 2.16.11 – in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Legal Services Program’s Vicky O. Kimbrell writes that the small amount which may be cut from the state judiciary’s fund for domestic violence legal services could have large impact.  “In this weary season of budget slashing, the latest of many, the Georgia Legislature is considering a cut — about $80,000 — to funding for free legal representation of folks, women and children mostly, who are victims of domestic violence … Amid the millions of dollars of cuts, this may seem like small potatoes. In theory, yes.”  But in fact, the proposed cut represents “enough to fund representation of 64 clients in domestic violence cases.”

• 2.16.11 – Maine’s Kennebec Journal provides the latest on funding challenges confronting the Pine Tree State’s indigent defense administration: “Leaders of the new state commission that oversees legal defense for the poor say a recent budget compromise should enable them to keep paying court-appointed lawyers into early June, the last month of the fiscal year.  However, the added $200,000 for the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services’ budget is only enough to keep the commission running, they say. It does not address long-term financial concerns and an ongoing $600,000 budget shortfall that was inherited from the prior administration.”  The article goes on to provide background on the Commission’s formation and the rocky financial road it has driven since.

• 2.16.11 – the long-simmering controversy about an overworked, under-funded indigent program in Missouri is coming to head.  As reported in the Springfield News-Leader, the state’s high court is expected to decide soon on the question of whether public defenders’ offices may essentially shut down when caseload limits become too high.  In the meantime, the Supreme Court had appointed retired Missouri judge Miles Sweeney as a special master.  The court asked Sweeney to look into the controversy.  (A scanned-in version of Sweeney’s report, filed with the Supreme Court on 2.9.11, is available on the KOMU TV station website.)  Judge Sweeney’s report was not expected to offer any silver bullets to the problem, but it did make some noteworthy suggestions, including reworking the state’s criminal code so that some crimes are treated as misdemeanors, which require fewer resources to prosecute and defend.  Sweeney also determined that  public defenders need more funding, as reported on the KSPR TV website.  It’s important to remember, too, amidst this more abstract debate about how to fund and administer an effective indigent defense system, that strains on the system can have profound effects on people’s lives.  One defendant sat in jail from July, 2010 until early this month, even though his plea deal would have put him in drug treatment (not jail), and only through January (as reported by the Belleville News-Democrat).   

• 2.16.11 – the L.A. Times runs an enjoyable, and inspiring, piece on Ron Brown, who grew up in an L.A. housing project and faced down personal and professional adversity while rising quickly through the ranks to become Los Angeles County’s public defender.  Brown appears to be naturally gifted as a litigator, but has also invested great amounts of time and energy in honing his lawyering and management skills.  The story serves as an ample lesson for law students that, at all stages of their lives, many successful lawyers work through unexpected challenges – from bumps in the road to more tragic events.

• 2.15.11 – Civil Gideon!  Kind of!  The New York Times reports on civil-right-to-counsel program being unveiled in New York State foreclosure proceedings: “New York court officials outlined procedures Tuesday aimed at assuring that all homeowners facing foreclosure were represented by a lawyer, a shift that could give tens of thousands of families a better chance at saving their homes.  Criminal defendants are guaranteed a lawyer, but New York will be the first state to try to extend that pledge to foreclosures, which are civil matters. There are about 80,000 active foreclosure cases in New York courts. In more than half of them, only the banks have lawyers.”  The program is going to launch in Queens and Orange Counties in the immediate future.  By the end of the year it should be rolled out throughout the state.

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Looking for a job or internship on this St. Valentine’s Day?  PSLawNet hearts jobs.  In the past week 70 job listings were posted on PSLawNet, including 35 postgraduate positions and 23 internships.  There are presently 1009 job listings in total on PSLawNet. 

Featured Opportunities:

Summer in Hotlanta!  The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Office of General Counsel is seeking two summer law interns.  From their listing: “The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) branch of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) welcomes applications for its summer law student internship program. Interns serve at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.  OGC is the legal team for HHS, providing representation and legal advice on a wide range of national issues. OGC supports the development and implementation of HHS’s programs by providing legal services to the Secretary of HHS and the organization’s various agencies and divisions. With a team of over 400 attorneys and a comprehensive support staff, OGC is one of the largest and most diverse law offices in the country. We strive to advance HHS’s goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves.”  Learn more about this position on PSLawNet.  (Application deadline: 3/1/11)

The Council on American-Islamic Relations’s (CAIR) Chicago office is seeking a Civil Rights Director: “This person will lead the Civil Rights Department which counsels, mediates and advocates on behalf of Muslims and others who have experienced religious discrimination, defamation, or hate crimes. The department works to protect and defend the constitutional rights of Muslims in the area, thereby supporting the rights of all Americans.”  Learn more about this position on PSLawNet.

In Texas, Lone Star Legal Aid is hiring a staff attorney: “The successful applicant must be able to gather evidence, conduct civil lawsuits, draft legal documents and advise client about their legal rights. This attorney must also be able to interview clients and witnesses as well as handle other details in preparation for client legal representation. LSLA attorneys represent clients in court and before quasi-judicial or administrative agencies of government. They interpret laws, ruling and regulations for clients and the client community. They are involved with outreach and community education and work with the community to further the missions of LSLA. The successful applicant may supervise and coordinate activities of subordinate legal, clerical, volunteer or student workers. The successful applicant will be expected to handle a service case load, major litigation, attend evening clinics and participate in community education.”  Learn more about this position on PSLawNet.

Featured Resource: Looking for a Summer Job Abroad?

One of our friends at NYU’s Public Interest Law Center is a former human rights lawyer with extensive experience traveling and practicing abroad.  She was kind enough to produce a tips sheet for students looking for summer, public-interest work abroad.  Download TIPS FOR STUDENTS APPLYING FOR INTERNSHIPS ABROAD.

Need a job or internship? During the last week PSLawNet has posted: 54 new attorney positions, 33 new internships, and 28 new law related opportunities. Additionally, there are currently 1,028 active opportunities in our job database. To search the database visit PSLawNet.

Featured Opportunities

Poverty Law Advocacy Internships: Connecticut Legal Services is filling summer internship positions in five service offices: Bridgeport, New Britain, Stamford, Waterbury, and Willimantic.  We seek applicants who want to use their creativity, initiative, and other talents and skills to improve the lives of low-income people.  CLS encourages cross-cutting client-centered work which goes beyond specific legal specialties. CLS lawyers represent families and individuals in administrative hearings, and in state and federal courts. CLS encourages lawyers addressing major client issues to work in teams, which may include other legal services lawyers and or other local community agencies.  Connecticut Legal Services provides legal representation and advice to over 9,000 low-income households each year.  Interns at CLS receive training in client interview skills, assist with an active caseload of representation and advice cases, may have the opportunity to represent clients in administrative hearings or under the student practice rule if qualified.  To learn more, view the full job listing on PSLawNet…

An Attorney position is available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of the General Counsel (NOAA GC). NOAA GC employs approximately 114 attorneys at headquarters offices in the Washington D.C. area and at six regional offices. NOAA GC provides legal advice to the Department of Commerce Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere (NOAA Administrator) and NOAA program offices on a wide variety of issues including U.S. and international fisheries, marine mammals, endangered or threatened marine species, preservation of coastal areas, marine sanctuaries, and licensing of commercial satellites. NOAA is a premiere environmental agency, located within the Department of Commerce, and employs over 12,000 individuals nationwide. The agency’s mission is to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources and to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment to meet the Nation’s economic, social and environmental needs.  To learn more, view the full job listing on PSLawNet…

Featured Resources for Summer Job Seekers

1. Living out of town while completing an internship this summer?  Use NALP’s Apartment Exchange to sublet your place and to look for housing.
2. Are you aware that many organizations offer funding to students with summer public service jobs to help pay the bills?  Check out PSLawNet’s Summer Funding Page for more details.  Some, but not all, application deadlines have passed, so visit the page today.

In summary…there’s a lot of public interest news this week.  Unfortunately, a lot of it’s not good.  Funding shortages are affecting public interest programs literally from the Mexican to the Canadian borders.  Featured: the “Last Resort Exoneration Project” is released at Seton Hall Law; a young lawyer weighs the virtues of Model Rule 6.1; apparent financial trouble at AppalReD leads to the ED’s firing; farewell to a titan among federal defenders; the North Carolina State Bar is trying to ramp up pro bono efforts; cuts in local funding for a Louisiana legal services provider; unbundling legal services to serve more low-income Mississippians; fighting against food stamp terminations in Washington State; potential staff layoffs at Rhode Island Legal Services ruffle union feathers; the Colorado criminal defense bar is fighting for easier access to public defenders; loan repayment for Illinois prosecutors and public defenders; an office closure by New Mexico Legal Aid; discontinuing the Homeless Rights Project in San Francisco; arguments for permitting easier public access to juvenile court records and proceedings; the fight continues over an indigent defense attorney assignment overhaul in the Big Apple (or in French: le Big Apple); will the planned closure of a Southern Arizona Legal Aid office be avoided?; the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services is running out of funds; financial support for legal services for artists; New York’s top jurist calls upon the bar to support pro bono and legal services funding; legal services funding woes in Texas; Washington State high court arguments about a foster child’s right to counsel.   

• 2.3.11 – a New Jersey Star-Ledger blog highlights the launch of the “Last Resort Exoneration Project” at Seton Hall Law School.  The project will work to free innocent convicts, but unlike the high-profile Innocence Project, the Exoneration Project will focus on cases where DNA evidence is not in play – no meager feat.  The new initiative is something of a family affair.  Exoneration Project director Lesley Risinger first worked to free an innocent convict before attending law school; she enlisted the help of her mother, an attorney.  Now a lawyer herself, Risinger will co-direct the project with her husband, a Seton Hall Law professor.

• 2.3.11 – on the Minnesota Lawyer’s JDs Rising Blog, a newly admitted attorney explores Model Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1 – the pro bono rule – wondering whether it’s ultimately beneficial or too restrictive that lawyers are called upon to provide legal services and to support legal services for the poor rather than being able to provide service/contributions outside of the legal arena.

• 2.2.11 – from the Lexington Herald-Leader: “The main provider of civil legal help for poor people in Eastern Kentucky has fired its director and cut several other staff positions after an internal investigation.  The board of Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, a publicly funded legal aid agency, fired Cynthia Elliott on Saturday after finishing the internal review … AppalReD has total annual funding of $4.3 million, interim director Jonathan Picklesimer said Wednesday, and during the past four years it might have overspent its budget by nearly $1 million.”  The story later notes that the “other staff positions” which were cut were done so for financial reasons, according to AppalReD’s board chairman, not reasons related directly to the investigation.

• 2.2.11 – the New York Times has a nice write-up on the retirement of New York City’s chief federal defender, who has earned the respect of judges and legal adversaries and whose office has handled myriad high- and low-profile matters in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  “Leonard F. Joy, the lawyer who has led New York’s influential federal public defender’s office for the last two decades, is retiring this month, ending a tenure during which his office represented some of the most infamous defendants being prosecuted by the United States attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn.”

• 2.2.11 – a piece in the Raleigh News Observer highlights the North Carolina State Bar’s efforts to promote increased pro bono by 1) recommending in a new rule of conduct that attorneys complete 50 hours of pro bono annually, and 2) strengthening its ties with Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC).  The piece further notes that LANC is facing possible funding cuts out of the $5 million it presently receives from the state.  Even with things as they are now, LANC “can only take up [to] two cases for every 10 received.”    

• 2.2.11 – the Louisiana-based Tri-Parish Times reports on local funding cuts to legal services: “Low-income individuals and families that have depended upon or might need legal assistance when dealing with civil matters in Louisiana could be left without representation as parishes cut back on their budgets in 2011.  Capital Area Legal Services Corp., which has been funded by contributions from 12 parishes…is faced with a loss of financial support that could range from $24,530 to $47,330 this year. In turn, the legal aid agency could soon be faced with cutting some of its services.”   

• 2.2.11 – the AP reports that, at the proposal of Mississippi’s Access to Justice Commission, the state’s high court has adopted a rule permitting limited scope representation so that attorneys may provide unbundled services to clients who can not afford full-scope representation.  “Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said the limited scope representation rule is to encourage lawyers to provide some services to clients who are limited in what they can afford. He said the revised rules also encourage lawyers to provide volunteer services to legal hotlines and clinics without fear of creating conflicts of interest.”

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