Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Playing catchup after last week and it’s a bumper crop of news stories for you all, so buckle in. Of particular note: the Washington State Attorney General’s office published a report based on interviews it has conducted with children in Washington formerly detained on the southern border, unionization drives at two major civil rights organizations have met with resistance from management, and California is considering first-in-the-nation enforceable borrower protections for student loan debtors.

As always, these stories and more are linked below.

See you around,

Sam

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• In Washington State, the state attorney general’s office released an investigative report “based on interviews with children who spent time in border detention facilities and are now living in Washington” as part of a challenge by 20 attorneys general to a Trump administration proposal “that would indefinitely detain migrant families and override current detention standards for children.” The report cannot be easily or adequately summarized; its assertions are lengthy, detailed, and grave.
• In Tuscon AZ, an “[f]ederal court jurors…drew a line between harboring and help [] when they acquitted border aid worker Scott Warren on felony charges for the assistance he gave to two Central American men last year….’The government failed in its attempt to criminalize basic human kindness,’ Warren told the crowd outside the downtown courthouse.”
• In Oregon, “Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters enacted a new rule Thursday that will make it harder for immigration agents to make civil arrests in the state’s courthouses.”
• In New York NY, “[a] federal judge said [] that he plans to rule by the end of the year on the Trump administration’s bid to dismiss a suit led by New York Attorney General Letitia James to challenge its policy of arresting undocumented immigrants in and around state courthouses.”
• Also in New York NY, “[t]he Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office has announced a major initiative that could lead to the reduction or removal of criminal convictions for…immigrants who entered into plea agreements and have convictions for non-violent offenses that subject them to deportation[.]”
• In Colorado, “Governor Jared Polis says [the state] is limited in what it can do to protect DREAMers if the [DACA] program is ended.”
• Law 360 reported that “the federal government has increasingly used in immigration proceedings across the country since 2017 to try to whittle down a massive backlog of cases. At the same time, critics have pointed to breakdowns in the technology and wonder if it is limiting access to counsel for detainees, who can be warehoused hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the courthouse and their attorney.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In California, “[l]awmakers [] have put forward the first legislation in the nation that would create clear, enforceable borrower protections to rein in abuses by student loan companies[.]”
• Student Loan Hero shared “a rare example of success getting student loans forgiven with the federal PSLF program.”
• Forbes published an analysis of federal data discussing how “most PSLF applications were rejected because borrowers have not met program requirements.”
• Higher Learning Advocates released a policy brief arguing that “[o]ne of the primary accountability metrics used by the federal government [in deeming an institution ‘eligible’ for their students to receive federal student aid] … falls short of fully assessing student loan repayment outcomes[.]” The report goes on to assert that “[h]ow institutions are held accountable for defaults can be strengthened by coupling a new program-level cohort repayment rate (CRR) with the existing institution-based CDR to determine eligibility for federal student aid.”
• In Washington DC, “[u]nder threat of a subpoena, the Trump administration [has] agreed [] to provide documents detailing the Education Department’s handling of student debt relief claims to [the] House Education and Labor Committee Chairman[.]”

International Law

• Human Rights Watch released “comments on the…(draft Strategic Plan) of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court,” noting that “As we see it, the court has achieved limited successes at a time when weakened regard for the global rule of law and politicized attacks on the court have decreased its margin for error. Court officials need to urgently address shortcomings in policy and practice to confront an emerging crisis of public confidence in the institution.”

Legal Technology

• The Knight Foundation announced plans to fund “[t]wenty-two universities, think thanks and advocacy organizations [work] delving into policy issues around technology and the internet [with a] goal[] to ‘help meet the urgent needs of federal lawmakers and other decision-makers as they shape the future of the internet, as the impact of technology on our society and democracy becomes ever more significant.’”
• In New York NY, “Axiom, the global leader in specialized on-demand legal talent, today announced a strategic partnership with Pro Bono Net, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to justice and legal support for the disadvantaged.”
• Also in New York NY, reformers argued that “[the] NYPD fingerprint database [recently destroyed, as mentioned in last week’s digest] [is] just part of ‘big data’ that needs oversight[.]”
• In Portland ME, “[the] City Council voted [] to postpone consideration of a proposal to ban city employees from obtaining, retaining, accessing or using facial recognition technology, or information provided by facial recognition technology.”
• In San Diego CA, “a new online tool unveiled by county prosecutors [] allows people to report suspected abuse of students in school.”
• In Kentucky, “[t]he Legal Services Corporation (LSC) [] announced that Legal Aid of the Bluegrass (LABG) will receive a $176,966 Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) to reinvigorate and improve the Kentucky statewide legal information website, kyjustice.org.”
• In Santa Barbara CA, “[t]he Santa Barbara County Public Defender’s Office and Uptrust, the social justice text messaging communication platform, has announced a pilot program to reduce the number of Failure to Appear (FTA) incidents, arrest warrants and technical violations in the county.”
• TechCrunch.com reported that “[w]ith the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) taking effect in January 2020, companies have a limited time to get a handle of customer information they have and how they need to care for it.”
• The Atlantic published an article discussing the recent revelation “that Google had secretly harvested ‘tens of millions’ of medical records–patient names, lab results, diagnoses, hospitalization records, and prescriptions–from more than 2,600 hospitals as part of a machine-learning project code-named Nightingale.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] group of top Senate Democrats said on Monday that any federal privacy legislation should include the possibility that violators will face criminal penalties or consumer lawsuits.”
• Also in Washington DC, “Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) [] introduced a bill that would curtail the flow of sensitive information about people in the US to China through large tech companies like Apple and TikTok.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, “the National Center for Transgender Equality discharged all employees in a bargaining unit organized under the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU); the employees were seeking recognition of a union.” According to an open letter from former staff members:
  • “Over the last decade, it’s been abundantly clear that members of the executive team hold an inconsistent and irreconcilable view of how to make the organization itself a strong social justice movement — including recognition of a union and steps needed to ensure NCTE itself is an equitable place for people of color, people with disabilities, and other marginalized members of the transgender community.”
• Meanwhile, in Montgomery AL, “staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) went public with their union organizing campaign. SPLC staff [sought] voluntary recognition from the nonprofit, so that contract negotiations may begin promptly.” But, according to other reports, “Southern Poverty Law Center management said [] they would not voluntarily recognize a union organized by employees at the civil rights nonprofit and have hired a Virginia law firm whose website boasts about victories over labor organization attempts.”
• In New York NY, “[f]ollowing years of complaints from the contracted providers…the New York City Council approved a budget that allows support of indirect cost rates (ICR) exceeding 10 percent of a contract between community-based organizations and the city, starting this week.”
• Also in New York NY, “[t]he New York City Council is considering legislation that would create a new office to assist non-profit organizations in navigating regulations and applying for city contracts and funding.”
• Also also in New York NY, “[a]pproximately two-thirds of unionized so-called nonattorney advocates…need to find second jobs simply to make ends meet, according to the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys[.]”
• In the United States, “[e]mployees at Jewish nonprofits all over the country are disseminating a spreadsheet meant to help inform workers–especially female ones–about the salaries of their peers[.]”
• In Alberta, the “justice ministry’s operating budget…which covers everything from jails to legal aid to prosecutors to government lawyers — is expected to shrink from $1.45 billion to $1.35 billion. The UCP government argues this can be done by modernizing labour-intensive court procedures, including digitizing services as part of an “eCourts” system[.] It has also set aside money to hire 50 additional Crown prosecutors, and increased funding for drug treatment courts[.]”
• In Washington DC, “[a] new strike force of federal and state investigators is targeting antitrust violations in government procurement…The [initiative] is part of DOJ’s focus to reverse a downturn in antitrust prosecutions and collections in recent years.”
• In Georgia, a professor at Georgia State University discussed his research indicating that the US policy of “giving [veterans] a leg up in getting a job with the federal government…has had some negative effects…particularly in terms of lessening the civil service’s diversity[.]”
• In Connecticut, Nonprofit Quarterly discussed the “[b]udget and inequity issues [that] have plagued the state of Connecticut and its nonprofits for years.”
• In Oregon, “[a] contract public defender recently dropped by Weber County says he thinks it happened because he rocked the boat by filing a conflict of interest motion against prosecutors. [He] also says he saw enough during his tenure to conclude that the county’s system of hiring and managing public defenders ‘is in complete violation of the Sixth Amendment.’”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Philadelphia PA, “[the] City Council unanimously passed a bill Thursday that will provide free legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction, all but cementing Philadelphia on a list of cities that have strengthened renters’ rights amid what many say is a growing national eviction problem.”
• In British Columbia, “legal aid staff lawyers will start [a] work-to-rule job action [] as they seek wages closer to those of other lawyers in the system.” According to a different story, “[a]ll legal aid centres will remain open. However, the 26 LSS staff lawyers will now only be completing their essential client and case work [and] no longer [] performing other administrative duties[.]”
  • Meanwhile, “[t]he government of B.C. is committing $2 million to fully fund eight legal clinics across the province, money which will be dedicated to enhancing access for people on issues of poverty law, disability, tenancy and immigration.”
• In Milwaukee WI, local radio profiled Legal Action of Wisconsin’s Eviction Defense Project.
• In New York NY, “[o]rganizations advocating for a right to counsel for tenants facing evictions [hosted] a town hall in Elmhurst [] as part of an effort to expand the law and ensure all tenants know about it.”
• In California, “[a state] task force aiming to broaden access to legal services now has a few more months to make its final recommendations, as debate continues about whether nonlaywers should be allowed to assist consumers with legal matters.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Maine, “[a] three month-investigation by Pine Tree Watch into the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services found that attorneys’ invoices are frequently incorrect, resulting in them often being overpaid for representing Maine’s poor. For nine years, the commission’s director has uncovered these inaccuracies on a daily basis, but he did not change how attorney payments are approved even as the agency’s spending nearly doubled. Lawmakers began to question the commission’s financial oversight earlier this year after a report by the nonpartisan Sixth Amendment Center revealed that 33 attorneys could have over-charged the state $2.2 million between 2014 and 2018 by billing hours that greatly exceeded full-time work.”
  • Meanwhile, “[l]ast April, a national civil liberties organization released a report on Maine’s indigent defense system — which is farmed out to private attorneys — warning that the state is not adequately providing low income Mainers with the effective legal counsel to which they are constitutionally entitled.”
• In Wyoming, the state “Supreme Court has heard opposing arguments in a case involving public defender representation in state courts [after] State Public Defender Diane Lozano…declared the public defender’s office unavailable for misdemeanor cases due to heavy caseloads and an understaffing crisis [and Campbell County Circuit Judge] Phillips found Lozano in contempt of court[.]”
• In Missouri, the Kansas City Star published a profile of the state’s public defender crisis.
  • The Star additionally published a piece noting that “[p]rosecutors across Missouri have overwhelmed public defenders by filing more and more cases every year, charging some people with much more serious offenses than they committed…In some cases, prosecutors seem confident about the charges until it’s time to show evidence in court.” When prosecutors drop charges just before trial, the result is that “many [Missourians] serve[] time without ever being convicted of anything.”
• On a related note, in New Mexico, “[a state] legislator said [] he intends to reintroduce legislation to reform the state’s bail bond system and crack down on what he called the potentially deadly problem of pretrial release of defendants connected to serious crime…Rehm’s legislation, tabled during the last legislative session, is intended to ‘turn the table, and now the defendant must prove that he should be released[.]’ However, attorneys in the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender say that turning the table and putting the burden on the defendant is unconstitutional and fundamentally unfair.”
• In Louisiana, “[p]ublic defenders…get extra funding when their clients are convicted, creating perverse incentives that make it harder to establish trust between poor defendants and their attorneys[:] an accused offender who gets a court-appointed attorney can be charged $45 for ‘special costs,’ but the public defender’s office only gets the money if the client is convicted.”
• In Oregon, efforts continued in a “recent push to overhaul the state public defense system [after] a January study by the Sixth Amendment Center finding that Oregon’s public defender system was so unfair to defendants it was unconstitutional.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In New York NY, “[t]he attorney of a Black teen allegedly punched and harassed by New York Police Department officers is releasing new video he hopes will show a pattern of illegal stop-and-frisk searches targeting his client.”
• In New Jersey, “[i]n conjunction with the release of a report by the Transgender Equality Task Force,…the [state] Attorney General issued a directive to all state, county, and local law enforcement agencies that governs interactions with transgender individuals.”
• In Iowa, “[a] supervisor in the Iowa public defender’s office quit his longtime side job as a police officer after critics said his dual roles created a conflict of interest[.]”

The Organization

Human Rights First is a non-profit, international human rights organization based in the United States. Its mission is to challenge the United States to live up to its ideals by pressuring the U.S. government and private companies to respect human rights and the rule of law. Not only does Human Rights First condemn and expose injustice, it also creates and advocates for policy solutions to ensure consistent respect and protection of human rights.

Human Rights First campaigns span topics of refugee protection, national security, and foreign policy.

The Position

Human Rights First seeks Spring and Summer legal interns in their New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. offices. Interns will work on refugee representation, human rights sanctions, or foreign policy. Duties will include legal research and writing, collaboration with Human Rights First staff, and advocacy with government entities.

Ideal candidates will have strong written, organization, and communication skills, as well as a dedication to human rights. Foreign language skills are preferred.

See the Human Rights First PSJD profile for more information on all available openings: https://www.psjd.org/organizationdetails?OrgID=36168

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! I was travelling last week for the NLADA’s annual conference; it was a fantastic event to have been a part of but it did take me away from my digest feeds for a while. I’ll be working through my backlog for the rest of the month to bring you all up to speed, but here’s some news for today: major stories include student debt, where the New York Fed. analyzed data that places racial disparities in student debt into stark relief, and civil access to justice, where the Utah state government is researching possible regulatory changes which would allow nonlawyers to provide legal services. (Meanwhile, researchers in Canadian academia launched a survey concerning limited scope services in family law matters.)

As always, these stories and more are linked below.

See you around,

Sam

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• In San Diego CA, “[a] federal judge asked for clarification…about how exactly the federal government’s “Migrant Protection Protocols” are being employed by immigration agents at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego as he considers whether asylum seekers have a right to counsel when being interviewed about their fear of being returned to Mexico.”
• In Louiville KY, “[o]ne…nonprofit is offering small loans to help former doctors, nurses and other[ profesionals whose certificants haven’t transferred over when they immigrated to the United States] overcome the financial obstacles preventing them from pursuing their professions in their new home.”
• In Hartfort CT, “[t]he Hartford Courant reports that [] immigration agents say a Connecticut court security officer tried to prevent them from entering a courthouse where they planned to detain a Jamaican man.”
• In Harris County TX, “County District Attorney Kim Ogg on Friday announced her decision to fire a prosecutor who allegedly refused to file charges in a case after questioning whether the Mexican victim was ‘illegal.’”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In New York, the New York Federal Reserve published a blog post highlighting racial disparities in both the size and the growth rate of student loan debt.
• Also in New York, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips published a legal update concerning “[o]versight of student loan servicing[, which] remains top of mine for state regulators[.]”
• In Washington DC, Pew Charitable Trusts released a report finding that “[a]pproximately a quarter of [student] borrowers defaulted within five years of entering repayment.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[f]acing a federal lawsuit and mounting criticism, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos [] said she will forgive certain student loans for more than 1,500 borrowers who attended a pair of for-profit colleges that shut down last year.”

Legal Technology

• In New York NY, NYU Law’s Policing Project published an article discussing its recent efforts (and successes) building relationships with technology companies as they consider the ethics of their partnerships with law enforcement.
• Also in New York NY, [t]he Legal Aid Society alleged that “‘The NYPD’s fingerprint database of juveniles included children who were never even prosecuted, children whose cases may have been dismissed or they may have been acquitted,’ …Legal Aid says it discovered the NYPD database after a 14 year old was arrested based on fingerprints kept by the department. Legal Aid, which represents most juvenile defendants, says it also learned the state was improperly holding on to fingerprints…The NYPD did not admit any wrongdoing, although it now says it destroys the fingerprints of minors after those prints are sent to the state. Legal Aid is now calling on the City Council to immediately hold oversight hearings on police surveillance, technologies and databases.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] federal regulator is investigating whether the federal privacy law known as HIPAA was followed when Google (GOOGL) collected millions of patient records through a partnership with nonprofit hospital chain Ascension.”
• In Redmond WA, “Microsoft [announced it] will follow California’s landmark online privacy law nationwide when it goes into effect next year[.]”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In New York NY, “[t]he paralegals and social workers who help vulnerable New Yorkers need raises just as badly as the attorneys they support, the lawyers’ labor union says.”
• In Washington DC, the President issued an Executive Order ending an Obama-era policy that required federal contractors and subcontractors “to make bona fide job offers to employees of the predecessor contractor who had worked on the contract site for at least three months and who would otherwise be terminated.”
• In Montgomery AL, “Southern Poverty Law Center management said…they would not voluntarily recognize a union organized by employees at the civil rights nonprofit and have hired a Virginia law firm whose website boasts about victories over labor organization attempts.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Canada, researchers at King’s University College and the Queen’s University Faculty of Law “invit[ed] lawyers across Canda who have undertaken [limited scope services] in family cases or [who] are considering doing so to complete a confidential online survey.” (Survey available here.) Their goal is to publish the results in order to “help improve access to family justice by providing greater access to affordable legal services.”
• In Utah, “[a]n independent legal research center will work with Utah officials to test what could be groundbreaking regulations on allowing nonlawyers to provide legal services.”
• In New York NY, “New Yorkers indicted city landlords for criminal and civil crimes against tenants’ rights during a mock trial hosted by the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition in Tribeca.”
• In British Columbia, “Legal aid services are back to normal after a one-day walkout disrupted some services at the Vancouver Regional Centre[.]”
• In Richmond VA, “[a] task force has been created to come up with ways to help mitigate and prevent evictions in Richmond, Virginia. The group will include affordable housing and social justice advocates, youth and family homelessness specialists, public housing residents and property management professionals.”
• In New Mexico, “[a] newly formed task force is searching for ways to improve the state’s system for providing legal representation to parents and children embroiled in abuse and neglect cases.”
• In Vermont, “The Access to Justice Coalition, a joint venture between the Vermont Supreme Court, the Vermont Bar Association and the primary providers and funders of low-income legal services in the State released a recently completed Economic Impact Study.”
• In Kansas City MO, “[t]enants’ rights are at the forefront at the Kansas City City Council as a growing group tries to pass a ‘Tenants Bill of Rights.’”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Alaska, the state “commissioner of the Department of Administration acknowledged staffing and workload issues for the state’s Public Defender Agency and highlighted the administration’s commitment to fixing them[.]”
• In Oregon, “the Oregon Office of Public Defense Services…recently decided not to renew [a] local attorney group’s contract, making numerous allegations of misconduct.”
• In Sarpy County NE, “[t]he…Public Defender’s office will stop accepting misdemeanor appointments beginning Nov. 18…citing increasing workloads for assistant public defenders.”
• In Missouri, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch speculated about how recent political changes in Missouri suggest that public defenders in the state may be more successful getting assistance with their caseloads than they have been previously.
  • For more on the public defense in Missouri, there’s this article in the Scottsbluff Star Herald.

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Oklahoma, “Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater stands accused of launching an illegal criminal investigation into former state House Speaker Kris Steele and Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, a nonprofit he leads. The accusations stem from a wrongful termination claim by Prater’s former employee William Muller, [who claims] Prater ordered him in the fall of 2017 to obtain a grand jury subpoena from the state attorney general’s office so he could find “incriminating or compromising information” on Steele and his reform group, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union.”
• In Connecticut, “[s]tate police…began using various social media platforms to provide “use of force” statistics to the public, an initiative that comes with the passage this year of legislation aimed at better accountability that requires police quicken timelines for the release of information and video to the public.”
• In Portland OR, “public defense attorneys…began a coordinated effort [] in advocating against cash bail for their clients, in collaboration with a national legal nonprofit.”
• In New York, “[v]ideo of what appears to be the unprompted stop-and-frisk of a Bronx teen without a criminal record is further evidence that cops still target New Yorkers of color for illegal searches, attorneys say.”
• In San Francisco CA, “[t]he new San Francisco district attorney has said his office will not prosecute prostitution or public urination crimes in the city.”
• In Los Angeles CA, “[f]ormer public defender Rachel Rossi announced…she is entering the race to become the next Los Angeles County district attorney.”

The Organization

New Mexico Legal Aid (NMLA) is a civil legal aid organization primarily focused on providing legal services to rural communities in New Mexico. NMLA’s work includes twelve individual projects such as the Statewide Domestic Violence HelpLine, the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, and the Native American Program.

NMLA also organizes the Centro Legal Campesino Farmworker Program, which provides free legal aid to agricultural workers in New Mexico. These cases often involve wage theft, employment discrimination, civil rights abuses, and more.

The Position

NMLA seeks a staff attorney for Centro Legal Campesino who has a passion for confronting systemic injustices faced by farmworkers. In this role, the attorney will provide advocacy and outreach in rural areas, litigate cases in state and federal courts, represent farmworkers in administrative hearings, and develop community legal education materials.

The ideal candidate will be bilingual (English/Spanish) and willing to go above and beyond the traditional capacity of a staff attorney. Additionally, the candidate will be able to work collaboratively and with a team, and have experience working with marginalized populations, particularly immigrants.

The Organization

The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) is a legal aid organization dedicated to providing free civil legal services to low-income individuals throughout Washington State. NJP believes in providing access to legal services to all individuals, including those in need of interpreter services. NJP staff assist on cases involving family safety, housing preservation, protection of income, access to health care, and education. Where NJP cannot provide assistance directly, they provide resources and referrals. Through their dedication and hard work, NJP provides services to over 18,000 individuals each year.

The Position

The Northwest Justice Project is hiring multiple staff attorneys in various offices throughout Washington State. Depending on the location, new law school graduates will be considered. Additionally, some offices prefer candidates who are bilingual (English/Spanish). Ideal candidates for all openings will be able to work collaboratively, have demonstrated experience working with diverse communities, and be committed to providing civil legal aid.

See the full post on PSJD: https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=97406

The Organization

Justice 360 is a non-profit organization based in South Carolina that works to reform policies and practices in capital and juvenile life without parole proceedings. Justice 360 achieves its goals through direct representation of death row inmates, the creation of legal resources, policy reform efforts, and public education materials and programming. Justice 360 wholeheartedly believes that justice is not linear and it does not end with a verdict.

The Position

Partnering with Cornell Law School’s Death Penalty Project, Justice 360 seeks a recent law graduate to participate in the two-year Craig N. Yankwitt Fellowship for Death Penalty Advocacy.

This fellowship honors the memory of Craig N. Yankwitt, a Cornell Law School graduate. During his time in law school and in his post-graduate practice, Yankwitt contributed significantly to Cornell’s Capital Punishment and Capital Appeals Clinics.

The Fellow will participate in all aspects of Justice 360’s work. Additionally, the Fellow will work on litigation and academic projects with Cornell Law School Professors Sheri Johnson and John Blume.

The ideal candidate will have experience with capital and/or criminal defense, either through an internship/externship or a clinic.

The Organization

Family Equality is national non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of legal and lived equality for LGBTQ families and individuals. Family Equality strongly believes that every person deserves the right and opportunity to form and sustain a family without discrimination, no matter the process by which the LGBTQ individuals seek to form their families.

The Position

The organization seeks multiple legal interns for this coming Spring semester to work remotely with the Policy team. These students will advocate for LGBTQ parents and families in the pursuit of legislative, regulatory, and policy goals.

The ideal candidates will have completed their first year of law school before the start of the internship, as well as have a demonstrated interest in LGBTQ rights, civil rights, and social justice.

See the full post on PSJD: https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=96895

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Busy week, both here at NALP and in the world. Thanks to everyone who made it here for the 2019 NALP/PSJD Public Service Mini-Conference. You all make this event what it is, and this year I think it turned out pretty well. Good luck to everyone who has students interviewing at EJW’s CCF this weekend (or who is an interviewing student)!

And now, the news: the Trump administration suffered a pair of high profile court defeats on its immigration policies this week, while in student loan news data indicates student debt is now worth twice as much as the entire housing market and the CFPB has an open call for a task “to examine ways to harmonize and modernize federal consumer financial laws.” In Canada, the Legal Services Society of British Columbia reached an unprecedented bargaining agreement shortly after a unanimous vote to authorize strike action.

As always, these stories and more are available below. But before I go, I’ll leave you with one more, from last spring:

“Speaking six blocks from where he grew up in South Baltimore, Congressman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ‘begged’ lawyers to advance and protect voting rights in the nation…’Voter suppression remains a clear and present danger to the effective functioning of our democratic republic – and it must be stopped,’ Cummings said….He told the lawyers, ‘Without you we’re doomed.’”

See you around,

Sam

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• In Toronto ON, panelists at the Law Society of Ontario’s Hispanic Heritage Month “sa[id] they are navigating stricter policies and unstable legal aid funding, even as there is more need for their services amid humanitarian crises in Latin America.”
• In Hawaii, “[A] Shortage of Hawaii Pro Bono Attorneys Hobbles Legal Aid To Asylum Seekers”
• In Mississippi, “[t]he impact of the largest single-state work site immigration raid continues to reverberate through southern Mississippi as more criminal indictments for immigration-related felony charges…are stretching an already overloaded federal public defender’s office, with local civil rights attorneys and volunteers stepping up to assist those who have been charged.”
• In the Western District of Texas, “[a] federal judge ruled…that President Donald Trump violated federal law when he used his declaration of a national emergency to get millions for building a wall on the southern border.”
• In the Southern District of New York, “Attorney General Letitia James announced…that a judge…granted a nationwide preliminary injunction on the [Trump Administration’s ‘public charge’] rule as multiple lawsuits against it snake their way through the court system.”

Environmental Law & Disaster Legal Aid

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court is set to decide soon whether to greenlight state-court proceedings for several cases in which state and local government officials seek to hold oil companies accountable for their role in climate change.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• The Washington Informer reported that “[w]hen likely voters across the country were recently asked their opinions about student loan borrowing, 82% agreed that the still-growing $1.5 trillion debt is a national crisis[:] 74% of Republicans, 80% of independents, and 90% of Democrats.”
• In Washington DC, “Senator Elizabeth Warren [] urg[ed] the Trump administration to end its contract with Navient, one of the biggest contractors that collects payments on federal student loans.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he College Affordability Act[] was introduced by the House Committee on Education and Labor[. It] aims to lower the cose of college, improve the quality of higher education and increase student opportunities[.]”
• Also also in Washington DC, “[Thirty] attorneys general around the nation…requested that the U.S. Department of Education extend the time frame to cancel student loans for students of now-closed schools.”
• Again also in Washington DC, “[f]our U.S. senators told the head of [the CFPB] that they want her to launch examinations into serious problems with a program designed to offer loan forgiveness to public service workers.”
• Yet again also in Washington DC, “[a] cross section of Capitol Hill staffers say the congressional-sponsored student loan repayment program can help mitigate costs for those [staffers] with large educational loans, while spurring recruitment, retention and diversity in the labor pool.”
• Yet again also also in Washington DC, “the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it’s forming a task force ‘to examine ways to harmonize and modernize federal consumer financial laws’. The CFPB’s [Director] Kraninger said that ‘as we work to set up the task force, we encourage interested individuals to apply to be considered to be part of the task force.” You can find the application here (Deadline 10/25/19)
• In Washington…State, “Attorney General Bob Ferguson is urging the state’s student loan borrowers struggling with public service loan forgiveness to register a complaint with the Attorney General’s office.”
• Benefit News published “5 reasons employers should offer student loan repayment benefits.”
• Realtor.com published data showing that “[t]he total student debt in the United States has grown to nearly double the housing market.”

Legal Technology

• In Mississippi, “Low-income Mississippians who have legal questions may [now] find assistance from the free legal information website ms.freelegalanswers.org.”
• In South Carolina, the Charleston Chronicle reported that “Amazon has been promoting DIY [] surveillance products to consumers….[b]ut what Amazon shoppers and most everyday Americans are just starting to find out is that the real target customers for these surveillance tools are police departments and other law enforcement agencies.”
  • In related news, in Tippecanoe & Clinton County IN, “police are joining 400 other law enforcement agencies across the country in using the new Neighbors by Ring [Amazon] app as a resource.”
• In Washington DC, the National Security Agency “worked with Penn State University, as part of a broader initiative from the Department of Homeland Security, to develop a free online course to educate people on cybersecurity operations, law and policy.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In New York NY, “Niketa Sheth, Executive Director of Womankind, formerly the New York Asian Women’s Center, said…nonprofits like Womankind are struggling to pay staffers and keep programs running because 80 percent of domestic violence action are not reported.”
• In Miami FL, the Miami Herald reported that “[t]he Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence…for the last 13 months[] has flouted the state’s oversight with little consequence.”
• In Washington DC, the Federal Circuit ruled that “[a] pair of nonprofit entities were correctly paid a lower interest rate on their tax refunds because they are incorporated under state law.”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Canada, the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice released a report concluding that “[m]oney spent on justice programs pays off in terms of economic gains and efficiencies.”
• In Victoria BC, “[s]taff lawyers from The Legal Services Society (LSS), who service Legal Aid centres across BC, voted 100 per cent in favor of strike action[.]” The action appears to have been averted, as “[t]he British Columbia government has reached an agreement with legal aid lawyers [for a] two-and-a-half-year deal [that] will ensure better access to legal support and more stability for lawyers who have been giving services at below cost.”
  • In related news, “the association representing legal aid lawyers in the province is calling [the deal] unprecedented in Canada.”
• In Pennsylvania, “[t]he state Supreme Court heard argument…on whether it should grant a preliminary injunction that would restore the Pennsylvania General Assistance program that provided funding to some 12,000 people before it was eliminated Aug. 1.”
• In Rutland VT, “[r]epresentatives from two nonprofit agencies that help low-income and vulnerable Vermonters with civil cases…will be in the city at the end of the month to hear from the community about the needs and challenges in the state.” [Ed. Note: These agencies are holding meetings at locations around Vermont this month, as previously mentioned in this digest.]
• In Minneapolis MN, “city officials are applauding the first year of a program intended to help families maintain stable housing and keep them out of homeless shelters. …[When] Legal Aid and the Volunteeer Lawyers Network studied 374 eviction cases in Hennepin County…it found that fully represented tenants are twice as likely to stay in their homes and get twice as much time to move if they choose to.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Missouri, “[m]embers of the state public defender commission met Thursday to outline the process for replacing Michael Barrett as director of the financially strapped agency[.] [The c]ommission chairman [] said his goal is to bring a new director on board no later than mid-January.”
• In Tulare County CA, “[a] design oversight at [the] newest jail may be putting the civil rights of prisoners in jeopardy. The problem, say defense attorneys is a lack of interview rooms…and the video conferencing system the [sheriff’s office] has chosen as a substitute.”
• In Butler County OH, “[t]he…Public Defender’s Office submitted the largest request for new staff to the commissioners at 12 [staffers].”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In New York, Indypendent.org published a story arguing that “[a]lthough the NY Working Families Party deserves credit for helping [Queens DA candidate] Tiffany Cabán initially prevail on primary night, there are some important questions surrounding the WFP’s handling of the next stage of the campaign, which ended last week with Cabán’s concession.”

The Organization

Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA) is a federally-funded civil legal aid organization providing free services to Philadelphia County’s indigent community. Their legal services extend to family law, federal taxes, housing, migrant farmworkers, public benefits, unemployment compensation, and more. PLA’s mission is to enforce and protect the rights of all individuals and families by providing accessible, creative, and high-quality legal assistance. PLA also works hard to achieve systemic change to improve the lives of the citizens of Philadelphia.

The Position

PLA seeks a Staff Attorney to join the Unemployment Compensation Unit, where the attorney will fight to provide temporary income replacement to workers who have lost their jobs. The attorney will service as a case advocate and litigator, representing clients in administrative hearings. Additionally, the attorney will work on policy and public education addressing new computer systems evaluations and payment of Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The ideal candidate will have 2 to 5 years of client representation experience and a commitment to workers’ rights and employment law.

See the full post on PSJD: https://www.psjd.org/opportunitydetails?OppID=96753

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello there, interested public! Hope you’ve had a chance to check out the new face of PSJD.org, which went live yesterday morning. If you haven’t, please do! We’d love to know what you think. Or, drop by the 2019 NALP PSJD Public Service Miniconference (you can still register, here) and let us know in person! Hope to see you next week.

Now, on to the news. It’s been a big week. Rolling Stone reports that ICE has relocated hundreds of women in detention and will not tell their lawyers where they are. Secretary DeVos defied a federal court order to stop collecting student loan payments from borrowers who had been found eligible for forgiveness, and the Cato Institute published a study revealing that “lawyers whose formative professional experiences include serving as courtroom advocates for government[] are vastly overrepresented on the federal bench.”

As always, these stories and more are available below.

See you around,

Sam

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

• Rolling Stone reported that “[after] RAICES began collecting female detainees’ testimones [concerning ‘egregious medical situations’ at the Karnes County Family Residential Center] and sharing them online…the hundreds of women who were housed there have been scattered to detention centers across the country, and ICE won’t tell [RAICES] where the women, many of whom are the organization’s clients, are.” [Ed. Note: the digest discussed the original complaints of these women in the 10-4-19 edition.]
• Courthouse News reported on six couples who have “[filed] a class action accusing federal agents of luring families to marriage interviews in Baltimore, only to detain the immigrant spouse for deportation…[T] American Civil Liberties Union says a growing number of [US CIS] officers have ‘cruelly twisted’ the rules by detaining immigrant spouses after marriage interviews…in Massachusetts[, …] New York, Virginia, Florida, Illinois and California.”
  • In related news, “U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agreed…to release three undocumented immigrants who have U.S. citizen spouses as a Massachusetts federal judge grilled ICE officials about the process they use to determine whether to keep immigrants jailed as they pursue green cards.”
• In University Park PA, Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic released a report on “Detained Immigrants and Access to Counsel in Pennsylvania,” which recommends “that Pennsylvania should fund and implement a public defender-style program for detained immigrants in removal proceedings to improve fairness and due process.”
• In Los Angeles CA, “City Attorney MIke Feuer…announced the filing of a brief [before the Supreme Court] in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program[.]”
• In Washington DC, “[p]rotesters prevented acting homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan from giving a keynote address at an immigration conference at Georgetown University on Monday, the latest example of a Trump administration official being blocked from speaking in public.”

Environmental Law & Disaster Legal Aid

• In South Royalton VT, “the Environmental Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law School [announced it] will serve as legal counsel to [the] National Wildlife Federation in its high impact litigation and policy advocacy.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos faces potential sanctions or a finding she’s in contempt of court for continuing to collect on the debt of former students at bankrupt Corinthian Colleges Inc., going so far as seizing their tax refunds and wages…The judge said she was ‘astounded’ that the department violated her June order to stop collecting the debts from students, who had been promised refunds of their tuition.”
• Also in Washington DC, “U.S. Representatives Mike Levin (D-CA) and Katie Porter (D-CA) introduced legislation to expand the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for individuals who work at Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs).”
• The Wall Street Journal discussed how “a handful of companies are trying to prevent [student debtholder employees] from falling behind on retirement savings by matching their student-loan repayments with contributions to a 401(k) plan.”

Legal Technology

• Bruce Scheier, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, gave a talk on “why technologists need to get involved in public policy.”
• In Berkeley CA, “UC Berkeley received a $3 million grant…from the Public Interest Technology University Network, or PIT-UN, a partnership between 21 different universities intended to grow the field of public interest technology…It aims to facilitate collaboration between technologists and public policy leaders in ‘serving society’.”
• In Mississippi, “[a] first-ever cybersecurity audit of Mississippi showed that a considerable percentage of the state’s agencies regularly failed to comply with its cybersecurity protocols.”
• In Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice released a study recommending that the state “help litigants deal with their cases by developing an online help center that could guide people through the basics of legal proceedings, assisting them as they deal with their cases without crossing the line and actually imparting legal advice[.]”
• In Illinois, the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, Illinois Legal Aid Online and the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois released Rentervention. The tool is “a free service [that] shows tenants how to advocate for themselves when it comes to things like evictions and maintenance issues[.]”
• In Washington DC, “[a] group of more than 30 civil rights groups on Tuesday signed an open letter calling on lawmakers to cut partnerships between Amazon’s Ring doorbell surveillance systems and local police.”
• In Washington DC, “U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr called on U.S. technology companies to give law enforcement ‘secure legal access’ to encrypted data as a way to provide ‘greater safety to the public.’”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• The Cato Institute published a study confirming the “general[] perce[ption] that a disproportionate number of federal judges served as government lawyers before donning a robe.” According to their findings, “[f]ormer government lawyers–and more specifically, lawyers whose formative professional experiences include serving as courtroom advocates for government–are vastly overrepresented on the federal bench.”
• In Alaska, “Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration is negotiating a contract extension that would pay a Virginia law firm $125,000 for its services in a legal fight with Alaska unions…Under [state] Attorney General Kevin Clarkson’s interpretation of a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the state’s unionized public employees must inform the state annually of their intention to remain union members. The system would be the first of its kind in the nation.”
• In Sebastian FL, the City Attorney “has given 60-days notice that he intends to resign [saying] ‘it [is] time to consider restructing the position to full time’.”
• In Philadelphia PA, the Defender Association of Philadelphia “has failed to secure a quick win in a case…where it faces allegations that it violated federal law by terminating an attorney found to have mental health problems rather than transfer her to another role.”
• In NonProfit Quarterly, a senior counsel with the Alliance for Justice wrote to examine the question: “Can a 501c3 Advocate for Impeachment of a Federal Office Holder?”

Access to Justice – Civil

• In Winnipeg MB, “[h]undreds lined up [] downtown [] for the chance to witness the Supreme Court of Canada hear cases outside Ottawa for the first time in its 144-year existence.”
• In Ontario, the Federation of Ontario Law Associations, in a “Submission Regarding the Review of the Legal Aid Services Act,” told the government that “[e]nlisting the services of the private bar is more efficient than loading more work onto duty counsel[.]”
• In Vermont, “Legal Services Vermont and Vermont Legal Aid…are holding seven meetings around the state to hear from Vermonters, their community partners and supporters. …They will use the information gathered to help decide where to put their legal aid resources.”
• In Charleston SC, “[r]enters facing eviction f[ound] help as Charleston’s housing court g[ot] underway.”
• In New York NY, “[m]ore than half of Bronx tenants facing eviction in housing court were unaware of the city’s new ‘right to counsel’ law, according to a survey conducted by a Bronx advocacy group.”
• In Chicago IL, “[as p]roposed reforms to further open the legal system to nonlawyers and tech companies to increase access to justice are being considered by several western state bar groups,” ABA president Judy Perry Martinez told Bloomberg Law these “[s]tate bar efforts to reform law firm ownership rules could spur the American Bar Association to eventually do the same[.]”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Pittsburgh PA, “[t]wo Duquesne University professors and one University of Pittsburgh professor have been given funding…to see if their innovative approach to holistic legal representation can improve the [sic] juvenile indigent defense representation.”
• In Greene County MO, “[County] Comissioners…approved spending $25,000 for contracted private attorneys to defend people in criminal court who are too poor to afford their own representation, making Greene County the first in the state to do so. Officials said they hoped the money would help ‘unclog’ a local criminal justice system [facing] a shortage of public defenders and a growing need for criminal representation.”
• In Crawford County PA, county government “is looking to fill the top two jobs in the county’s Office of Public Defender as a new country court criminal trial term looms next month.”
• In Montgomery County NY, the county “Public Defender’s Office is seeking to create its first full-time assistant public defender[.]”
• In Gregg County TX, “[t]he cost of providing adequate legal representation for [the county’s] indigent defendants continues to rise.”
• In Coshocton OH, “[l]ocal judges…recently met with Coshocton County Comissioners to discuss the [sic] possibly raising appointed [defense] attorney fees.”
  • In related news, “Coshocton County Commissioners are considering raising fees for appointed attorneys based on increased state funding in order to ensure those who need legal representation are properly represented.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In California, “Governor Gavin Newsom…signed 25 bills aimed at setting a path to reform California’s criminal justice system. The bills include support for those reentering the community after serving their sentences, including creating a system to automatically expunge records of individuals previously convicted of low-level offenses, as well as reform unfair sentencing practices, and enhance support for victims of crime.”
• In San Francisco CA, Mayor London Breed appointed “Suzy Loftus, a former prosecutor and president of the San Francisco Police Commission [district attorney] on an interim basis until an election is held early next month…Critics of the move say Breed appointing a candidate she endorsed gives Loftus an unfair advantage over her rivals.”
• In Connecticut, “[state] residents for the first time have a chance to help the state appoint its top prosecutor, thanks to a new law that aims to make the criminal justice system more transparent.”
• In New York NY, “[t]he Bronx District Attorney’s Office has released some of its internal files on police dishonesty–the first D.A.’s office in the city [to] make such records available to the public.”