Public Interest News Bulletin – December 16, 2011
By: Steve Grumm
Happy Friday, dear readers. From my perch here in Washington I’m looking at a freakishly warm December morning, a disappointingly cold cup of coffee, a newspaper headline about Newt Gingrich (what year is this?) and a stack of unwritten holiday cards (a phenomenon that recurs every year, Newt or no Newt). This week’s Bulletin contains a little bit of everything. Here’s what we’ve got:
- a new Connecticut provider to serve DV and human trafficking victims;
- ACLU of Montana critical of state’s public defense program;
- speaking of, a class-action over Georgia’s long-criticized public defense system may settle;
- young lawyers in “The OC” lend aid to the county’s legal services program;
- more public defense funding woes, this time addressed by Missouri’s high court;
- an unexpected glut of federal employee retirements;
- too many strings attached to law student summer public interest funding?;
- “A call for prosecutorial accountability”;
- Expanding New York State’s appellate pro bono program;
- A veterans diversionary court program in Oklahoma;
- LSC funding cuts hit hard in Mississippi;
- A formerly deferred associate recounts a formative experience representing DV victims;
- more medical-legal partnerships needed in the Lone Star State?
- cash-strapped government law offices leveraging private bar resources.
Here are the summaries:
- 12.15.11 – a new nonprofit law office in Connecticut will serve a highly vulnerable population. From the New Canaan Observer: The Rights, Advocacy and Empowerment (RAE) Law Group has been formed to “promote, enforce and advocate for the rights of victims and survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual exploitation. The group will serve clients in Fairfield, New Haven and Middlesex counties.” RAE apparently takes referrals from other service providers and provides representation for a “modest fee.”
- 12.15.11 – indigent defense trouble in the Treasure State. From TV station KXLH: “The ACLU of Montana asserts there are many problems with the state’s public defender system and it’s asking the Montana Legislature to do its part in ensuring the agency operates smoothly. If you can’t afford an attorney one will be appointed for you, and it’s likely the public defender could also be managing about 200 other cases…. The report also states attorneys aren’t getting the feedback and training they need to be successful in the courtroom.” A lack of funding is seen as the main culprit. Here’s a link to the ACLU’s report, which is being published 5 years after the Montana moved from a county-by-county to a statewide system. The news isn’t all bad, but funding still is lacking.
- 12.14.11 – a class action regarding Georgia’s embattled indigent defense system may be settling. The AP reports (and this is the whole article so no need to click through): “The Southern Center for Human Rights says a potential settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit that claims the state of Georgia must provide attorneys to handle the appeals of dozens of convicted criminals. The case had been scheduled for a hearing before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter on Thursday. Kathryn Hamoudah of [SCHR], which brought the case, said Wednesday the settlement was not yet final and she did not know the details. Plaintiffs want the state to make changes to make sure hundreds of indigent defendants have lawyers to represent them in their appeals. They claim cuts to the statewide public defender system has robbed them of their constitutional right to make their case. The lawsuit was filed in 2009.”
- 12.14.11 – as a native Philadelphian I have little use for Orange County, CA. From afar it seems so La-la Land-ish. The OC did produce punk rock juggernaut Social Distortion, but otherwise it’s not my bag. Nevertheless, here’s some good news about young lawyers pitching in to aid an overburdened legal services provider. The Orange County Register reports that the Legal Aid Society of Orange County’s evictions unit is staring down LSC funding cuts and swelling caseloads. The county bar’s young lawyers division heeded a call for help. The YLD’s chair hoped “for maybe 10 volunteers [to handle pro bono eviction cases], but more than 40 responded to the call. Two weeks ago, about 35 went through training in wrongful-detainer law, and another session will be held in a few weeks. Then they’ll start taking cases.”
- 12.14.11 – Show Me Oral Arguments! A long-simmering controversy concerning the overburdened Missouri public defense program made it to the state’s high court. Last year a defender refused new cases because the office’s caseload was overwhelming its ability to represent clients. From the Springfield News-Leader: “The question is simple on its face: Does the Missouri Public Defender Commission have the authority to turn away defendants? But the issue, taken up in oral arguments Tuesday in the state Supreme Court, splintered off into discussions ranging from constitutional rights to ethical burdens, from separation of powers to rule-making authority. No clear solution was offered. The judges…also didn’t give an indication of how they are leaning. [E]ach stated conflicting concerns — forcing public defenders to represent clients regardless of caseload concerns or leaving the decision to local judges to find representation for poor defendants.”
- 12.12.11 – Uncle Sam is losing workers left and right to retirement. From the Federal Times: “Retirement applications for the first 10 months of 2011 soared 24 percent from the same time last year, topping 92,000, according to statistics from the Office of Personnel Management….” OPM Director John Berry told Congress last month…” that the rising retirement rate “…was likely caused by cash-strapped agencies offering buyouts and taking other steps to cut their workforces.” What does this mean for aspiring civil servants? The good news is obvious: open positions. The bad news, of course, is the government-wide hiring freeze. But the freeze has some cracks in it. (That’s metaphor torture, for those scoring at home). Agencies can still hire to fill “mission-critical” positions, so it’s not as though federal recruiting has stopped altogether. This could bode well for law grads looking for a way in.
- 12.12.11 – is it becoming too burdensome for law students to get summer public interest funding from their schools? From every law school dean’s fav periodical, U.S. News and World Report: “It’s fellowship application season for first and second year law students who want to work in public service law next summer. Many law schools offer…summer fellowships, which provide a stipend ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars, to students who pursue service-oriented roles rather than positions at big firms…. Many law students and J.D.’s report that their public service internships were fulfilling…. But some say that the internship applications come with too many requirements, warning aspiring public servants to carefully consider whether to participate. Many law schools…require students to do between 5 and 10 hours of volunteer work on campus, and some also insist that students volunteer at fundraising auctions. ” Oh, the horror! I’m okay with requiring someone to do 5 hours of service to qualify for funding. If nothing else it may separate the truly public-interest oriented students from those who would rather be at a firm but wish to hedge their bets.
- 12.12.11 – “A Call for Prosecutorial Accountability” appears as an op-ed in the National Law Journal: “Last term, the Supreme Court…limited municipal civil liability for prosecutors in Connick [v. Thompson]. In justifying this holding in part by stating that prosecutors are ‘personally subject to an ethics regime designed to reinforce the profession’s standards,’ the Court pointed to the existence of the [ABA] and state grievance mechanisms that set ethical standards for prosecutors and discipline them when they break the rules. [Yet] new research analyzing the policies and procedures for disciplining attorneys in each state…shows that prosecutors are rarely held accountable when misconduct occurs…. Inspired by the Connick decision, students from the Liman Prosecutorial Misconduct Research Project at Yale Law School examined the basis of the reliance on current attorney-sanctioning mechanisms. The resulting investigation of the disciplinary procedures in various states found that the process and results are largely inadequate for investigating claims of misconduct and holding prosecutors accountable.”
- 12.12.11 – “One year after establishing an experimental pro bono civil appellate program to handle family law appeals for people who cannot afford counsel, the New York State Bar Association is expanding the initiative to several other areas of law,” according to the New York Law Journal. “Two upstate nonprofit organizations, the Legal Project in Albany and the Rural Center of New York in Plattsburgh, are providing staff support. The program is supported by a grant from the New York Bar Foundation. During the first year, volunteer attorneys handled six appeals before the 3rd Department, one of them precedent-setting. According to the American Bar Association, the State Bar’s pro bono appellate project is one of only 10 such programs in the country.”
- 12.11.11 – The Oklahoman looks at a diversionary judicial program for veterans in the Oklahoma City area. “Veterans who get into legal trouble in Oklahoma County can apply to the program. Those who qualify have to go before a board that includes prosecutors, public defenders, counselors and veterans advocates. If they are selected for the program, they sign a contract agreeing to participate. If they fail the program, charges can be refiled. Part of the contract includes waiving the statute of limitations on their case. They are not required, however, to plead guilty to a judge.” The county prosecutor’s and public defender’s offices joined forces to create/administer the program.
- 12.10.11 – the LSC cuts are hitting hard in Mississippi. From the Clarion-Ledger: “[T]wo Legal Services programs in Mississippi that provide civil legal help for the poor will see federal funding reduced by more than $821,000 in 2012. The cuts in funding for the Mississippi Center for Legal Services, which serves 43 counties in the central and southern part of the state, and the North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, which serves 39 counties in the northern part of the state, were the result of a 14.85 percent reduction nationally in federal spending for Legal Services programs…. About 600,000 poor people in Mississippi are eligible for services, and about 30 attorneys are available in Mississippi for Legal Services. The number of Legal Services attorneys is about one per 20,000 low-income residents.”
- 12.9.11 – a formerly-deferred DLA Piper associate recounts the positive experience he had spending his deferral period with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation’s domestic violence project. After recounting two of his emotionally charged case experiences, he closes the piece: “Now, I am a second-year associate…working mainly in construction law. I am constantly aware of how much there is to learn about this area of law, and about practicing law, period. But learning the ropes in a court…with real live clients whose safety may be at stake, and in an often intense courtroom setting, forced me to understand how to respond swiftly and how to think outside of the box…. [T]hose experiences are easing my path from naïve, wide-eyed associate to useful lawyer…. I am very grateful to my firm and to AVLF for allowing me to start my practice with this experience. Serving as a Deferred Fellow turned out to be both incredibly useful and a great luxury: it gave me confidence, and it gave me the time and the support to learn skills I will always be able to use throughout my career.”
- 12.9.11 – more MLPs needed in the Lone-Star State? From the Public News Service: “When a health problem persists despite medical treatment, the real issue could be a legal matter. There’s a growing national trend toward medical-legal partnerships (MLPs), which help people figure out whether they might benefit from lawyers in addition to doctors. A weak economy and state budget cuts have been magnifying the need for such assistance, according to Priscilla Noriega, who directs an MLP in the Brownsville office of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.”
- December, 2011 – The December ABA Journal reports on how cash-strapped government law offices are leveraging private-bar resources to help stay afloat. The Chicago Law Department is benefiting from the services of four local firms. And it turns out this isn’t a new trend. “Since 2002, New York has saved approximately $84 million in legal fees” while benefiting from pro bono or “loaned associate” programs from law firms. The article also looks at the L.A. City Attorney’s practice of recruiting law grads for six-month volunteer stints prosecuting misdemeanors, and the U.S. DOJ’s practice of recruiting unpaid Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys. (A few months ago I also wrote about the SAUSA trend.)
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