Much, Much More Missouri: the battle regarding Missouri’s strained indigent defense system continues in counties and courtrooms throughout the state.  Last week the PSLawNet blog provided a summary of news coverage.  In the past week:

• The  St. Joseph News-Press covered some prosecutors’ criticisms of what they see as cynical attempt by public defenders to exaggerate the scale of the current situation to secure more funding – “just nonsense” is how one county prosecutor referred to the idea of a systemic crisis.  The Missouri Bar Association president suggested, though, that there is “no doubt” that a crisis is looming. 
• KTVI, the FOX affiliate in St. Louis, featured a piece about the statewide sparring between defenders and prosecutors and noted that defenders in six Missouri counties are refusing to take new cases (and St. Louis County could soon join them).
• On August 10th, a Christian County judge reaffirmed an earlier decision he had made appointing a public defender to represent an indigent defendant in a burglary case, in spite of the public defender’s earlier notification that it could not accept any more cases.  The judge noted that he was “not ruling on whether the public defender system is overworked or not but whether he could allow a defendant who qualifies for a public defender to go without.” (Columbia Daily Tribune – 8/12/10).  This decision was derided by the Missouri State Public Defender’s office. (KRCG  Website – 8.11.10).  Additional coverage of the decision is available from KSPR. 

And in other news:

• 8.11.10 – The Columbian (Washington State) – in Clark County, the chief prosecutor and members of the criminal defense bar are sparring over the prosecutor’s request for additional government funding, which he says is necessary because lawyers representing indigent clients are increasingly calling expert witnesses.  The prosecutor referred to the county’s assigned counsel system (there is no public defender’s office) as a “big sucking machine.”  Defense counsel responded that amidst advances in forensic science, they owe it to their indigent and fee-paying clients to provide the best defense possible, and that it is not the province of a prosecutor to determine how defense constructs its case.

• 8.11.10 – Portland Press Herald [Editorial and Reply Concerning Maine’s New Indigent Defense System] – [Ed. note: on 8/3, the Press Herald’s editorial board authored a piece arguing that, while Maine’s newly implemented system for assigning counsel to indigent defendants has received “mixed reviews,” it has only been operational for a month and should be given more time for kinks to be worked out.  The older system relied on judges to assign counsel on a case by case basis.  The new system relies on the newly created, and independent, Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services to coordinate counsel assignments.  In response to that editorial, a defense attorney who represents indigent clients volleyed back, noting that while the new assigned-counsel system went into effect recently, the law creating the Commission is more than a year old.  By now, he argues, the concededly “underfunded and understaffed” Commission should have had more infrastructure in place to make the system work smoothly.

• 8.9.10 – Fort Worth Business Press – “Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, an LSC grantee and the nation’s 5th largest legal aid organization, “is enhancing its presence with newly renovated headquarters in downtown Fort Worth, a just-launced capital campaign, new outreach programs, a revamped website and technology, and a rebranding that emphasizes its mission of ‘equal justice under law’.”  One of LANWT’s goals is to raise its profile as a provider of free services to low-income clients who most need them.  LANWT has 15 branch offices and serves 114 counties in Texas.

• 8.9.10 – National Law Journal [Opinion Piece authored by Esther Lardent of the Pro Bono Institute] – the recent news coverage of the immigration debate has also shed light on flaws in the current operation of the immigration system.  “Fortunately, we are seeing law firms undertaking immigration pro bono work in record numbers.”  These contributions are necessary because the system is laden down under the weight of swollen dockets, and at the same time resources to preserve and defend immigrants’ rights have become more scarce, with too few advocates to represent immigrants.  “Not only are there too few advocates; our immigration system is broken.  A recent report done on a pro bono basis by Arnold & Porter for the American Bar Association, Reforming the Immigration System: Proposals to Promote Independence, Fairness, Efficiency, and Professionalism in the Adjudication of Removal Cases (excutive summary here), presents 60 comprehensive recommendations for reform to the system.”  But until policy-level reform arrives, pro bono advocates must continue working to preserve immigrants’ rights and promote systemic change.  Link to piece.

• 8.8.10 – Issaquah Press (Washington State) – a King County (which includes Seattle) board is contributing $12,000 to fund an Americorps Fellowship at the Northwest Justice Project.  “The fellow will be a full-time attorney assigned to work with Northwest Justice Project staffers and coordinate with other organizations to provide services to at-risk and homeless veterans.”  The impetus for King County’s action was a vote in 2005 that created a levy “…to help local veterans military personnel, and their families.”

• 8.6.10 – American Bar Association – a program at the ABA’s annual meeting in early August, “Law Firm Legal Aid: Where Are We One Year Later,” examined the phenomenon of deferred law firm associates taking temporary volunteer placements with public interest organizations.  Presenters explained that this unexpected turn of events has benefited the associates, who have gained hands-on practice experience, and their public interest host organizations which have used associates to bolster client service capacity.

From our friends at Equal Justice Works:

On October 22-23, 2010, over 1000 committed public interest law students will be traveling to Washington D.C. to attend the 2010 Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair. This is an opportunity for organizations from across the country to find smart and committed law students from over 200 law schools to fill their internship, externship and long term staffing needs. Attending our Conference and Career Fair offers:

• Pre-screened candidates
  Through our system (Justice Work!) you will be able to review candidate résumés and schedule interviews prior to the event.
• Expanded recruiting reach
  By attending our career fair, you will have access to a national pool of diverse, qualified and talented candidates who are committed to working in the public interest sector.
• Specialized fields
  Our career fair specializes in all areas of public service and public interest law such as criminal law, LGBT rights, environmental law and access to justice.
• Time and cost savings
  If your organization wants to conduct outreach on a national scale to find well qualified students to fill your positions, you’ll find them under one roof at the Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair.   

One-day (Friday) Registration Fee – $250

Two-day (Friday/Saturday) Registration Fee – $325  

 Please note:  EMPLOYER REGISTRATION CLOSES ON AUGUST 27th. 

Students will start submitting their resumes Aug. 30th.  If you have questions about our career fair, please do not hesitate to contact us  at careerfair@equaljusticeworks.org.

The New York Law Journal is running a piece today titled, “Law Schools See Signs of Better Job Opportunities for Students.”  It notes that in the New York market, law school on-campus interviewing (OCI) programs are likely to be a bit more robust than they were last year.  The piece focuses mainly on Biglaw’s hiring plans, though, where one hiring partner offered that, “It’s not full speed ahead, but it’s cautiously optimistic half speed ahead.”

What about the public interest hiring market, though?  We realize that the “public interest market” is quite diffuse and as a result it’s hard to discern hiring trends.  Here at NALP/PSLawNet we’ll be doing some more formal environmental scanning in the coming weeks – reaching out mainly to nonprofit and some government law offices to get a sense of whether the economic winds are little more favorable these days.

But we’re curious about the buzz – about what law students are hearing as you folks are wrapping up summer internships.  What are your employers and friends saying about the hiring prospects for Class of 2011 grads?  Please share in the comments section.  (And career services folks should feel free to chime in as well.)

International public interest jobs are often prestigious and highly sought after.  But it’s a big, big world out there, and there is much opportunity to do good.  Aspiring international public interest lawyers should do as much research as possible to find out where the opportunities are, and how to strengthen their resumes and skill sets to make themselves the strongest candidates.

Hot off the e-presses is the 2010-11 version of Finding and Funding International Public Service Opportunities, a terrific resource edited annually by three fine folks at law schools of the University of Arizona, University of Georgia, and the College of William and Mary.

Don’t forget to view other international public interest career resources on PSLawNet, and also recall this information-packed blog post from NYU’s Sara Rakita bout legal career pathways into the U.N. and other intergovernmental agencies.

This week: Professor Laurence Tribe proposes innovations in achieving access to justice; Missouri public defenders say “Show me lower caseloads!”; volunteer prosecutors are all the rage; Connecticut legal services providers expand use of the Internets to reach low-income residents; West Virginia does same telephonically; funding cuts portend bad times for the New Jersey legal services community; and finally, the Hennepin County (that’s Minneapolis) public defender tries to make budgetary ends meet by enticing older lawyers to retire. 

• 8.3.10 – National Law Journal – Laurence Tribe, Senior Counselor for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice, addressed the Conference of [state court] Chief Justices in late July.  He called on “…the judges to engage in a form of ‘judicial activism’ – not ideological, but rather, as he put it, the ‘opposite of passivity’ – [and]…laid out specific measures that the chief justices could take to make pro bono and pro se representation easier, as well as to enforce the rights of juveniles and indigents to counsel.”  Link to article.

• 8.3.10 – PSLawNet Blog Coverage of Indigent Defense Resource Crisis in Missouri – last week we documented moves by some public defenders in the Show-Me State to refuse new cases on account of excessively high caseloads, and pushback by some prosecutors.  This week, we’ve aggregated the ongoing media coverage and posted a summary of developments.   We’ll keep updating as events unfold.

• 8.3.10 USA Today – state and federal prosecutors’ offices throughout the country are taking on volunteer lawyers to augment the work of their (often overextended) paid staffs.  “Despite the financial downturn and, in some cases because of it, state and federal officials said the work experience alone offered by the prosecutor jobs is drawing unexpected numbers of willing applicants to positions across the country.”  Link to article.

• 8.2.10 – Hartford Courant – the Connecticut legal services community has launched a new website – Connecticut Network for Legal Aid – to assist low-income residents who are seeking free legal services or who need help navigating the court system as pro se litigants.  Link to announcement.

• 8.2.10 – Press of Atlantic City – South Jersey Legal Services plans to lay off “about a third of its employees – including about a quarter of its attorneys – by the end of the year.”  The organization has been hit hard by falling IOLTA revenues and a recent state budget cut to legal services funding.  Link to article.  [Ed. note: we covered the state budget cut in our July 30 Public Interest News Bulletin (Item 2), and our July 23 Bulletin (Item 10).  Last week John D. Atlas, former executive director of the Passaic County Legal Aid Society, blogged an opinion piece critical of the state budget cut.  He further noted that “quality legal representation, especially for the poor, is one of the lynchpins of a fair and equal justice system.  Concerned citizens should fight back but we should also take this opportunity to rethink how to help the poor.”  Atlas argues that since there will never be enough legal services lawyers to directly represent all of the poor people who need help, legal services programs could partially refocus their delivery models to support other social services providers that work to stop problems plaguing poor communities before they start.]

• 7.31.10 – Star-Tribune (Minnesota) –  the Hennepin County public defender’s office is already short-staffed, but in order to comply with a county request to cut budgets by 5%, the defender “plans to offer $400 tax-free for every year of service to veteran county employees who retire or resign this fall.”  The staff-reduction idea comes with an obvious downside: “Diminishing the ranks of an office that handled 54,000 cases last year and now has 116 lawyers – who already carry double the caseload recommended by the [ABA] – is a sobering prospect.”  Link to article.

• 7.30.10 – State Journal (West Virginia) – “The West Virginia State Bar and Legal Aid of West Virginia are partnering together to launch Lawyer Information Service.   The service is a collaborative effort to provide legal information and services to West Virginians who need legal advice and help but cannot afford to pay for it.”  Volunteer attorneys will staff phone lines once a week to speak to those with legal problems.  “Legal Aid said the Lawyer Information Service cannot guarantee legal representation, but it does offer people the opportunity to speak with a lawyer who can offer up legal information.”  Link to announcement.

We included several stories in our Public Interest News Bulletin last week about the public defense situation in Missouri, but it just keeps getting more exciting. So we thought we’d do another focused news roundup for you (like we recently did on pro se representation).

First, a little background. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Missouri determined that the Missouri Public Defender Commission has the power to determine how to use its limited resources. The Court also concluded that limiting case load is an appropriate response, so the Commission established a rule that allows an office, if it is over its recommended caseload for three months in a row, to refuse to take new cases (after providing notice to the prosecutor’s office and the local presiding judge). This piece from the editorial board at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this past weekend does a good job providing some more background. Another highlight from the 2009 decision is that the “Supreme Court made clear that it ‘expects that presiding judges, prosecutors and the public defender will work together cooperatively.'”

So, this summer, after another year of not receiving any funding increases from the state legislature, many public defender offices around the state started hitting their three months over the recommended caseload (which is in line with the ABA and U.S. Department of Justice guidelines). This led to the Springfield office, which covers three counties in Southwest Missouri, to refuse to take any new cases starting July 22nd until August started. The Missourian has a good article covering this decision and how the state’s system got into crisis mode to begin with. The office in Troy followed suit.

Then, towards the end of last week, the public defender office for St. Louis County warned that it was taking steps to refuse new cases too, setting off some angry reactions from local prosecutor’s office. The Post-Dispatch has some good coverage of this from last Thursday. The chief prosecutor for the county has been particularly vocal, calling the public defender office closings a “contrivance.” This Tuesday, two former public defenders who are now law professors wrote a compelling editorial explaining the different challenges criminal cases present to prosecutors and public defenders.

The Springfield office closing was challenged last week when a local judge assigned a public defender to a defendant after the office announced it would not be taking any new cases. The Springfield News-Leader covered this case, which is being appealed and could potentially wind up back before the state Supreme Court. The News-Leader also wrote this week about the limbo status of those cases brought before the court during the week or so the public defender office was refusing new cases. The office has said that it will not take any of the 24 cases it missed during that window, and so far no local private attorneys have volunteered to serve pro bono.

Today, the president of the Springfield Bar Association wrote an editorial in the News-Leader discussing the need to either reduce incarceration (and thus the need for public defenders), or frankly address ways to increase funding. He ends saying, “our choice is simple: we either increase taxes to incarcerate, or we find ways to reduce incarceration. We cannot have it both ways.”

Finally, last week the Director of Research for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) guest-posted on the American Constitution Society blog last week on this controversy, and provides some more history on the Missouri public defender system. It’s definitely worth reading for some larger historical context.

This is a fascinating conflict that could teach important lessons to many other states whose public defense systems also sit on the brink of catastrophic overload. We will definitely keep an eye on this as news develops.

We wanted to share with you a new article from this month’s NALP Bulletin on E-Professionalism and social media. The article provides a great 5-step process to ensure that your online presence (pdf) is coherent, professional, and can be actively useful in networking and job searching.  The article is a preview of an exciting new resource that should be unveiled this fall – an online guide called “From Law Student to Lawyer: The E-Guide to E-Professionalism,” which will contain even more useful information!

Every summer, PSLawNet hires law students as part-time summer interns, who are also working at unpaid public interest placements. This summer we asked one of our interns to write about her summer work at Project Vote, as well as her plans for the future. Lauren Forbes is a rising 3L at American University Washington College of Law in Washington, DC, and she hopes to work in civil rights and voting issues.

Read about Lauren’s summer after the break!

In fact, during the recession the one place “business is booming” is in the courts, which are trying to manage swelling dockets with shrinking funding.   Stephen N. Zack, who will assume the ABA’s presidency in a few days, wrote a piece in the National Law Journal calling on legislatures to adequately fund courts:

There is no question that legislators confront hard choices in times of recession, but it is time for our lawmakers to recognize the value of our judicial branch as more than a line item in a budget. A strong judicial branch is essential to maintaining responsible government and protecting citizens’ rights.

It is time to ensure that, in a country founded on the rule of law and the principle of access to justice, our judicial branch does not wither under the burden of financial stress.

Zack notes that state and federal court resources are strained:

[E]ight states have resorted to closing courts on certain days every month; 19 states have instituted furloughs … The National Center for State Courts reports that states have significantly cut judiciary budgets, forcing such cost-saving measures as hiring freezes in 26 states, salary freezes in 12 states, layoffs in 11 states, pay cuts in nine states, early retirement in six states and increased filing fees in six others.

…[T]he Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts…reports that bankruptcy filings are at their highest since 2006. For the 12-month period ending March 31, bankruptcy filings were up 27% compared to filings for that same period the previous year. The majority of the 1.5 million bankruptcy filings involved consumer debt. Filings for business debt totaled 61,148, up 25% from the previous year

This week’s Bulletin carries news of a possible indigent-defense caseload crisis in Missouri, more bad news about legal services funding in New Jersey, good news about clinic funding at Albany Law School, staff expansion at Pisgah Legal Services, a successful diversionary program for wayward Connecticut yoots, and a medical-legal partnership in the Lone Star State.   

• 7.29.10 – Saint Louis Post-Dispatch – an official from the Missouri State Public Defender System notified Saint Louis County’s top prosecutor and judge that the local defender’s office has “begun steps to refuse to take new criminal cases” because the office does not have the resource capacity to handle its caseload.  The county’s chief prosecutor has been sharply critical of the developments, charging that the claim of being so overworked is a “contrived issue.”  “St. Louis County is the defenders’ third battleground. Last week, they closed the offices in Troy, Mo., and Springfield to new cases through the end of July.”  Link to article.  [Ed. note: here is additional coverage from the KTVO TV station website.  Last week the Columbia Missourian reported on the Springfield office’s decision to stop accepting new cases, as did the Springfield News-Leader.  And here is a brief AP blurb on the Troy office decision from the KOAM TV station website.]

• 7.29.10 – The Record (New Jersey) – “[L]ow market [interest] rates and a weak housing market — which means less money set aside in trust for real estate closings — have devastated [New Jersey’s] Interest on Lawyers Trust Account fund, resulting in the loss of scores of New Jersey legal aid jobs, and far fewer clients being served.”  IOLTA revenue recently fell by 80%.  Link to article.  [Ed. Note:  state funding for legal services in the Garden State was also recently cut by 33%, according to a July 17 Record article.

• 7.28.10 – Press Release – “Albany Law School recently received a $205,000 grant from the New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation (HTFC) to fund a new Housing Clinic within the law school’s Clinic & Justice Center.  In the Housing Clinic, students will work with Albany Law faculty to offer legal services, outreach, educational opportunities and housing counseling to homeowners and tenants affected by foreclosure in Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties.”  Link to press release.

• 7.27.10 – Mountain Express (North Carolina) – with the addition of four staffers to its Mountain Violence Prevention Project, Pisgah Legal Services has doubled its person-power in providing assistance to domestic violence victims.  Link to article.

• 7.25.10 – Connecticut Post – a Connecticut program to divert teens who are status offenders (skipping school, running away, etc.), but who do not actually commit crimes, to support centers rather than detention facilities has met with considerable success. “[T]he model is seen as so successful it’s being touted as a “best practice” by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.”  Link to article.

• 7.23.10 – Brownsville Herald (Texas) – a medical-legal partnership between Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the Brownsville Community Health Center, forged in 2008, promotes collaboration between medical and legal professionals and allows them to take a holistic approach to helping l0w-income client populations.  “For years, the traditional health-care system and the legal system have treated low-income, underserved populations in isolation, despite the strong connection between social stressors and health, partnership members said. But the health center’s medical-legal partnership…allows doctors and attorneys to work together…”  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: in March the PSLawNet Blog covered the trend of similar medical-legal partnerships springing up across the country.  Public-interest minded law students who have a background or interest in the healthcare system should think about how they may connect to this “growth field” in the legal services community.  Often the lawyers participating in such partnerships will be working on matters unrelated to healthcare, such as housing or public benefits, but a knowledge of how low-income communities access healthcare would still be a terrific asset for a lawyer who is working with medical professionals.]