by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy New Year! And if you resolved to take on a new challenge this year, why not look into pro bono?  Law students have – to the tune of 2.2 million hours in 2016.

Here are the week’s headlines:

• Montana Access to Justice Commission releases recommendations;
• Public defender lawsuits;
• New York governor vetoes indigent defense bill;
• Connecticut Task Force releases access to justice recommendations;
• Legal Aid of Roanoke celebrates 50 years of service;
• Federal funding in New York for domestic violence and sexual assault victim programs;
• Supporters of New York indigent defense bill consider lawsuit;
• New Mexico judge refuses to dismiss suit against public defender’s office;
• Missouri judge suspended over dispute with public defenders;
• Michigan Indigent Criminal Defense Commission may continue its work;
• Law students performed more than 2.2 million hours of pro bono work;
• Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

December 30, 2016 – “The Montana Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission has spent several years working to expand opportunities for low- and moderate-income people to get legal help. Now it’s releasing its conclusions on how to make sure Montanans in need can receive that help. The commission announced four major recommendations this week:

• Making and publicizing a statewide list of legal resources for people in need.
• Finding ways to link people with the programs or attorneys that can help with their specific legal problems.
• Addressing the links between legal needs and other issues, like health, housing and employment.
• Securing long-term funding to support legal aid services, from self-help programs for people who go to court to mediation and other ways of resolving issues outside of court.

The recommendations are based on more than a year of public testimony. The commission held seven listening sessions around the state to hear from attorneys, service providers and advocates.” “Supreme Court Justice Beth Baker says the commission will work with other organizations and agencies to achieve some of its recommendations. It will bring others to the state legislature during the upcoming session.” (KPAX)

January 1, 2017 – The ABA Journal has an excellent article on the wave of lawsuits filed by public defender offices, and how it is shaping the funding debate. (ABA Journal)

January 1, 2017 – “Governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed a bill Saturday that would have would have required the state to pay the full costs of public defenders for low income people facing charges. Currently, most counties pick up the tab for it. Counties are mandated by the state to offer representation to indigent defendants. The bill that was voted for unanimously by both the state senate and assembly, would have shifted the costs for these services from the county to the state over a seven year period.” “In 2014, the state assumed the indigent defense costs for five counties after a lawsuit known as Hurrell-Herring. Governor Cuomo said in his veto message that he feels the ‘groundbreaking advances in those five counties’ should be there for the rest of the state, but he didn’t think the bill reached that goal.” (WWNY)

January 2, 2017 – “The Task Force To Improve Access to Legal Counsel in Civil Matters found that ‘many Connecticut residents cannot afford the legal assistance they need to protect essential human needs or face other barriers to accessing available legal services.” The four flagship legal services offices turn away thousands of income-eligible residents seeking representation, according to the task force report, because those offices are constrained by their own finances or those seeking assistance have incomes slightly above what’s necessary to secure the services.” Click here for the full recommendations. The Connecticut Bar Association was supportive of the task force’s recommendations. ‘The recommendations offer a series of steps that can be taken immediately to help civil litigants most at risk of being denied adequate legal assistance,’ CBA President Monte Frank said. ‘The focus on restraining orders, child custody and evictions targets the state’s most vulnerable citizens. The task force responsibly addresses the added societal cost of offering these additional legal services with a series of funding recommendations and by laying out a multi-year strategy for wider implementation,’ continued Frank.” (CT News Junkie)

January 2, 2017 – “The Legal Aid Society of the Roanoke Valley, which offers representation and advice to low-income families and others, opened its doors in mid-December 1966. It was headed by two lawyers — Charles Carrington and William Weinberg — with a small support staff that worked out of the basement of a Total Action for Progress building on Shenandoah Avenue. The first nonprofit of its kind in the state, it almost immediately proved divisive. ‘A blessing or a bane?’ wondered the headline of a Roanoke Times column that assessed the agency during the first week of February 1967, just two months after the office had taken on more than 90 initial clients. One of those cases — the defense in civil court of the welfare-supported father of seven children, a man whose in-laws were formally accused of neglect — served as the column’s resolutely unsympathetic centerpiece. ‘I don’t think it’s needed,’ a Roanoke judge said of Legal Aid in the piece. ‘I think that the overall point-of-view is the creation of a society to do everything for everybody rather than the individual doing all he can for himself. To put it in a nutshell, the government can go too far in trying to have a Utopia,’ the judge argued. Looking over that old clipping in December, senior staff attorney Henry Woodward chuckled. ‘I think that was a bit out of touch even then,’ he later said. Half a century has passed since then, and still Legal Aid remains, busy as ever. ‘The fact that it was difficult was often just a reflection of prejudices toward our clients. ‘People who are poor are poor because they deserve to be and shouldn’t be helped,’ Woodward said. ‘I think there’s a much wider base of understanding today.'” But there is still work that needs to be done.  Congratulations on 50 years providing access to justice.  (The Roanoke Times)

January 3, 2017 – “Efforts to help victims of domestic assault in Livingston County will see a more than $70,000 boost courtesy of federal funds provided to New York State. Chances and Changes Inc. was awarded $35,600 to partially fund three domestic violence victims’ advocates. The Livingston County District Attorney’s Office will also receive $35,600. The money will partially fund an assistant district attorney, investigator and probation officer to partner with Chances and Changes to provide domestic violence services and civil legal services. ‘The federal funding will allow local and statewide programs that have proven to be successful in helping victims of domestic violence and sexual assault to continue,’ state Sen. Patrick M. Gallivan, R-Elma, said in a statement. ‘By supporting these various community based services and law enforcement efforts, we can better protect victims and prosecute perpetrators of these despicable crimes.’ The funds were part of $7.7 million in federal funding announced this week by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The funding will allow the state to fund 11 new programs and support 117 existing programs that help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Funding through the federal Violence Against Women Act was increased by nearly $662,000 to support programs offered by non-profit organizations, hospitals and law enforcement agencies across the state.” (Livingston County News)

January 3, 2017 – “Supporters of providing uniform representation to indigent criminal defendants in New York are trying to regroup following Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Saturday night veto of a bill that would have required the state to take over all defense costs by the middle of next decade. Cuomo cited the costliness of the phased-in, seven-year takeover when vetoing A10706/S8114 on New Year’s Eve. He said the bill’s eventual cost of $800 million or more a year is so large that it could undermine the state’s finances in many other ways. Members of a disparate coalition which had pushed for Cuomo’s approval since the Legislature unanimously approved the bill in June 2016 tried to find some positives in the governor’s decision. But they insisted they would try to resume their campaign for a unified approach to providing adequate defense for criminal suspects unable to afford a lawyer, as decreed by the Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963). While saying they wanted to find another legislative solution to create a statewide indigent defense system, several supporters said Cuomo’s veto has advocates discussing litigation. Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties, said several leaders of the 52 counties not covered by the 2014 settlement in Hurrell-Harring v. State of New York contacted him Tuesday to discuss initiating a new lawsuit. Their aim, he said, would be to have the assistance that Albany is providing to the five counties covered by the Hurrell-Harring settlement—Schuyler, Suffolk, Onondaga, Washington and Ontario—extended to the other 52 counties. ‘A dozen counties have approached us with a strong desire to sue the state. We are going to review that possibility. If there is going to be an action, it would be a multi-county joint action,’ Acquario said Tuesday.” (New York Law Journal)(subscription required)

January 3, 2017 – “A state District Court judge ruled Tuesday it wasn’t a normal job duty for a state public defender to ask that his employer be held in contempt of court for failing to provide an indigent defendant with an adequate defense. Sarah Singleton made the ruling in refusing to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Damian Horne, a Santa Fe public defender for more than 15 years, against the Law Offices of the Public Defender. Horne’s lawsuit touches on the larger issue of whether the state is providing adequate counsel for defendants who cannot afford attorneys. Citing a budget crunch, the public defender’s office in November declined to provide lawyers for indigent defendants in Hobbs, leading a judge to hold the state’s chief public defender in contempt of court. In the whistleblower lawsuit he filed in January 2016, Horne said the public defender’s office placed him on paid administrative leave, removed him from 83 cases and required him to undergo a psychiatric examination and release his medical records. He alleges the office’s actions were in retaliation for him raising concerns about the defense of William Kalinowski, a Horne client and former homebuilder charged with fraud and embezzlement. Horne filed a motion asking a judge to hold the public defender’s office in contempt of court for failing to properly finance Kalinowski’s defense, including providing as much as $350,000 for forensic accountants. A judge declined to hold the public defender’s office in contempt but appointed a special master to oversee the case.” (Santa Fe New Mexican)

January 4, 2017 – “The Missouri Supreme Court suspended a Lincoln County judge accused of delaying the assignment of public defenders in probation cases Tuesday. The court suspended Judge Christina Kunza Mennemeyer without pay for six months starting Feb. 1. The action comes in response to a 2014 complaint filed by the director of the Missouri State Public Defender System, who said Mennemeyer deliberately waited to assign public defenders until after the deadline for requesting a new trial judge for a case had passed. Court documents say Mennemeyer also threatened to file complaints against attorneys who tried to represent defendants before she assigned them to the case. The dispute was over a Missouri law dictating when a public defender can appear in court or file on behalf of a defendant charged with a probation violation. Mennemeyer argued that no public defenders can represent a client before they are appointed by the court. After a request for a meeting with Mennemeyer to settle the disagreement was ignored, the public defender’s office filed a complaint with the Missouri judiciary’s Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline. The commission found that in all of the cases with a delayed appointment, the defendant had no money or valuable assets, and Mennemeyer had violated the judicial code of ethics. On Tuesday, the court accepted the commission’s recommendation. Missouri Supreme Court Judge Paul C. Wilson wrote in a concurring opinion that Mennemeyer ‘purposely subverted the rights’ of some defendants in her ‘feud’ with the public defender and was therefore in violation of judicial ethics.” (Springfield News-Leader)

January 4, 2017 – “The Michigan Indigent Defense Commission will be able to continue its work. Governor Rick Snyder signed legislation Wednesday reestablishing the commission. It was established in 2013 when Snyder signed legislation that set statewide standards for court appointed public defense attorneys. The commission, among other things, collects data about indigent defense services in Michigan, creates standards for effective representation, and creates requirements for who qualifies for a public defender.” “The legislation would also move the commission into the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.” (WMUK)

January 5, 2017 – “The law class of 2016 performed more than 2.2 million hours of pro bono work while on campus, which is valued at more than $52 million. That’s according to new figures compiled by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), which polled all American Bar Association-accredited law schools in November to find out how much pro bono work their recent graduates did. It’s the first time a nationwide student pro bono survey has been conducted, according to AALS Director of Communications James Greif.” “The actual number of law student pro bono hours is likely much larger than the 2.2 million reported by the AALS. Its figure is based on responses from only 80 of the 205 ABA-accredited schools, and represents just 45 percent of the law student population. The comprehensive number could be more than double what was reported. Some law schools said they don’t currently track student pro bono hours, but will do so in the future, Greif said. The AALS plans to conduct the pro bono survey annually. Performing pro bono even before officially launching their legal careers can have a lasting impact on students’ lifetime commitment to such work, several pro bono advocates said.” (National Law Journal)(subscription required)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants:

The White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable (WH-LAIR) recently issued its first report to President Obama, “Expanding Access to Justice, Strengthening Federal Programs.” The report documents the steps that the 22 federal agency roundtable members have taken to integrate civil legal aid into programs designed to serve low-income and vulnerable populations, with an aim of boosting their effectiveness and increasing access to justice.

The report was funded by the Department of Justice’s Office for Access to Justice and serves as a blueprint for how federal agencies can expand their collaborations with legal aid to address issues such as domestic violence, human trafficking, crime, reentry, financial exploitation of the elderly, and veteran homelessness. The report includes research and data on the efficacy of legal aid and makes policy recommendations for improving access to civil legal aid for youth, families, tribal communities, and special populations.

The Department of Justice and the White House Domestic Policy Council first convened the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable in 2012. In September 2015, President Obama formally recognized the success of their efforts by designating the roundtable as a White House initiative, requiring annual reporting. WH-LAIR’s mission enumerated in the Presidential Memorandum is fivefold:

1. improve coordination among federal programs that help the vulnerable and underserved, so that those programs are more efficient and produce better outcomes by including, where appropriate, legal services among the range of supportive services provided;
2. increase the availability of meaningful access to justice for individuals and families, regardless of wealth or status;
3. develop policy recommendations that improve access to justice in federal, state, local, tribal, and international jurisdictions;
4. assist the United States with implementation of Goal 16 of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and
5. advance relevant evidence-based research, data collection, and analysis of civil legal aid and indigent defense, and promulgate best practices to support the activities detailed in [1-4 above].

Their efforts fall into four categories: leveraging resources to strengthen Federal programs by incorporating legal aid; developing policy recommendations that improve access to justice; facilitating strategic partnerships to achieve enforcement and outreach objectives; and advancing evidence-based research, data collection and analysis. One of the key components of LAIR’s work was the review of numerous federal grants from the perspective of potentially expanding the use of funds to incorporate legal aid into program strategies. As a result, many agencies clarified that dozens of grants can be used by grantees to provide legal services in furtherance of their program goals.  The number of long-term, far-reaching and positive outcomes of the first four years of effort by member agencies are very encouraging.

Some key initiatives reported:

• HHS clarified that legal aid is included in the range of “enabling services” that HHS-funded health centers can provide to meet communities’ primary care needs.
• CNCS and DOJ fund the Elder Justice AmeriCorps to help elder abuse victims and launched justice AmeriCorps to increase legal aid to unrepresented unaccompanied immigrant minors.
• VA issued guidance supporting veterans’ access to legal aid at VA medical facilities.
• IRS administers three grant programs to help low-income and other taxpayers in need with tax returns and tax disputes.
• HUD funds fair housing enforcement organizations, including legal aid programs and a program that allows using funds for legal aid necessary to regain housing stability.
• FTC developed the Legal Services Collaboration, a nationwide partnership with legal aid, to inform FTC’s law enforcement priorities and allow FTC to alert local communities about scams and respond to local concerns.
• LSC is undertaking a new national legal needs survey to update the Justice Gap studies of 2005 and 2009.
• WH-LAIR itself has online resources that provide information about civil legal aid and federal funding opportunities on the WH-LAIR website and in the Toolkit.

WH-LAIR agencies are also looking forward  to the steps they can take to further improve meaningful access to justice for all Americans. Several agencies are reviewing funding competitions and training and technical assistance programs to determine how grantees can use more funds to provide legal aid among program services. Agencies plan to develop a broader range of policies that further expanding access to justice and work towards effective implementation of those policies. Following the FTC’s lead with its Legal Services Collaboration, other agencies with enforcement mandates are exploring ways to work with legal aid to increase enforcement efforts and amplify their outreach. Finally, WH-LAIR agencies are developing metrics for evaluating whether and how legal aid improves agency programs.

This first report demonstrates in a variety of ways the vital importance of legal aid as part of federal programs and chronicles numerous program creation and expansions which have had a direct and positive impact on the communities and populations they serve.  Moving forward, one goal is for agencies to use the best practices developed to further expand access to justice and strengthen federal programs.

by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy Holidays! Big news this week – the ABA has filed suit against the Department of Education regarding the retroactive denials of some previously qualified employers under Public Service Loan Forgiveness.  Coverage is below.

We here at PSJD thank you for your support and wish you the happiest of holiday seasons.  The Digest will take a holiday next week and return in the new year.  Happy New Year!

Here are the week’s headlines:

• Deficit forcing Legal Aid Ontario to scale back services;
• LA Justice Fund will offer legal help to potential deportees;
• ABA sues government over retroactive denials to lawyers under Public Service Loan Forgiveness;
• Indigent defense bill finally goes to New York governor’s desk;
• Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

December 16, 2016 – “Potentially thousands of Ontarians who can’t afford a criminal lawyer will have to represent themselves at trial, as a deficit at the provincial agency that funds legal aid means it has to cut back dramatically on services. While Legal Aid Ontario will still issue legal aid certificates — which cover a person’s legal fees — for criminal defence lawyers in cases where there is a ‘substantial likelihood of incarceration,’ it will generally no longer do so in other matters. That means that impoverished individuals who may not be facing jail time but could be deported, fired or slapped with a hefty fine if they are convicted — and get a criminal record in the process — will be left to fend for themselves in courtrooms across the province. The news was announced in a memo from LAO president and CEO David Field, issued Friday afternoon and obtained by the Star. ‘Despite our best efforts to predict client demand for expanded services, our forecasts were well below actual demand,’ he said in the memo. ‘The end result was that we provided more services for clients than we had available funding for. We now need to take steps to bring client services in line with our funding.'” (The Star)

December 19, 2016 – “A new fund will provide $10 million dollars to provide legal help for immigrants in Los Angeles County who face deportation proceedings without a lawyer. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the creation of  the L.A. Justice Fund, which he said is a direct response to President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants and other ‘dangerous rhetoric.’ The fund is a joint effort between the City and County of Los Angeles, the California Community Foundation, the Weingart Foundation and the California Endowment.” “The fund will focus on helping immigrants in the county under temporary status such as the Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, military families, refugees and unaccompanied minors. It will not provide aid to immigrants with a serious criminal history, Garcetti said. A press release from the Mayor’s office said the fund will begin serving immigrants early in 2017, after the funding partners decide how the funds will be best allocated.” (KCET)

December 20, 2016 – “The American Bar Association and a group of individual public interest lawyers sued the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday claiming that the agency illegally walked back a loan-forgiveness program meant to encourage attorneys to take low-paying public-sector positions. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, claims that the department has arbitrarily tightened its definition of what sorts of organizations qualify as providers of “public interest law services” under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. The moves, the lawsuit contends, have illegally trimmed the ranks of lawyers who qualify for the program enacted in 2007 by President George W. Bush, which forgives student loan debt for full-time public interest lawyers. To be eligible, attorneys must work in the public sector for 10 years and pay down their loans. According to the suit, some lawyers have gotten word recently that their work doesn’t qualify for the program years after being told the exact opposite by representatives of the Education Department. The department’s eligibility decisions apply retroactively, meaning that years of work that lawyers assumed would apply toward loan forgiveness may not be recognized.” (National Law Journal)(subscription required)(ABA)

December 21, 2016 – “A decades-long movement to the make the state responsible for the cost of providing counsel to indigent criminal defendants has reached a critical point with the transmission to Gov. Andrew Cuomo of a bill providing for a state takeover of all defense costs.After a seven-year phase-in period, the bill (A10706/S8114) would provide for the state to relieve New York City and the 57 upstate counties of the entire financial burden for the adequate defense of individuals charged with a crime that the U.S. Supreme Court deemed a constitutional right in its 1963 ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright. A full takeover would take effect on April 1, 2023, under the bill. Currently, the state provides about $80 million for indigent criminal defense services and the counties and New York City provide $360 million. Cuomo has not indicated whether he will sign or veto the bill, which was approved unanimously by each chamber of the state Legislature in June. His spokeswoman, Dani Lever, repeated on Wednesday the response his office has given to inquiries about the bill for months, which is that the governor is continuing to study the measure. Cuomo has until Dec. 30 to decide.” (New York Law Journal)(registration required)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants:

Music Bonus! Music pick from the PSJD Fellow Delisa Morris.

https://youtu.be/qaCrJIDHBLA

by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy Friday!

Here are the week’s headlines:

• Low bono, online practice comes to Canada;
• Seattle consulting firm offering pro bono services to nonprofits promoting tolerance and understanding;
• Family law foundation awards grants to Michigan nonprofits;
• Twelve legal tech startups selected to participate in the first-ever Startup Alley at ABA’s TECHSHOW conference;
• ABA Legal Technology Resource Center releases fourth annual ABA TECHREPORT;
• Ontario provides grant to Innocence Canada;
• Legal Services of Northern Virginia launches VA Law Help 2 Go;
• Chicago’s City Council approves $1.3 million legal fund for immigrants;
• New Victoria Legal Aid Office opens in Shepparton;
• Attorneys petition Indiana Supreme Court to write public defender rules;
• Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

December 9, 2016 – “A lawyer from Brooks, Alberta, is trying out a unique business model — offering her services online for a fraction of the cost, part of a growing movement of do-it-yourself legal representation. Sarah Bisbee says she got tired of turning away people who couldn’t afford her $300-an-hour fee.” “Bisbee realized most of the hourly fee was going to overhead costs so she decided to launch something she has never seen in Canada — an online law practice. Besides finding a developer who shared her vision for the website, Bisbee had to make sure her approach met the Law Society of Alberta’s rules. Now, she offers potential clients a $79 online consultation and from there, clients can choose what kind of help they want from a lawyer, if any. Bisbee provides consultation, prepares documents, and even coaches people on how to fight their case in court, all by phone and email. She says the approach drops the cost to clients up to 75 per cent.” (CBC News)

December 9, 2016 – “Seattle-based consulting firm The Ostara Group is seeking applications from emerging nonprofits promoting tolerance and understanding to be awarded 25 hours of pro-bono support in fundraising and organizational strategy. ‘The rise of hate-motivated speech and attacks has been dramatic in the wake of the presidential election,’ according to the firm’s news release. “According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were nearly 900 hate incidents reported across the country in the 10 days following the election.” The grant is open to anyone in Washington wanting to start a nonprofit or to existing nonprofits with budgets that were less than $300,000 in the most recently completed year. Submissions will be accepted until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, with decisions announced by March 31. More information and an application can be found at www.ostaragroup.com/blog.” (Capitol Hill Times)

December 9, 2016 – “Two local nonprofits have received grants from a national family law foundation. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) Foundation awarded $5,000 each to the Children’s Assessment Center in Grand Rapids and Legal Assistance Center in Grand Rapids. The AAML Foundation awards grants each fall to nonprofits involved in issues pertinent to family law. This is the first time the national foundation has selected Michigan nonprofits as recipients.” (Grand Rapids Business Journal)

December 12, 2016 – “A competition has been underway to select 12 legal technology startups to participate in the first-ever Startup Alley at the American Bar Association’s TECHSHOW conference in March. For the first time ever this year, ABA TECHSHOW is reserving a portion of its exhibition hall to showcase 12 innovative legal startups. In addition, on TECHSHOW’s opening night, the 12 startups will face off in a bracketed pitch competition judged by TECHSHOW attendees to pick the most innovative startup. This is a cooperative effort of ABA TECHSHOW, Above the Law, Evolve Law and Lawsitesblog.com, spearheaded by the chair of this year’s TECHSHOW planning board, Adriana Linares.” One of the 12 winners “helps law firms, companies and law schools manage their pro bono with streamlined sourcing, tracking and outcome reporting on a modern, tech-forward platform.” Check out the full list of winners and their innovative ideas. (Above the Law)

December 13, 2016 – “The ABA Legal Technology Resource Center has released the fourth annual ABA TECHREPORT, a comprehensive publication exploring how attorneys are using technology in their practices. ABA TECHREPORT examines data from the LTRC’s new six-volume 2016 Legal Technology Survey Report to highlight key trends — and the practical takeaways — for today’s lawyers.” (ABA News)

December 13, 2016 – “Ontario is helping to provide access to justice for people who may have been wrongfully convicted of a crime and cannot afford legal representation. Over the next three years, the province is providing Innocence Canada with $275,000 annually to help them sustain operations. The Law Society of Upper Canada is providing an additional $25,000 annually ― a total of $900,000 over three years. The non-profit organization is dedicated to identifying and advocating for individuals who may have been convicted of a crime they did not commit and to preventing wrongful convictions through legal education and reform. Improving access to justice is part of the government’s plan to keep communities safe and help people in their everyday lives.” (Ontario Newsroom)

December 14, 2016 – “Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV) is proud to announce the launch today of VA Law Help 2 Go, a program that will enable those who use smartphones and other mobile devices to access brief informational videos about common civil legal issues in Virginia. The program was spearheaded by LSNV in partnership with the Virginia Legal Aid Society and Blue Ridge Legal Services and funded by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Technology Innovative Initiative Grant program. This technology initiative advances LSC’s goal of enabling users to access important legal information when and where it’s convenient for them.” (Business Wire)

December 14, 2016 – “Chicago’s City Council has approved a $1.3 million fund to help immigrants with legal services, including those facing deportation. There was widespread support for the fund, which will use money set aside from a little-used property tax relief program. Three aldermen voted against it Wednesday. Aldermen in support say the fund is a response to the election of Donald Trump, who has promised to taken an aggressive approach to immigration, including deporting millions. Two Chicago groups will help the city run the fund for immigrant legal services, including initial screenings. Experts estimate 150,000 Chicago area residents don’t have permanent legal status. Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the Council Wednesday that Chicago needs to stand by people who are fearful. He’s also seeking private donations for the fund.” (Washington Times)

December 15, 2016 – “Victorians in the state’s north will have improved access to legal support after the Andrews Labor Government  unveiled a new Victoria Legal Aid office in Shepparton. Attorney-General Martin Pakula officially opened the new office which has modern, custom-designed spaces with an open-plan layout, discreet well being areas, and two conference rooms for private consultations with clients. The office accommodates 11 staff, including seven lawyers and four support staff with specialist skills in criminal and family law, including family violence and child protection matters.” (Premier of Victoria)

December 15, 2016 – “Two Indianapolis attorneys are determined to change the way public defense operates in Indiana — and now they’re taking their fight to the Indiana Supreme Court. Mike Sutherlin and David W. Frank filed a petition to the court on Thursday, to compel the court to address issues plaguing the state’s public defender system. They say the system is woefully underfunded, and the Sixth Amendment right to a fair and speedy trial is routinely violated in Indiana. The 16-page document, filed on behalf of Allen, Johnson and Vigo county residents Jauston Huerta, Calvin Wilson and Kenneth Alford, requests that the court author a series of rules, procedures and standards which would ensure, at a minimum, constitutional representation under the Sixth Amendment to individuals who rely upon the public defender system. The three men, the petition states, all received inadequate representation from their assigned public defenders when they were moved through the criminal court system. They are also plaintiffs in separate lawsuits against their respective counties.” “The petition comes after the Sixth Amendment Center, a public defense advocacy firm in Boston, issued a 212-page report in October 2016, that shows how some of Indiana’s biggest public defense problems stem from how the system is funded.” (Indy Star)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants:

Music Bonus! Music pick from the PSJD Fellow Delisa Morris.

The Skadden Foundation has announced its Class of 2017 Fellows. This year there are 30 Fellows, the largest class since 2008. This year’s class hail from 15 law schools and will begin their projects next year. Seven schools had multiple fellowship awardees; Yale (6); Harvard (5); UCLA (3); NYU (2); Stanford (2); CUNY (2); and U Penn (2). Fellows come from the other following schools: University of Michigan, Michigan State, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, Georgetown, George Washington, Duke and Seattle University. For the first time, a Skadden Fellowship has been awarded to a Seattle University School of Law student, who will work on behalf of former justice-involved individuals and is herself formerly incarcerated. The Fellows will work in 11 states, focusing on issues ranging from equitable public education for immigrant youth and their parents in California to direct representation for youth in the delinquency system in Massachusetts.

For comparison’s sake, here’s how previous Skadden Fellowship classes have looked:

2016: 28 Fellows from 15 law schools;
2015: 28 Fellows from 16 law schools;
2014: 28 Fellows from 16 law schools;
2013: 28 Fellows from 16 law schools;
2012: 28 Fellows from 16 law schools;
2011: 29 Fellows from 21 law schools;
2010: 27 Fellows from 20 law schools.

Congratulations to the Class of 2017! We are very excited to welcome you to the ranks of public interest lawyers!