Access to Justice

February 24, 2023
ICE, Prison Co. Targeted Detainee Hunger Strikers, Suit Says

Staff at two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities in California regularly retaliated against migrant detainees for engaging in hunger strikes, including by denying them basic hygiene supplies and threatening solitary confinement, a new lawsuit alleges.
February 24, 2023
New Law Helps Lathrop, Bryan Cave Win Mo. Exoneration

Relying on a recently passed state law giving prosecutors new authority to challenge wrongful convictions, attorneys with Lathrop GPM and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner won a ruling this month exonerating a St. Louis man following a 1995 murder conviction they said had been marred by false testimony.
February 24, 2023
Inside The Fight To Update DC's Criminal Code

As the District of Columbia prepares to enact a wholly revised criminal code to replace its jumbled set of statutory provisions cobbled together over 122 years, critics and congressional Republicans are objecting to a handful of provisions, including an end to most mandatory minimum sentences and reduced maximum sentences for certain violent offenses, insisting they would embolden criminals.
February 24, 2023
How Baton Rouge Activists Won A Rare Civil Rights Settlement

Activists who accused the Baton Rouge police of brutalizing them at a 2016 protest faced long odds as they sought to hold the department accountable. But two veteran civil rights attorneys helped secure the group a rare $1 million settlement this month as a two-week jury trial neared its conclusion.
February 24, 2023
Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2023 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2023 editorial advisory boards.
February 22, 2023
Justices Say Ariz. Got Death Penalty Due Process Wrong

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday said Arizona high court justices so wrongly interpreted the state's criminal procedure rules that federal review was warranted, in a death penalty appeal that spurred a 5-4 divide among the justices.
February 21, 2023
Use Of Plea Bargains Undermining Justice, ABA Report Says

The overuse of plea bargains in criminal prosecutions is undermining the criminal justice system's integrity, exacerbating its racial inequality and creating "perverse incentives" to prioritize expediency over fact-finding, according to an American Bar Association report issued Wednesday.
February 03, 2023
What The Tyre Nichols Case Means For Police Prosecutions

When Tyre Nichols was fatally beaten by Memphis, Tennessee, police last month, videos of the incident helped prompt local prosecutors to quickly bring second-degree murder charges against five of the officers involved — a highly unusual result that offers a window into the evolving state of police accountability in the U.S. Here, Law360 looks at some of the factors that make the Nichols case unusual, and what implications it could hold for future police prosecutions.
February 03, 2023
House Task Force Aims To Help Ex-Cons Thrive After Prison

More than two dozen members of Congress have banded together to create a new bipartisan task force focused on aiding former inmates' reentry into society.
February 03, 2023
Md. Court Watchers Push For Permanent Remote Access

Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple added another skill to her repertoire during the pandemic by becoming a citizen court-watcher, remotely observing hearings in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, and now she is part of a coalition advocating for a bill that would make it easier for the public to access court proceedings.
February 03, 2023
Gibson Dunn Aids Venezuelan Asylum-Seekers Bused To NYC

When Texas, Florida and Arizona authorities began busing tens of thousands of migrants from the Southern border to Northern cities last year, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP attorneys stepped up to provide legal aid to hundreds of Venezuelan families applying for asylum in the U.S.
February 03, 2023
Calif. Federal Judge Orders Release Of Medical Pot Operator

A man convicted of running a California medical marijuana operation and sentenced to over two decades in federal prison is expected to walk free on Friday after a federal judge granted a motion to reduce his sentence.
February 02, 2023
Gov't Denies It's 'Not Playing Ball' On Remote Hearings

The federal government has rebuffed a claim by the American Immigration Lawyers Association that it is "not playing ball in a serious way" to provide a remote option for immigration hearings, saying the group was the uncooperative party.
February 02, 2023
DC Court Orders Better Legal Access At Ariz. ICE Center

A Washington, D.C., federal court ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to improve access to counsel at an Arizona detention facility, saying the facility appears to have completely blocked attorneys' access to detainees.
January 30, 2023
Mass. Launches Abortion Hotline Staffed By BigLaw, ACLU

A group of 150 attorneys from some of the largest Massachusetts law firms and the ACLU will provide free legal advice about abortion access to patients and health care providers through a new confidential hotline, state Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said Monday.
January 20, 2023
Panel Urges Legal Reformers To Include Community Groups

Lawyers and judges need to include consumers and community-based organizations in their design- and decision-making process for implementing legal regulatory reform, according to a panel at the Legal Services Corp.'s Innovations in Technology Conference on Friday.
January 20, 2023
Latham, Davis Polk Help Free Domestic Violence Survivor

Jacqueline Smalls had two active orders of protection against her physically abusive boyfriend when she said he entered her Schenectady, New York, home in 2012. Fearing for her life, she fatally stabbed him.
January 20, 2023
Crowell & Moring Takes Murder Conviction Fight To Justices

Following a recent setback before a federal appeals court in their nearly 15-year fight to clear a Florida man of murder charges, a team of Crowell & Moring LLP attorneys is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to side with claims that prosecutors withheld key evidence in their client's case.
January 20, 2023
Panel Urges Landlord, Court Collaboration To Divert Evictions

The success of any court-based program aimed at slowing down or preventing evictions depends on strategic communication with landlords and courts, in addition to tenants, according to a recent panel on eviction diversion programs across the country.
January 20, 2023
Could This Case Help Upend The Death Penalty In Oklahoma?

Convicted murderer Richard Glossip is set to be executed in Oklahoma next month, but doubts about his guilt and allegations of police incompetence and prosecutorial misconduct are leading some in the state to reconsider not just his case but the death penalty itself.
January 19, 2023
Remote Proceedings Can Improve Justice In Rural Areas

Courts should embrace remote proceedings to improve access to justice in rural communities because participants don't have to drive hours to a courthouse, take time off work or arrange child care, according to a virtual panel hosted by the National Center for State Courts.
January 06, 2023
Top Priorities For Pro Bono Leaders In 2023

Leaders of pro bono practices look ahead to how they plan to prioritize resources and initiatives in 2023.
January 06, 2023
Rochester Can't Escape Suit Over Police Killing, Judge Rules

The city of Rochester, New York, can't dismiss a lawsuit filed by the family of a young Black man who was shot and killed by Rochester police while experiencing a mental health crisis, a federal judge has ordered.
January 06, 2023
The Biggest Access To Justice Issues In 2023

This year could see a spike in evictions and further setbacks at the U.S. Supreme Court for those looking to further equality, but potential changes to legal industry regulations and continued criminal justice reform efforts still offer hope.
January 06, 2023
Susman Godfrey Attys Help Defend Calif. Housing Laws

A team of attorneys from Susman Godfrey LLP has been defending pandemic-related housing laws across California against a legal assault from landlord groups, securing the first appellate decision in the country affirming the constitutionality of the anti-eviction ordinances amid a public health emergency.

Expert Analysis

Aggressive Stops And Frisks Won't Make Chicago Safer

Speaking recently to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, President Donald Trump called for stop-and-frisk practices in Chicago to reduce violent crime. But beyond the negative consequences of this approach, data supporting its effectiveness is sparse, say Dr. Tara Lai Quinlan and Northeastern University School of Law professor Deborah Ramirez.
How BigLaw Pro Bono Pros Can Promote Access To Justice

Allegra Nethery, president of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel, discusses opportunities for large law firms to make a difference.
The Pro Bono Policies Worth Adopting In Every State

A recent survey of attorneys across the country found that, despite broad opposition to mandatory pro bono, strong support exists for a number of statewide policies and initiatives to more effectively engage the private bar in pro bono work, says Latonia Haney Keith, associate dean of academics at Concordia University School of Law.
Using The Constitution To End Punishment Of The Poor

One hundred and fifty years after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, lawyers are achieving real victories on the ground with new constitutional theories striking at both inequality and unfair process, says Brandon Garrett of Duke University School of Law.