Access to Justice

  • October 24, 2023

    NJ State Police Sued For Failing To Clear Expunged Records

    The New Jersey State Police has failed to timely remove expunged criminal records from the background checks of tens of thousands of individuals, preventing them from getting jobs, housing and other opportunities, the state's Office of the Public Defender claims in a proposed class action.

  • October 13, 2023

    How Church's Ch. 11 Bid Could Shut Out Abuse Victims

    Anticipating a flood of lawsuits from a new state law ending the statute of limitations on child sex abuse claims, the Archdiocese of Baltimore took refuge in bankruptcy court last month to shield itself from liability as it tries to ensure its solvency. It’s a strategy that dioceses around the country are using more frequently in what some attorneys say is a bid to escape the tort system.

  • October 13, 2023

    Snapshot: Police Union Casts NYPD Protest Deal Into Doubt

    Approval of a settlement that could significantly change the way the New York Police Department handles protests has been thrown into doubt after the city's largest police union filed objections in Manhattan federal court last week.

  • October 13, 2023

    NY's Top Court To Decide Who Can Discipline Police

    The New York State Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments this month in a case that could have statewide implications on who is entrusted to review complaints against police and impose discipline.

  • October 13, 2023

    Atty's Secret Courtroom Meeting May Upend NY Murder Case

    A secret conversation held in an empty courtroom in New York’s Hudson Valley has left a judge, his clerk and a local attorney facing ethics questions that could result in a manslaughter conviction being tossed.

  • October 13, 2023

    Attys Spotlighted In HBO Documentary On Charlottesville Suit

    A team of boutique and BigLaw attorneys and their clients are the stars of a documentary legal thriller that debuted on HBO this week capturing the battle they fought against the white nationalist forces that helped fuel 2017's deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

  • October 13, 2023

    Resolute Lawyers Help South Sudanese Dissident Win Asylum

    Two Paul Hastings attorneys recently helped a South Sudanese peace activist and his family navigate a three-year bureaucratic odyssey to secure asylum in the U.S. following their escape from government hit squads in their home country.

  • October 13, 2023

    NY Court OKs Disclosure Of Past Police Misconduct Records

    A New York state appeals court has ruled that a 2020 state action authorizing the public disclosure of police misconduct records can be applied retroactively, opening the door to more scrutiny of police actions that have previously been hidden from the public, court records show.

  • October 12, 2023

    Prosecutor Disbarred In Drug Lab Scandal Seeks Reprieve

    A former Massachusetts assistant attorney general who was ordered disbarred by the state's highest court in August for failing to disclose evidence of misconduct by a state drug lab chemist is asking that her disbarment be imposed retroactively to 2018.

  • October 05, 2023

    Pot Legalization Doesn't Always Mean Justice, Report Says

    A report from the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit advocating for criminal justice reform regarding cannabis, shows that equal justice doesn't always accompany the freedom to use the drug in states that have legalized it recreationally.

  • October 10, 2023

    5th Circ. Judge Airs Dissent In 'Alternative' Majority Opinion

    A dissenting federal appellate judge took the seemingly unusual step of issuing a mock majority opinion this week to illustrate his disagreement with the actual majority ruling to keep a pause on a convicted murderer's execution in Texas, calling his decision "the Fifth Circuit panel opinion that should have been issued."

  • October 04, 2023

    Wash. Tribal Board To Study State's Boarding School History

    Five members of Washington's tribal nations will lead an advisory committee aimed at studying how the state can address harms caused to Native Americans by the government's role in Native boarding schools, the state's attorney general says.

  • October 02, 2023

    Calif. Cities Sue To Block Pre-Arraignment Zero Bail System

    Several cities sued the Los Angeles County Superior Court in California state court over its pre-arraignment zero bail system for arrestees detained for low-level offenses, alleging it doesn't consider public safety and emboldens criminals to seamlessly continue criminal activity "with impunity and with little actual imminent consequences."

  • September 28, 2023

    Federal Court Finds 'Psychotic' Texas Man Unfit For Execution

    A federal judge has found that a Texas man with a long history of severe mental illness is unfit for execution under the Constitution, the latest episode in a long legal saga that included a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the man's favor in 2007, his attorney told Law360 on Thursday.

  • September 28, 2023

    2 Philly Officers Sued Over Killing After 1 Beat Murder Rap

    Fresh off of evading murder charges, Philadelphia Police Officer Mark Dial has been sued along with his partner for wrongful death by the family of Eddie Irizarry, who was shot and killed by Dial while sitting in his car in August.

  • September 27, 2023

    Civil Rights Attys Tell 4th Circ. Prisoners Owed Min. Wage

    A group of civil rights, anti-poverty and employment law groups urged the Fourth Circuit to revive claims that Baltimore County is obliged to pay minimum wages for work that county jail inmates perform at a recycling plant, arguing the work is profit-driven rather than rehabilitative.

  • September 27, 2023

    Bipartisan Bill Seeks To Address Nationwide Rape Kit Backlog

    A pair of congressional representatives from rival parties on Wednesday announced the introduction of a bill that would increase accountability and transparency on rape kits that have been piling up in police storage across the country.

  • September 25, 2023

    Ill. Woman Wins $19.3M From Jury In Prison Sex Abuse Case

    An Illinois federal jury has awarded more than $19 million to a woman who alleged her counselor raped and sexually assaulted her for seven months while she was serving a prison sentence at Logan Correctional Center.

  • September 22, 2023

    Access To Justice Cases To Watch This Term

    In the term beginning next week, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to return to some of the most hot-button issues concerning civil rights: guns, free speech, race discrimination, and potentially more.

  • September 22, 2023

    Legal Aid Funder Awards $5M For Pro Bono Services

    The Legal Services Corporation announced this week it will award more than $5 million in grants to 17 legal organizations around the U.S. in an effort to expand and improve pro bono legal services across the country.

  • September 22, 2023

    Suits Shed Light On Alleged Baton Rouge 'Torture Warehouse'

    An unmarked warehouse down the road from a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police station has become the subject of lawsuits alleging that some police detainees have been subjected to clandestine and sometimes violent interrogations. The allegations are serious enough that the FBI is investigating, authorities say.

  • September 22, 2023

    How Robins Kaplan Helped Protect Minn. Wilderness Area

    Attorneys with Robins Kaplan LLP recently helped an environmental group defeat a suit brought by a mining company seeking to extract copper and nickel upstream from a massive, federally protected Minnesota wilderness area including some of the most pristine waterways in North America.

  • September 22, 2023

    Georgia DAs' Fear Of 'Witch Hunt' Unfounded, Judge Told

    Counsel for members of Georgia's new commission tasked with investigating complaints against prosecutors urged an Atlanta judge Friday to reject an attempt by four district attorneys to halt the commission's work before it starts accepting complaints Oct. 1.

  • September 20, 2023

    NY State Bar Unveils Post-Affirmative Action DEI Strategies

    Members of a New York State Bar Association task force on Wednesday urged leaders in higher education, law and the corporate world to implement meaningful and legally permissible race-neutral criteria to advance diversity and inclusion goals in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision ending affirmative action in university admissions.

  • September 15, 2023

    DC Lawyers Group For Civil Rights Names Three Directors

    The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs has named a new development director, a new legal director and its first communications director, the committee announced Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • COVID-19 Crisis Should Steer NY Toward Better Court System

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    Over the last six months, it has become clear that many New York court proceedings can happen remotely, and we can use these new technological capabilities to create a more humane, efficient and economically responsible court system, says Joseph Frumin at The Legal Aid Society.

  • Pretrial Risk Assessment Is Biased And Indefensible

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    The Conference of Chief Justices' continuing support for the use of problematic pretrial risk assessment algorithms designed to predict criminal behavior has exacerbated disparities in the justice system and has likely increased incarceration across the U.S., says Jeffrey Clayton at the American Bail Coalition.

  • To Eliminate Food Inequality, We Must Confront The Past

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    To tackle low-income communities' decadeslong struggle with access to healthy food, which the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated, we must first understand how food deserts are a product of policies that perpetuate racial segregation, says Jessica Giesen at Kelley Kronenberg.

  • Cincinnati's Progress Can Be A Model For 2020 Police Reform

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    Cincinnati has come a long way since the 2001 unrest following the police killings of two unarmed Black men, and the city's comprehensive revision of police practices can inform local and state policymakers seeking a way forward from the current turmoil, says former Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken now at Calfee Halter.

  • Legal Deserts Threaten Justice In Rural America

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    Many small towns and rural counties have few lawyers or none at all, which threatens the notion of justice for all Americans and demands creative solutions from legislators, bar associations and law schools, says Patricia Refo, president of the American Bar Association.

  • Uncertainties In Gerrymandering Jurisprudence Are Unfair

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    With the decennial census underway and the corresponding redistricting cycle closely approaching, it is critical that we examine the current state of gerrymandering jurisprudence and how those challenging a redistricting plan as racially motivated have very little recourse, says Tal Aburos at Levine Kellogg.

  • Minn. Should Consider Another Charge In George Floyd Case

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    The Minnesota prosecutors who have charged Derek Chauvin with felony murder for the death of George Floyd are running the risk that the case will be dismissed on solid but esoteric grounds — while ignoring a different murder charge that would stand up to legal scrutiny, says Kyron Huigens at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

  • US Has A Legal Obligation To Provide Reparations For Slavery

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    The United States can no longer foreclose the possibility of recompense for African American victims of its legacy of racism while maintaining its international leadership on such issues as human rights and respect for the rule of law, say Arif Ali and David Attanasio at Dechert and Camilo Sanchez at the University of Virginia School of Law.

  • How We Can Equip Our Future Lawyers To Confront Injustice

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    Law professors must fill gaps in the U.S. legal curriculum by teaching cases and legal theories that can help students understand how the legal system and institutional structures perpetuate inequalities, says Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

  • NY Ethics Rule Change Is Good News For Public Interest Attys

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    Lawyers have always bumped up against a professional conduct rule that prevents them from providing financial help to low-income clients, but New York's pandemic-prompted exception to the rule is a positive step toward mitigating the many hidden expenses that separate rich and poor litigants, say Sateesh Nori and Anita Desai at the Legal Aid Society.

  • History Tells Us Black Americans Need Better Legal Protection

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    Eliminating the legacy of slavery will not be the work of a day or a year, but there are concrete measures Congress can and should take immediately to extend the protection of the law to all Americans, says Jeff Powell at Duke University School of Law.

  • Okla. Offers Glimpse Of Eviction Challenges Amid Pandemic

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    Even in a small state such as Oklahoma, one of the first to reopen amid the pandemic, courthouses are facing the herculean challenge of conducting an escalating number of eviction cases under great restrictions — and it will be worse in larger states, says Keri Norris at LegalShield.

  • Police Reform Should Curtail, Not Codify, Qualified Immunity

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    The Justice in Policing Act passed by the House last week and intended to roll back qualified immunity protections for police officers is not perfect, but it is progress compared to the failed Reforming Qualified Immunity Act that would have clandestinely strengthened the barriers shielding officers from liability, says Edward Ibeh at Akerman.

  • How Attys Can Help As Addiction Cases Rise Post-Pandemic

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    The increase in alcohol and drug consumption during the pandemic is predicted to result in an influx of legal cases, but attorneys can establish a solid defense by ensuring their clients begin the journey to recovery, says Sue Bright at New Directions for Women.

  • We Must Do Better Than Hasty Police Reforms

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    Lawmakers are racing to enact police legislation in response to the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but this once-in-a-generation opportunity cannot be squandered by hastily drafted bills and rushed changes, says Marisa Darden at Squire Patton.

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