Access to Justice

  • October 02, 2024

    Legal Services Corp. Counsel Joins Steptoe As Pro Bono Atty

    Carolyn Perez, who had supervised volunteer attorneys on pro bono representative matters at Legal Services Corporation, has joined Steptoe's D.C. team as pro bono counsel.

  • September 27, 2024

    As Climate Change Fuels Disasters, Legal Aid Needs Grow

    As the number of extreme weather events increases amid a changing climate, nonprofit legal organizations that serve low-income legal clients project increased demand for services related to natural disasters.

  • September 27, 2024

    A Jury Found Them Not Guilty. They're Still Serving Life

    Despite a federal jury acquitting Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne for the murder of a Virginia police officer nearly 25 years ago, the two men remain in prison for the crime. But with new evidence and a new lawyer, they're hoping to reverse the fraught, state-level guilty pleas that a federal judge later relied on to sentence them both to life behind bars.

  • September 27, 2024

    Texas Judge Lets Paxton Probe Of Immigration Nonprofit Go On

    Nonprofit legal services provider Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center lost a bid on Friday to halt the Texas attorney general's investigation of the organization's activities, with a federal judge saying the group waited too long to file its complaint.

  • September 27, 2024

    Texas Bar Seeks Non-Atty Rule Changes To Fill Justice Gap

    The State Bar of Texas on Friday laid out a series of proposed changes to pending rules set forth by the state Supreme Court for allowing non-attorneys to perform some legal services, citing the need to increase the educational requirements and prohibit certain fee arrangements.

  • September 26, 2024

    Immigrant Legal Aid Group Sues Over Texas AG's Probe

    The nonprofit legal services provider Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday accusing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of trying to chill protected activity — suing two days before it was due to turn over information from the low-income immigrants it serves to the AG.

  • September 26, 2024

    Pro Bono Attorney Hub Paladin Teams With JusticeServer

    Free legal assistance platform Paladin announced a partnership with JusticeServer, a case management solution, to connect volunteers and clients seamlessly between the two software providers.

  • September 25, 2024

    Ohio Judge Removed For Jailing People Over Court Costs

    The Ohio Supreme Court removed a state municipal judge from the bench and suspended him from practicing law for 18 months after he jailed two people for failing to pay court costs and coerced 14 others into paying fines and costs by threatening to lock them up without due process.

  • September 19, 2024

    8th Circ. Says No Detention Time Limit For Deportees

    The Eighth Circuit has ruled that a district court wrongly determined that the due process rights of an Ivory Coast native convicted of robbery were violated after he spent a year in federal custody waiting for a removal decision.

  • September 19, 2024

    Pro Bono Platform Launches Election Protection Portal

    Free legal assistance platform Paladin announced the launch of a new volunteer portal for attorneys and other professionals focused on election protection.

  • September 06, 2024

    Baltimore, DC Legal Wins Help Curb Police Property Seizures

    In a span of less than two weeks this summer, a coalition of nonprofit civil rights litigators and private pro bono counsel notched a pair of legal victories in cases over two mid-Atlantic city police departments’ property seizure. Lawyers have expressed hope the impact could reach past their communities.

  • September 06, 2024

    New Public Counsel Leader On Her Vision To Advance Justice

    Kathryn Eidmann has a vision for the future of Public Counsel, the nation's largest provider of pro bono legal services, as she takes over as the organization's new leader: to use its focus on individual client advocacy to advance its more systemic goals for racial and economic justice.

  • September 06, 2024

    'He Says, She Says' In Harvey Weinstein's America

    The controversial decision by New York's highest court to overturn Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault conviction has some lawmakers focusing intense new scrutiny on centuries-old legal jurisprudence barring evidence of a defendant's criminal propensity.

  • September 05, 2024

    Wash. Bar Backs Experiment For Nonlawyers To Practice

    The Washington State Bar wants to relax the rules on who can practice law, in what it hopes will allow businesses not run by lawyers the chance to innovate how the industry provides legal services and expand who is able to afford them.

  • August 28, 2024

    LA Atty Accused Of Bilking Inmates With False Freedom Hope

    A Los Angeles attorney accused of raking in thousands of dollars by giving inmates and their families intentionally misleading information about their chances for resentencing after convictions for violent crimes faces an 18-count disciplinary complaint filed this week by the State Bar of California.

  • August 19, 2024

    Ariz. Sheriff Can't Ax Racial Profiling Injunction, 9th Circ. Says

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday kept in place a permanent injunction in a class action alleging the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona racially profiled Latinos for traffic stops under the guise of immigration enforcement, saying the district court was within its powers to assign an independent monitor.

  • August 19, 2024

    Philly To Pay $25M For Breaking Prison Conditions Settlement

    A federal judge has ordered Philadelphia to set aside $25 million to ramp up recruitment and retention efforts for the city's Department of Prisons, just over a month after the court found the city in contempt of a settlement in a lawsuit over prison conditions.

  • August 15, 2024

    New Study Shows No Link Between Bail Reform, Crime Rates

    Bail reform has had no statistical impact on crime rates across the country, according to a recent study released by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

  • August 15, 2024

    Feds, NJ Judiciary Reach Deal Over Language Access Bias

    The New Jersey judiciary has reached a settlement to resolve a federal investigation into alleged discrimination against non-English speakers in Monmouth County court, agreeing to increase training and translation services systemwide, according to an announcement Thursday.

  • August 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Appears Skeptical Of Ex-Assistant DA's Firing Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday seemed chilly to a former San Francisco assistant district attorney's claim that he was booted from his post as punishment for blowing the whistle on misconduct, with judges saying he hadn't drawn a clear connection between speaking out and getting fired.

  • August 13, 2024

    LA Prosecutor Sues DA Over Handling Of Sex Assault Case

    A Los Angeles County deputy district attorney has filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit in California state court against District Attorney George Gascón and Los Angeles County, alleging that he was targeted for exposing misconduct within the DA's office over its handling of a high-profile sex assault case.

  • August 13, 2024

    Honduran Woman's Rape Case Against ICE Dismissed Again

    A Honduran immigrant waited too long to sue over claims that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent raped her repeatedly for seven years, a Connecticut federal court ruled for the second time, once again finding in favor of the defendants after the Second Circuit revived the case in 2023.

  • August 09, 2024

    Not Enough Data To Find Jury Racial Disparity, 2nd Circ. Says

    The Second Circuit declined to find that the Southern District of New York's jury selection procedures cause underrepresentation of minorities, but welcomed "a future challenge with greater proof" against the district's voter registration-based system.

  • August 09, 2024

    NYC Prisons Face Contempt Bid Over Missed Medical Service

    Inmates of the New York City prison system have rekindled a class action against the city's Department of Correction with a contempt motion claiming the department has failed to follow a court order to provide prisoners with better access to healthcare services.

  • August 07, 2024

    Relativity Adds AI Product To Its Justice For Change Program

    E-discovery and legal software provider Relativity announced Wednesday that its social impact program Justice for Change will now include free access to its generative artificial intelligence product aiR for review beginning in September.

Expert Analysis

  • 911 Call Scrutiny Should Not Be Used To Identify Suspects

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    Though the use of 911 call analysis to identify suspects continues to spread across the country, this scientifically unproven method opens the door to wrongful convictions, so prosecutors should review investigations that relied on the technique, and lawmakers should ban it nationwide, say Miriam Krinsky at Fair and Just Prosecution and Isabelle Cohn at the Innocence Project.

  • 6 Practice Pointers For Pro Bono Immigration Practice

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    An attorney taking on their first pro bono immigration matter may find the law and procedures beguiling, but understanding key deadlines, the significance of individual immigration judges' rules and specialized aspects of the practice can help avoid common missteps, says Steven Malm at Haynes Boone.

  • 8th Circ. Redistricting Ruling Imperils The Voting Rights Act

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    The Eighth Circuit’s recent ruling in Arkansas NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, holding that private plaintiffs don't have standing to sue in redistricting cases, creates a circuit split, and, if upheld, would nearly destroy the Voting Rights Act, says William Brewer at Brewer Storefront.

  • Justices May Clarify Expert Witness Confrontation Confusion

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    After oral arguments in Smith v. Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to hold that expert witness opinions that rely on out-of-court testimonial statements for their factual basis are unconstitutional, thus resolving some of the complications created by the court’s confrontation clause jurisprudence, says Richard Friedman at the University of Michigan Law School.

  • Immigration Detention Should Offer Universal Legal Counsel

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    Given the large backlog of immigration court cases and the more than 70% of people in immigration detention without counsel in 2023, the system should establish a universal right to federally funded representation for anyone facing deportation, similar to the public defender model, say Laura Lunn and Shaleen Morales at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network.

  • UX Research And Design Is Crucial For Justice Technologies

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    It’s essential that new access-to-justice digital tools incorporate user experience research and design methodologies to enhance access and accessibility, improve efficiency in processes and service delivery, and reduce risk, says Sarah Mauet at Innovation for Justice.

  • Higher Juror Compensation Trend Is Good For Justice System

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    This year a number of states increased daily juror compensation rates after decades of stagnation — a positive development that facilitates more representative juries, aids decision making and boosts public confidence in the legal system, says Cary Silverman at Shook Hardy.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape

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    The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.

  • 6th Circ. Case Eases Path For Some Excessive Force Claims

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear Fox v. Campbell, leaving in place the Sixth Circuit’s holding that excessive force claims based on police shootings can be founded on the Fourth Amendment even if no one is hit by gunfire — which will be helpful for some civil rights litigants, says Sharon Fairley at the University of Chicago Law School.

  • In Culley, Justices Unlikely To Set New Forfeiture Standards

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    As the U.S. Supreme Court considers Culley v. Marshall — a case with the potential to reshape civil asset forfeiture practices — the justices' recent comments at oral argument suggest that, while some of them may be concerned about civil forfeiture abuse, they are unlikely to significantly change the status quo, say attorneys at Jackson Walker.

  • The Meaning Of 'Bail' Has Strayed Far From Its Legal Roots

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    As the pretrial system faces increasing scrutiny nationwide, states must recognize that imposing financial bail conditions harms communities, and that pretrial release practices must be realigned with foundational American legal principles — including the idea that money-based detention violates due process, says Matt Alsdorf at the Center for Effective Public Policy.

  • Learning From San Francisco's Jury Pay Pilot Program

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    A pilot program in San Francisco shows that increasing compensation for lower-income jurors can foster more diverse juries and boost access to justice — and provides lessons for establishing similar projects in jurisdictions around the U.S., say San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Public Defender Mano Raju.

  • In Domestic Abuse Case, Justices Must Note Gun Law History

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    In deciding whether laws prohibiting domestic abusers from possessing firearms are unconstitutional in U.S. v. Rahimi, the U.S. Supreme Court should recognize that history is replete with relevant legal analogues restricting gun ownership, says Sarah Bennett at Sodoma Law.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'

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    The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.

  • Civil Legal Aid Cuts Are A Threat To Justice And Prosperity

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    The U.S. House of Representatives' budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 includes $71 million in cuts to civil legal aid, but the measure overlooks the economic benefits of access to justice and the many ways that opening the courts to more citizens can foster both basic human rights and economic growth, says David Carter at Calloquy.

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