Access to Justice

November 03, 2023
DC Legal Aid Providers Revive Eviction Assistance Program

Legal Aid D.C., several legal service providers and 19 law firms across Washington, D.C., are relaunching an eviction assistance program after efforts to remove residents from their homes more than doubled this year, and as a COVID-19-era eviction moratorium ends, the group announced Thursday.
November 01, 2023
Legal Aid Atty To Lead Criminal-Side Policy, Litigation Work

A New York Legal Aid Society attorney is taking charge of its criminal defense practice's special litigation unit amid the group's fight to challenge incarceration, policing and forensic practices, and push for policy reform.
October 31, 2023
ABA Urges Justices To Review Inmate's Atty Abandonment

The U.S. Supreme Court should give a Texas man found guilty of a 2005 double homicide and abandoned by his attorney a "fair shot" at challenging his conviction by resolving a disagreement among federal circuit courts, the American Bar Association told the justices.
October 30, 2023
Justices Wary Of Picking Standard For Post-Seizure Hearings

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared unsure about how far it should go in regulating civil forfeiture, a process used to seize private property during criminal investigations — one some of the justices acknowledged that state and local authorities sometimes abuse.
October 27, 2023
The Unlikely Friendship Helping Drive NY Parole Reform Fight

Before she departed New York’s parole board out of frustration with the system in 2018, Carol Shapiro voted to release Jose Saldana after almost 40 years in prison for attempted murder. Since then, the pair have become good friends as they've united in working to reform New York’s approach to parole.
October 27, 2023
Stradley Ronon Attys Win Release Of Wrongly Convicted Man

A three-year effort by Philadelphia-based Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP attorneys led to the release this month of a 63-year-old man who was wrongly convicted of murder and spent 41 years behind bars.
October 27, 2023
Helping Inmate Firefighters Go From Jailhouse To Firehouse

Several states that rely on prison inmates to fight fires make it nearly impossible for the ex-offenders to keep firefighting once they're released, so the former prisoners, along with lawyers and lawmakers, are turning to educational programs, lawsuits and legislation to help inmate firefighters become professional ones.
October 27, 2023
Local Lawyers Step Up For National Pro Bono Week

Now in its 14th year, the American Bar Association-led Pro Bono Week seeks to mobilize attorneys across the legal industry to take up much-needed pro bono work. BigLaw firms and large corporate legal departments contribute tens of thousands of volunteer hours every year, but small firm attorneys and legal aid nonprofits find meaningful ways to make a difference too.
October 27, 2023
Is The State Court System Setting Judges Up To Fail?

Around 98.5% of America’s legal disputes are filed in state courts, yet the judges tasked with deciding them are often appointed or elected to the bench without any formal judicial training. Here, Law360 explores the challenges for state court judges and efforts to better prepare them for the role.
October 25, 2023
Venable Donates $250K To Unaccompanied Minor Legal Fund

The philanthropic arm of Venable LLP, the Venable Foundation, has awarded a $250,000 grant to the Kids in Need of Defense fund, an organization that provides legal services to migrant children who come to the country unaccompanied by or separated from their guardians, the firm announced Tuesday.
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.

Expert Analysis

To Honor The Promise Of Liberty, Reform Pretrial Detention

As criminal justice reform advocates focus on the critical need to reduce unjust pretrial detention, jurisdictions must commit to a range of policy changes that include, but also go beyond, risk assessments, says former Wisconsin Judge Jeffrey Kremers.
USCIS Work Proposals Add To LGBTQ Asylum Seekers' Risks

Pending U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services proposals to prolong employment ineligibility and charge for employment authorization documents would be particularly detrimental to already-vulnerable LGBTQ asylum seekers, says Richard Kelley at the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project.
Understanding What Restorative Justice Is And Isn't

A hearing in the Jeffrey Epstein case featuring victim impact statements and a White House meeting between a hit-and-run driver and the victim's parents have been described as restorative justice, but the reality is more complex, says Natalie Gordon of DOAR.
5 Most-Read Access To Justice Law360 Guests Of 2019

On topics ranging from public trial rights to electronic monitoring technology to the rules of evidence in the context of sexual harassment trials, 2019 brought a wide array of compelling commentary from the access to justice community.
Inside The Key Federal Sentencing Developments Of 2019

Raquel Wilson, director of the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Office of Education and Sentencing Practice, discusses this year's developments in federal sentencing, including new legislation in the Senate and U.S. Supreme Court cases invalidating certain statutes.
ODonnell Consent Decree Will Harm Criminal Justice In Texas

In Odonnell v. Harris County, a Texas federal court ordered that misdemeanor offenders could be released without bail, marking a fundamental deterioration of the Texas criminal justice system, says attorney Randy Adler.
Judges Cannot Rehabilitate Offenders With Extra Prison Time

Although they may mean well, federal judges should stop attempting to help criminal defendants get into drug rehabilitation programs by unlawfully sending them to prison for longer than their recommended sentences, says GianCarlo Canaparo at The Heritage Foundation.
Time To Rethink License Suspensions Without Due Notice

In North Carolina, one in seven adults has a suspended driver’s license, but our research suggests that many of them never received actual notice of their license suspension, or of the court proceeding that led to it, making this a fundamentally unfair sanction, say Brandon Garrett, Karima Modjadidi and William Crozier at Duke University.
Changing The Way We Dialogue About Justice Reform

Dawn Freeman of The Securus Foundation discusses why humanizing the language used to discuss justice-involved individuals is a key aspect of reform and how the foundation’s upcoming campaign will implement this change in mainstream publications and on social media.
High Court Should Restore Sentencing Due Process

If the U.S. Supreme Court grants certiorari in Asaro v. U.S. and rules that sentencing judges cannot consider uncharged, dismissed and acquitted conduct, a peculiar and troubling oddity of criminal and constitutional law will finally be rectified, say criminal defense attorney Alan Ellis and sentencing consultant Mark Allenbaugh.
Book Review: Who's To Blame For The Broken Legal System?

The provocative new book by Alec Karakatsanis, "Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System," shines a searing light on the anachronism that is the American criminal justice system, says Sixth Circuit Judge Bernice Donald.
High Court Should Affirm 3-Strikes Rule For Prisoner Pleading

The U.S. Supreme Court in Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez should hold that any case dismissed for failure to state a claim should count as a strike for purposes of Section 1915(g), which allows incarcerated people to file three complaints free of charge, says GianCarlo Canaparo at The Heritage Foundation.
Acquitted Conduct Should Not Be Considered At Sentencing

Congress should advance the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act, which seeks to explicitly preclude federal judges from a practice that effectively eliminates the democratic role of the jury in the criminal justice system, says Robert Ehrlich, former governor of Maryland.
Thank A Female Veteran With Access To Legal Services

Women returning from military deployment often require more legal assistance than their male counterparts, and Congress can alleviate some of these burdens by passing the Improving Legal Services for Female Veterans Act, says Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa.
California Should Embrace Nonlawyer Providers

Despite criticisms from the legal profession, a California proposal to allow some legal service delivery by nonlawyers is a principled response to the reality that millions of Americans currently must face their legal problems without any help, says Chris Albin-Lackey, legal and policy director at the National Center for Access to Justice.