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Access to Justice
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January 09, 2024
NC Agency Sued Over Child Solitary Confinement Practice
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety is violating the constitutional rights of children not convicted of crimes by locking them up alone every hour of the day with little to no relief from confinement, while breaking state law requiring education, according to a proposed class action filed in federal court Monday.
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January 05, 2024
The Issues Access To Justice Leaders Are Watching In 2024
A surge in evictions, domestic violence and child poverty last year has heightened the demand for legal services to help low- and middle-income families, and worsened a shortage of attorneys to assist in matters ranging from housing to healthcare to benefits and beyond in 2024.
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January 05, 2024
Quinn Emanuel Aids 'Sewer Service' Debt Collection Fight
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP recently teamed up with two legal aid groups to notch a major win from a New York appeals court making it easier for consumers to challenge judgments they may have been hit with due to fraudulent service — or so-called sewer service — of debt collection complaints.
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January 04, 2024
5th Circ. Won't Block Miss. GOP Capital City Law Amid Appeal
The Fifth Circuit on Thursday refused to temporarily block a controversial new Mississippi law that would give the majority-white state government greater control over the court system in the state's majority-Black capital city while the NAACP and other groups appeal, finding that they're not likely to succeed in their challenge.
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January 04, 2024
Nonprofit, Paralegals Sue To Take Down NC Legal Advice Law
A North Carolina nonprofit is challenging a state law banning anyone but a fully licensed attorney from offering legal advice, saying in a federal lawsuit Thursday that the regulations amount to an unconstitutional restraint on free speech in violation of the First Amendment.
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January 04, 2024
Judge Lauds Trans Women Behind Colo. Prison Housing Deal
A Colorado state judge on Thursday appeared inclined to approve $2.1 million in payouts for currently and formerly incarcerated transgender women and new housing options to settle their class action against state prison officials, with a named plaintiff calling the deal a "blueprint for other states."
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December 22, 2023
Biden Issues Pardons For Federal Marijuana Offenses
President Joe Biden has announced unconditional pardons to anyone who has used, possessed or attempted to possess marijuana on federal lands, regardless of whether they have been convicted or charged.
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December 20, 2023
Pa. Justices Say State Must Notify Inmates Of Deduction Hike
The State of Pennsylvania violated an inmate's constitutional right to due process by garnishing a larger portion of the wages and gifts he received without providing him notice or the opportunity to protest the change, the state's highest court ruled.
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December 19, 2023
NC Residents Ask For Cert. In Court Software Class Action
A group of North Carolina residents have asked for certification in their proposed class action alleging the state's new digital court system has led to hundreds of wrongful arrests and detentions, with all facing common issues sufficient to satisfy class requirements.
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December 15, 2023
NJ Atty Changes History For Wrongly Executed Black Soldiers
More than a century after 19 soldiers were hanged for mutiny following trials that were marred by racism, a New Jersey attorney and descendant of one of the servicemen recently helped convince the U.S. Army to overturn the soldiers' convictions.
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December 15, 2023
New Eckert Seamans Pro Bono Chair Looks To Build Bridges
As he takes over as the new chair of the firm's pro bono committee, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC attorney Joshua Hill says he is looking to adopt a more holistic, firmwide approach to identifying and assigning pro bono projects.
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December 15, 2023
The Biggest Access To Justice Issues Of 2023
High-profile death penalty cases, voting rights, civil forfeiture and fair pay for legal aid workers were among the biggest issues this year impacting the rights of disadvantaged people facing challenges in the American justice system.
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December 14, 2023
4th Circ. Pauses Fight Over SC Non-Atty Legal Advice Law
The Fourth Circuit agreed Wednesday to pause a lawsuit brought by South Carolina's NAACP chapter challenging the legality of a state law that bars non-attorneys from giving legal advice while the merits of the NAACP eviction relief program at issue are under consideration at the state-court level.
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December 14, 2023
Attys, Advocates Urge NY Gov. To Sign Appeals Reform Bill
More than 350 attorneys, advocates and organizations on Thursday urged New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill that will expand an appellate court's ability to examine if evidence in criminal cases was uncovered unconstitutionally by law enforcement.
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December 08, 2023
The Purgatory Docket: Mass. Judge Leaves Cases In Limbo
A Massachusetts federal judge has dozens of long-unresolved motions on his docket, highlighting what experts say is a problem that is difficult to solve amid lifetime appointments, no firm deadlines to resolve civil disputes or any form of discipline for judges if cases stall unnecessarily.
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December 01, 2023
How Trauma-Informed Lawyering Can Help Clients Heal
The story of an Olympic gymnast-turned-lawyer illustrates the emotional and psychological challenges that trauma survivors can face, how these challenges can play out in litigation, and how people who have experienced trauma can bounce back.
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December 01, 2023
Gibson Dunn Helps Vindicate LA Reporter After Protest Arrest
Three years after a reporter with the Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate was tackled by sheriff's deputies and arrested while covering a protest, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has helped secure a $700,000 settlement that the firm is hailing as a win for press freedom.
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December 01, 2023
A Mountain To Climb: The Inaccessibility Of Rural Courts
Unlike the shortage of attorneys available to represent clients in rural areas, experts say there are an adequate number of courthouses to serve people living in remote areas of the country. It's getting to them that's the problem.
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December 01, 2023
Executions Concentrated In 5 States As Fairness Doubts Grow
Only a handful of states executed people in 2023 as more Americans think the death penalty is carried out unfairly than fairly for the first time, according to a year-end report released Friday by the Death Penalty Information Center.
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November 30, 2023
Gap In Access To Legal Assistance Remains Wide, ABA Finds
The United States is home to the largest number of attorneys in the world, and it has by far the highest number of lawyers per capita, yet they are mostly concentrated in a few urban areas, leaving entire swaths of the country as legal deserts, according to a new report by the American Bar Association.
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November 29, 2023
Local Gov't Org Backs Baltimore In Incarceration Pay Fight
An advocacy organization for local governments backed Baltimore County, Maryland, in its effort to convince the Fourth Circuit to uphold a ruling that people who performed work at a county recycling plant while incarcerated were not considered employees under federal law, telling the court that reversal would ultimately harm incarcerated people.
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November 28, 2023
Justices Wary Of Ga. Retrial Law: 'An Acquittal Is An Acquittal'
The U.S. Supreme Court seemed dubious Tuesday that a Georgia law allowing for the re-prosecution of all criminal charges in certain cases with contradictory jury verdicts, including partial acquittals, passes constitutional muster, bombarding the state's solicitor general with questions on how the law fits into the nation's tradition of respecting jury verdicts.
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November 27, 2023
Justices Hear Dueling Rules In ACCA Drug Definition Case
The U.S. Supreme Court pointedly challenged the government Monday on its interpretation of a law that sets up a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence for people convicted of repeated serious drug offenses who are later caught with firearms.
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November 27, 2023
Top State Judges To Tackle Public Interest 'Lawyer Deserts'
A new committee composed of state Supreme Court chief justices and others will examine why fewer attorneys are going into public interest law, as well as the state of legal education and bar admissions processes more generally, according to an announcement Monday.
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November 21, 2023
Baltimore County Tells 4th Circ. Inmates Aren't Employees
Inmates who performed work at a recycling plant in a county jail are not considered employees for the purposes of federal law because their work was rehabilitative in nature, Baltimore County told the Fourth Circuit, asking the court to keep its district court win.
Expert Analysis
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COVID-19 Crisis Brings Opportunity To Improve Legal Aid
The legal community must figure out how to use the adaptations necessitated by the pandemic to permanently improve the legal services delivery model and narrow the justice gap, says Rebecca Rapp at Ascendium Education Group.
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Illinois Must Do More To Protect Consumers In Debt
A recent Illinois Supreme Court order limiting debt collectors' ability to freeze personal bank accounts during the pandemic is progress, but it does not solve the underlying issue that debt courts are rigged against low-income people, says Ashlee Highland at CARPLS Legal Aid.
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The Case Against Solitary Confinement During Pandemic
Prisons and corrections systems must ensure that medical isolation during the pandemic does not devolve into prolonged solitary confinement that unduly burdens the individual liberty of people behind bars, says Marc Levin at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
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Coping With A Pandemic: McCarter & English's Abdul Rehman
As society continues to adapt to COVID-19, Law360 is sharing reactions from around the business and legal community. Today's perspective comes from Newark-based Abdul Rehman Khan, pro bono fellow for the city of Newark at McCarter & English.
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Legal Aid Needs Law Firm Support Now More Than Ever
With the need for pro bono services expected at unprecedented levels in the wake of the pandemic, and funding sources for legal aid organizations under severe stress, law firm leaders need to take measures to fill the gap, says Jeffrey Stone, chairman emeritus at McDermott.
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Coping With A Pandemic: Cleveland Legal Aid's Colleen Cotter
As society continues to adapt to COVID-19, Law360 is sharing reactions from around the business and legal community. Today's perspective comes from Colleen Cotter, executive director at The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.
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Problems With Tolling The Speedy Trial Act During Pandemic
A plethora of federal courts have responded to social distancing requirements by entering blanket orders tolling compliance with Speedy Trial Act deadlines, but because there is no case-by-case analysis of their need and other factors, the orders raise questions about whether such tolling efforts are valid, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.
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Guantanamo 9/11 Trial Is A Failure
The Guantanamo military commissions — seemingly a contrived attempt to avoid federal criminal court and thereby insulate the CIA from the legal implications of its torture program — appear fatally flawed, so Congress should have the 9/11 defendants tried in civilian criminal court, says Patrick Doherty at Ropes & Gray.
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Data Is Key To Stopping COVID-19 Spread In Prisons
There is an urgent need for state and county officials to publicly share accurate data about COVID-19 testing, infections and deaths in jails and prisons, so that effective, life-saving changes can be made to the criminal justice system, say criminologists Oren Gur, Jacob Kaplan and Aaron Littman.
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A Proposal For Efficient Post-Pandemic Justice In New York
The litigation backlog in state courts due to COVID-19 will make swift, orderly and fair resolution of disputes almost certainly impossible, but thankfully in New York, there are three nontraditional avenues to justice that can inform a post-pandemic emergency tribunal, says Joseph Gallagher at Harris St. Laurent.
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Downturn An Opportunity For Law Firms To Boost Pro Bono
While now hardly seems like the time for law firms to be volunteering their attorneys’ services, it is the right thing to do and a sensible investment that would likely not be made at any other time, says Martin Pritikin, dean of Concord Law School.
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Inmate Release Exhaustion Rule Should Be Waived For COVID
The issue at the forefront of many compassionate release applications during the pandemic has been whether federal courts must wait 30 days before they can rule on them due to the statutory administrative exhaustion requirement, and those 30 days could become a matter of life or death, says Jolene LaVigne-Albert at Schlam Stone.
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COVID-19 Highlights Access Injustice In Personal Bankruptcy
In the age of enforced social distancing, the limits on access to electronic filing means bankruptcy is paradoxically only available to those individuals who can afford it, says Rohan Pavuluri at Upsolve.
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Coping With A Pandemic: Pine Tree's Nan Heald
With distancing and isolation the new norm amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Law360 is sharing reactions from around the business and legal community. Today's perspective comes from Maine-based Nan Heald, executive director at Pine Tree Legal Assistance.
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Social Distancing And Right To Jury Trial Must Be Reconciled
It would seem almost obvious to conclude that the internet and proposed e-courtroom venues may be best suited to promote social distancing while ensuring the uninterrupted constitutional right to a trial by jury, but numerous questions exist, say Justin Sarno and Jayme Long at Dentons.