Law360 is on a mission to shed light on how the rule of law can shape communities and explore important, and often overlooked, issues that impact the ability of individuals to navigate a complex legal system. We are proud to announce our Access to Justice newsletter, which will deliver stories to all readers, free of charge, on trends affecting the justice gap, pro bono programs and difference makers helping citizens with the fewest resources gain access to the courts.

Latest News in Access to Justice

• May 17, 2024

  NY Discovery Reform Feud Simmers Between DAs, Defenders

  Four years after New York imposed new requirements on prosecutors to more promptly hand over evidence to defendants in criminal cases, data suggests that district attorneys’ offices are still struggling to comply. In the meantime, experts and advocates say many are quietly working to tweak the reforms or potentially scale them back.

• May 17, 2024

  Reid Collins Helps Score Verdict For Teen In La. Policing Case

  Nearly four years to the day when Louisiana teenager De’Shaun Johnson recorded his mother’s arrest in their Slidell driveway, attorneys with Reid Collins & Tsai LLP and the ACLU help convince a federal jury that a local sheriff’s deputy who threatened to Tase him had intentionally inflicted emotional distress.

• May 17, 2024

  Inside The New Legal Push To End Calif.'s Death Penalty

  In a first-of-its-kind case in the Golden State, the California Supreme Court is being asked to permanently dismantle the nation’s most populous death row on grounds that capital punishment has been administered in a racially discriminatory manner that disproportionately harms people of color.

• May 17, 2024

  Public Interest Attorneys Are Key To Preserving Voting Rights

  Fourteen states passed laws restricting or limiting voting access last year, highlighting the need to support public interest lawyers who serve as bulwarks against such antidemocratic actions — especially in an election year, says Verna Williams at Equal Justice Works.

• May 17, 2024

  Officers' Failure To Appear In Court Undermines Justice

  Ten years of data from Philadelphia show that police officers frequently fail to appear at court hearings for which they’re subpoenaed, which has numerous consequences for defendants, crime victims and the smooth functioning of the criminal legal system, say Lindsay Graef, Sandra Mayson and Aurelie Ouss at the University of Pennsylvania and Megan Stevenson at the University of Virginia.

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