Access to Justice

November 17, 2023
Growing Movement Teaches Cops To Confront Misconduct

After a string of high-profile incidents including the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, a growing number of law enforcement agencies are participating in a peer intervention program designed to empower police officers to step in when they see something that isn’t right, and to teach about the psychology of why people don’t always intervene.
November 17, 2023
New Texas A2J Leader On Plans To Narrow The Justice Gap

The new executive director of the Texas Access to Justice Commission says she's "hit the ground running" as the commission tackles big issues like limited-scope representation and the use of paraprofessionals to provide legal assistance to those unable to afford an attorney.
November 16, 2023
NY Gov. Signs Bill To Seal Certain Criminal Records

New Yorkers convicted of certain crimes will have their conviction records automatically sealed after a set number of years, with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday signing a bill aimed at curbing discrimination against formerly incarcerated people and boosting employment.
November 16, 2023
Scholars Back NAACP In Fight Over SC Legal Advice Law

A group of legal scholars has urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to prevent a South Carolina law, which bars nonlawyers from giving legal advice, from applying to a new eviction-help program by the NAACP, saying the program is necessary to confront the state's dire access to justice crisis, court documents show.
November 13, 2023
Justices Split In Denial Of Solitary Confinement Challenge

The U.S. Supreme Court split along ideological lines Monday when it declined to review a Seventh Circuit ruling that an Illinois prison's decision to deprive an inmate in solitary confinement of exercise for three years did not violate his constitutional rights — a ruling the court's liberal wing said was an "indisputable" error.
November 08, 2023
Activists Optimistic Justices Will Uphold Abuser Gun Ban

Gun and domestic violence advocates are optimistic the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold a federal statute prohibiting people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms, saying the justices during oral argument seemed to have a consensus about the regulation's importance and that the Fifth Circuit erred in striking it down.
November 07, 2023
Justices Skeptical Of Keeping Domestic Abusers Armed

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared skeptical of a lower-court decision that a federal law prohibiting people who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms violates the Second Amendment.
November 06, 2023
NAACP Program Asks 4th Circ. To Block SC Legal Advice Law

The NAACP pressed its case in the Fourth Circuit for an injunction to prevent a South Carolina law barring nonlawyers from giving legal advice from applying to a new eviction-help program, arguing Monday the statute is trampling on the tenant advocates' free speech rights.
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.

Expert Analysis

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tips For Prisoner Release Requests During Pandemic

The 70 compassionate release rulings issued by federal courts in the past three weeks suggest that the chances of securing release from prison premised on COVID-19 are boosted significantly where the defendant is able to accomplish one or more of three goals, say attorneys at Waller.
States Must Toll Court Deadlines To Ensure Access To Justice

There are several reasons why a state should consider temporarily lifting statutes of limitations during this pandemic, including protecting the rights of litigants who are vulnerable, say Adam Mendel and Rayna Kessler at Robins Kaplan.
Coping With A Pandemic: ASU's Rebecca Sandefur

With self-isolation and social distancing now the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, Law360 is sharing reactions from around the business and legal community. Today's perspective comes from Rebecca Sandefur, a professor at Arizona State University and faculty fellow of the American Bar Foundation.