Access to Justice

  • October 02, 2024

    Atty 'Malfeasance' Upends NY Manslaughter Conviction

    A New York state judge reversed a manslaughter conviction against a man who says he mistakenly killed his friend, ordering a retrial after it was revealed his then-attorney concealed information he obtained about the trial judge's concerns with the defense's case.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Meeting The Legal Aid Needs Of Human Trafficking Survivors

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    Human trafficking survivors have a wide range of unmet legal needs, but there are several ways law firms and attorneys can provide more comprehensive and trauma-informed support, say Sarah Dohoney Byrne at Moore & Van Allen and Renata Parras at Paul Hastings.

  • Broader Problems Remain After Justices' DNA Test Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Reed v. Goertz straightforwardly resolves a statute of limitations question on post-conviction DNA testing, but it does not address the underlying issue that judges remain hostile to granting access to new evidence of innocence, much less relief based on that new evidence, says Brandon Garrett at Duke University.

  • It's Time For Lawyers To Stand Up For Climate Justice

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    The anniversary this week of the Deepwater Horizon disaster offers an opportunity for attorneys to embrace the practice of just transition lawyering — leveraging our skills to support communities on the front lines of climate change and environmental catastrophe as they pursue rebuilding and transformation, says Amy Laura Cahn at Taproot Earth.

  • Lessons On Litigating Wrongful Death Cases Against The BOP

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    With the process of litigating wrongful death claims against the Federal Bureau of Prisons littered with roadblocks, attorneys at HWG share some key lessons for navigating these challenges to ensure families can pursue justice for loved ones who died in custody.

  • Eviction Cases Need Tiered Legal Help, Not Unlimited Counsel

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    The concept of right to counsel in civil cases, particularly in the context of evictions, is hotly debated, but rather than giving every tenant full representation regardless of the merits of their case, we should be focused on ensuring that everyone has the right amount of legal help, says Bob Glaves at the Chicago Bar Foundation.

  • US Self-Defense Law Is Neither Overly Harsh Nor Disappearing

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    The inaccurate caricatures of U.S. self-defense law distract us from engaging in a more fully informed debate about the appropriate role of, and justification for, self-defense in a modern, pluralistic society, says Markus Funk at Perkins Coie.

  • High Court Death Penalty Ruling Presents A Troubling Future

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Cruz v. Arizona — which said the Arizona high court misinterpreted state criminal procedure and warranted federal review was — came as a pleasant surprise in its prioritization of due process, the 5-4 ruling also portends poorly for the future with a low bar in death penalty cases, says Christopher Durocher at the American Constitution Society.

  • What Landmark Ruling Means For Civil Rights Suits In Nevada

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    The Nevada Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Mack v. Williams ends the use of qualified immunity in the state, and though the defense will likely be revived by the Legislature, the decision provides a framework for litigants to hold state actors accountable for violations of state constitutional protections, says Austin Barnum at Clark Hill.

  • We Can Ensure Public Safety And Still Reduce Incarceration

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    Recent progress toward reducing jail and prison populations remains fragile as tough-on-crime policies reemerge, but American history shows that we don’t have to choose between less violence and lower incarceration rates — we can have both, says Jeffrey Bellin at William & Mary Law School.

  • War On Drugs Is Cautionary Tale For Abortion Prosecution

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    As state abortion bans proliferate, prosecutors have an obligation to learn from the devastating lessons of the war on drugs — which disproportionately affected communities of color — and vow not to prosecute individuals’ reproductive health care-related decisions, says Dekalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston.

  • The Most-Read Access To Justice Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

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    Law360 guest experts weighed in on a broad slate of emerging access to justice issues last year, ranging from evidence of ineffective counsel to opportunities for nonlawyers to provide legal help and the presumption of innocence.

  • Understanding Illinois' First-Of-Its-Kind Law Nixing Cash Bail

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    A new law taking effect Jan. 1 that makes Illinois the first state to eliminate cash bail has been amended to correct some of the many concerns of those who opposed the original, flawed piece of legislation that was rushed through, and will make sweeping changes to how criminal justice operates in Illinois, say Joe Tabor and Perry Zhao at the Illinois Policy Institute.

  • Defense Attorneys Can Help Limit Electronic Monitor Overuse

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    Though electronic monitoring is increasingly promoted as an alternative to incarceration for people awaiting trial, on probation or parole, or undergoing immigration proceedings, its effectiveness is unsupported by evidence and it results in clear harms, so defense attorneys should consider several strategies to challenge its overuse, say experts at the ACLU.

  • DOJ Can't Justify Its Failure To Get Data On Deaths In Custody

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    The U.S. Department of Justice incorrectly claims that a law requiring it to collect meaningful data on how many people die in government custody has somehow limited its ability to do just that — and every failure to study these deaths is a missed opportunity to prevent others, says David Janovsky at the Project On Government Oversight.

  • How Civilian Attorneys Can Help Veterans

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    With legal aid topping the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' annual list of unmet needs of veterans facing housing insecurity, nonmilitary volunteer attorneys can provide some of the most effective legal services to military and veteran clients, say Anna Richardson at Veterans Legal Services and Nicholas Hasenfus at Holland & Knight.

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