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Access to Justice
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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.
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November 20, 2023
Plaintiffs Want NYC Jails Handed Over To Federal Receiver
Plaintiffs in a decadelong class action challenging brutality by staff at New York City jails have asked a federal judge to appoint a federal receiver to take the helm of the troubled city jail system following record violence at its facilities, attorneys confirmed on Monday.
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November 20, 2023
Justices To Decide Jury's Role In Career Criminal Sentences
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to weigh in on whether a judge or jury should determine if a criminal defendant's prior convictions qualify them for enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act, a ruling an Indiana defendant and the U.S. Department of Justice agree belongs in the hands of jurors.
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November 17, 2023
They Are Mentally Ill; Some States Want Them Off Death Row
Death rows across the country are filled with people suffering from severe forms of mental illness. Taking action in an area where the U.S. Supreme Court has not ventured, some states are now enacting or considering laws that would exclude those prisoners from capital punishment.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Habeas Ruling Shows Justices' Growing Hostility Toward Writ
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Brown v. Davenport, upholding the murder conviction of a man who was shackled at trial in view of the jury, makes an unjust federal review law more potent, and points to the conservative supermajority’s increasing antagonism toward writs of habeas corpus, says Christopher Wright Durocher at the American Constitution Society.
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Time To Fix Legal Industry's Environmental Pro Bono Problem
As we observe Earth Month, it's sobering to note that pro bono environmental law work lags behind other practice areas — but the good news is that there are numerous organizations that can help lawyers get connected with environment-related pro bono projects, says Matthew Karmel at Riker Danzig.
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How Prosecutors Can End Cycle Of Intimate Partner Violence
With 10 million people in the U.S. reporting that they experience intimate partner violence each year, it’s clear that traditional forms of prosecution are falling short, especially in small and rural communities, but prosecutors can explore new ways to support survivors and prevent violence, say Alissa Marque Heydari at John Jay College and David Sullivan, a district attorney.
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DOJ's Boeing Immunity Deal Violated Crime Victims' Rights
The Northern District of Texas should support the arguments of 737 Max plane crash victims’ families, and hold that the U.S. Department of Justice violated the families' ability to provide input under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act when it secretly entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with Boeing, says Meg Garvin at the National Crime Victims Law Institute.
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Jackson Confirmation Hearings Should Examine Due Process
In the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, senators should assess Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s approach to holding government actors accountable in the areas of qualified immunity and forfeiture, as revisiting shaky precedents on these topics could help guarantee due process for all, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.
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ABA's New Anti-Bias Curriculum Rule Is Insufficient
The American Bar Association's recently approved requirement that law schools educate students on bias, cross-cultural competency and racism, while a step in the right direction, fails to publicly acknowledge and commit to eradicating the systemic racial inequality in our legal system, says criminal defense attorney Donna Mulvihill Fehrmann.
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Justice Reforms Call For Quick Action To Fill US Atty Spots
U.S. attorneys play an important role in transforming the criminal legal system for several reasons, and they can restore integrity and independence to the U.S. Department of Justice, so President Joe Biden and Congress must move quickly to fill the remaining two-thirds of the top prosecutor seats, says Derick Dailey at Davis + Gilbert.
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Judge's Veto Of Arbery Hate Crime Plea Deal Is Not Unusual
Contrary to media commentary, a Georgia federal judge’s rejection of the plea agreement between prosecutors and a defendant charged with hate crimes in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery is not actually surprising — it simply indicates the judge’s desire to retain discretion and allow all parties to be heard before making a just sentencing decision, says Dominick Gerace at Taft Stettinius.
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Indefinite Migrant Detention Without Review Is Kafkaesque
In two recently argued U.S. Supreme Court cases, the government's position that detained migrants can't demand an immigration judge review their confinement, but can instead file a habeas petition in federal court, reads like a work of Kafka, offering only the illusion of access to a hearing before a neutral fact-finder, says César García Hernández at Ohio State University.
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2 Worthy Goals For The DOJ's New Domestic Terrorism Unit
The U.S. Department of Justice’s newly announced Domestic Terrorism Unit should include both counterterrorism and civil rights prosecutors, and would benefit from a criminal statute that is modeled after international terrorism laws and that strikes a balance between protecting the public and constitutional rights, say Emil Bove and Brittany Manna at Chiesa Shahinian.
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Justice Reforms Are Not To Blame For Waukesha Tragedy
Last month's parade attack in Wisconsin has brought into focus the fact that the accused was out of jail on a low bond — but this tragedy must not be exploited to reverse years of long-overdue criminal justice reform, when emerging data shows that new prosecutorial models are associated with better outcomes than an overly punitive approach, says Alissa Marque Heydari at John Jay College.
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Addressing Prison Risk After CARES Act Home Confinement
Home confinement eligibility, which was expanded last year due to high rates of COVID-19 in penal institutions, may soon be tightened, so house-detained individuals at risk of returning to prison should understand their various avenues for relief, as well as the procedural obstacles they may face in mounting legal challenges, say Charles Burnham and Jonathan Knowles at Burnham & Gorokhov.
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We Must Help Fix Justice Gap In Georgia's Legal Deserts
In much of rural Georgia, there are too few lawyers to meet residents’ urgent legal needs, forcing self-represented litigants to navigate an impenetrable system, but courts, law firms and nonlawyers can help address these legal deserts in various ways, says Lauren Sudeall at Georgia State University College of Law.
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Reimagining Courthouse Design For Better Access To Justice
While courthouse design has historically been driven by tradition, it is time to shift from the classical courthouse to spaces that are accessible to those with mobility challenges, serve the needs of vulnerable litigants, and accommodate pandemic-era shifts toward remote and hybrid proceedings, says architect Clair Colburn at Finegold Alexander.
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Why Law Schools Should Require Justice Reform Curriculum
Criminal defense attorney Donna Mulvihill Fehrmann argues that law schools have an obligation to address widespread racial and economic disparities in the U.S. legal system by mandating first-year coursework on criminal justice reform that educates on prosecutorial misconduct, wrongful convictions, defense 101 and more.