Access to Justice

September 23, 2022
How Calif. Court Reporter Shift Will Impact Family Law Cases

Legal experts say a decision by the country's largest unified trial court to no longer provide official court reporters in family law and probate cases as of Nov. 14 could harm California's most at-risk and disadvantaged litigants.
September 21, 2022
Fed. Courts Extend Remote Audio Access To Civil Hearings

The federal court system's policymaking body announced it would continue remote public court access and start regularly surveying its employees, while also again calling for the passage of legislation that would improve security for judges.
September 15, 2022
Senate Punts On Marriage Equality Vote, For Now

A possible Senate vote on legislation codifying marriage equality was put temporarily on hold on Thursday, with the bipartisan group of negotiators saying they need more time to get the necessary support to overcome a filibuster.
September 14, 2022
DOJ Gives Attys More Leeway To Aid Migrants In Deportation

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday offered more flexibility to immigration attorneys helping unrepresented immigrants in deportation proceedings, allowing lawyers to draft and file court documents without assuming the responsibilities of becoming the immigrants' "practitioner of record."
September 14, 2022
UConn Law And Disability Rights Group Establish Legal Clinic

The University of Connecticut School of Law has partnered with Disability Rights Connecticut to offer a clinic that provides legal advocacy for people with disabilities.
September 13, 2022
Sex Crime Victim Sues SF Over Use Of Rape Kit To Arrest Her

A woman who gave police a DNA sample as the victim in a sexual assault investigation is suing the city and county of San Francisco in California federal court after the police used the sample to arrest her for an unrelated retail theft, alleging an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
September 09, 2022
ACLU Takes On Qualified Immunity In The 5th Circ.

The ACLU is partnering with 65 law firms and 27 corporations to bring police abuse suits in Louisiana, a state often described as a "legal aid desert." Through the project, dubbed Justice Lab, pro bono attorneys have filed 40 civil suits challenging local and state police for excessive force, racial profiling and unlawful arrest or search.
September 09, 2022
5 BigLaw Firms Join Forces To Aid Female Afghan Ex-Soldiers

This summer, five BigLaw firms teamed up to form a legal task force that in mid-August filed more than 50 asylum applications for female Afghan former soldiers, marking the latest example of industry competitors combining resources in the name of a pro bono initiative.
September 09, 2022
How County Leaders Are Reducing Mentally Ill Inmates In Jails

Counties across the U.S. are reducing the number of mentally ill inmates through data collection, partnerships with community health care providers and directing certain emergency calls to mental health experts, according to a panel convened by the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
September 09, 2022
Former Defense Secretary On Veterans Justice Commission

Former Obama administration Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is now chair of the Council on Criminal Justice’s recently formed Veterans Justice Commission. Here, Hagel discusses with Law360 his role on the commission and how the panel will help veterans, who studies show have significant arrest rates and involvement in the criminal justice system.
September 09, 2022
How Elections Clause Case Threatens To Disrupt Democracy

When the Supreme Court rules in Moore v. Harper in the upcoming term, it will decide whether the Constitution permits state courts to review congressional maps and election rules set by state legislatures. Some civil rights organizations, attorneys and legal scholars worry the ruling could upend judicial review of elections and possibly undermine democracy.
September 02, 2022
4 Takeaways From Military Sexual Assault Report

Despite the U.S. military’s efforts to curb sexual misconduct in its ranks, a new study shows that reports of sexual assaults and harassment involving service members have increased. Here are four key takeaways from the report.
August 26, 2022
New Book Explores Tall Task Of Freeing Wrongly Convicted

Northeastern Law professor and former public defender Daniel Medwed spoke with Law360 about his new book called "Barred: Why the Innocent Can't Get out of Prison," including reforms to aid post-conviction legal work and what practitioners can do when defending innocent clients.
August 26, 2022
Law Clinics Win Battle Over 2016 FOIA Amendment's Meaning

Companies hoping to redact confidential information from Freedom of Information Act requests must now justify their arguments that release of that data would cause material commercial harm to the business after a precedent-setting decision in the Second Circuit this month.
August 23, 2022
Afghan Atty Who Fled Taliban To Lecture At Loyola NOLA

A prosecutor from Afghanistan who investigated crimes against women and was forced to flee the Taliban will lecture at Loyola University New Orleans this academic year, the university announced Tuesday.
August 19, 2022
Simpson Thacher Helps Free Miss. Man From Life Sentences

A team of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP attorneys working pro bono recently helped free a 51-year-old man wrongfully sentenced to life in prison over a series of bank robberies and purse snatchings committed a decade apart.
August 18, 2022
6th Circ. Says Michigan Can Limit Court Recordings Access

A Sixth Circuit panel on Thursday let stand a Michigan state court administrative rule that allows individual courts to decide whether to provide the public access to audio and video recordings of proceedings after finding the rule does not violate the First Amendment.
August 15, 2022
LA County DA Gascón Defeats 2nd Recall Election Attempt

Proponents of the latest effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón have once again failed to collect enough valid signatures for a recall election, the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk said Monday.
August 11, 2022
NYC Evictions Creep Up As Housing Courts Get Busier

Signs of activity in New York City's housing courts — case filings and court-ordered evictions — are up compared to 2021, though still well below pre-pandemic levels, as tenants and landlords continue to grapple with the fallout of the coronavirus.
August 10, 2022
Immigration Attorneys Share Stories Of Trauma And Burnout

Immigration lawyers, in particular those handling asylum clients, are more likely to experience secondary traumatic stress and burnout, according to research. Attorneys, law clinic directors and an immigration judge tell Law360 how taxing this area of the law and the immigration system as a whole can be.
July 29, 2022
How A Law Prof Is Training Non-Attys As Immigrant Advocates

As a law professor who routinely took her students to immigration courts for field work, Michele R. Pistone was irked to see how many noncitizens went unrepresented. So she built an online platform to train nonlawyers to help fill the gaps in legal representation.
July 28, 2022
Portland Tackles Racist Past Of Urban Renewal

Blocks from the stadium where the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers play and Interstate 5 cuts a gash through Oregon's largest city, a proposed 94-unit apartment building represents the first step in an ambitious plan to reverse decades of racist land-use practices.
July 27, 2022
NJ Suit Shines Light On Police Use Of Infant Blood In Probes

Last year, DNA from an infant’s blood sample was used to track down a New Jersey sex crime suspect. Public defenders are now suing to discover how often law enforcement agencies have subpoenaed a mandatory newborn health screening program, spotlighting a growing area of friction between genetic genealogy and privacy.
July 26, 2022
How Some NY Judges Are Unpausing Eviction Cases

New York is among several states — including Oregon, Massachusetts and California — to pause eviction cases at least temporarily while rent aid applications are being processed, to prevent premature evictions. And while tenant lawyers say New York's rule has been broadly effective, some judges have said they have the authority to lift the stay.
July 22, 2022
Inside An Atty's Plan To Get 2 Wrongfully Jailed Men Justice

Two Black men from Buffalo, New York, spent more than two decades in prison for a murder they likely didn’t commit before a state trial court overturned their conviction last year. Now, they’re suing Erie County for civil rights violation, helped by a savvy attorney who pioneered a legal strategy to pierce through prosecutors' immunity.

Expert Analysis

The Pro Bono Law That United Congress

Those who perpetrate crimes are guaranteed the right to counsel, but victims of domestic violence and sexual assault are not. With the unanimously passed Pro Bono Work to Empower and Represent Act, I envision an army of lawyers helping break the cycle of abuse, says Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.
How BigLaw Pro Bono Pros Can Promote Access To Justice

Allegra Nethery, president of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel, discusses opportunities for large law firms to make a difference.
Aggressive Stops And Frisks Won't Make Chicago Safer

Speaking recently to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, President Donald Trump called for stop-and-frisk practices in Chicago to reduce violent crime. But beyond the negative consequences of this approach, data supporting its effectiveness is sparse, say Dr. Tara Lai Quinlan and Northeastern University School of Law professor Deborah Ramirez.
The Pro Bono Policies Worth Adopting In Every State

A recent survey of attorneys across the country found that, despite broad opposition to mandatory pro bono, strong support exists for a number of statewide policies and initiatives to more effectively engage the private bar in pro bono work, says Latonia Haney Keith, associate dean of academics at Concordia University School of Law.
Using The Constitution To End Punishment Of The Poor

One hundred and fifty years after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, lawyers are achieving real victories on the ground with new constitutional theories striking at both inequality and unfair process, says Brandon Garrett of Duke University School of Law.