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Access to Justice
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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October 13, 2023
NY Court OKs Disclosure Of Past Police Misconduct Records
A New York state appeals court has ruled that a 2020 state action authorizing the public disclosure of police misconduct records can be applied retroactively, opening the door to more scrutiny of police actions that have previously been hidden from the public, court records show.
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October 12, 2023
Prosecutor Disbarred In Drug Lab Scandal Seeks Reprieve
A former Massachusetts assistant attorney general who was ordered disbarred by the state's highest court in August for failing to disclose evidence of misconduct by a state drug lab chemist is asking that her disbarment be imposed retroactively to 2018.
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October 05, 2023
Pot Legalization Doesn't Always Mean Justice, Report Says
A report from the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit advocating for criminal justice reform regarding cannabis, shows that equal justice doesn't always accompany the freedom to use the drug in states that have legalized it recreationally.
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October 10, 2023
5th Circ. Judge Airs Dissent In 'Alternative' Majority Opinion
A dissenting federal appellate judge took the seemingly unusual step of issuing a mock majority opinion this week to illustrate his disagreement with the actual majority ruling to keep a pause on a convicted murderer's execution in Texas, calling his decision "the Fifth Circuit panel opinion that should have been issued."
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.