Meeting Thursday, January 19, canceled
After reviewing the many activities underway at the start
of the New Year, Commission Co-Chairs Gants and Rosenberg have decided to
cancel the Commission meeting scheduled for next Thursday, January 19, because
no Commission actions are required at this time. The next Commission meeting is scheduled for
March 15.
Report on Activities in 2011
The Commission has compiled the following report, which can also be found on the Commission’s website, www.massaccesstojustice.org.
REPORT ON ACTIVITIES IN 2011
The Commission was reconstituted by the SJC in February
2010. A report on accomplishments in
2010 can be found on the Commission’s website.
In 2011, the Commission expanded its efforts.
New resources for legal assistance to low-income individuals were developed.
Pro bono efforts by Massachusetts’ lawyers, both in-house and in firms, were expanded.
The systems that deliver legal assistance were studied, recommendations for improvements were adopted and are being implemented.
Access to justice in administrative forums continued to draw Commission attention.
The assistance available to self-representing litigants was improved, through enhanced technology, expanded information on the web and in the courts, and support for social service agencies that provide help to consumers with legal problems.
The Report that follows briefly highlights accomplishments and work in progress at the end of December 2011.
I. Resources:
At the Commission’s suggestion, last year the Supreme Judicial Court added a $51 opt-out Access to Justice Fee to annual attorney registration with the Board of Bar Overseers. In its first year, the new Fee brought $1.1 million to the IOLTA Committee, which was then distributed to the three charitable entities (Mass Legal Assistance Corporation, Massachusetts Bar Foundation and Boston Bar Foundation) for their use in supporting legal services.
On December 5 the Commission submitted to the SJC a proposal for creation of a new pro hac vice fee of $300 to be imposed on lawyers from out-of-state seeking to appear as counsel in Massachusetts courts. Proceeds of the fee would be turned over to the IOLTA Committee. Forty states and the District of Columbia impose such a fee, but Massachusetts does not. Eight states devote all or most of the proceeds to legal aid purposes. The proposal has the support of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the IOLTA Committee, MLAC and the Project Directors and its implementation plan is viewed as workable by the BBO and as a useful step by several leading court clerks.
The Commission adopted a recommendation of its Revenue Enhancement Committee (led by Co-Chair Rosenberg) that a campaign be mounted to get every legal aid program to claim and collect attorneys fees in cases in which such fees are available. Current practice in many legal aid firms does not involve making such claims. With leadership from Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, a group of leading legal services advocates is organizing the campaign, which will include practice materials, training for each office and follow-up to assure implementation.
The Revenue Enhancement Committee has also spurred an effort to direct class action residuals to legal services programs. The IOLTA Committee has taken the lead, preparing appropriate brochures for plaintiffs and defendants lawyers, state and federal judges and legal services lawyers. Co-Chair Gants elicited support from Superior Court Chief Justice Rouse and Federal District Court Chief Judge Wolf.
The Commission has supported successful funding proposals to the Legal Services Corporation and the State Justice Institute, has written to the Massachusetts’ legislative leadership in support of MLAC funding and against cuts in the Trial Court budget, and has approved sending a letter to the Governor supporting inclusion in the Governor’s next Supplemental Budget of funds to make up for the most recent decline of $1.7 million in IOLTA funding. The Commission has also supported increased funding for the Legal Services Corporation and urged Citizens Bank not to cut its IOLTA rate.
The Revenue Enhancement Committee is developing basic tools for mounting a statewide fund raising campaign, including a “business case” for philanthropic support of legal services. [The Commissioners who are judges are taking no part in this activity.] If implemented, the campaign will seek support from corporations, corporate leaders and wealthy individuals. This will be the first such statewide effort and the first campaign not targeted primarily at lawyers. One potential benefit of this campaign is creation of funding for services outside greater Boston that balance the disproportionate presence of lawyer contributions from Boston-based law firms.
II. Pro Bono:
In the spring the Commission sponsored a Pro Bono Forum for In-House Counsel. Lawyers working in corporate, educational and other legal departments rather than in law firms were encouraged to become involved in volunteering their services to help low-income clients on a pro bono publico basis. In conjunction with the Forum, the Commission developed, and posted on the Commission website, a Massachusetts Pro Bono Opportunities Guide for In House Counsel. Following the Forum, the Commission has been tracking the pro bono participation of the attendees, and providing further support as requested.
The SJC’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, adopting an initiative begun by Commission Co-Chair Gants, implemented a Pro Bono Recognition Program that annually honors law firms, solo practitioners, in-house corporate counsel offices, government attorneys offices, non-profit organizations and law school faculties for pro bono contributions above and beyond the requirements of Rule 6.1. The first recognition ceremony was held in the SJC Courtroom in October, recognizing nineteen law firms and solo practitioners, as part of pro bono week celebrations.
The Commission is reviewing several mentoring models that recruit experienced practitioners to mentor new lawyers whose practice setting does not provide such mentoring. Accordingly, the Commission reached out to various bar associations and legal services offices to inquire as to their mentorship initiatives. The Commission also met with representatives from all of the state’s law schools to encourage them to develop mentoring efforts for their recent graduates. The Commission then compiled a list of available mentoring opportunities throughout the state that was furnished to each newly admitted member of the Bar at the November swearing-in.
See the Technology section of this report regarding the statewide pro bono website.
III. Administrative Justice:
The Commission is involved in several collaborative efforts with state administrative agency leaders seeking to improve access to justice in the agencies:
Reviewing the texts of letters denying government benefits and improving the clarity and effectiveness of the letters in telling applicants for benefits why benefits are being denied.
Exploring the possibility that a single application could be used to access multiple benefit programs, reducing the repetitive demands for documentation that now arise and the cost of maintaining parallel and sometimes conflicting databases.
Working with Patrick administration officials seeking to improve language access equality throughout agencies of the state that deal with the poor.
Joining with Access to Justice Commission members from other states to introduce better protections for self-representing litigants into state deliberations regarding adoption of the proposed Uniform State Laws revision to the Model Administrative Procedure Act.
IV. Delivery of Legal Services
The Commission’s Special Planning Committee (led by Co-Chair Rosenberg) studied major leadership transitions, entered into important debates about advocacy and explored proposed changes in the structures of organizations providing free legal assistance to low-income families. The Committee met with groups of program board chairs and executive directors, discussed their plans and possible alternatives, issued a first interim report in May, and received and considered comments over the summer. The Committee’s second interim report was adopted by the Commission in September and steps to implement the recommendations have begun. Major themes and associated recommendations include:
The Commission should assure that there is more regular, informed and effective planning and decision-making for the state delivery system. Ongoing efforts to fulfill this role are being taken with MLAC, the bar foundations, the grantees and others.
The structures and systems that regional delivery systems employ to deal with people seeking help are under great stress and need more organized study. Every region must decide how to screen for eligibility, provide telephone advice, accept cases for extended representation and make referrals. Major changes are contemplated in structures in two regions. The current systems employ substantial advocacy resources which might be better used in providing extended representation. In response to a Commission request, a Task Force has been convened to study and report recommendations for best practices.
The amount of systemic advocacy seems lower than optimal. In response to the Committee’s concerns, the Advocacy Coordination Committee (a group of leading advocates led by Massachusetts Law Reform Institute) has been asked to devise ways to increase the amount of this work.
Communication among advocates and programs about goals, strategies, effective innovations and measurement of results is inadequate. We lack important knowledge about priorities, the allocations of resources among many competing possible goals, what the legal work produces for clients and the relationship of outcomes achieved to resources committed. Programs are being asked to invest time into increasing their knowledge of their use of resources and the outcomes of their work.
The Special Planning Committee will continue to meet and develop these actions in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.
Participation in the Boston Bar Association’s Task Force on the Civil Right to Counsel continues. The Task Force has completed two housing pilot projects studying the operation of a right to counsel for defined classes of tenants who would otherwise be likely to forfeit their rights. The Task Force is preparing its report and parallel statistical reports are available in draft.
Following a meeting of Co-Chair Gants with the leaders of affinity bar associations, the Women’s Bar Association is developing a seminar to teach young attorneys techniques for building viable law practices based on doing work for low-income clients and being compensated based on fee-shifting or attorney’s fee statutes. In addition, the Women’s Bar Association is developing a “Know Your Rights” program for leaders of Boston nonprofits focused on eradicating family homelessness, modeled after a unique program created by the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston discussed at the affinity bar meeting.
Exploring ways to support social service agencies that provide information, advice and advocacy to low-income agency clients dealing with legal problems in administrative and judicial proceedings, through such devices as improving and making easily available legal information through www.masslegalhelp.org.
V. Technology
The Commission is actively supporting improving online information about poverty law, including making more data available and making all data more easily readable in multiple languages. This work has included:
Co-sponsorship of the Massachusetts Justice Project application for Legal Services Corporation Technology Innovation Grants (TIG grants) for online access to and explanations of the forms required to modify child support orders; The work on the awarded grant was on time and on budget in 2011.
Development and distribution of a “button” that can be placed on any website (e.g., court, legal services program, social service agency or administrative agency) linking to MLRI’s website www.MassLegalHelp.org;
Collaborating with the Trial Court’s Special Advisor on Access to Justice Initiatives in development of online website information and forms in multiple languages; and
Collaborating with the Law Libraries of the Trial Court and Massachusetts Law Reform Institute in creation of an “ask the librarian” button on www.MassLegalHelp.org, which opens an instant message window to a Trial Court librarian who can guide the consumer to the desired information.
Creating a single, comprehensive webpage, available at www.MassLegalHelp.org, with links to all court-approved legal forms available online.
Support a successful application for a TIG grant by the Volunteer Lawyer’s Project to create a single website for access to all pro bono information and opportunities available across the state.
VI. Courts
Supporting the projects of the Special Advisor to the Trial Court on Access to Justice Initiatives , including the development of information centers in trial courts across the state, creating more forms available to self-representing litigants online and in multiple languages, and spreading the approval of limited access representation thoughout the trial courts.
Several years ago a special judicial committee issued guidelines for judges dealing with self-representing litigants. The Commission is now seeking to codify those guidelines in the Code of Judicial Conduct.
December 31, 2011
Access to Justice Update June 26, 2011
At its meeting May 26, 2011, the Commission heard reports from its Special Planning Committee and Revenue Enhancement Committee. The Commission adopted the Planning Committee's Interim Report, including the recommendation that the Interim Report be circulated for comments during the summer. Comments are due to Gerry Singsen at gerrysings@aol.com by July 29. For a copy of the Interim Report, please contact Gerry.
The Revenue Enhancement Committee's Progress Report included updates on the Attorney Registration Access to Justice Fee Add-On and the IOLTA Committee's preparation of Class Action Residual Toolkits. It also included recommendations, adopted by the Commission, to move forward with drafting a proposal to the Supreme Judicial Court to implement a pro hac vice fee and to work with Project Directors, Mass Law Reform, other statewide support programs, the regional delivery system and MLAC to cause legal services advocates to routinely claim attorney's fees in appropriate cases.
Access to Justice Update May 6, 2011
The next meeting of the Access to Justice Commission will take place on Thursday, May 26, at 3:00 pm in the Fifth Floor Conference Room of the Social Law Library in the John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston. The agenda for the meeting features reports and recommendations by the Commission’s Special Planning Committee and Revenue Enhancement Committee.
IN-HOUSE COUNSEL PRO BONO FORUM
Sponsored by the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission
MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
On Monday, May 16, the Commission is sponsoring a Forum discussing the important but sometimes overlooked role of corporate and other in-house lawyers in providing pro bono services for the poor. Two expert panels will address the possibilities and rewards of in-house pro bono programs. The panels will be followed by a Pro Bono Fair with representatives of various court initiatives and legal service agencies. ALL ARE WELCOME
For more information, or to RSVP, please contact Susan Finegan at SFinegan@mintz.com.
The Panels:
The Value of Corporate Counsel Participation in Pro Bono
Marc Gary, Executive Vice President and General Counsel,
Fidelity Investments
Esther Lardent, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pro Bono Institute
How to Start and Sustain an In-House Pro Bono Program
Kathleen McGrath, Senior Corporate Counsel, Liberty Mutual
William O’Brien, Pro Bono Chair, Association of Corporate Counsel – Northeast Chapter
Eve Runyon, Director, Corporate Pro Bono (a joint project of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Pro Bono Institute)
Dorothy Varon, Assistant Vice President and Counsel, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
LSC FUNDING FOR FY 2011 CUT BY $15.8 MILLION
The budget deal worked out between the two houses of Congress and President Obama to fund the federal government for the last five months of federal fiscal year 2011 (through September 30, 2011) included $404,190,000 for the Legal Services Corporation, a reduction of the LSC appropriation that totals $15.8 million. The cut in grants for direct services to clients came to 4% (Corporation management, Inspector General and two small grant programs were cut only 0.2%).
Unlike many of the cuts announced in the compromise, this reduction is real money in this year’s expenditures. Local legal services programs in Massachusetts will be cut about $243,000, which will translate into hundreds of low income families being turned away without legal help during the balance of the year.
This loss of funding comes on top of the drastic reduction in funding caused by low interest rates on IOLTA accounts. MLAC reports that programs if funds MLAC have seen their number of attorneys drop by nearly 25% and that more layoffs of attorneys, paralegals and other staff are in progress. At the same time, the number of people eligible for services from those MLAC-funded programs grew by 91,000 between 2007 and 2009.
Attempts by House Republican leaders to cut more deeply failed. The House voted 259 to 171 not to eliminate LSC funding entirely, and the House vote to cut $70 million did not make it into the final bill.
LSC FUNDING FOR FY 2012 UNCERTAIN
For federal fiscal year 2012 a serious battle seems inevitable. The Corporation has requested $516.5 million for FY 2012 (a 28% increase). President Obama’s budget proposal includes $450 for LSC and the House will probably have another vote to eliminate LSC entirely.
UPDATES March 2011
Funding Update: Legal Services Corporation
The Senate Appropriations version of the Appropriations Bill for the rest of FY 2011 has funding for LSC at the FY 2010 level, /$420 million. The House has already passed its version of the bill, with LSC at $70 million less. LSC estimates that if the House version prevails, it will result in lay-offs for 370 legal aid attorneys and 80,000 fewer cases being handled by LSC-funded legal aid programs.
Next Commission Meeting March 23
The next meeting of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission will take place at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, March 23, 2011, in the Fifth Floor Conference Room of the Social Law Library in the Adams Courthouse, Pemberton Square, Boston. The meeting is open to the public. The major discussions on the agenda concern a report on the plans of the Working Group on Websites and Technology and a presentation on pro bono opportunities and challenges by Esther F. Lardent, President and CEO of the Pro Bono Institute. Ms. Lardent was the founding director of the Volunteer Lawyers Project and is considered by many to be the nation's foremost expert on pro bono service to low income people.
The following meeting of the Commission is scheduled for May 26
Cruz Reynoso In Boston
Suffolk University Dean Camille A. Nelson has invited people interested in access to justice to a unique and compelling presentation. The film, "Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice", will be screened at 12:00 pm on Wednesday, March 23, at Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont Street in Boston. If you plan to attend, RSVP to Lou Brum at lbrum@suffolk.edu or 617-573-8157. The event will finish in time for you to attend the Commission meeting at 3:00.
Both Justice Reynoso and the filmmaker, Abby Ginzberg, will be present for the screening and will participate in the discussion that follows the film.
Cruz Reynoso was the Executive Director of California Rural Legal Assistance in the late '60s and early '70s, when CRLA established many of the principles of community-based, impact advocacy that inspired the OEO legal services movement. Reynoso and Gary Bellow worked together to establish basic rights for California's farmworkers, overcoming massive political and economic resistance. Their battles with then-Governor Ronald Reagan, and his aide Ed Meese, set the standard for high quality representation and set the stage for President Reagan's eight year attempt to defund the Legal Services Corporation. Reynoso later became the first Latino appointed to the California Supreme Court, a position he lost in a recall election which centered on his opposition to the death penalty.
Letters to Senators Brown and Kerry
Commission co-chairs Justice Ralph Gants and David Rosenberg have written to Senators Brown and Kerry to urge that they oppose the reduction of funding for the Legal Services Corporation proposed by the House of Representatives for FY 2011. In their letters they note the dire consequences for low income families if representation is not available to help with critical legal problems, and they also point out that providing timely representation saves money for the taxpayer in the long run.
Commissioners Appointed to Three Year Terms
The Supreme Judicial Court has reappointed six Commissioners to full three-year terms as their initial one-year appointments expired. The Commission’s members were all appointed last year, and the terms were staggered. The reappointed Commissioners were Ann Leavenworth, Sue Marsh, Judge Kathryn Hand, Richard McMahon, Allan Rodgers and Jay Thiel. In addition, the Court appointed a new Commissioners, Susan Finegan from Mintz Levin.
UPDATES February 27, 2011
FUNDING NEWS
Legal Services Corporation:
The next week or two will be critical in setting the final funding for LSC grantees in the current year. (LSC’s fiscal year begins October 1; LSC grants begin January 1.) The last Congress including annual funding for LSC at $420 million in an omnibus Continuing Resolution that was set to expire March 4.
On February 19, the House of Representatives adopted a proposed Continuing Resolution for the rest of the year which included major cuts in many programs. LSC was cut $70 million, to $350 million. This 17% cut would have to be absorbed by grantees during the remaining ten months of the calendar year, so it would effectively be a 20% cut. The four LSC grantees in Massachusetts are Merrimack Valley North Shore Legal Services, Volunteer Lawyers Project, New Center for Legal Advocacy and Massachusetts Justice Project; together they stand to lose about $1 million if the House Continuing Resolution becomes law.
The Senate will take up its version of the Continuing Resolution next week. Legal aid supporters are being urged to let their senators know that they should keep LSC at its current level for FY 2011. If the Senate stands firm at $420 million, the final figure will be determined in conference and submitted to the President, who could veto the measure if it cuts too deeply.
When a similar scenario played out in late 1995, President Clinton and the Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich could not reach an agreement and the federal government “shut down.” Various government agencies are making contingency plans for another shut down. Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee is considering a two-week extension of the Continuing Resolution to allow more time for negotiations.
Massachusetts
On February 22, hundreds of lawyers took time out of their busy days to “walk” to Beacon Hill and urge state legislators to support Governor Patrick’s proposal to level fund the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation at $9 million for fiscal year 2012. With IOLTA earnings at low ebb because of low interest rates and the slow economy, the state appropriation is particularly critical this year.
The assembled lawyers were greeted by leaders of the Equal Justice Coalition, Massachusetts Bar Association and Boston Bar Association. For the first time in the history of this annual event, the keynote address was delivered by a sitting justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. Associate Justice Ralph Gants, co-chair of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, inspired the crowd to work hard to achieve “justice for all” and reminded the legislature that “we can only provide justice for all if we pay for justice for all.” Justice Gants’ remarks are attached to this update.
OTHER NEWS
Lonnie Powers, MLAC Executive Director, writes in the current online edition of Nonprofit Quarterly (February 23, 2011), that the current funding challenges are the latest instance of cyclical rises and falls in the support for legal aid. The cycles are driven by hard economic times and by shifts in political ideology. Even though this history suggests that the crisis will pass, an unfortunate aspect of the history is that funding tends to be cut just when troubles in the economy increase the demand for legal aid services. He concludes that legal aid would do well to find fund sources that are not tied to the nation’s economic well-being and to do a better job of explaining to political opponents the ways that legal aid contributes to civic health. “Tied to the Railroad Track Once Again: The Perils of Legal Aid Funding,” Nonprofit Quarterly (February 23, 2011, http://bit.ly/h0x8QvThe Supreme Judicial Court has appointed six members of the Access to Justice Commission to full three-year terms on the Commission. Anne Leavenworth, Sue Marsh, Justice Kathryn Hand, Richard McMahon, Allan Rodgers and Jay Thiel had initially been appointed to one-year terms when the Commission was reconstituted in February 2010.
The Court also appointed a new Commissioner, Susan
Finegan of Mintz Levin, to a three-year term.
Commissioner Finegan has been working with the Commission on the
delivery of legal services through pro bono.
The Commission is planning to sponsor a May 16 gathering
of General Counsels to corporations and other institutions. The meeting’s purpose is to encourage more
pro bono work by in-house lawyers. New
Commissioner Sue Finegan is taking the lead in planning the session, which will
be held at the Adams Courthouse.
February 15, 2011 Access to Justice Update
The reconstituted Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission reached its first anniversary on February 15, 2011. It’s been a very busy year. You can review some of the new Commission’s accomplishments in the brief summary at the end of this Update, or on the Commission’s website at www.massaccesstojustice.org.
The next meeting of the Commission is scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, at 3:00 in the conference room of the Social Law Library in the Adams Courthouse. The meeting is open to the public. Among the agenda topics in March will be discussions of plans to improve technology and websites used in the state’s justice community and an exploration of the Commission’s role in advancing pro bono services for low income families and individuals.
FUNDING NEWS:
State Funding: The Walk to the Hill on Tuesday, February 22, at 11:00. The annual gathering of lawyers to urge legislators to support the appropriation for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation takes place in the State House next Tuesday. It was postponed from February 2 due to snow. Speakers include the Commission’s co-chair, Justice Ralph Gants. The Governor’s budget for FY 2012 keeps MLAC at $9.0 million, a very positive outcome in a year of budget cutting. Drop in on your legislative representatives and be back at your desk by 1:30. Read more: http://www.equaljusticecoalition.org/walk2011.html
Federal Funding:
Immediate Action Requested. The
Legal Services Corporation’s appropriation for FY 2011 (which began last
October) is under attack. Last fall the
Congress failed to pass the normal appropriation bills for the year, so the
federal government is running on a massive Continuing Resolution. Some House Republicans have proposed cutting LSC’s
portion of the Continuing Resolution by $70 million (from $420 million to $350
million). Since the grant years began
January 1, the effect of such a cut would be magnified by the need to absorb it
during just nine or ten months.
On Wednesday a more radical proposal, which would have
eliminated LSC entirely, was voted down in a bipartisan vote, 259 to 171.
But the $70 million cut will probably be closer, and may come this week. Supporters of LSC are urging everyone to
contact their Congressmen and Senators and urge votes in support of LSC
funding.
Eventually, Congress will turn to Fiscal Year 2012. The Obama administration has proposed funding LSC at $450 million for FY 2012, an increase of $30 million.
Other States: Many states face budget deficits deeper than Massachusetts’. Some of these states are nevertheless talking seriously about major increases in state funding for civil legal services. The Maryland Access to Justice Commission has issued a report calling for a right to counsel in civil cases; they estimate the cost at more than $100,000,000.
Jonathan Lippman, the Chief Judge of the New York Court
of Appeals, has proposed increasing his court’s budget for civil legal aid by
$100,000,000 over the next four years to assure that counsel is provided in cases
involving basic human needs. Legal Aid
programs in the Empire State currently spend about $200,000,000 per year. The Governor’s budget, however, does not include a comparable increase.
Also without a budget provision, the New York courts have
published new procedures designed to ensure that homeowners facing foreclosure
have the help of a lawyer. Chief Judge
Lippman commented that loss of a home was so consequential that the ruling in Gideon
v. Wainwright should be extended to cover foreclosures.
OTHER UPDATES
As the result of a collaboration between the Commission’s
Working Group on Websites and Technology, the Law Libraries of the Trial Court
and Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, the MLRI website devoted to providing
legal information to self-representing litigants, the MLRI website
www.masslegalhelp.org now includes the option to “ask the librarian.” Someone who wants help understanding a topic
just clicks on the link and opens an instant message window to one of the Trial
Court’s librarians, who will guide the consumer to the desired information.
The Massachusetts Bar Association adopted a resolution on January 21 endorsing the expansion of medical-legal partnerships in the Commonwealth. Among actions expected to follow the resolution is formation of a statewide pro bono panel to build pro bono capacity for MLP sites.
Access to Justice Headlines: The ABA’s Resource Center distributes email
updates on Access to Justice developments across the country. The February edition, which includes three
reports of activities in Massachusetts is attached for your information. If you would like to receive this publication
directly, send a request to Robert.Echols@comcast.net.
The Legal Services Corporation has hired James Sandman to
be its new President. A lawyer at Arnold
and Porter for 30 years (managing partner 1995-2005), Sandman most recently has
been serving as general counsel and chief legal officer for the District of
Columbia Public Schools. Sandman’s list
of accomplishments includes many public service offices and a major commitment
to enhancing pro bono services to the poor.
For a full biographical sketch, see www.lsc.gov/press/pressrelease_detail_2011_T274_R0.php
Citing economic pressures, Citizens Bank has implemented
a reduction of its IOLTA account interest rates despite requests from
throughout the legal community to maintain their leadership rate at 1%. They did increase the new rates above their
initial plan, and delay the effective date of the new rate, but the impact of
the cut will be a significant drop in total IOLTA revenue, creating further
economic pressures on the legal services programs that rely on IOLTA.
Update for November 17:
BERKMAN TECHNOLOGY REPORT RELEASED
The Special Advisor for Access to Justice Initiatives in the Trial Court, Hon. Dina Fein, has released the long-awaited Report of the Berkman Center on “Best Practices in the Use of Technology to Facilitate Access to Justice Initiatives” has been released to the access to justice community. The Report’s main topics relate activities in other states to provide clear, simple and up-to-date web content, facilitate completion of court forms online, employ better case management approaches, utilize e-filing and offer “human assistance.” The Report was prepared for the Trial Court as part of the work of the Special Advisor for Access to Justice Initiatives.
LSC TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION GRANT
Equally long-awaited, the Legal Services Corporation is expected to finally announce the Technology Innovation Grants (TIG) this month. The awards can be expected by Thanksgiving, according to LSC Board Chairman John Levi in a speech at the Civil Caucus on November 10 at the annual conference of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. Earlier in the month LSC announced that all applicants who were not receiving grants had been notified. The application of the Massachusetts Justice Project, supported by the Trial Court and the Commission, was not rejected, so it appears highly likely that a TIG grant to support development of online interview protocols, uniform forms and e-filing is coming to Massachusetts. Because of the delay, the process for awarding the next round of grants begins in January.
ACCESS TO JUSTICE FEE ACCUMULATES $302,000 IN FIRST TWO MONTHS
The Access to Justice Fee, an add-on to the annual attorney registration fee, accumulated more than $300,000 during the first two months of contributions. At this rate, contributions will total nearly $1 million during the first twelve months. Attorneys are free to "opt out" of the fee, and many are doing so, but the rate at which attorneys are choosing to help support legal assistance for low income residents is heartening.
COMMISSION ASKS CITIZENS BANK NOT TO LOWER IOLTA RATES
At its meeting November 17, the Commission adopted a letter to the President of Citizens Bank asking the Bank to rescind its plan to withdraw from its long-standing position as an IOLTA "leadership bank." Citizens has announced its intention to abandon the 1% leadership rate in favor of rates as low as 0.3%. Citizens is the largest IOLTA depository bank in the Commonwealth. If it implements the lower rates, Citizens will take about $2 million away from IOLTA revenue. The letter noted Citizens' advertising claim to "good citizenship" and questioned whether abandoning the legal needs of the poor in this time of hardship was consistent.
COMMISSION SUPPORTS MBA RESOLUTION ON LIMITED ASSISTANCE REPRESENTATION
On November 17 the Commission also adopted a letter urging the Massachusetts Bar Association to adopt a resolution supporting Limited Assistance Representation programs in the Trial Court. The resolution passed on the following day.
Updates for November 1:
Medical-Legal Partnership Annual Statewide Conference.
The Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston is sponsoring its second annual Network Conference for Medical Legal Partnership in Massachusetts on Monday, November 1 at the Hogan Campus Center at Holy Cross in Worcester. The all-day conference, expected to draw more than one hundred participants, features reports on developments of new and enlarging MLPs around the state, examinations of the roles of lawyers in producing health and medical personnel in improving access to justice, and thoughtful explorations of what may lie ahead for MLPs in the access to justice effort. See www.mlpboston.org.
Brooke Courthouse Information Center
The Trial Court Access to Justice Initiative has opened a public information center at the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse. Open daily from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm, volunteers greet court users and assist them with navigating the courthouse, obtaining basic information and finding legal resources. The volunteers include retired judges, law and college students and lawyers. Credit for the project goes to a Task Force lead by Worcester Housing Court First Justice Diana Horan and Boston Municipal Court General Counsel Cynthia Robinson Markey, and the leadership of the Trial Court’s Special Advisor on Access to Justice Initiatives, Hon. Dina Fein, and the Deputy Advisor Sandy Lundy. Retired District Court Judge Joseph Dever is providing oversight and recruiting volunteers.
Counsel Being Provided to Youths Facing Revocation of a Conditional Grant of Liberty.
After lengthy negotiations involving the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts, the Center for Public Representation, the Department of Youth Services and the Committee for Public Counsel Services, DYS-committed youths facing revocation of their conditional grant of liberty will be provided with state-assigned counsel for their administrative hearing appeals. Three CPCS- funded attorneys began taking cases in the Metro region in October and should go statewide within the year. Special credit goes to Barbara Kaban, Josh Dohan and the DYS leadership. The need for counsel in these proceedings was high-lighted in an Access to Justice Commission Report in 2007 and developed by the Boston Bar Association’s Task Force on the Civil Right to Counsel.
Commission Writes Bar Leaders in Support of Limited Assistance Representation
On October 1, 2010, the Commission’s co-chairs wrote to bar leaders in Massachusetts urging them to help with the implementation of Limited Assistance Representation by educating their members, providing website and written materials, including LAR certification data on bar referral panels and maintaining lists of qualified bar members. The letter notes that LAR is in operation in the Probate and Family Court, for civil cases in the Boston Municipal Court and in the Housing Court November 1.
Cy Pres Awards Boost Hard-Up Legal Aid, Pro Bono
Several legal aid programs in Massachusetts have received portions of $1.8 million in unclaimed settlement funds distributed to 111 programs in a nationwide class action case in the Circuit Court of Cook County, IL. Another $1.8 million was distributed to legal aid and pro bono programs in Illinois.
In Texas, a similar cy pres award resulted in $2.6 million for legal aid programs serving people with disabilities.
The Indiana Supreme Court has adopted a rule requiring that 25% of unclaimed class action residuals go to pro bono programs along with IOLTA funds.
LSC Update
Action is stalled on several fronts at LSC. In Congress, a “continuing resolution” holds LSC funding for FY 2011 (which began October 1) at 2010 levels. Congress will resume discussion of their differences over many funding bills, including LSC’s, after the mid-term elections. At LSC, the Inspector General has issued a draft report on the TIG (Technology Innovation Grants) program, LSC management has responded and the IG is reviewing the response. Meanwhile, grant awards for this year’s TIG grants are on hold, including one being sought by the Massachusetts Justice Project in conjunction with the Trial Court and the Access to Justice Commission.
All eleven members of the LSC Board appointed by President Obama have now been confirmed by the Senate, and they held their first meeting on October 18-19. One of the members, Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow, is Vice-chair of the Board and chairs the Board’s Governance and Performance Review Committee, which is developing short and long-term research agendas for LSC.
Updates for September 28:
Updates for July 15
Access to Justice Fee
On June 28 the Supreme Judicial Court adopted an amendment to Rule 4:03(1) of the Rules of the Supreme Judicial Court providing for a $51 voluntary annual fee whose proceeds shall be remitted to the IOLTA Committee for distribution to MLAC and the Massachusetts and Boston Bar Foundations "for use in the administration of justice and the provision of civil legal services to those who cannot afford them." Any attorney who does not wish to pay the voluntary fee can opt out of the fee by saying so. The decision to opt out will be kept confidential by the BBO. The rule change takes effect September 1, 2010.
The Access to Justice Commission considered a similar amendment during 2008-2009 and proposed it to the Court last year. This spring the Court issued a draft of the amendment for comment. The amendment provides for the Board of Bar Overseers to remit the fees collected at least quarterly to the IOLTA Committee, which should mean that funds will reach MLAC and the Bar Foundations by January.
House Subcommittee Approves $20 Million Increase for LSC, and Lifts Class Action Bar
On June 29 the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies approved a $440 million FY '11 budget for the Legal Services Corporation. If approved by the full Appropriations Committee, the House and the Senate, and then signed by the President, this would be a 5% increase over the current year's $420 million and would translate into an increase of about $300,000 for the state's four LSC grantees starting January 1, 2011.
Last year's appropriation removed the 1996 restriction on LSC grantees claiming or collecting attorneys fees. The House Subcommittee bill now would remove the 1996 bar on grantees instituting or participating in class action litigation. Other 1996 restrictions would remain in place, however, such as those on prisoner litigation, representation of some classes of aliens and many forms of lobbying. Also left in place is the "entity" restriction which applies the other restrictions to all activities of an LSC grantee, not just to the grantee's use of LSC funds. Many of the remaining restrictions would be eliminated under Senator Harkin's proposed reauthorization of the Legal Services Corporation Act of 1974 (which was last reauthorized in 1977).
The LSC press release can be found at http://www.lsc.gov/press/pressrelease_detail_2010_T261_R17.php
AMA Supports Medical-Legal Partnerships
At its Annual Meeting in June the American Medical Association embraced the legal profession . . . in a limited way. A policy was adopted urging physicians to form "medical-legal partnerships" with lawyers through which the lawyers address the legal situations that contribute to poor health. These partnerships have been spreading across the country in the last several years, usually involving a legal services program as one of the partners. The movement is based in Boston at the Boston Medical Center. For more information, see the websites of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnerships, http://www.medical-legalpartnership.org/, and of the original program, the Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston, http://www.mlpboston.org/.
Massachusetts Budget: Courts Cut, MLAC Level Funded
On June 30, Governor Patrick signed the budget for FY '11, including several appropriations that affect access to justice. In addition to the $17.5 million cut in the Trial Court budget proposed by the legislature, the Governor vetoed another $11.4 million for a total cut of almost $29 million. Many observers, including bar associations and the Access to Justice Commission, had urged that the deeper cuts be avoided.
The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, strongly supported by bar associations and the Equal Justice Coalition's "Walk to the Hill" managed to avoid a cut.
Updates for June 16
Guide for Court Staff: The Special Advisor on Access to Justice Initiatives in the Trial Court, Hon. Dina Fein, reports that the manual "Serving the Self-Represented Litigant: A Guide By and For Court Staff", prepared by the Steering Committee on Self-Represented Litigants chaired by Hon. Cynthia Cohen, has been made available to Trial Court staff and is expected to be posted on the Trial Court's website in the next few days. The Trial Court's Judicial Institute is planning a series of training programs for the fall.
Larry Tribe Announces Research Grant Program:
The internal Department of Justice newsletter, "Main Justice", carried the following story:
Tribe: ‘Endless Opportunities’ for Access to Justice Initiative
By Ryan J. Reilly | June 14, 2010 3:23 pm
Laurence Tribe, the Harvard University law professor who took leave of absence to become senior counselor at the Department of Justice focusing on indigent defendant issues, made his public debut on Monday at the National Institute for Justice conference in Arlington, Va.
Tribe — whose students have included PresidentBarack Obama, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski — announced that the initiative would be partnering with the NIJ to issue a new grant solicitation for access to justice related research.
Tribe joined the Justice Department in March to focus on the issue of access to counsel for the poor, which Attorney General Eric Holder hadcalled a “very serious problem.” But The New York Times reported that he had been given a “small staff, a limited budget, little concrete authority and a portfolio far less sweeping than the one he told friends he had hoped to take on in Washington.”
But during his speech on Monday, Tribe said the Access to Justice initiative, if backed by proper research, “could potentially transform the entire field and help narrow the gap between our aspirations of justice and the justice we actually deliver to our citizens. Narrow the gap between rhetoric and reality. There are truly endless opportunities.”
Tribe said he was happy to be working for an administration that had respect for scientific inquiry.
“I believe one of the greatest threats to progress is the casual, even contemptuous attitude towards evidence and reality that some people in positions of power have at times displayed,” Tribe said. “An attitude that has spread a brazen sense of willingness to censor and manipulate evidence for political gains. I am deeply grateful to serve for a president and in an administration that has respect for evidence-based reality.”
He encouraged the crowd to explore through research the potential for providing adequate defense services to the lower and middle-class.
“As many of you know, reforming indigent defense is a top priority for Attorney General Eric Holder and for the Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson,” Tribe said. “Currently, public defenders are hamstrung by a lack of research that shows not only that court defenders are necessary to guard and enhance justice, but also to examine what we strongly suspect is true: that good defenders appointed early in the case can create significant savings in the criminal justice system, often resulting in a net negative cost rather than a net positive cost.
The 2010 National Institute for Justice Conference continues through Wednesday.
http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/06/14/tribe-endless-opportunities-in-access-to-justice-initiative/
Update June
14, 2010
The next meeting of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission will be held on Thursday, June 17, at 3:00 in the fifth floor conference room of the Social Law Library in the John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston. The meeting is public.
The Agenda for the meeting includes a report on a special project undertaken by Commissioners Brent Henry and Sandra Jesse, discussion of the Working Group plans presented during the May meeting, a report by the Hon. Dina Fein, the Trial Court’s Special Advisor on Access to Justice Initiatives and a report by Consultant Singsen on the structure and funding of the Massachusetts justice community (deferred from March). The meeting is open to the public.
Allan Rodgers, Executive Director of Mass Law Reform Institute, has announced his plan to retire at the end of the year:
Hi all. I announced today to the staff and Board of MLRI that I plan to
retire on December 31 of this year. It's been a great experience for me
to have had most of my legal career with MLRI, and I've value all of the
colleagues with whom I've worked over the years. I turn 75 in August and
need to help MLRI get new leadership that will enable us to continue our
highly praised work. If you have any suggestions about how we can do
this well, please let us know.
Now on the Commission’s website are the memoranda of the six Working Groups of the Access to Justice Commission describing their objectives and work plans. The Working Groups presented their plans during the May 26 meeting of the Commission. The six Working Groups are the Delivery of Legal Services Working Group, Website and Technology Working Group, Administrative Justice Working Group, Probate and Family Court Practice Working Group, Housing Court Practice Working Group and the District Court / Boston Municipal Court Practice Working Group.
The Commission’s letter to Senate President Murray urging that the budget of the Trial Court not be so deeply cut, is also now available on the website. Identical letters were delivered to the Governor, Speaker DeLeo, Senators Panagiotakos and Creem and Representatives Murphy and O'Flaherty.
UPDATE MAY 20, 2010
The MBA report continues: "Fein explained her role as the special advisor on Access to Justice Initiatives and as a member of the Access to Justice Commission. She said it's important to "examine the work of the courts through the access to justice lens" and make as many improvements as possible without significant spending.
Already, she said, the Access to Justice Initiative is using a survey of court personnel last year to create a manual that helps explain to clerks the difference between providing legal help and legal advice, making uniform, multi-lingual forms that will be available online, planning for a pilot self-help center in the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse in Boston and expanding Limited Assistance Representation programs in the Trial Courts."
UPDATE APRIL 20, 2010'
1. At the March 23 meeting of the Access to Justice Commission, each Commissioner was asked to answer the question: “In the next two or three years, what is one specific thing I want the Commission to accomplish.” The answers are attached.
2. The next meeting of the Access to Justice Commission will take place on Wednesday May 26 at 3:00 p.m. in the 5th Floor Conference Room of the Social Law Library at the John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston. The meeting is public.A
t the meeting, each of the Commission’s Working Groups will outline the goals they plan to achieve during the next two to three years, the strategies they will use, the timetable for their projects and an initial look at who might be joining their working group.
3.
So far in the legislative process, MLAC’s funding is proposed to remain unchanged for FY 2011 at the same $9.5 million as in FY 2010. Prisoners Legal Services (formerly Mass Correctional Legal Services) is in the budget for $840,000 and Mental Health Legal Advisors for $707,599. The Governor’s budget proposes funding for CPCS that’s almost identical to the FY 2010 appropriation. However, CPCS overspent its budget by nearly $35 million in FY 2010 in order to fulfill its constitutional obligations.
4.
Harvard Law School is very much in the access to justice news. Harvard Law Dean Martha Minow is now Vice Chairman of the Legal Services Corporation Board, distinguished Professor Larry Tribe is the Special Advisor on Access to Justice to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, former dean and current Solicitor General Elena Kagan is on the short list of candidates for nomination to the Supreme Court and Harvard Law Graduate, President Barack Obama, is the one who will make the nomination.
6
. LSC has approved the Letter of Intent from the Massachusetts Justice Project on behalf of a consortium of legal services programs for a $250,000 Technology Innovation Grant to add new content to the consumer oriented website www.masslegalhelp.org. The Commission supported the application. Next step: the full grant application, due May 21.
7.
MLAC’s Annual Meeting is scheduled for 4:00 to 6:00 on Tuesday, May18, in the Conference Suite on the second floor of the Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, Boston.
