Access to Justice

  • October 18, 2024

    How Denver Made Migrant Busing Work In Its Favor

    City of Denver officials began having discussions in 2022 about accommodating a potential influx of immigrants, amid reports of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott busing them out of his border state to Democratic cities.

  • October 18, 2024

    Akin Helps Free Falsely Convicted Nicaraguan Missionaries

    Thirteen people associated with the Texas-based evangelical missionary organization Mountain Gateway were released from a Nicaraguan prison in September following a monthslong pro bono effort by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to secure their freedom.

  • October 18, 2024

    It's Not Too Late For Attys To Help Safeguard Election

    With the presidential election mere weeks away, a small army of lawyers will deploy throughout the country in a nonpartisan effort to ensure the process is fair, smooth and safe.

  • October 18, 2024

    Narrow Ga. Ruling On Atty-Client Privilege Draws Concerns

    A recent divided Georgia Supreme Court decision found that jailhouse calls between a man convicted of assault and his then-attorney weren't off-limits to prosecutors, drawing concerns from some legal experts that the narrow reading of attorney-client privilege sets a "dangerous" precedent.

  • October 18, 2024

    Florida Legal Aid Groups On Front Lines Of Hurricane Relief

    Amid the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in recent weeks, legal aid workers in the Sunshine State are on the ground to assist vulnerable Floridians and ensure they get a fair shake.

  • October 16, 2024

    Pa. County Accused Of Widespread Juvenile Detention Abuse

    A former inmate at a county juvenile detention center in Pennsylvania is suing the county and multiple state officials, saying he was sexually abused at the detention center, victim of an epidemic of child abuse there.

  • October 15, 2024

    Chicago Wants To Ditch $50M Wrongful Conviction Verdict

    Chicago is asking a federal judge to overrule a jury that awarded $50 million to an innocent man wrongly convicted of first-degree murder, saying officers who allegedly coerced the man's confession are immune.

  • October 15, 2024

    Conn. AG Ends Challenge To Pay-To-Stay Prison Law

    The state of Connecticut and three people formerly imprisoned have agreed to dismiss a proposed class action challenging a 1997 law that allowed the state to bill people in prison nearly $118,000 per year for their incarceration, a figure said to result in the highest pay-to-stay bills nationwide.

  • October 11, 2024

    Seattle Police Guild Tells Judge Shooting Didn't Warrant Firing

    A Seattle police officers' union argued in Washington state court on Friday a former cop acted reasonably when she shot at a suspect fleeing in a stolen vehicle, defending an arbitrator's decision to downgrade her firing to a 60-day suspension amid a challenge by the city.

  • October 09, 2024

    Justices Fear Harm To Atty Reputations In Death Penalty Case

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas expressed concern during oral arguments this month about the reputational harm two former Oklahoma prosecutors were facing in light of the state's claim that they withheld evidence and presented false testimony to secure the conviction of a prisoner on death row — allegations over which the justices seem likely to order further proceedings.

  • October 09, 2024

    DC Judge Sanctions DOD For Destroying Gitmo Tapes

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday sanctioned the Pentagon for destroying dozens of video recordings of the torture of a Palestinian man imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay, barring the Pentagon from rebutting the man's testimony of what he endured.

  • October 08, 2024

    Dem Rep. Reintroduces Death Row Appeal Bill

    U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., has announced that he is reintroducing a bill that would ensure inmates on death row would have the opportunity to present new evidence pointing to their innocence.

  • October 08, 2024

    Ex-Cop Guilty Of Excessive Force After Officers Testify

    A federal jury in Indianapolis has convicted a former New Castle, Indiana, police officer of excessive force and witness tampering after a series of incidents in which prosecutors said he assaulted a suspect and two imprisoned persons, then lied to a state police detective.

  • October 08, 2024

    Justices Divided Over 'Prevailing Party' Status For Atty Fees

    The U.S. Supreme Court appeared noncommital on Tuesday while grappling with what constitutes a "prevailing party" for the purpose of awarding attorney fees in civil rights lawsuits, a question that has broad implications for both government agencies and legal advocacy groups.

  • October 02, 2024

    Atty 'Malfeasance' Upends NY Manslaughter Conviction

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

  • October 02, 2024

    Legal Services Corp. Counsel Joins Steptoe As Pro Bono Atty

    Carolyn Perez, who had supervised volunteer attorneys on pro bono representative matters at Legal Services Corporation, has joined Steptoe's D.C. team as pro bono counsel.

  • September 27, 2024

    As Climate Change Fuels Disasters, Legal Aid Needs Grow

    As the number of extreme weather events increases amid a changing climate, nonprofit legal organizations that serve low-income legal clients project increased demand for services related to natural disasters.

  • September 27, 2024

    A Jury Found Them Not Guilty. They're Still Serving Life

    Despite a federal jury acquitting Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne for the murder of a Virginia police officer nearly 25 years ago, the two men remain in prison for the crime. But with new evidence and a new lawyer, they're hoping to reverse the fraught, state-level guilty pleas that a federal judge later relied on to sentence them both to life behind bars.

  • September 27, 2024

    Texas Judge Lets Paxton Probe Of Immigration Nonprofit Go On

    Nonprofit legal services provider Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center lost a bid on Friday to halt the Texas attorney general's investigation of the organization's activities, with a federal judge saying the group waited too long to file its complaint.

  • September 27, 2024

    Texas Bar Seeks Non-Atty Rule Changes To Fill Justice Gap

    The State Bar of Texas on Friday laid out a series of proposed changes to pending rules set forth by the state Supreme Court for allowing non-attorneys to perform some legal services, citing the need to increase the educational requirements and prohibit certain fee arrangements.

  • September 26, 2024

    Immigrant Legal Aid Group Sues Over Texas AG's Probe

    The nonprofit legal services provider Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday accusing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of trying to chill protected activity — suing two days before it was due to turn over information from the low-income immigrants it serves to the AG.

  • September 26, 2024

    Pro Bono Attorney Hub Paladin Teams With JusticeServer

    Free legal assistance platform Paladin announced a partnership with JusticeServer, a case management solution, to connect volunteers and clients seamlessly between the two software providers.

  • September 25, 2024

    Ohio Judge Removed For Jailing People Over Court Costs

    The Ohio Supreme Court removed a state municipal judge from the bench and suspended him from practicing law for 18 months after he jailed two people for failing to pay court costs and coerced 14 others into paying fines and costs by threatening to lock them up without due process.

  • September 19, 2024

    8th Circ. Says No Detention Time Limit For Deportees

    The Eighth Circuit has ruled that a district court wrongly determined that the due process rights of an Ivory Coast native convicted of robbery were violated after he spent a year in federal custody waiting for a removal decision.

  • September 19, 2024

    Pro Bono Platform Launches Election Protection Portal

    Free legal assistance platform Paladin announced the launch of a new volunteer portal for attorneys and other professionals focused on election protection.

Expert Analysis

  • Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • Public Interest Attorneys Are Key To Preserving Voting Rights

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    Fourteen states passed laws restricting or limiting voting access last year, highlighting the need to support public interest lawyers who serve as bulwarks against such antidemocratic actions — especially in an election year, says Verna Williams at Equal Justice Works.

  • Officers' Failure To Appear In Court Undermines Justice

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    Ten years of data from Philadelphia show that police officers frequently fail to appear at court hearings for which they’re subpoenaed, which has numerous consequences for defendants, crime victims and the smooth functioning of the criminal legal system, say Lindsay Graef, Sandra Mayson and Aurelie Ouss at the University of Pennsylvania and Megan Stevenson at the University of Virginia.

  • Criminal Defendants Should Have Access To Foreign Evidence

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    A New Jersey federal court recently ordered prosecutors to obtain evidence from India on behalf of the former Cognizant Technology executives they’re prosecuting — a precedent that other courts should follow to make cross-border evidentiary requests more fair and efficient, say Kaylana Mueller-Hsia and Rebecca Wexler at UC Berkeley School of Law.

  • Justices' Forfeiture Ruling Resolves Nonexistent Split

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McIntosh v. U.S., holding that a trial court’s failure to enter a preliminary criminal forfeiture order prior to sentencing doesn’t bar its entry later, is unusual in that it settles an issue on which the lower courts were not divided — but it may apply in certain forfeiture disputes, says Stefan Cassella at Asset Forfeiture Law.

  • Advocating For Disability Rights In Probation And Parole

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    While the U.S. continues to over-police people with disabilities, defense attorneys can play a crucial role in ensuring that clients with disabilities who are on probation or parole have access to the accommodations they need and to which they are legally entitled, says Allison Frankel at the ACLU.

  • 11th Circ. Block Of 'Stop WOKE' Act Is Good For Public Safety

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    The Eleventh Circuit’s recent decision to uphold an injunction of Florida’s so-called Stop WOKE Act, a law that curtails workplace diversity training, means that law enforcement can continue receiving such training — an essential step toward more equitable policing and public safety, say Miriam Krinsky at Fair and Just Prosecution and Diane Goldstein at Law Enforcement Action Partnership.

  • Prosecutors' Growing Case Backlogs Need Urgent Attention

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    Growing case backlogs in prosecutors' offices around the country affect the functioning of the entire criminal legal system, so the problem's root causes must be immediately addressed, say Minnesota county prosecutor John Choi and Montana county prosecutor Audrey Cromwell.

  • Context Is Everything In Justices' Sentencing Relief Decision

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    In the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Pulsifer v. U.S. decision, limiting the number of drug offenders eligible for sentencing relief, the majority and dissent adopted very different contextual frames for interpreting the meaning of “and” — with the practical impact being that thousands more defendants will be subject to severe mandatory minimums, says Douglas Berman at Moritz College of Law​​​​​​​.

  • Passing The HALT Fentanyl Act Will Repeat Past Mistakes

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    The war on drugs has failed, with overdose deaths at an all-time high despite decades of criminalization, so lawmakers should vote no on the HALT Fentanyl Act's proposal to impose lengthy mandatory minimum sentences for fentanyl-related drug offenses, says Liz Komar at The Sentencing Project.

  • Behind The Unique Hurdles Of Rural Access To Justice

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    While rural access to justice has become conflated with access to lawyers, the two are not synonymous, and in order to solve both issues, it is critical to further examine the role and impact of resident attorneys in these communities, say Daria Fisher Page and Brian Farrell at the University of Iowa College of Law.

  • Compassionate Release Grants Needed Now More Than Ever

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    After the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recent expansion of the criteria for determining compassionate release eligibility, courts should grant such motions more frequently in light of the inherently dangerous conditions presented by increasingly understaffed and overpopulated federal prisons, say Alan Ellis and Mark Allenbaugh at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • Justices' Double Jeopardy Ruling Preserves Acquittal Sanctity

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision last week in McElrath v. Georgia, barring the state from retrying a man acquitted of murder after a so-called repugnant verdict, is significant in the tangled web of double jeopardy jurisprudence for its brief and unequivocal protection of an acquittal’s finality, says Lissa Griffin at Pace Law School.

  • NY Must Address Urgent Need For Immigration Legal Aid

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    The recent influx of migrants to New York has exposed the urgent need for state legislators to make a long-term investment in sustainable immigration legal services infrastructure, supervision and training, say Marielena Hincapié and Stephen Yale-Loehr at Cornell Law.

  • 911 Call Scrutiny Should Not Be Used To Identify Suspects

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    Though the use of 911 call analysis to identify suspects continues to spread across the country, this scientifically unproven method opens the door to wrongful convictions, so prosecutors should review investigations that relied on the technique, and lawmakers should ban it nationwide, say Miriam Krinsky at Fair and Just Prosecution and Isabelle Cohn at the Innocence Project.

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