Access to Justice

SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2023

Black Miss. Judges Speak Out Against GOP Court Overhaul

By Daniel Connolly

Mississippi’s Republican-controlled and majority white state Legislature is pushing to install new, unelected judges in Jackson, the majority Black state capital — but Jackson’s elected Black judges are pushing back.

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Inside The Settlement Over ICE's 'Steak Out' Raid In Tenn.

By Marco Poggio

Nearly five years after federal agents stormed a Tennessee meatpacking plant and arrested over 100 Latino workers, U.S. government agencies agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million in damages to settle a class action accusing the officers of targeting the employees on the basis of their ethnicity and using excessive force. Lead attorneys for the plaintiffs broke down the case for Law360.

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Pandemic Exposed Excessive NY Child Removals, Attys Argue

By Marco Poggio

A feared spike in child mistreatment amid New York City's pandemic lockdown, as the city’s child welfare system nearly shut down, never happened. In a study published last week, advocates say that proves the system regularly removes far more children from their families than necessary.

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All Access

Homer Plessy's Anti-Segregation Legal Fight Gets New Coda

By Ivan Moreno

A book about the unlikely friendship between descendants of the opposing parties in the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case upholding racial segregation has been updated to include a new coda: the recent move to pardon Homer Plessy for having boarded a whites-only train in 1892.

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How Legal Aid Groups Are Using Artificial Intelligence Tools

By Sarah Martinson

Legal tech companies Casetext and Relativity have partnered with several legal aid organizations to give them access to their artificial intelligence tools. Here is a look at how these groups are using the tools and what it means for access to justice.

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Bipartisan Report Recommends Axing Mandatory Minimums

By Ryan Boysen

A new study co-chaired by Sally Yates, the Obama administration's former deputy attorney general, and former Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy recommends doing away with mandatory minimum sentences and increasing parole opportunities to cut down on long prison sentences, which they say are often wasteful and ineffective.

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Mich. High Court Mulls New Rule That Helps Indigent Clients

By Aaron West

The Michigan Supreme Court is eyeing a change to the state's rules of professional conduct that would allow attorneys to help certain clients out with transportation and other amenities during court proceedings, potentially furthering the court's recent focus on increasing access to justice in the state.

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Pa. Gov. Calls For State-Level Public Defender Funding

By James Boyle

Gov. Josh Shapiro urged members of the Philadelphia Bar Association on Wednesday to support dedicating $10 million of his $44 billion budget proposal to end Pennsylvania's distinction as being the only state to not provide state-level funding to public defenders.

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Reed Smith's Sachnoff Remembered As Pro Bono Icon

By Adrian Cruz

The Chicago legal community is mourning the loss of longtime Reed Smith LLP attorney Lowell Sachnoff while celebrating his impact, which ranged from passionately advocating for the rights of transgender people and for prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay to mentoring generations of young lawyers he affectionately called his "ducklings."

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Perspectives

Eviction Cases Need Tiered Legal Help, Not Unlimited Counsel

The concept of right to counsel in civil cases, particularly in the context of evictions, is hotly debated, but rather than giving every tenant full representation regardless of the merits of their case, we should be focused on ensuring that everyone has the right amount of legal help, says Bob Glaves at the Chicago Bar Foundation.

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