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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2024

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How Court Fees Can Keep Poor NYers From Inheriting Homes

By Marco Poggio

Inheriting property in New York means going through the state surrogate’s court system, where filing fees can run more than $1,000. While state law allows low-income residents to have their fees waived, legal aid attorneys say that courts sometimes refuse to apply it.

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Pushing To Make The Formerly Incarcerated A Protected Class

By Jack Karp

After a pair of formerly incarcerated activists helped convince local leaders in Atlanta to extend anti-discrimination protections to people with criminal records by making them a legally protected class, they and others are now working to get more cities — and eventually maybe the federal government — to do the same.

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Pro Bono Spotlight

3 BigLaw Firms Guide Trans Rights Groups In Pending Merger

By Alison Knezevich

A trio of large law firms are providing pro bono representation to help two national transgender civil rights organizations navigate a planned merger that the groups' leaders say will amplify their voices as they advocate for trans people across the country.

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Q&A

ACLU Atty On How To Protect Civil Liberties In The AI Era

By Hannah Albarazi

Because artificial intelligence and algorithmic systems often operate in the shadows, there's a new need for legislation, regulation and enforcement to ensure the technology doesn't undercut civil liberties by engaging in discrimination in housing, education or employment, according to Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

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High Court Will Review Okla. Inmate's Innocence Claim

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the case of an Oklahoma death row inmate who defense attorneys and the state's attorney general agree was wrongfully convicted of the 1997 killing of an Oklahoma City man because prosecutors failed to turn over critical information about their key witness.

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Birmingham, Ala., Hit with $4.5M Verdict Over Police Shooting

By Jonathan Capriel

An Alabama federal jury hit the city of Birmingham with a $4.5 million verdict over a fatal police shooting, finding that a city officer violated the constitutional rights of two people when he fired upon them while they were immobilized in a vehicle at the end of a car chase.

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Seattle Settles BLM Protesters' Police Brutality Suit For $10M

By Rachel Riley

The city of Seattle has agreed to a $10 million settlement to end a lawsuit brought by more than 50 protesters who say they were brutalized by its police force during Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the summer of 2020.

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Perspectives

6 Practice Pointers For Pro Bono Immigration Practice

An attorney taking on their first pro bono immigration matter may find the law and procedures beguiling, but understanding key deadlines, the significance of individual immigration judges' rules and specialized aspects of the practice can help avoid common missteps, says Steven Malm at Haynes Boone.

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Perspectives

911 Call Scrutiny Should Not Be Used To Identify Suspects

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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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2024 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of its publications to serve as members of its 2024 editorial advisory boards.

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