by Sam Milkes on the PLAN blog

On April 17, 2012, the White House hosted a forum on the current state of Civil Legal Assistance in the United States. The forum, which was co-hosted by the Legal Services Corporation, looked at the critical role of civil legal assistance for the poor in fulfilling the promise of “justice for all,”’ and in maintaining America’s commitment to the rule of law, two nonpartisan issues that are fundamental to our way of life.

More than 200 national leaders attended the forum, which featured addresses from President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. President Obama said that making civil legal assistance available to low-income Americans is “central to our notion of equal justice under the law,” and pledged to be a “fierce defender and advocate” for legal services.

Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was in attendance as one of five state court chief justices invited to attend the forum.

by Sam Milkes, Executive Director

The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts issued the following release regarding a letter Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille is directing toward Pennsylvania attorneys concerning the current funding crisis in legal aid in Pennsylvania and the need for an additional commitment toward pro bono service to help fill the gap for Pennsylvanians in need of legal assistance.

The announcement yesterday from the Governor’s Budget Office that funding to civil legal aid is being cut by 10% is devastating news. Because the immediate cut occurs half way into the fiscal year, spending of state funds for the remainder of the fiscal year will now have to be cut by 20%.

On Wednesday, November 09, 2011, American Bar Association President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III visited the Harrisburg office of MidPenn Legal Services, the legal aid program providing vital legal services in the 18 county area of central Pennsylvania.

Judge John E. Jones III, Federal Judge of the Middle District of Pennsylvania also attended the meeting, with representatives of MidPenn, including its Executive Director, Rhodia Thomas, the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Executive Director, Samuel Milkes, and the Executive Director of the Supreme Court’s Pa. IOLTA program, Al Azen. Jim DeAngelo participated as a member of the board of MidPenn and PLAN, Inc. as Chair of the Dauphin County Pro Bono Program, and as a Past President of the Dauphin County Bar Association. David Trevaskis, pro bono staff and the Pa. Bar Association, and Sandy Ballard, pro bono staff person for the Dauphin County Bar Association also attended. Representatives of the Administrative office of the Pennsylvania Courts, including, Tom Darr, Deputy Court Administrator of Pennsylvania, also attended.

Click title to read full blog post.

On August 23 the New York Times published an editorial entitled, Addressing the Justice Gap on its website.

This editorial discusses the current situation in America where experts estimate that four-fifths of low-income people have no access to a lawyer when they need one. This coupled with research showing that litigants representing themselves often fare less well than those with lawyers, creates a "justice gap" that falls heavily on the poor.

From Sam Milkes on the PLAN Blog:

Wednesday night, the state budget was adopted by the House, following Tuesday’s Senate vote. This sends the budget to the Governor, who has signed it. Legal services funding is cut by $274,000, plus a cut of $30,000 due to a freeze of funding occurring during the 2010-11 fiscal year. Combined, this is a cut of 10% from last year’s appropriation of $3.039 million. The Governor had proposed funding at $3.009 million. We were disappointed to witness a cut in our funding but pleased to see continuing support for funding legal services programs, particularly in such a tight budget year. This action is combined with federal social services block grant funding the state appropriates, which stayed the same, at $5.049 million and it is combined with cuts in some one-time stimulus funding that will not continue into fiscal year 2011-12.

By a vote of 187-14, the House also concurred in the Senate’s amendment to HB 38, which extends the sunset on the supplemental filing fee, funding legal services and the courts, to December 31, 2014. Without this action, this fee would have expired in January 2012. With the fee, there will be an additional $1 to 1.3 million of funding to legal services from what was projected with the January sunset. We had hoped to accomplish a complete lifting of the sunset on the supplemental fee and the sunset on the original fee (that sunset is October 2012) but are pleased that this action removes some of the pressure and uncertainties from the FY 2011-12 funding picture.

From Sam Milkes on the PLAN Blog:

On June 20 the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of Turner v. Rogers. This case deals with the question of whether a non-payer in a civil child support contempt case is entitled to a right to counsel when there is a risk of incarceration. While the holding in the case was that this defendant’s due process rights were violated, it is very disappointing that the court could find there was not a right to counsel, for a person who was low income, could not afford counsel, and was sentenced to 12 months incarceration for his failure to pay support.

The Court held that under the circumstances of this case, Turner’s incarceration violated due process, but it also found that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause does not automatically require the State to provide counsel in such civil contempt proceedings.

From Sam Milkes on the PLAN blog:

The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts has published  a News Release stating that Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille today praised the PA Legal Aid Network for the positive performance audit received from the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee yesterday on its oversight of Access to Justice funds.

He also strongly agreed with the audit’s finding that the funding sources for legal aid for the state’s most vulnerable citizens – those who don’t have the financial means to access the courts – should be made permanent.

Click on the title above to read the full blog entry and News Release.