Management/Operations

Chief Justice Welcomes Independent Recommendation to Continue Legal Aid Funding

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.

Chief Justice Welcomes Independent Recommendation to Continue Legal Aid Funding

Chief Justice of Pennsylvania 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.

In 2002, the legislature passed the Access to Justice Act imposing a $10 fee on filings in state courts with $2 of that fee dedicated to direct funding of civil legal service organizations. That law is scheduled to expire in November 2012 unless reauthorized by the General Assembly.

Another temporary surcharge of $1 on filing fees that goes to fund legal services is slated to expire in January 2012. The LBFC report recommends the General Assembly consider making both fees a permanent source of funds for the legal aid program.

Performance Audit of Pennsylvania’s Access to Justice Act Finds Legal Aid System is Well Run

From Sam Milkes on the PLAN blog:

I’m pleased to report that today, the Performance Audit of Pennsylvania's Access to Justice Act (AJA) by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee was released.

This very in depth study of the operations of the IOLTA Board, PLAN, Inc. and the legal aid programs involved many hours of review, beginning in early December. It is really gratifying that this independent legislative body found the legal aid system to be well run.

The full report, which is one hundred pages long, can be found at the link below. A one-page Report Highlights document is also available at the corresponding link below.

State of Legal Aid Report

From Sam Milkes on the PLAN Blog:

Following is a State of Legal Aid Report, describing the significant activity undertaken by the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network in the past fiscal year.

Legal Aid Programs Produced an Impressive amount of Case Activity in the 2008-9 Fiscal Year.

In fiscal year 2008-9, there was a dramatic reduction in funding from the prior year, due to the declining IOLTA revenues, attached to lower interest rates. Despite this, the programs of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network were actually able to produce a higher number of cases than were produced in the prior fiscal year.

NWLS Online Application for Legal Aid

Application for civil legal aid from Northwestern Legal Services (NWLS) is now available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Northwestern Legal Services is a member of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network and provides free legal help in civil legal matters to clients in Cameron, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Mercer, McKean, Potter, Venango, & Warren Counties in northwestern Pennsylvania

The NWLS website, www.nwls.org, provides an online application that enables people to request legal services via the Internet. This online application process allows low-income individuals who cannot call the NWLS central intake unit during normal business hours, due to work or other commitments, to apply for service.

IRS Creates Online Search Tool for Easier Check On Information About Exempt Organizations

The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new online search tool, Exempt Organizations Select Check, to help users more easily find key information about tax-exempt organizations, such as federal tax status and filings.

EO Select Check also offers improved search functions and allows for organizations that have automatically lost their tax exemptions to be searched by EIN, name, city, state, ZIP Code, country, exemption type, and revocation posting date, rather than only by state.

Applications Sought for Legal Aid Programs to Host Americorp Fellows to Serve Veterans

Equal Justice Works is seeking highly organized legal aid organizations and organizations with strong legal services programs that have established ties to community organizations serving low-income veterans to apply to host between one (1) and four (4) AmeriCorps Legal Fellows in the 2012-2013 program year.

Selected organizations will act as a host to Fellows providing direct legal services to underserved active duty military, veterans and their families. Proposals will be accepted on other topics, but work with veterans is highly favored for this proposal.

Searching in Prime - Seek and Yee Shall Find... (2012)

The video below is a webinar conducted by Debbie Place of North Penn Legal Services on February 9, 2012 that reviewed the search functions in the Prime Case Management System. It is an updated version of a prior webinar that was presented on June 16, 2009.

LSC Schedules Census Data Webinar - January 24

The Legal Services Corporation will offer a webinar on how grantees can use Census Bureau data sets to estimate possible changes in their LSC funding levels based on the shifts in the geographic distribution of the nation’s poverty population since the 2000 decennial census.

The webinar will run from 12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Eastern on January 24, 2012. Information on how to participate will be published in the next issue LSC's newsletter, LSC Updates, and sent via email to executive directors.

LSC Seeks Comments on Census Data for Distributing Grants

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is seeking comment on a proposal to update the statutory requirement that LSC use poverty population data from the most recent decennial census for distribution of most LSC funding for legal services for the poor throughout the United States.

Current law requires use of decennial census data so that LSC can distribute basic field grants based on a per capita basis relative to the number of individuals in poverty within each LSC-designated geographic area. Because the 2010 decennial census did not provide information on the number of Americans in poverty in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, a change in current law is necessary.

Under the proposed change, the Bureau of the Census would determine the number of individuals in poverty in each LSC-designated geographic area using data other than the decennial census.

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