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Here are the latest news items of interest to the legal aid community and it's clients. Click article headline for full story.

CLS and PUP Announce New Resource Website for Unemployed
09/02/2010

Community Legal Services, Inc.Unemployed Pennsylvanians can now access resources and information about long-term unemployment at PennsylvaniaUnemployed.org, a new website developed by the Philadelphia Unemployment Project and Community Legal Services.

Philadelphia Unemployment Project (PUP) and Community Legal Services (CLS), two community based nonprofit organizations that advocate on behalf of low-income workers in Pennsylvania, created the website in response to the growing number of Pennsylvanians who have exhausted their unemployment benefits – more than 51,000 by September 1, 2010.

PALawHELP.org News, PLAN E-News
Pennsylvania Judiciary Launches New Interactive Access to Court Information
09/02/2010

The Pennsylvania Judiciary Web site has expanded its reach to court information and services through a new online feature that makes it easier for the public to interact with the Judiciary.

Starting on August 25, visitors to the Unified Judicial System (UJS) home page at www.pacourts.us can access the new “Public Comments” page by clicking on a specially designated box in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

Anyone can go online and report a problem, or submit a comment, about the judicial system and receive a response from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC). A mailing address and fax number also are provided as alternative ways to send a message.

PLAN E-News
Social Security Checks Arriving Early Along Atlantic Coast
09/01/2010

Money Will Get to Atlantic Coast Residents Ahead of Hurricane Earl

Visit www.SocialSecurity.govMichael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that benefit checks are being delivered to some Atlantic coast residents on Thursday, September 2nd, before the arrival of Hurricane Earl and ahead of the regular September 3rd payment date.

About 737,000 beneficiaries in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. are affected by this early check delivery.

Social Security worked closely with the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of the Treasury to make the early delivery of checks possible. Click the title for the full story, including a list of zip code areas where beneficiaries will receive early delivery.

PALawHELP.org News, PLAN E-News
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation and PA IOLTA Board Launchs Statewide Loan Repayment Assistance Program
09/01/2010

The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) Board have partnered to launch a statewide loan repayment assistance program (LRAP) to help attorneys employed at IOLTA-funded legal services organizations better manage their law school loan debt and to help IOLTA-funded legal aid organizations recruit and retain the best and the brightest attorneys for service in the public good.

The new program will provide for one-year loans, payable to qualified attorneys quarterly, with a 12-month employment requirement at qualifying organizations. Providing a participating attorney continues to meet the eligibility requirements, the attorney can apply for and receive up to ten, one-year loans over his/her tenure in qualified employment. The loans will be used to repay loans incurred for undergraduate and law school education costs and will be forgiven at the end of each year if eligibility requirements have been met.

PLAN E-News
Out-of-state Attorney Admission Fees Increased
08/30/2010

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has increased fees for out-of-state lawyers who practice in the Commonwealth in order to finance a student loan forgiveness program for attorneys employed by agencies that help people who cannot afford legal representation.

The adjustment in fees from $100 to $200 applies only to attorneys eligible to practice in Pennsylvania as counsel pro hac vice — a legal term meaning “for this occasion.” The fee boost, which takes effect in 30 days, follows the Supreme Court’s recent decision to designate proceeds from the fee into the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, or LRAP, administered by the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation.

Beginning September 1, the Bar Foundation will receive loan applications from attorneys working for qualified agencies that provide legal assistance in civil matters to indigent Pennsylvanians. The LRAP loans will be forgiven if the attorneys remain employed at the legal aid organizations for one year.

PLAN E-News