Fellowships 101: Video + Resources
If you missed last week’s Fellowships 101, we’ve got some resources for you: Delisa Moris’s presentation slides about PSJD online resources and Malik’s Walker’s slides slides about resources available from the Partnership for Public Service. (more…)
The Experience of Immigrants in D.C. Courts [Video]
On June 16, 2017 we hosted The Experience of Immigrants in D.C. Courts featuring Katie D’Adamo Guevara (Immigration Attorney, DC Public Defender Service) and Susannah Volpe (Associate Director, Ayuda). These immigration experts highlighted the relevant laws, provided a flowchart of legal processes, and identified the ways that clients involved in civil and criminal cases may come into contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. (more…)
DC Bar Foundation Awards Access to Justice Grants to Legal Services Providers East of the River
28 April 2017 Blog, East River of the River Profiles, Featured | Tags: bread for the city, Children's Law Center, DC Bar, legal aid, NLSP, tzedek, whitman-walker
The DC Bar Foundation recently announced the 2017 recipients of the Access to Justice Grants Program, which awards grants to DC-based organizations that provide free legal help to low-income DC residents. This year, over $4.5 million was awarded to more than thirty DC-based legal services providers, including more than $3 million in grant funding for providers assisting residents of underserved areas. In 2016, Access to Justice grantees served nearly 23,000 DC residents, 52 percent of whom live in Wards 7 and 8. In addition to the multiple legal services providers receiving grants to assist low-income and vulnerable citizens across DC, several grants will benefit East of the River residents directly. One new grantee for 2017, Tzedek DC, received funding to assist low-income DC residents in debt-related legal matters, including providing community outreach by partnering with the United Planning Organization in Ward 7. Bread for the City received continued funding for its community lawyering work at its offices on Good Hope Road SE. The project’s attorneys work directly with the community to help identify options to tackle issues affecting its residents and, when needed, provide substantial direct representation to the residents. The project focuses on affordable housing, housing conditions, and hiring practices. The grant awarded to Whitman-Walker Health will provide legal representation, counseling, and outreach to people living with HIV/AIDS and other low-income residents East of the River, through lawyers based at its Max Robinson Center in Southeast DC. Whitman-Walker offers free legal aid to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in DC, regardless of HIV status, and to health care patients regardless of sexual orientation, HIV status, and gender identity. Children’s Law Center received continued funding for its Healthy Together Medical-Legal Partnerships with Unity Healthcare’s Minnesota Avenue clinic in Northeast DC, and with clinics in Southeast DC. In this medical-legal collaboration, the lawyers provide services through the Unity Healthcare clinic and two Southeast clinics of the Children’s National Medical Center, working with families of CNMC patients to identify and resolve non-medical solutions to children’s health issues. Neighborhood Legal Services Program received continued funding to provide neighborhood-based legal aid in the areas of housing, family law, and public benefits through NLSP’s office Ward 7 on Polk Street NE, which will provide low-income residents of this underserved community with free and accessible legal assistance. And the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia received continued public funding to support their Southeast Neighborhood Access Project, which provides clients with access to lawyers who work in two neighborhood offices in Wards 7 and 8.
D.C. Bar Candidate Endorsements (2017)
By Susan Hoffman & Barbara Kagan
The D.C. Bar has over 100,000 members, and its leaders can influence the legal profession significantly. With this in mind, each year we endorse candidates for D.C. Bar leadership candidates who have demonstrated a commitment to pro bono service, the public-interest community, and access to justice.
This year, we hope that you’ll vote for the following candidates (listed alphabetically, and not in order of preference) between now and May 19th: (more…)
More Join Fight to Preserve LSC Funding
The White House’s $1.15 trillion budget calls for the defunding or eliminating a variety of programs and agencies, including the Legal Services Corporation. We previously reported on responses from LSC and its supporters. Other groups are joining chorus calling on Congress to fully fund LSC. Some recent highlights:
Trump Budget Would Eliminate Funding for Legal Services Corp.
This week the White House released its $1.15 trillion budget—which, among other things, that targets domestic programs and calls for eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, low-income heating assistance, and the AmeriCorps national-service program; it would also reduce funding for, among other things, Environmental Protection Agency, medical research, help for homeless veterans, and community-development grants.
Another agency on the chopping block is the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). In FY16, Congress gave LSC $385 million—less than one-ten-thousandth of the federal budget. Our court systems are not designed for people to go it alone; cutting or eliminating LSC funding would especially harm the elderly, victims of domestic violence, veterans, tenants, and those in rural areas. And in many places, LSC-funded legal-aid organizations are the only sources of civil-legal services.
Beth Harrison and the Future of Legal Aid
19 January 2017 Blog, East River of the River Profiles, Featured | Tags: housing, legal aid, pro bono
By Craig Welkener As DC’s affordable housing crisis deepens, Beth Harrison and other advocates have created an innovative program for people on the brink of eviction, pushing the boundaries of what has been possible in legal aid. By identifying at-risk tenants even before their eviction notices arrive, the Housing Right to Counsel Pilot Project is making real help more available than ever before. Although housing laws in the District are complex, the vast majority of individuals facing eviction are too poor to pay for an attorney. Legal services have historically been limited to those with the time to track down a nonprofit lawyer ahead of time, or those who take advantage of last minute, on-the-spot help provided by the Landlord Tenant Court-Based Legal Services Project. That project, which provides housing attorneys on a same-day basis, was funded by the city in 2007. However, that paradigm has begun to change, with the start of the Housing Right to Counsel Pilot Project. Beth Harrison, the director of the project, has worked in the trenches from the beginning. After earning her law degree from Harvard, Harrison arrived at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia in 2005 as an entry-level housing attorney. At that time, Legal Aid’s housing law program consisted of only three full-time staff attorneys, one fellow, and two loaned attorneys from law firms. The work received a boost in 2007, when the DC Council appropriated funds to subsidize legal counsel for the poor. Legal Aid’s housing work has grown since then to twelve permanent lawyers and three loaned associates. As Harrison explains, these changes have meant that advocates can serve more clients, and “a big piece of that has been the city’s choice to appropriate that funding.” But vast gaps remain. The DC Bar Pro Bono Center reports that currently 95% of tenants remain unrepresented, while 90% to 95% of landlords pay for an attorney. Systemic problems call for sustainable solutions. And the Housing Right to Counsel Pilot Project—run by Legal Aid, Bread for the City, Legal Counsel for the Elderly, and the DC Bar Pro Bono Center—is futuristic in its design. “We are reviewing all eviction cases as they are filed with the court,” Harrison explains. For approximately one out of every seven cases involving subsidized housing, “we send a letter saying we want to represent you.” If the tenant accepts the help, a lawyer begins working on their case pro bono—even before the tenant receives an eviction notice. The program began in 2015, and relies on a smorgasbord of local nonprofits and law firm pro bono work to accomplish the mission. By providing help exactly when people can use it the most, the Housing Right to Counsel Pilot Project has the potential to truly change the norm of the unrepresented tenant. Perhaps this is the wave of the future. Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie recently introduced the Expanding Access to Justice Act of 2016, which would increase funding for similar housing projects. Guaranteeing a broad “right to counsel … in civil cases involving fundamental human needs” is McDuffie’s long-term goal. Harrison is certainly inspired. “The legal work that we do here is incredibly challenging and rich. And the interaction with the clients of course is an ongoing benefit. It’s an ongoing inspiration to keep doing the work.” Craig Welkener is a volunteer with the Washington Council of Lawyers, a Ward 8 resident, and a Georgetown graduate clerking at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
Jobseeker Clinics East of the River
12 January 2017 Blog, East River of the River Profiles, Featured | Tags: clinics, jobseekers, pro bono
By Caroline Fleming
This January, Neighborhood Legal Services Program is partnering with DC Public Library to launch Unlocking Employment, a new series of free, community-based legal clinics. The clinics, which will be staffed by dedicated NLSP personnel, are supported by a grant from the LSC Pro Bono Innovation Fund; the grant will enable half-day pro bono legal clinics several times a month at two library branches: Bellevue/William O. Lockridge in Ward 8, and Benning/Dorothy I. Height Library in Ward 7. Volunteer lawyers will help low-income job-seekers address barriers to employment, including background checks, driver’s-license revocation, and discrimination.
2016 Legacy Award: Marsha Tucker
25 November 2016 Blog, Featured
By Nancy Lopez
This year is our 45th anniversary. When we got started back in 1971, we were run entirely by volunteers. Arnold & Porter’s Marsha Tucker, winner of our 2016 Legacy Award, was one of those volunteers, and she soon assumed many of the responsibilities for running the organization. Indeed, for many years our mailing address was Marsha’s office at Arnold & Porter. Marsha has made sustained, significant contributions to Washington Council of Lawyers, improving the organization by leaps and bounds along the way. As one of our board members observes, “it is hard to think of Washington Council of Lawyers without seeing Marsha Tucker in the background quietly figuring out what needs to be done and making sure it happens.” (more…)