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legal aid

Legal Aid Center addresses Las Vegas-area evictions as rental help winds down

With a key source of pandemic-era rental help winding down in Southern Nevada, legal aid groups are pushing for more tenant protections.

Jonathan Norman, policy director for the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers, said Tuesday that he hopes state lawmakers extend “in some form” a law that pauses eviction proceedings if the tenant is already applying for rental assistance. The measure, Assembly Bill 486, was approved in 2021 but expires this June. The next session of the Nevada Legislature begins next month.

He said Nevada should also switch to a “more normalized” procedure that doesn’t put the onus on renters to file with the court first in an eviction case; allow only one application fee per unit at a time, to stop any “unscrupulous” landlords from making additional money that way; and give evicted tenants more time before they have to leave.

Norman and others spoke during a briefing held by the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, which said in a news release ahead of the briefing that tens of thousands of Clark County households are struggling to pay rent.

Housing affordability and evictions comprising “the biggest issue facing our community,” the release said, adding the Civil Law Self-Help Center at downtown Las Vegas’ Regional Justice Center is assisting “300 people a day who are seeking help because they are at imminent risk of eviction.”

“If you run into someone who doesn’t think there’s an eviction crisis, send them there,” Barbara Buckley, executive director of the Legal Aid Center, said Tuesday.

Her group convened the gathering as Las Vegas’ rental market faces the expiration of a key source of financial help.

Launched in response to the pandemic, Clark County’s emergency rental assistance program will no longer accept applications starting Jan. 23, county officials announced late last month.

Since

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January 20, 2023 by LEGAL

Legal aid agencies help recover unpaid wages
[Photo/VCG]

Legal aid agencies nationwide provided 1.48 million times of legal consultations to migrant workers and helped them recover nearly 5.5 billion yuan ($820 million) in unpaid wages from January to November last year, according to the Ministry of Justice.

These legal aid agencies also handled nearly 400,000 cases filed by migrant workers and offered assistance to 437,000 migrant workers during the period, said the ministry.

Judicial administrative organizations at all levels have made migrant workers a key target of public legal services, and made full use of public legal service entities, hotlines and online platforms to provide free legal advice and other services to them.

Green channels for migrant workers to demand their unpaid salary have also been opened, and their cases are prioritized in acceptance, examination and assignment. The authorities at all levels have also introduced multiple measures to provide convenient and efficient legal aid services for migrant workers, said the ministry.

Besides, the authorities have taken advantage of the China legal service website in providing remote services to migrant workers, as the operators answer messages and inquiries, collect clues on unpaid wages, and transfer the cases to legal aid centers in a timely manner, said the ministry.

In 2022, the network answered more than 28,000 legal consultations on labor remuneration for migrant workers, and transferred more than 11,000 unpaid wages cases to local legal aid agencies, involving more than 330,000 migrant workers.

From January to September in 2022, the mediation organization nationwide resolved more than 110,000 disputes involving migrant workers and resolved more than 70,000 disputes over unpaid wages for them, according to the ministry.

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January 19, 2023 by LEGAL

Legal aid, free advice and virtue signaling | Featured

Under the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949, 80% of the population of England and Wales became eligible for legal aid which was administered by the Law Society and applied to those of ‘small or moderate means’.

Matthew Shankland

Chloe O'Brien

Since then, successive cuts to legal aid by various governments have significantly reduced its scope, eligibility criteria and payments. The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 removed legal aid provisions for most areas of civil law including family, employment, welfare benefits, immigration and housing law.

Cuts to legal aid fees for lawyers have resulted in solicitors and barristers leaving certain practice areas or not going into them in the first place. In such circumstances, even if someone is eligible for legal aid, there may not be a lawyer to provide the service.

Pro bono legal work has been an integral part of the profession since medieval times. Today, most regional, City and international law firms have established sophisticated pro bono practices alongside their fee-earning work.

Contrary to what some believe, it is not simply a box-ticking exercise. Specialist pro bono programs are run by dedicated, full-time pro bono professionals who work closely with senior leadership and community organizations to channel the skills of lawyers effectively towards helping those who need it most. Training in relevant areas of law (secondary specializations) or partnering with established practitioners is key to their success.

A central rule of true pro bono programs is that work should not be done pro bono if it is covered by legal aid. Pro bono programs may complement the legal aid system, but an important feature is that the work was never intended to be paid for in the first place. This can be contrasted with the unfair situation in which many legal aid lawyers find themselves –

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January 16, 2023 by LEGAL

Ministers refuse to budge on civil legal aid timetable | News

The timetable for the government’s major review of the civil legal aid system will not be brought forward, ministers signaled today.

The Ministry of Justice’s announcement states that the final report will be published in 2024, which suggests any measures to save the shrinking sector may not be implemented until late 2024 at the earliest – in the likely runup to the next general election.

Labor’s Andy Slaughter pressed ministers on the timetable in the Commons today. ‘The [review] is an admission that the cuts brought in by the LASPO act have left the civil courts in a dysfunctional state, with a third of providers out of business and longer and longer delays in proceedings. The timetable for review takes its implementation beyond the general election, which is another abdication of responsibility for the chaos in the courts they’ve caused. Shouldn’t they bring forward either the review or the general election?’

Justice minister Mike Freer replied: ‘In terms of reform of all parts of the justice system, it is a priority. But within the spending envelope that we’re operating in, we have to spend the money where we can get the best return for our investment. If the honorable gentleman has some serious options for how we can spend the money better, then I’m all ears.’

Mike Freer

The Law Society and Bar Council have already voiced concern about the timetable, with Bar Council chair Nick Vineall KC warning that the delay ‘creates a threat in itself’.

The Legal Aid Practitioners Group urged the government to act on existing data and the recommendations of experts from across the profession to implement solutions as quickly as possible.

LAPG co-chairs Nicola Mackintosh and Jenny Beck said: ‘Civil legal aid fees have not increased in 30 years, and indeed have been cut in

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January 13, 2023 by LEGAL

The Legal Aid Society urges major to be transparent about evidence lost in the NYPD warehouse fire

Dec 22, 2022, 1:45amUpdated 4d ago

By: News 12 Staff

The Legal Aid Society wants Major Eric Adams to be clear about what was lost when a fire damaged an NYPD warehouse in Brooklyn.

The group is concerned that when the warehouse that stored decades of DNA evidence in Red Hook went up in flames earlier this month, it may have changed the fate of those who were wrongfully convicted.

Elizabeth Felber, with the Legal Aid Society, says DNA is the gold standard for evidence and criminal justice and that is why this fire is detrimental to the system’s flow.

This is why the group has penned a letter to the major to be more transparent.

“We want an accounting of what was destroyed. We want to know every single item that was in that facility…whether it is still in any kind of condition to be tested, which seems unlikely. What clients do those items correspond to, whose cases were affected by this fire,” Felber says.

She adds that the Legal Aid Society also wants a committee that includes those who have been wrongfully convicted, public defenders, district attorney offices, the mayor and NYPD to come up with a plan to make sure DNA evidence is more secure in the future.

“Why aren’t they doing a better job? Why is the building so rundown and ram shackled? Why are they storing e-bikes, which I hear is a huge fire hazard? So there has to be accountability on how they can do it better and must do it better,” Felber says.

She said the fire made her job much harder when her clients were wrongly proven but not impossible.

“We will have to come up with a remedy and perhaps persuade the different DA’s offices to agree to at

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December 26, 2022 by LEGAL

States turn to high-tech kiosks to get legal help to those facing evictions

EVANSVILLE, Il. — On the second floor of this courthouse, what at first glance looks like an ATM is actually a legal lifeline. It is a legal aid kiosk, which helps users facing evictions to get the legal help they need.

“It’s going to either be in the courthouse or in their local library, and that’s where low-income people seek help,” said Scott Wylie, an attorney with ProBono Indiana. “It’s touch screen; it’s intuitive. They can look up all of the resources that are available and provide legal assistance in their eviction actions and other housing stability related issues. They can directly connect to a legal navigator who is trained to be able to provide them with guidance.”

When evictions began to rise in the state last year, pro bono legal services found many tenants in need of legal help.

“We found that over 50% of eviction clients, who were arriving to be removed from their apartment, had never heard of civil legal aid or rental assistance. Over 50%,” Wylie said.

According to data collected by The Eviction Lab, as of early November, the number of evictions in cities across the country is on the rise. When compared to their average numbers from previous years, in Las Vegas, it rose 60%; in Cleveland, it was up 61%; in Milwaukee, it climbed to 68% and in Tampa, it skyrocketed 121%.

“We have a large problem across the United States, and solutions like these help chip away at those inequities that poor people are confronted with,” Wylie said.

Several states are now making use of legal kiosks, including Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and North Dakota.

In Indiana, $1 million in federal COVID relief funds paid for 120 kiosks to get deployed across the state, which connects users to Indiana Legal

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December 23, 2022 by LEGAL

Suspected killer told to have Legal Aid continue search for lawyer

Two lawyers have indicated an interest in possibly taking on Samuel Kong Liong’s file, but the accused has said he’s not confident in their ability to represent him

Provincial court Judge Susan Pepper said Liong had not exhausted his search through Legal Aid to find counsel willing to act for him on the funding agency's current tariffs.
Provincial court Judge Susan Pepper said Liong had not exhausted his search through Legal Aid to find counsel willing to act for him on the funding agency’s current tariffs. Gavin Young/Postmedia

Manslaughter suspect Samuel Kong Liong was denied a bid Tuesday for a judge to order the province to pay for him to have the lawyer of his choice.

Provincial court Judge Susan Pepper said Liong had not exhausted his search through Legal Aid to find counsel willing to act for him on the funding agency‘s current tariffs.

Lawyer Kelsey Sitar, who acts for the Criminal Defense Lawyers Association in Calgary, had asked Pepper to order the province to pay defense counsel Rebecca Snukal at an enhanced rate to represent him on two sets of charges.

Sitar argued Lion couldn’t find a

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December 21, 2022 by LEGAL

The UChicago Medicine program will provide legal aid to survivors of violence during treatment

There is another level of trauma survivors of violence in Chicago can face that goes beyond their physical injuries. They could lose their jobs — and then their ability to pay rent — or lose public benefits like food stamps while they spend weeks or months recovering in the hospital.

Enter Carly Loughran, an attorney with Legal Aid Chicago. She’s part of a new initiative at UChicago Medicine in Hyde Park that aims to help victims of violence, such as those who are shot or stabbed, with their civil legal needs.

She’s teaming up with UChicago Medicine’s violence recovery specialists who are already building rapport with patients and offering support as they heal. They screen people to see if they need Legal Aid Chicago’s help. Then they refer them to Loughran.

“When I come in, the patients are expecting me. And they know that I’m associated with a program they already trust,” Loughran said. “If a lawyer were to go cold, especially with a population that has been given every reason to mistrust lawyers in the legal system, that exchange would go very differently.”

UChicago Medicine recently launched this program, dubbed Recovery Legal Care, with the goal of going beyond providing medical care to address social and economic wounds as well, said Dr. Ask Zakrison, a trauma surgeon at UChicago Medicine.

“We can help people recover physically,” Zakrison said. “But how do we address this justice gap?”

Legal Aid staff attorney Carly Loughran (from left), UChicago Medicine trauma surgeon Tanya Zakrison and UChicago Medicine lead <a href=violence recovery specialist Christine Goggins on Dec. 1 at the Hyde Park hospital.” srcset=”https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/63784a0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1800×1200+0+0/resize/840×560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FyR10PYOExe8i3JqwIPN2FSEYNBo%3D%2F0x0%3A1800x1200%2F1800x1200%2Ffilters%3Afocal%28900×600%3A901x601%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F24277806%2F20221201_UCM_RecoveryLegalCare_NWong_6482.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4546fdd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1800×1200+0+0/resize/1680×1120!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FyR10PYOExe8i3JqwIPN2FSEYNBo%3D%2F0x0%3A1800x1200%2F1800x1200%2Ffilters%3Afocal%28900×600%3A901x601%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F24277806%2F20221201_UCM_RecoveryLegalCare_NWong_6482.jpg 2x” width=”840″ height=”560″ src=”https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/63784a0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1800×1200+0+0/resize/840×560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FyR10PYOExe8i3JqwIPN2FSEYNBo%3D%2F0x0%3A1800x1200%2F1800x1200%2Ffilters%3Afocal%28900×600%3A901x601%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F24277806%2F20221201_UCM_RecoveryLegalCare_NWong_6482.jpg” data-lazy-load=”true” bad-src=”data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=”/

Legal Aid staff attorney Carly Loughran (from left), UChicago Medicine trauma surgeon Tanya Zakrison and UChicago Medicine lead violence recovery specialist Christine Goggins confer at the Hyde Park hospital.

Photo by Nancy Wong provided by UChicago Medicine

Many patients who show up

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December 10, 2022 by LEGAL

Rise in legal aid fees for solicitors branded a ‘real-terms cut’

Solicitors have accused Dominic Raab of imposing a “real-terms” pay cut for legal aid work, warning this will lead to “chaos” in the justice system.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it was giving solicitors the “biggest boost to their pay in decades”, amounting to an overall 11% rise in legal aid fees at a cost of £85 million.

But the Law Society of England and Wales claimed the Justice Secretary had “completely rejected” the advice of the Government’s own independent review into the legal aid system, which recommended an immediate 15% rate rise.

Lawyers may quit and firms could close down as a result, the body which represents the solicitors warned.

Mr Raab said: “We are reforming criminal legal aid so that our lawyers are fairly paid for the vital work they do deliver high-quality legal support to those who need it.

“We have taken on board the recommendations of the independent review and are modernizing the system to deliver justice for victims now and in the future.”

But Law Society president Lubna Shuja said Mr Raab has “thrown down a gauntlet to the profession” and accused him of making a “reckless” decision which will put the future of lawyers in “jeopardy”.

She said: “He is imposing a real-term cut on fees that have been frozen since the 1990s.

“Numbers of duty solicitors and criminal legal aid firms continue to fall at an alarming rate – with several police station schemes on the verge of collapse.

“Access to justice – including the fundamental right to representation at the police station – is in serious peril and the Government is ignoring the threat.

“Until the Government chooses to address the crisis in the criminal justice system, victims will continue to be let down, court delays will increase and talk of

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December 5, 2022 by LEGAL

Westminster weekly update: lord chancellor grilled on legal aid by MPs

One thing you need to do

The extension of a Swiss-UK professional services travel agreement is good news for lawyers and law firms doing business between the two countries.

Lawyers and other service providers from the UK can continue to travel to Switzerland for up to 90 days a year without a short-stay permit. The two countries agreed to extend their Services Mobility Agreement (SMA) until the end of 2025.

Read more here.

What you need to know

1. Lord Chancellor grilled on legal aid by MPs

On Tuesday November 22, the lord chancellor, Dominic Raab, appeared before the Justice Select Committee and was questioned on:

  • criminal legal aid
  • the proposed Bill of Rights
  • the Ministry of Justice’s budget

MPs pushed Raab on evidence we gave last week in the country many criminal legal aid firms are in and asked why he had not implemented the 15% increase recommended by the Bellamy Review.

The lord chancellor argued that most fees had been increased by 15% and the full consultation response would come at the end of this month.

Labor MP Karl Turner highlighted that there are under 1,000 firms left, and asked what the contingency plan was if these firms collapsed.

Raab felt there were enough practitioners in the market to do the work and the government’s investment would support them.

The lord chancellor was also pushed by MPs on when he would meet with us.

Raab confirmed a meeting would be arranged soon. We look forward to meeting in the coming days.

The session also touched on the proposed Bill of Rights.

The lord chancellor confirmed it would return to Parliament “soon”, with a few changes made from the original bill published earlier this year.

In his view, the bill would help protect free speech and prevent abuse of

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December 1, 2022 by LEGAL
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