The Road to Justice
 The Arkansas Access to Justice Commission conducted its first strategic planning review since its creation in October 2004. The all day session took place at the Arkansas Bar Association and was led by Dean Charles Goldner, Chair of the Commission and Justice Deborah Hankinson a former member of the Texas Supreme Court and a recognized leader of the access to justice movement as head of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid & Indigent Defendants [SCLAID]. A result of this meeting was the determination of ten priorities for the next three to five years of Commission work. In priority order these ... [VIEW THE FULL STORY]
A Higher Interest Rate For Your IOLTA Account - Supreme Court Revises IOLTA Rule to Include Comparability. By: Susie Pointer, Executive Director, Arkansas IOLTA Foundation
The Court revised Arkansas Rule of Professional Conduct 1.15 “Safekeeping Property and Trust Accounts” in November 2006 to become effective February 1, 2007. The revised rule provides for—among other things—“comparability” in the amount of interest that banks pay on IOLTA accounts versus other types of bank products. Comparability is a hot topic nationwide due to the potential to increase funding to IOLTA programs and their grantees throughout the country. ... [VIEW THE FULL STORY]
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| NATIONAL NEWS REVIEW |
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Increasing Access to Justice in Mississippi: To help increase support for representation of low-income people in civil legal matters, the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission will hold hearings across the state, and present the testimony to the state legislature and U.S. Congress.
- Commission Trying to Open Access to Legal Help (Mississippi) Right now, in Mississippi there are only 32 legal services attorneys to cover all 82 counties in the state. That's where the Access to Justice Commission comes in. It's this 25-person commission's job to raise public awareness and resources to help those who otherwise might be taken advantage of because they can not hire a lawyer....[VIEW THE FULL STORY]
- Other States Receive State Legislative Funding. To date, state advocates report over $18 million in increases for civil legal aid in the 2007 legislative session. This brings the total in state legislative funding nationwide to $203 million, an increase of about 10 percent over last year. Late action in a few states may increase the total. Congratulations to all who won increases!
- Boston Bar Right to Civil Counsel Task Force. The Boston Bar Association has created a task force, chaired by Mary K. Ryan, a former member of the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, to study the civil right to counsel. Bar Association President Anthony Doniger addresses the issue in an article, "Access to Justice in Civil Cases: A Right Whose Time Has Come."
NATIONAL IOLTA COMPARABILITY UPDATES
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| LEGAL AID SUCCESS STORIES |
LEGAL AID SUCCESS RECOGNIZED
The Morning News, which provides local news for Northwest Arkansas, recognized the success of Legal Aid of Arkansas (LAA) in providing essential legal services to low-income Arkansans. The efforts of pro bono attorneys were also highlighted. In the first 6 months of 2007, LAA, with only 3 staff attorneys, closed 582 cases, helping 1,580 people. In that same time frame, pro bono attorneys, through volunteering with the Equal Access to Justice Panel, (a project of LAA) closed 44 cases and helped 104 low-income people.... [VIEW THE FULL STORY]
LEGAL AID HELPS REUNITE SINGLE MOTHER WITH YOUNG CHILDREN A legal aid attorney defeated an order of guardianship on short notice. An ex parte temporary order of guardianship was obtained three days before hearing. The mother was served with notice of the hearing and met with her legal aid attorney at 3:00 the afternoon before the hearing set for 9:00 the next morning. While the young single mother attempted to obtain HUD housing, the children, ages 2 and 4, were cared for on and off by a childless married couple who had befriended the mother only months before. The mother was successful in getting a 3BR apartment, but the couple refused to give the children back, instead filing for guardianship. However, the guardianship action was defeated on oral motion made by her legal aid attorney at the hearing alleging lack of jurisdiction based on Arkansas not being the children’s home state, as they had not lived in Arkansas for a full six months. The judge sustained the motion based on the testimony offered at hearing and dismissed the guardianship action for lack of jurisdiction... [SEE ALSP FACT SHEET]
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"Each time a person stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, that person sends forth a tiny ripple of hope." – Robert F. Kennedy
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| Did You Know? |
Legal services programs are prohibited by federal regulations from handling fee-generating cases, such as tort claims or deceptive trade practices claims. In cases in which attorney’s fees may be awarded by the court, such as a divorce action or housing case, legal services may not accept them. In addition, legal services programs may not handle class action claims, although these types of cases have been used in the past to address injustices in employment, housing, and the treatment of persons with disabilities.
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“Equal justice under law is not just a caption on the façade
of the Supreme Court building. It is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our
society
. . . It is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability,
without regard to economic status.” - Justice Lewis Powell
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