News & Notes

Advocates Meet in Milwaukee

NLADA announces top award-winners for 2002

Nearly 500 advocates were set to roll into the land of cheese and suds Nov. 13 for the four-day National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) Annual Conference held in the hip art-deco digs of the Hilton Milwaukee City Center in the downtown cultural district. 

The civil track of the Wisconsin meeting (NLADA also serves criminal defender programs) will focus on economic and racial justice issues. It was slated to kick off on Nov. 14 with remarks from University of North Carolina School of Law Dean Gene Nichol, who planned to discuss the threat of “re-segregation” of Southern schools.

In addition to the usual workshops and networking opportunities, NLADA also planned to give out its most prestigious equal justice awards at the annual conference. Award-winners include:

Webb Brewer – the Reginald Heber Smith Award (a.k.a., "The Reggie") for his “dedicated services and outstanding achievements” as litigation director of Memphis Area Legal Services.

Carl Quintal – the Arthur von Briesen Award for his pro bono work with South Middlesex Legal Services in Sharon, Mass. 

Ira Newman – the Denison Ray Award (a.k.a, “The Denny”) for his efforts as directing attorney of the Appalachian Research & Defense Fund of Kentucky. 

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer – the biennial Emery A. Brownell Media Award for “Uncertain Justice,” a three-day series uncovering flaws in the Washington state justice system.

Peterson Zah – the first-annual Pierce-Hickerson Award recognizing contributions to the advancement or preservation of Native American rights.

The NLADA’s next major get-together, the Equal Justice Conference put on jointly with the ABA, is scheduled for April 10-12, 2003, in Portland, Ore.

Corporate Counsels Receive Pro Bono

 Crash Course at ACCA Conference

When it comes to volunteering their time pro bono, attorneys in corporate America can do more than help people in need – they can help organizations that help people in need. That was the message of the American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA) pro bono clinic held Oct. 22 at the ACCA 2002 Annual Meeting that drew nearly 2,000 participants in Washington D.C. 

The Pro Bono Institute (PBI), in partnership with ACCA and the D.C. Bar’s Community Economic Development Project, hosted a nuts-and-bolts information session about how to create and assist organizations seeking 501(c)(3) non-profit status. The session was followed by an on-site clinic where lawyers from ExxonMobil, Pitney Bowes, Auto Nation, and Southern Cal Edison counseled local nonprofits groups ranging from a neighborhood group dedicated to restoring public parks to a D.C. charter school.

The PBI and ACCA joined forces in 2000 to launch CorporateProBono.Org, a collaborative effort to encourage more corporate legal departments to donate free services in support of worthy causes and clients. Says PBI President Esther Lardent: “Two years ago, when we began this project, people were like ‘Pro bono? In-house? Really?’ Now, those same people come up and say, ‘Let us tell you what we’re doing and how you can help.’ It’s astounding. I’m blown away.”

$hear Success

Shear Madness, an interactive comedy set in a unisex hairstyling salon and the longest-running production in the history of American theatre, celebrated its 15th anniversary this fall at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. 

The October 8 anniversary performance, however, had one interesting promotional wrinkle differentiating it from the 6,455 other times the play had been acted out since its 1980 Boston premiere: proceeds from ticket sales were directed to support equal justice efforts in the nation’s capital. 

At Show No. 6,456, more than $5,000 was raised for the Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP), which provides civil legal assistance to more than 1,200 low-income D.C. residents annually. 

“Neighborhood Legal Services helps people who cannot afford and desperately need legal help here in Washington,” Shear Madness Producer Robert Warren says. “While they have a good resource in lawyers willing to donate time, it has been a struggle for them to keep providing assistance to those in need.”

The Kennedy Center Board of Directors decided to donate the proceeds of the salon-slaying mystery’s anniversary show to NLSP after the organization received a sterling endorsement from Ann Stock and Robert Barnett. The two sit on NLSP’s Board of Directors, and Barnett and Stock’s attorney husband both donate pro bono hours to the program.

The benefit performance sold out the 400-seat Kennedy Center venue and attracted a number of prominent area attorneys. Fox’s Great Van Susteren and Court TV’s Rikki Klieman and Robert Bennett participated in the special performance to raise awareness for legal services while helping the audience detectives solve the scissors-stabbing murder.

Barr Bounced

Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), one of Congress’ most outspoken members and the chairman of LSC’s oversight panel in the U.S. House of Representatives, is going back home to Georgia.

Rep. Barr was soundly defeated by fellow GOP Congressman John Linder, 64 to 36 percent, in an August Republican primary for Georgia’s newly drawn 7th District House seat. Following the 2000 Census, the Democratic-controlled Georgia legislature voted on a new Atlanta-area congressional map that forced a showdown this summer between the two Republican leaders. The low-key Linder, elected to Congress in 1992, prevailed with a superior showing in suburban Gwinnett County, where voters preferred him 2-to-1 to Barr. 

Rep. Barr’s defeat leaves a vacancy for the chairmanship of the House Judiciary Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee, which is charged with overseeing the activities of LSC and its 172 grantees nationwide. First-term U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) is the Subcommittee’s current vice chairman. But the new chair is not likely to be named until several weeks after the mid-term elections, and it’s expected that House seniority traditions will factor in the selection of Barr’s replacement.

Barr’s final LSC-related action before his primary defeat was to request that the General Accounting Office (GAO) initiate a broad review into LSC activities. The GAO, Congress’ investigative arm, agreed in May to a more limited investigation, focusing on caseload-tracking, access-to-records issues, and the purpose and impact of LSC’s State Planning Initiative. GAO officials confirmed in August that their review will continue despite Rep. Barr’s defeat. 

Top LSC officials began meeting with GAO staff in June, and meetings continued through the end of the fall. The GAO’s final report will be released in 2003.

“GAO is a well-regarded, professional organization, and I expect their staff will conduct a fair review of LSC,” says LSC President John N. Erlenborn, who requested his own GAO studies during a 20-year career in Congress from 1965 to 1985. “I am proud of LSC’s record and confident that the GAO’s review will demonstrate that LSC has worked hard to improve access to justice in every state while faithfully executing the will of Congress.”

Worth a Thousand Words

This charcoal drawing by artist Marlene Miller was displayed by the Michener Art Museum at a summer exhibition in Doylestown, Pa., celebrating the 25th anniversary of A Woman's Place, a shelter that helps abused women and children in Bucks County. The exhibit recognized Legal Aid of SE Pennsylvania for providing free legal help to shelter residents. Museum Director Bruce Katsiff organized the exhibit to "allow artists to help us examine and understand [domestic violence] through the creation of artistic works. Art has always been a vehicle to help us understand the world around us."

Every Little Bit of Help Matters

Every year since the 1970s, legal services programs funded with federal dollars have closed more than one million cases on behalf of low-income Americans. The “cases” counted by Legal Services Corporation include litigation assistance, representation before administrative agencies, settlement negotiations, document preparation, and certain third-party interventions, such as writing a letter to a landlord on behalf of a tenant. 

In reality, though, LSC-funded programs have not helped a million clients: 

They’ve actually helped millions more.

LSC debuted its new Matters Reporting System this summer to paint a more complete picture of the work done by federal legal aid grantees. “Matters” refers to assistance provided to clients that falls short of the formal definition of a “case.” Examples include clients attending workshops and seminars and those receiving self-help information, mediation services, referrals to other legal providers and social services agencies, and legal training.

“A conservative estimate of those receiving ‘matters’ assistance shows us that more than two million clients were helped in this way in the last six months of 2001 alone,” LSC Vice President Randi Youells says.