Legal aid received another $50 million boost in funding as part of the new economic stimulus bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, but while the measure is expected to stall in the U.S. Senate, support to appropriate additional money for legal services appears strong on both sides of the aisle.
On Thursday, May 7, the Indianapolis Bar Foundation (virtually) raised money to benefit the legal community during this tough time.
Pro bono and legal aid efforts are not immune to the adjustments needed to serve clients in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Court closures and restrictions on in-person gatherings have forced legal services organizations such as Indiana Legal Services Inc. to get creative about how they can continue to engage volunteer attorneys and provide legal services to those in need.
Give back and help your community from home! We’re looking for volunteers to answer legal questions from the public via our new online messaging system, Virtual Ask a Lawyer.
The American Bar Association is unveiling a new online portal designed to better connect pro bono attorneys with individuals and families who need free legal services because of the national COVID-19 emergency.
The Indianapolis Bar Foundation has implemented a new program in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic to put dollars in the pockets of young lawyers while continuing to provide free legal services to the public.
On a typical Tuesday, the Allen County Bar Association’s legal help line gets 40 to 60 calls, but the organization is bracing for an increase as the coronavirus crisis worsens.
Calling REACH “a beautiful program,” Kenny Lewis credited the federal court re-entry initiative with giving him the perseverance to stay at his job and teaching him to speak louder so others could hear what he had to say. Baker and the other members of the REACH team described Lewis as a model participant who not only exhibited tremendous character and did everything expected of him, but also encouraged and supported his fellow participants.
As of January 1, 2020, a brand new Indiana Supreme Court rule went into effect granting the opportunity for certain qualifying attorneys to hold a Pro Bono Publico License and serve as pro bono counsel. The rule covers certain types of Indiana and out-of-state attorneys who are not actively admitted to practiced law under Indiana’s general rules of admission, but who are otherwise in “good standing” with the bar of this or another state.
A Pendleton Correctional Facility inmate will be paid $425,000 by the state after spending four years in isolation for a disciplinary violation he says he didn’t commit. But the settlement might not have been agreed upon without the help of a Chicago-based justice center that says it advocates for underdogs.
Little more than a year after the United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision incorporating to the states the Eight Amendment protection against excessive fines, the Grant County man who bears the name of the case is headed back to trial.
There’s a new pro bono organization in town, and it’s bringing a relatively large change to Indiana’s pro bono system. Pro Bono Indiana was established at the beginning of this year to consolidate the administration of Indiana’s pro bono districts while still preserving the autonomy of the local nonprofit programs that have been serving the pro bono districts for years.
Instead of spending his holiday season surrounded by all things merry and bright, immigration attorney Rudy Monterrosa spent days at what he described as an ominous place akin to a concentration camp. For the second year in a row, Monterrosa took a team to the Texas-Mexico border to offer free legal services to women and children seeking asylum in the United States. His experience this time, however, was quite different.
Lawyers who volunteered to handle pro se cases brought by inmates last year took the time Thursday to attend a special thank you event hosted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Legislation designed to bring uniformity to judges’ indigency determinations is continuing to move through the Indiana Statehouse without opposition.
Pointing to what it describes as an “overwhelming need for civil legal services,” Legal Services Corp. is asking a federal appropriation of $652.6 million for fiscal year 2021, a $212.6 million increase from the appropriation it received for fiscal year 2020.
Across Indiana, lawyers say judges in different counties often take different approaches to making an indigency determination. That’s led to what some call “justice by geography” — that is, a person facing charges might be deemed indigent in one county, but the same person facing the same charges in another county might be found to have the ability to pay. A Senate bill seeks a statewide standard.
After more than 10 years with a criminal record, an Elkhart man successfully petitioned to reduce his felony conviction to a misdemeanor. But when he tried to expunge the conviction two years later, he faced an unexpected setback. The Indiana Supreme Court will decide whether he and others in his situation must wait longer for an expungement.
Indiana’s largest organization that advocates for the interests of child victims of abuse has received the largest donation in its history — a $5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment. “They call it a transformational gift, and it certainly is for us,” Child Advocates CEO Cindy Booth said of the award.
After finding the need for civil legal assistance in the United States is widespread across all income levels — and perhaps spread wider than previously thought — The Pew Charitable Trusts sees a need for new solutions to addressing the problems experienced by many individuals and families.