Getting legal resources to low-income litigants is a major struggle both nationally and on Hoosier soil. According to the Legal Services Corporation 2022 Justice Gap Report, low-income Americans do not get any or enough legal help for 92% of their substantial civil legal problems.
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A pair of complaints filed in 2021 by Pendleton Correctional Facility inmate Danny Johnson is showing the lawsuits can add to the frustration and sadness felt by the families who have relatives behind bars.
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With an ultimate goal of improving access to justice in family law cases, the Family Law Taskforce of the Indiana Supreme Court’s Innovation Initiative nailed down more than a dozen recommendations, with five being considered “essential for reform.” Now, that final report is headed to the Indiana justices.
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A pilot partnership between Indiana Legal Services and a Tippecanoe County court is providing in-court assistance to pro se litigants in divorce cases. Attorneys sit down with litigants behind closed doors, gather the necessary child-support information, fill out the paperwork and send parents back into the courtroom.
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Virtual hearings have been touted as providing easier access to the courts for low-income and self-represented litigants. But in a recent study, The Pew Charitable Trusts concluded the online judicial system is still designed for lawyers, and those parties without attorneys continue to be at a disadvantage.
Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor is leading a study that takes a closer look at how the technology that made virtual hearings possible is helping — and hindering — pro se parties.
Nearly 20 years’ worth of data tracking trends of federal civil pro se filings show that civil rights cases make up the second-highest percentage of filings, next to pro se prisoner cases. In recent years, a growing number of those cases have targeted law enforcement or other government actors.
Indiana attorneys interested in joining the pool of volunteers at the Southern Indiana District Court are invited to attend a one-hour training session in October to learn more about representing indigent litigants as part of the court’s recruited counsel program.
A Boone County murder defendant convicted and sentenced to life without parole failed to convince a majority of the Indiana Supreme Court that the trial court improperly denied his request to proceed pro se. The majority provided an analysis for considering pro se requests in capital and LWOP sentences, but minority justices raised concerns about the majority “till(ing) new constitutional soil.”
A woman whose request for appointed counsel was denied will receive a new trial on her misdemeanor marijuana conviction after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined her constitutional right to counsel was violated.
The Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday summarily affirmed a Court of Appeals decision remanding an improper sentence imposed in a drug case but rejected a convict’s argument that he was wrongly denied his request for a speedy trial.
The Indiana Supreme Court has cleared a well-known attorney and former federal prosecutor of misconduct charges stemming from a nearly decade-old matter. The court found Thursday “that the allegations of misconduct were not proven” in a one-page judgment in favor of Barnes & Thornburg partner Larry Mackey.
Peter Prostyakov, a native of Moscow who’s now a U.S. Citizen living in Carmel, details what he concedes is his convoluted journey into the federal judicial system, where he believes courts act unfairly toward him and other self-represented litigants.
It is ironic that the highest court in our land, charged with ensuring that the rules and laws of the country are fair and legal, is itself guilty of enacting a most unfair and arguably unlawful rule explicitly forbidding unrepresented litigants from participating in the Supreme Court oral argument process.
A new study from the Pew Charitable Trusts highlights a dramatic rise in debt collection lawsuits, but even as one in four cases on civil court dockets are seeking payment for past-due bills, consumers increasingly are absent from the proceedings.
A man was formally charged with murder Tuesday in the slaying of an Indianapolis police officer who authorities said was shot through an apartment’s door while responding with other officers to a domestic violence call.
A prisoner’s case has been reinstated after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found the Indiana Northern District Court’s denial of his three requests for appointed counsel prejudiced him.
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.
Monetary sanctions and default judgment have been entered against state defendants and their attorney in a prisoner case that the presiding federal judge said “shattered” her trust in the defendants’ litigation practices. The judge also imposed new requirements on lawyers in the Indiana Attorney General’s office who defend the Department of Correction in prisoner civil-rights cases.
An Indiana man charged in the 2018 slayings of two people found in a nature preserve and an abandoned farmhouse will act as his own attorney, a judge has ruled. Madison Circuit Court 6 Judge Mark Dudley granted Daniel Lee Jones’ request to act as his own lawyer, but his public defender will serve as stand-by counsel during the trial.
When Yogi said “the future ain’t what it used to be,” he was talking about uncertain times to come. So what is the future of the legal system?
A Marion woman charged in the strangulation death of her 10-year-old stepdaughter has waived her right to an attorney and says she will represent herself in court.
Three Clark County drug convictions were overturned Thursday after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined drug evidence found in a suspect’s sock should not have been admitted.
A pro se prisoner and serial litigator has been barred from making additional civil filings in the Southern District of Indiana unless he pays nearly $5,000 in filing fees. A judge also raised the possibility of a perjury referral for any future violations.