Funding Update: Legal Services Corporation
The Senate Appropriations version of the Appropriations Bill for the rest of FY 2011 has funding for LSC at the FY 2010 level, /$420 million. The House has already passed its version of the bill, with LSC at $70 million less. LSC estimates that if the House version prevails, it will result in lay‐offs for 370 legal aid attorneys and 80,000 fewer cases being handled by LSC‐funded legal aid programs.
Next Commission Meeting March 23
The next meeting of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission will take place at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, March 23, 2011, in the Fifth Floor Conference Room of the Social Law Library in the Adams Courthouse, Pemberton Square, Boston. The meeting is open to the public. The major discussions on the agenda concern a report on the plans of the Working Group on Websites and Technology and a presentation on pro bono opportunities and challenges by Esther F. Lardent, President and CEO of the Pro Bono Institute. Ms. Lardent was the founding director of the Volunteer Lawyers Project and is considered by many to be the nation’s foremost expert on pro bono service to low income people.
The following meeting of the Commission is scheduled for May 26
Cruz Reynoso In Boston
Suffolk University Dean Camille A. Nelson has invited people interested in access to justice to a unique and compelling presentation. The film, “Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice”, will be screened at 12:00 pm on Wednesday, March 23, at Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont Street in Boston. If you plan to attend, RSVP to Lou Brum at lbrum@suffolk.edu or 617‐573‐8157. The event will finish in time for you to attend the Commission meeting at 3:00.
Both Justice Reynoso and the filmmaker, Abby Ginzberg, will be present for the screening and will participate in the discussion that follows the film.
Cruz Reynoso was the Executive Director of California Rural Legal Assistance in the late ’60s and early ’70s, when CRLA established many of the principles of community‐based, impact advocacy that inspired the OEO legal services movement. Reynoso and Gary Bellow worked together to establish basic rights for California’s farmworkers, overcoming massive political and economic resistance. Their battles with then‐Governor Ronald Reagan, and his aide Ed Meese, set the standard for high quality representation and set the stage for President Reagan’s eight year attempt to defund the Legal Services Corporation. Reynoso later became the first Latino appointed to the California Supreme Court, a position he lost in a recall election which centered on his opposition to the death penalty.
Letters to Senators Brown and Kerry
Commission co‐chairs Justice Ralph Gants and David Rosenberg have written to Senators Brown and Kerry to urge that they oppose the reduction of funding for the Legal Services Corporation proposed by the House of Representatives for FY 2011. In their letters they note the dire consequences for low income families if representation is not available to help with critical legal problems, and they also point out that providing timely representation saves money for the taxpayer in the long run.
Commissioners Appointed to Three Year Terms
The Supreme Judicial Court has reappointed six Commissioners to full three‐year terms as their initial one‐year appointments expired. The Commission’s members were all appointed last year, and the terms were staggered. The reappointed Commissioners were Ann Leavenworth, Sue Marsh, Judge Kathryn Hand, Richard McMahon, Allan Rodgers and Jay Thiel. In addition, the Court appointed a new Commissioners, Susan Finegan from Mintz Levin.