On the Town: What to do: Pro bono civil legal service needs exceed resources
Volunteer Legal Services Project handles about 1,260 cases per year. However, that only serves about 25 percent of the clients seeking civil legal services in the Rochester area. How do we increase pro bono resources? A panel consisting of the Hon. Henry J. Scudder, presiding justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department; Gail M. […]
New rule allows out-of-state attorneys to offer free services
A rule change authorizing out-of-state attorneys employed as in-house counsel in New York to provide free legal services to underserved communities goes into effect this week. Announced Monday by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, the measure is the latest in a series by the Unified Court System to help bridge the state’s civil legal services gap. […]
Judge Lippman brings hearing series to Buffalo
When Ursula M. Anderson, a retired doctor living in Cattaraugus County, was scammed by a roofing contractor three years ago, she did not know where to turn. She had gotten the loan from a federally funded government program that supplied its own contractor, over the one she had, and when the work was not completed, […]
Lippman schedules fall hearings
New York state Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman will be conducting his annual hearings on civil legal services beginning Sept. 17 in Albany when he will hear a panel in the Third Department. He will conduct one hearing in each of the four Appellate Division departments, with the Fourth Department hearing for Western and Central New […]
IOLA funds still impacted by slow economy
Low-interest rates and lingering effects of the economic downturn continue to impact the Interest on Lawyer Account funding for civil legal services programs in New York. Awards for 2012 were fairly consistent with those of the previous year, according to the 2012 annual report released last week. “We suspect that we’re still going to see […]
Lippman participates in White House forum
Nonlawyers could soon be helping the New York legal community in its efforts to try to meet civil legal service needs. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman told a panel in Washington, D.C., last week that a committee has been formed in New York to take a look at the issue and put together a few models […]
Pro Bono Task Force offers recommendations
Cooperation is key among the many recommendations of a special task force to best increase pro bono involvement by all lawyers to help meet the nation’s civil legal services needs. “This is not something that any one segment of the legal profession can do alone,” said James J. Sandman, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Legal […]
Chief Judge Lippman: On the record
The thing Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman finds most surprising about the testimony he has heard in a series of hearings on civil legal services is the depth of the need. He also said the fact that those in need are not the poorest of New Yorkers and that are lot of working people cannot get […]
Task force focus on civil legal service needs
When Cheri Caiella’s son returned from serving in the military, he looked like the same person who had left, but it quickly became obvious to her that he had greatly changed. She said he suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues, but was denied services by the Department of Defense. An ignored traffic […]
State announces civil legal services awards
The Oversight Board for Judiciary Legal Services in New York recently announced $25 million in awards in 60 different programs. Among Fourth Department recipients for the 2010-13 period are: • Empire Justice Center: $604,757; • Erie County Bar Association /Volunteer Lawyer’s Project: $191,862; • F.H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society: $260,212; […]
Legal services providers assess gloomy outlook
It’s a done deal. What were announced last week as proposed cuts to the national organization funding civil legal services are now law. And the news does not get any better looking into the near future. Providers, who rely on the Washington, D.C.-based Legal Services Corporation, are left to pick up the pieces and try […]
Lippman: Judges can’t be lawyers at the same time
Judges feel their position as a neutral arbiter may be compromised when litigants appear before them without legal representation That is one of the challenges the judiciary faces because of a lack of funding for civil legal services for the state’s poor. A panel of three judges ...
Case Digests
- NYS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics – Review of another judge’s actions: Opinion 22-153
- NYS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics – Charitable contributions: Opinion 22-150
- Second Circuit – Class action settlement: Moses v. The New York Times Company
- Fourth Department – Breach of contract: Hausrath Landscape Maintenance Inc. v. Caravan Facilities Management LLC
- Second Circuit – New York Child Victim’s Act: Kane v. Mount Pleasant CSD; Coe v. Eastport Union Free School
- NYS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics – Appointing law clerk: Opinion 22-149
- Fourth Department – Bill of particulars: Harris v. Rome Memorial Hospital, et al.
- NYS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics – Accusations against co-judge: Opinion 22-148
- Fourth Department – Medicaid: Washington Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Home v. NYS Dept. of Health
- Fourth Department – Criminal possession of a firearm: People v. Wilson
- Fourth Department – Promoting prostitution: People v. Watts
- Second Circuit – Class certification: Arkansas Teachers Retirement System V. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Law News
- Fourth Department affirms $400K judgment in contract dispute
- Could legislation limiting non-compete agreements kick off a new era of workplace disputes?
- Fourth Department affirms decision in NY property dispute
- Greenlight Networks selects Buffalo-based attorney as general counsel
- Barclay Damon hires attorney Matt Smith
- Rochester man sues Geneseo police, alleging false arrest, assault
- The Daily Record’s Power List for Intellectual Property 2023
- NY ethics panel says judges can join NRA