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Civil legal aid attorneys in short supply, ABA report finds

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:14:10 +0000

Signage is seen outside of the American Bar Association (ABA) in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 10, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Acquire Licensing Rights

Nov 30 (Reuters) – For every 10,000 Americans living in poverty, fewer than three civil legal aid attorneys are available to provide free legal help, a new ABA report has found.

The latest iteration of the ABA’s annual Profile of the Legal Profession, released on Thursday, highlights civil legal aid and the dearth of attorneys providing free legal help in many parts of the country.

The ABA ranked states according to the number of paid civil legal aid attorneys for every 10,000 people living in poverty. New York had the most at 7.2, while Mississippi and South Carolina had the fewest at 1.1.

The national average of 2.8 paid civil legal aid attorneys for every 10,000 Americans is too low to address the myriad legal needs of low-income Americans, say legal aid advocates. A recent study found that low-income people in the U.S. can’t afford adequate legal help in 92% of matters.

“We’re talking about evictions. We’re talking about domestic violence and other family cases. We’re talking about access to veterans benefits,” said Ronald Flagg, president of the Legal Services Corporation, which allocates federal funds to legal aid organizations nationwide.

The ABA conducted a census of programs funded by the LSC as well as legal aid lawyers at non-LSC funded groups. The ABA count did not include volunteer or pro bono lawyers, attorneys at advocacy groups such as the ACLU, law school clinics or criminal defense groups.

The report attributes the national scarcity of legal aid attorneys to a combination of low pay, uneven funding to legal aid organizations, and the challenges of attracting attorneys to rural areas. Legal aid attorneys earn a median entry-level salary of $57,500, according to the National Association for Law Placement. The median salary is $78,500 for those with 11 to 15 years of experience.

Among states with the largest populations, California was near the national average at 2.9 legal aid lawyers per 10,000 impoverished people, while both Florida and Texas fell below at 1.7 and 1.6, respectively. Illinois had the seventh-highest rate at 4.4 civil legal aid attorneys for every 10,000 residents living in poverty.

The availability of legal aid attorneys varies widely across the country and between urban and rural areas, the ABA found. Metropolitan areas recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau had an average 3.5 paid civil legal aid attorneys for every 10,000 residents living in poverty. By contrast, that figure was 1.6 for non-metropolitan areas.

While this is the first time the ABA has sought to determine the number of paid civil legal aid attorneys nationwide, LSC data shows that their numbers actually increased in the last decade. Some 6,542 such attorneys work at LSC-funded organizations, up 52% from 4,306 in 2013.

Top company lawyers ask Congress to fix ‘stagnant’ federal legal aid budget

Biden’s judicial appointees by far the most diverse, ABA says

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Karen Sloan reports on law firms, law schools, and the business of law. Reach her at karen.sloan@thomsonreuters.com

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Rapper A$AP Rocky ordered to stand trial in Los Angeles on assault charges

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 09:36:55 +0000

LOS ANGELES, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Rapper A$AP Rocky, the romantic partner of recording star Rihanna and father of her two sons, was ordered on Monday to stand trial in Los Angeles on two felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic weapon.

Rocky, 35, whose given name is Rakim Mayers, is accused of pointing a handgun at another hip-hop artist and former friend, Terell Ephron, during a heated argument, then firing twice in Ephron’s direction during a second confrontation. Both encounters occurred on Nov. 6, 2021.

Prosecutors alleged that Ephron suffered a minor injury in the shooting.

Rocky was arrested in connection with the altercation five months later, in April 2022, as he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Barbados. He was charged in August of that year.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar ruled on Monday that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to proceed to trial on both counts of assault, including allegations that Rocky had personally used a firearm during the incidents in question, according to a spokesperson for the District attorney‘s Office.

The Harlem-born musician, who remains free on bond, has pleaded not guilty in the case.

[1/4]Rakim Mayers, aka A$AP Rocky, sits in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center for a preliminary hearing in his assault with a semiautomatic firearm case in Los Angeles, California, U.S, November 20, 2023. Allison Dinner/Pool via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights

His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, argued in court that prosecutors failed to present sufficient proof that a shooting had even occurred, relying on various surveillance videos and testimony that the defense said were inconclusive, the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS) reported in its account of the proceedings.

The defense also questioned the veracity of Ephron’s testimony that he believed his left hand had been grazed in the gunfire, CNS reported.

Ephron, who has performed under the stage name as A$AP Relli as part of a hip-hop collective that once included both men, has also filed a civil lawsuit against Rocky, according to CNS.

Since Rocky’s arrest in April of 2022, Rihanna, a native of Barbados, has given birth to two sons fathered by him.

His first and second studio albums, “Long. Live. A$AP,” and “At.Long.Last.A$AP,” both debuted at No. 1 in the Billboard 200 pop charts in 2013 and 2015, respectively. His third album, “Testing,” released in 2018, peaked in the top five.

(This story has been refiled to remove an extraneous word in paragraph 2)

Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Edwina Gibbs

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Louisiana State Bar violated lawyers’ free speech rights, appeals court rules

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 20:13:18 +0000

A man types into a keyboard during the Def Con hacker convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. on July 29, 2017. REUTERS/Steve Marcus Acquire Licensing Rights

Posts on student debt, eating walnuts irrelevant to regulating lawyers
But mandatory bar membership still legal, panel says

Nov 14 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court has ruled that the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) violated the free speech rights of dues-paying members by making various website and social media posts that were not relevant to regulating the legal profession.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that posts about law school debt, the health benefits of exercise and eating walnuts, and LGBT Pride Month, among others, violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because they had no connection to improving legal services in the state.

The 5th Circuit partially reversed a Louisiana federal judge who had dismissed a lawsuit against the state bar by Randy Boudreaux, a New Orleans-based insurance defense lawyer who says he should not be forced to join the LSBA and subsidize its activities.

Louisiana, like many other U.S. states, requires lawyers to join the state bar and pay dues of up to $200 per year.

The U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990 case Keller v. State Bar of California rejected claims that compulsory bar membership illegally forces lawyers to support speech with which they may disagree. But the court said state bars could only engage in speech relevant to regulating lawyers or improving the practice of law.

The 5th Circuit on Monday rejected a broad view of speech that is permissible under Keller.

“Although walnuts, exercise, and Vitamin D may be beneficial, they fall outside the LSBA’s purview, at least when they are the basis of generic advice to attorneys,” Circuit Judge Jerry Smith wrote.

The LSBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

James Baehr of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank that represents Boudreaux, said: “We’re excited that the court has vindicated Randy’s free association and free speech rights and we’re looking forward to going back to the district court and getting a remedy that ensures the protection of those rights.”

Boudreaux sued the LSBA in 2019, arguing that mandatory bar association membership was unconstitutional regardless of whether a state bar’s activities are germane to regulating the legal profession.

He cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSCME that said fees public-sector unions charged to workers who are not members of a union violated their free speech rights.

U.S. District Judge Lance Africk in New Orleans dismissed the case last year. He said that Janus had not overruled Keller, and that posts by the LSBA were relevant to its purpose because they aimed to provide useful advice to lawyers.

The 5th Circuit on Monday rejected the argument about Janus, joining every other appeals court to consider the issue. The panel said that Janus “casts serious doubt on Keller’s premise,” but that it remains bound by Keller until the Supreme Court overrules it.

But the court said the LSBA had engaged in speech that was not germane to its purpose, in violation of Keller, and rejected the association’s claim that the information it provided was relevant to the practice of law.

“If a mandatory bar association can say or promote anything ‘of concern to lawyers,’ it is difficult to see any limit to what the LSBA could say or promote,” Smith wrote for the court.

The court remanded the case to Africk to determine an appropriate remedy for the LSBA’s free speech violations.

The panel included Circuit Judges Carolyn King and Jennifer Walker Elrod.

The case is Boudreaux v. Louisiana State Bar Association, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-30564.

For Boudreaux: James Baehr of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy; Scott Freeman of the Goldwater Institute

For the state bar: Richard Stanley of Stanley Reuter Ross Thornton & Alford.

Louisiana lawyer, citing Janus, challenges mandatory bar association dues

Court rejects free-speech challenge to mandatory bar dues in Wisconsin

Supreme Court won’t take up free-speech challenges to mandatory bar dues

Janus doesn’t block mandatory bar association dues – 10th Circuit

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Dan Wiessner (@danwiessner) reports on labor and employment and immigration law, including litigation and policy making. He can be reached at daniel.wiessner@thomsonreuters.com.

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US says prostitution ring counted politicians, tech execs, lawyers as clients

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 10:01:28 +0000

The exterior of John Jospeh Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., November 28, 2018. REUTERS/Katherine Taylor/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

BOSTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday charged three people with running a high-end brothel network out of apartment complexes in greater Boston and northern Virginia whose customers included elected officials, tech and pharmaceutical executives, lawyers, professors and military officers.

Federal prosecutors in Boston did not identify any of the “wealthy and well-connected clientele” that they say paid up to $600 per hour for sexual encounters with predominantly Asian women who were being exploited through sex trafficking.

The brothels’ alleged operators — Han Lee, 41, and Junmyung Lee, 30, of Massachusetts and James Lee, 68, of California — were arrested and charged with conspiring to coerce and entice women to travel to engage in illegal sexual activity.

Acting U.S. attorney Josh Levy said the probe was “just getting started” and that law enforcement was gathering more evidence after executing search warrants on locations in Massachusetts, Virginia and California.

Those searches included of active brothels and uncovered financial documents, cash and women believed to be engaging in prostitution, according to court records.

“We’re committed to working closely with our federal, state and local partners to hold accountable the people who both ran this ring and the people who fueled the demand for this ring,” Levy said at a press conference.

Han Lee and Junmyung Lee, who are both Korean, were ordered by a judge to be detained following a hearing in Massachusetts. Han Lee’s lawyer declined to comment. Other defense lawyers either did not respond to requests for comment or could not be identified.

According to charging documents, the defendants, led by Han Lee, used high-end apartment complexes as brothels in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, and Fairfax and Tysons, Virginia.

Two websites advertised appointments with Asian women, and customers underwent a vetting process that included providing their driver’s license photos and employers’ names, prosecutors said. The U.S. government has seized those sites’ domains.

Authorities said they believed the brothel network had potentially hundreds of customers, who Levy said “often paid a monthly fee to be part of this illicit club.”

Customers included politicians, pharmaceutical and technology executives, doctors, military officers, professors, lawyers, business executives, scientists and accountants, prosecutors said.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi; Editing by David Gregorio and Michael Perry

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Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. He can be reached at nate.raymond@thomsonreuters.com.

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Suspect in killing of Ecuador candidate Villavicencio dead-attorney general’s office

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 10:54:07 +0000

[1/2]Police officers work outside the rally site where Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed at a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro

QUITO, Aug 9 (Reuters) – A suspect in the killing of Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has died from injuries sustained during the shootout that lead to his capture, the attorney general’s office said on Wednesday on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Villavicencio’s party Movimiento Construye said on X that armed men attacked its Quito offices.

Reporting by Alexandra Valencia
Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb

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Biden attorney: no classified documents found in search of Delaware beach house

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 20:01:11 +0000

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department did not find documents with classified markings during a three-and-a-half hour search of President Joe Biden’s beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware, on Wednesday but did take some materials for further review, Biden’s attorney said.

The morning search by FBI agents appeared to represent an expansion of the probe into Biden’s handling of classified documents.

Materials were previously found at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at a Washington office he used during the time between his service as vice president under Barack Obama and his presidential election.

Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, said in a statement that Wednesday’s search took place from 8:30 a.m. to noon in “coordination and cooperation with the president’s attorneys” and had been planned.

“No documents with classified markings were found,” Bauer said. “Consistent with the process in Wilmington, the DOJ took for further review some materials and handwritten notes that appear to relate to his time as Vice President.”

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The search was conducted by the FBI, which is part of the Justice Department.

The issue has created a political headache for Biden, who is expected to announce a re-election campaign in the coming weeks or months. It has stripped him and fellow Democrats of a political weapon to use against former President Donald Trump, who also had classified documents found at his home.

Trump has said on social media, without providing evidence, that he declassified the records, though his attorneys have declined to repeat that assertion in court filings. He has launched his own re-election campaign and could face Biden in the 2024 general election.

Bauer said earlier on Wednesday that the Department of Justice chose to do the search without advance notice to the public.

“Under DOJ’s standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate,” he said. “The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate.”

The White House counsel’s office did not have representatives present at the search, White House spokesperson Ian Sams told reporters.

“We’ve been following the Justice Department’s lead and coordinating these searches with them,” Sams said, adding the department was given access to “every single room” of Biden’s home in Rehoboth “as well as the one in Wilmington.”

Classified documents have also been found in the home of Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, giving some political cover to Biden.

Biden has vowed to cooperate with the searches and Pence had said he takes responsibility for the found documents. Trump resisted efforts to return materials in his possession, prompting a FBI search of his Florida home and resort last year.

U.S. attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed two separate special counsels to review Trump and Biden’s handling of such documents.

Meanwhile, the National Archives has reportedly asked all former U.S. presidents and vice presidents to search their personal records for classified documents or other presidential material that should have been turned over when they left office.

It is unlawful to knowingly or willfully remove or retain classified material, although no current or former president or vice president has been charged with wrongdoing.

Reporting by Jeff Mason and Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Daniel Wallis

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Tyre Nichols’ death must galvanize efforts to reform police, attorney says

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 05:59:45 +0000

Jan 29 (Reuters) – The attorney representing the family of Tyre Nichols, the Black man who was fatally beaten by Memphis police officers, called on Sunday for the U.S. Congress to pass police reform legislation, and said Nichols’ mother hoped the tragedy could lead to a “greater good.”

“Shame on us if we don’t use his tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed,” Ben Crump told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

All five officers are scheduled to appear for a bond arraignment on Feb. 17 at 9 a.m. in front of Judge James Jones of the Shelby County criminal court, court records show.

Crump said he and the Nichols family had spoken with President Joe Biden on Friday and urged him to use Nichols’ death to galvanize support for the act’s passage.

Nichols’ mother was coping with her son’s death by believing he was destined to change the world, Crump said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

“She believes in her heart Tyre was sent here for an assignment and that there is going to be greater good that comes from this tragedy.”

The “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act” was introduced in 2021 after George Floyd died when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes, sparking worldwide protests over racial injustice.

The bill, which aims to stop aggressive law enforcement tactics, passed the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 but stalled in the Senate. Biden on Thursday called on Congress to send the legislation to his desk.

[1/7] Rodney Wells, a stepfather, and RowVaughn Wells a mother of Tyre Nichols, a young Black man who was killed during a traffic stop by Memphis police officers, take the stage with their attorney Ben Crump, during a news conference at Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer

Nichols’ death is the latest high-profile example of police using excessive force against Black people and other minorities. Crump said Nichols’ death should finally prompt lawmakers to act.

“It is this culture that says, `It doesn’t matter whether the police officers are Black or Hispanic or white, that it is somehow allowed for you to trample on the constitutional rights of certain citizens from certain ethnicities and certain communities,`” Crump said on CNN.

Republican House of Representatives Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” cautioned against rushing into new legislation to create new mandates for police.

“These five individuals did not have any respect for life. And again, I don’t think these five guys represent the vast, vast majority of law enforcement. But I don’t know if there’s anything you can do to stop the kind of evil we saw in that video,” he said.

Five officers, all Black, are charged with Nichols’ murder after video captured on bodycams and a street surveillance camera showed them violently confronting Nichols on Jan. 7.

Nichols, 29, was hospitalized and died of his injuries three days later in the city where he lived with his mother and stepfather and worked at FedEx.

The Memphis Police Department on Saturday disbanded the SCORPION unit to which the officers belonged, as protests took place in U.S. cities a day after harrowing video of the attack was released.

The officers were charged on Thursday with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression in Nichols’ death and dismissed from the department.

Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Ahmed Aboulenein; Additional reporting by David Lawder, editing by Ross Colvin and Nick Zieminski

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Ahmed Aboulenein

Thomson Reuters

Washington-based correspondent covering U.S. healthcare and pharmaceutical policy with a focus on the Department of Health and Human Services and the agencies it oversees such as the Food and Drug Administration, previously based in Iraq and Egypt.

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