New Website on Procedural Fairness Launches

Posted on February 26, 2012 by richardzorza

This has some potential.

As you know, one of the main intellectual underpinnings of the changes in courts to open the system to the self-represented has been the research into procedural fairness.  This work, which seems counter-intuitive to many lawyers and judges, has shown that litigants are more concerned with being heard than they are with winning.

Now some of those most involved with this work have launched a website, www.proceduralfairness.org, dedicated to exploring and promoting this idea.

The founding participants are Judge Kevin Burke, District Judge in the Hennepin County (Minn.) District Court; Judge Steve Leben, Judge, Kansas Court of Appeals; the National Center for State Courts (with researcher David Rottman as its lead blogging participant); and Professor Tom Tyler, of Yale Law School. The Procedural Fairness Blog will feature those individuals, other staff from the National Center for State Courts and periodic guest bloggers drawn from the judiciary, court management, and the academy.

The site links to a blog on procedural fairness.

This is a place to watch.

Posted in Judicial Ethics, Systematic Change | Tagged | Comments Off on New Website on Procedural Fairness Launches

Wall Street Journal has Video Report on Texas Forms Fight

Posted on February 24, 2012 by richardzorza

That’s right.  Not only does the Wall Street Journal have an article  (behind a paywall), but now has a video interview with the reporter, covering much of the ground.

The general tone seems to be that using the forms without a lawyer is not ideal, but practical and realistic in today’s economy.

The bar does not do well in the Comments.

 

Posted in Forms | 1 Comment

SJI Reports Almost $4.7 Million Requested in 45 Self-Represented Litigation Concept Papers

Posted on February 22, 2012 by richardzorza

Here is the language:

. . . SJI received 45 Concept Papers totaling $4,695,208 for the recent Strategic Initiatives Grants solicitation for self-represented litigation in the state courts. The Board will meet in April to finalize decisions on both grant awards for the 2nd quarter, and on the Concept Papers submitted to address self- represented litigation in the state courts.

While some of those who submitted concept papers may feel discouraged by the size of the applicant pool, this is surely good news overall.  It demonstrates the range of creativity and energy in those engaged in this work, and provides a powerful tool for those arguing for additional resources and attention for this work in a broad range of institutions.

Congratulations to all who submitted.

Posted in Funding, Self-Help Services | Tagged | 1 Comment

Fascinating Detail in NY Foreclsoure Plan — Bank Officials With Modification Power Required to Attend

Posted on February 22, 2012 by richardzorza

This might be the breakthrough.  The New York Times reports on the detail in Chief Judge Lippman’s plans for foreclosure processes in New York.  The key — and its critical — is that banks with be sending people with actual authority to modify loans.

New York State’s courts, frustrated by delays in thousands of foreclosure cases, are planning to speed them along in a new program that would give judges added control and require banks to send officials who have the power to alter loans to keep people in their homes.

“There will be no more excuses, no more delays,” the state’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, said in announcing the plan last week. “Real negotiations will take place.”

The move is the latest effort to stiffen court foreclosure procedures. In at least 19 states that have such court programs, efforts to settle foreclosure cases have often met with obstacles, including what some judges have found to be bad-faith negotiations by lenders.

The New York plan includes an unusual agreement by four banks to send representatives to court who can approve loan modifications. New York’s mortgage settlement conferences have often been paralyzed by repeated requests for information and the absence of anyone with authority from the banks.

Interestingly, as the Times puts it:   “State law requires that bank representatives “be fully authorized to dispose of the case,” but enforcement of that requirement has been sporadic.”

Here is part of the Rule governing mandatory settlement conferences in foreclsoure, as linked by the Times:

  (c) At any conference held pursuant to  this  section,  the  plaintiff
  shall  appear in person or by counsel, and if appearing by counsel, such
  counsel shall be fully authorized to dispose of the case.

The plan will start in Queens, and be expanded.  There is discussion in the article about whether there are enough resources for the homeowners to have representation.

But the bottom line is that judges should now be in a position to take charge, and get cases properly resolved.  I hope that there will be good research into the impact of this change, as well as of whether counsel for the defendants are or are not needed to reap maximum benefit from the program.

I see this as another great example of “simplification” in the sense of trying to get the right people in place at the right time to get cases resolved.

Posted in Foreclosure, Simplification, Systematic Change | 1 Comment

Claudia Johnson On Ideas for the 2012 TIG Round

Posted on February 22, 2012 by richardzorza

The Legal Services Corporation has made available their Letter of Intent Request for this cycle of TIG grants. The letters are due 3/12/2012. More information can be found here.

The areas of interest are 4 this year:

a) using mobile devices,

b) leveraging technology to promote pro bono and law student involvement

c)technology tools with applicability to Federal law and

d) using data to analyze service delivery and develop advocacy strategies.

This information can be found here

Some areas from past years are not listed, however that does not mean that LSC is not interested in them — for example innovations to improve access to legal services and justice for Limited English Proficient populations.

Here is a list of potential ideas for this cycle:

Continue reading →

Posted in Forms, Funding, Technology | 2 Comments

Google Glasses — and Implcations for the Justice System

Posted on February 21, 2012 by richardzorza

The New York Times Bits Blog has a post on Google’s plans to start selling “Google Glasses” by the end of the year.

You wear these glasses on your head and they feed you information about your environment from the various Google databases.

So, you are in the courtroom and the camera and database recognize the judge and show you recent articles about her or him, the judicial election results, and the campaign contribution lists?

Or perhaps the case results summary for that judge?

Or how about getting info about the cop who stops you on the highway? (There have been many attempts to keep police information secret because of safety concerns.)

Certainly you should be able to sit in the courtroom and see the docket, and filed papers in the current case.

Navigation, by the way, is by head movements.

Apple is supposedly focusing instead on wrist devices.

Posted in Technology | Comments Off on Google Glasses — and Implcations for the Justice System

More on Law School Failures

Posted on February 21, 2012 by richardzorza

The NY Times reports in its blog today on a forthcoming book on he failures of law schools that is likely to keep the debate alive.

That at least is the story told in a book to be published later this year, “Failing Law Schools,” by Brian Tamanaha. Tamanaha is a law professor, a former law school dean, a prolific legal theorist and, by his own account, a malefactor who in the past did some of the things he now criticizes. Having seen the light, he feels compelled to spread and document the bad news.

The key not-so-new thought is “differentiation,” the idea that some law schools, those at the high end, should focus on research, while others should focus on training for practice.

And the solution? In a word, differentiation. Don’t let the A.B.A. and U.S. News call the tune. Instead, take a good look at the educational landscape, at the market, at the costs, at the demographics and come up with a flexible system that matches law school graduates to needs: “Research oriented schools will remain as they are. Practice-oriented schools will be staffed by experienced lawyers; … research institutions will be staffed by scholars mainly engaged in research; other schools will be staffed by both types.” Different strokes for different folks.

This makes me both queasy and hopeful.  Obviously we have differentiation already in terms of job options and likely salary, just not in pricing, so we have the worst of all worlds.  But a split profession would lose a lot of value, appeal and effectiveness.  Maybe we would be no worse, and better in some ways, so long as the differentiation did not extend to formal professional eligibly rules and a divided profession — although there would surely be pressure for that.

We certainly need lower cost educational models, and without them we will never have lower cost legal professionals or affordable access.  In that sense it is not just the law schools, but the profession that is failing.  Presume for differentiation of some kind, either by allowing non-lawyer practice, or by developing systems of less theoretical and more practical legal education, can only grow.

Posted in Law Schools | Comments Off on More on Law School Failures

How Can California’s Non-Judicial Foreclosure Process Not Violate Due Process?

Posted on February 16, 2012 by richardzorza

The New York Times reports that study of thousands of San Francisco foreclosures found errors in 84% of them.

The improprieties range from the basic — a failure to warn borrowers that they were in default on their loans as required by law — to the arcane. For example, transfers of many loans in the foreclosure files were made by entities that had no right to assign them and institutions took back properties in auctions even though they had not proved ownership.

The press release for the report itself adds:

“By focusing on six subject areas within the foreclosure process we can see broad patterns and consistent issues. On the whole, over 75% of cases had problems related to three or more of the six general subject areas,” explains Pizante.
The report found 75% of sampled foreclosures had at least one issue relating to an assignment of the Deed of Trust. When a lender sells a loan it signs an assignment of the Deed of Trust in favor of the new lender. Common problems uncovered include conflicts between federal filings and recorded documents (23%), new lenders signing over debt to themselves (11%), and assignments being filed after the Notice of Default (59%).
The report also found that in many cases, there were instances of suspicious activity indicative of potential fraud. Examples include “strangers” to the Deed of Trust purporting to be Beneficiaries (45%) and the back-dating of documents (59%). Overall, 82% of cases had at least one occurrence of suspicious activity.

How can that system not violate due process?  Turner v. Rogers requires that procedures in cases involving taking of constitutionally protected interests provide sufficient accuracy and fairness for the significance of the matter at stake.

Sixteen percent compliance fails that test.

Posted in Foreclosure | Comments Off on How Can California’s Non-Judicial Foreclosure Process Not Violate Due Process?

Future of Law Libaries: Crisis Versus a Twenty First Century Vision

Posted on February 15, 2012 by richardzorza

I am doing some writing right now about the vision for a Twenty-First Century Access to Justice Law Library.  I believe that there is a critical role for law libraries as part of the access community and the access solution.

However, the starkness of the alternative is highlighted by this article in the West Virginia State Journal.  The article explains that the State Supreme Court is studying if there is any need to keep law libraries in the face of the online access that is available to the profession, and that a bill is moving in the state legislature to authorize such steps.

The push to close the libraries has met with some criticism. [State Court Administrator] Canterbury said he has received thousands of emails.

“But out of the 1,300 I received, only six were from within West Virginia,” he said. “Three of those were from the same family, but there is no law library in their county.”

While there is discussion in the online comments to that article about the accuracy of those numbers, the overall dynamic remains in play.

There are obviously already powerful models out there of law libraries that are committed to access to justice, and already playing a crucial role — Montana, Austin Texas, Los Angeles, Maryland, to name just a few.  This West Virgina news item highlights that doing so is not only the right thing — it may be critical to public law libraries institutional future.

Here, for example, is the Maryland mission statement:

The Maryland State Law Library is a court-related agency of the Maryland Judiciary and is open to the public. The Library serves the needs of Maryland’s government and citizens by: building and preserving collections of legal information resources, promoting access to these collections, and creating educational opportunities that enhance the understanding of legal information.

Please make suggestions in the comments for the best possible mission statement for a law library.  It might be helpful in the writing I am doing.

Posted in Libraries | 4 Comments

Court Simplification — Burden of Production of Rent Payment Records

Posted on February 15, 2012 by richardzorza

DC Legal aid has a great blog on the new DC Superior Court rule requiring landlords to bring the “rent ledger” to court in non-payment cases.

The benefit is obvious: it is likely the landlord who has the record, and this makes it possible for court and tenant to review for errors.

Here is the Order implementing the rule changes to DC Superior Court Rules of Procedure for the Landlord and Tenant Branch.

Continue reading →

Posted in Simplification, Systematic Change | Comments Off on Court Simplification — Burden of Production of Rent Payment Records

Law School for Interpeters – A Great Idea

Posted on February 14, 2012 by richardzorza

South Carolina has a great idea — Law School for Interpreters, as described in their blog.

Here is the agenda:

Registration and Breakfast 8:00 a.m.
Welcome & Overview 8:45 a.m.
Pretest 9:00 a.m.
“Oh the Places You Can Go and the People You Can Meet” (Overview of the SC Judicial System) 9:15 a.m.
South Carolina State Court Interpreter Certification Program 9:45 a.m.
BREAK
Circuit Court 10:30 a.m.
Family Court 11:15 a.m.
Magistrates Court 12:00 noon
Catered Lunch
Court Process 1:45 p.m.
BREAK
Panel Discussion & Q&A: Reality Check 3:15 p.m.
Post-test, Wrap-Up, & Evaluation 4:45 p.m.

As I understand it, the idea is to make sure that interpreters who have not been working in the courts, are ready and authorized to do so.

For me, the name also suggests a more controversial idea, that interpreters should be trained in the provision of legal information, so that they can assist in making sure that LEP litigants understand the environment and situation even when there there is no court person trained and ready to provide that information through the interpreter. (It is controversial because, as a general matter, the profession takes a very formalistic view of its role, and is very critical of proposals to expand it.)

Posted in LEP, Self-Help Services | 2 Comments

Access to Justice Updates from the President’s 2013 Budget Submission

Posted on February 14, 2012 by richardzorza

Here are the headlines:

LSC budget would go back up to $402 million. (LSC press release here)

SJI is level-funded at $5,121,000.

The Coproration for National and Community Service would get a 1.3% increase, described below by the Chronicle on Philanthropy:

President Obama today proposed increasing the budget for the Corporation for National and Community Service by 1.3 percent next year, to almost $1.1-billion—providing enough money to keep about 82,500 AmeriCorps members, the same as now.

In his budget for the 2013 fiscal year, the president said he would also increase spending on the Social Innovation Fund, a grants program to expand effective nonprofit social projects, to $50-million, up from just under $45-million in 2012.

By the way, many of you may have appreciated the job Stephen Barr did at LSC getting the word out.  He has just moved to DOL to manage their Office of Public Affairs.

Update:  The TechPresident Blog points out that the e-government initiative remains well funded.

The White House on Monday announced a 2013 budget proposal of $16.7 million for its e-government operations, and an additional $5 million for a government-wide fund that will enable agencies to reap the knowledge gained from lab-testing emerging technologies without having to conduct duplicative tests themselves.

The federal E-Government Fund, administered by the General Services Administration, pays for transparency and technology initiatives like Data.gov, Performance.gov, and USASpending.gov.

Posted in Budget Issues, Funding, LSC | Comments Off on Access to Justice Updates from the President’s 2013 Budget Submission

New Videos Show How to Create Multi-Media Content

Posted on February 13, 2012 by richardzorza

The videos were created by Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, and are available on NTAP, as well as other locations.

Presentations are:

  • How to Record in GoToMeeting and Edit in Movica
  • How to use Audacity to edit a PowerPoint Sound Track
  • Ready for your Close-up? How to Use Screencast.com to Share your Work
  • Feel the Power! Add Sound to a PowerPoint
  • It’s Alive! Animate your Slide Show Images
  • It’s nice to share! How to use Authorstream.com to share your PowerPoint Presentations

Obviously, lots of uses to create training materials for all constituencies at very low cost — and low cost means easy to update and change as the law changes.

Posted in Self-Help Services, Technology | Comments Off on New Videos Show How to Create Multi-Media Content

National Justice Corps Application Filed

Posted on February 13, 2012 by richardzorza

Readers of this blog will know that a lot of networking has been going on to create a national application to the Corporation for National and Community Service to expand Justice Corps.

I am happy to report that Pro Bono Net has now filed the application.  If funded, the grant would support court Justice Corps-type programs in four states:  Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, New York.  It would also support similar non-profit based Citizenship Access programs in the following states: California, Florida, Michigan, New York, and Texas.

Here is the Executive Summary:

Three hundred fourteen JusticeCorps members will leverage an additional 1,000 volunteers to assist 48,000 excluded community members obtain access to justice across the country. In six states, members will focus on increasing civic engagement and improving economic mobility by helping naturalization-eligible community members become U.S. citizens. In four states, members will focus on helping excluded community members resolve urgent legal crises and obtain access to courts in problem areas deemed by the local community as most critical. Areas of crisis help will include housing, family law, domestic violence and consumer debt. JusticeCorps members will serve in courts and community organizations in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina and Texas. At the end of the project, JusticeCorps members will achieve this impact: 2,000 community members will apply for U.S. citizenship and 40,000 self-represented litigants will receive help accessing the justice system. JusticeCorps will focus on the Economic Opportunity and Veterans focus areas, and will serve as a national model for increasing civic engagement for those who serve and are served. The CNCS investment of $1,030,403 will be matched with $555,450.

Note how well the parts of the program fit together (from the narrative):

JusticeCorps Members : Addressing The Justice Gap␣ The National JusticeCorps program seeks to deploy the benefits of service and technology, not only in the courts, but also in community organizations working to provide access to non-court governmental institutions such as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and to stimulate additional replication nationwide in both the court and broader governmental access contexts. ␣ JusticeCorps members will serve in a variety of capacities, with the common goal of using technology- enabled services to help more people in less time. This may take place in a workshop setting or in a one- on-one interaction, and will encompass providing litigants with information about options and referrals to appropriate services within or outside the courts, as well as assisting litigants in identifying and accurately completing needed legal forms using online tools.

The National Center for State Courts will help get the word out about the program (assuming it is funded).

More good news is that courts or others can also apply directly to their state Community Service Commissions for funding to local programs — indeed that is how California started and maintains their wonderful pilot of the whole idea.  Anyone interested should contact Pro Bono Net for ideas and contacts — the tools that PBN plans on developing will be helpful in supporting such local programs, as well at the national initiative.

Finally, a special shout-out to the California Courts, who deserve every credit in the world, for thinking of a fabulous program, piloting and nurturing it, and then being so helpful in making sure that the idea can spread.

Watch this space for more news on this important initiative, which has the potential to make a major impact nationally.  Lets hope that many states move forward and build this into a movement.

Posted in Funding, Pro Bono, Self-Help Services, Technology | Comments Off on National Justice Corps Application Filed

LSC TIG Solitication Out — Letters of Intent Due March 12

Posted on February 10, 2012 by richardzorza

Its out, the LSC TIG request for letters of intent, due March 12.

Remember that applications have to be submitted by an existing grantee, but that LSC is very open to collaborations with other organizations, including courts.

There are categories for Website Improvement and Innovation, Replication and Adaption (with specific suggestions for replication of previous TIG projects and Automated Form Replication) and an Open area.

Most suggestive to me are the Five “Areas of Interest:”

Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, LSC, Technology | Comments Off on LSC TIG Solitication Out — Letters of Intent Due March 12