Virgin Islands (VI) Civil Legal Aid

Created by order of the Supreme Court of Alabama in April 2007 to coordinate among the legally underserved, the legal community, social service providers and the private and public sectors.
Link to organization

Primary geographic focus: Alabama
Organization type(s): ATJ Initiative
Acronym or short name: AATJ
Tags: Access to Justice Commissions

The 20-member commission is comprised of citizens representing the legal profession, educational administration, religious community, military, business sector, advocacy groups representing low-income Alabamians and volunteers.

The mission of the Alabama Access to Justice Commission is to coordinate, expand and promote effective and economical civil legal services for the poor and vulnerable people of Alabama.

This page last modified: Thu, April 23, 2015 -- 5:29 pm ET

The Alaska Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Fairness and Access released the final report from its examination of concerns involving racial and ethnic biases and the operation of the Alaska Court System in 1997.
Primary geographic focus: Alaska
Organization type(s): ATJ Initiative
Acronym or short name: AFAC
Tags: Access to Justice Commissions

This page last modified: Thu, April 16, 2015 -- 7:29 pm ET

Seeks to serve its members, improve the legal profession, eliminate bias and enhance diversity, and advance the rule of law. HQ in Chicago with significant DC office.
http://www.americanbar.org/

Primary geographic focus: NATIONAL
Organization type(s): Bar/Pro Bono
Acronym or short name: ABA

The American Bar Association is one of the world’s largest voluntary professional organizations, with nearly 400,000 members and more than 3,500 entities. It is committed to doing what only a national association of attorneys can do: serving our members, improving the legal profession, eliminating bias and enhancing diversity, and advancing the rule of law throughout the United States and around the world.

Founded in 1878, the ABA is committed to supporting the legal profession with practical resources for legal professionals while improving the administration of justice, accrediting law schools, establishing model ethical codes, and more. Membership is open to lawyers, law students, and others interested in the law and the legal profession.

Our national headquarters are in Chicago, and we maintain a significant office in Washington D.C.

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News Story

ABA Task Force: Bring Law School Costs Down

Karen Sloan
National Law Journal
June 19, 2015
Story about an ABA task force's recommendations for affordability of a legal education.

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News Story

American Bar Association President Pushes Online Models for Civil Disputes

Bill Dries
Memphis Daily News
June 22, 2015
The president of the American Bar Association says the traditional method of providing pro bono legal services in civil matters to those who can’t afford to pay for an attorney isn’t working despite best efforts.

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News Story

Major Law Firms Give Little to Legal Aid, Study Finds

Elizabeth Olson
New York Times (NYT)
June 29, 2015
While major law firms are enjoying record revenues — more than $100 billion last year — they are donating only a tenth of 1 percent of their proceeds for legal aid to low-income people.

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News Story

Boston Law Schools Launch Joint Practice Incubator

Karen Sloan
National Law Journal
July 16, 2015
Three Boston law schools are teaming up to launch a practice incubator that will serve low- and modest-income clients.

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News Story

Divided ABA Adopts Resolution on Nonlawyer Legal Services

Susan Beck
ALM
February 8, 2016
The American Bar Association's House of Delegates on Monday voted to adopt a resolution that gives states a framework to consider the regulation of "nontraditional legal service providers”.

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Audio , News Story

For Tenants in Housing Court, Study Finds ‘Navigators’ Can Be Good Alternatives to Lawyers

Beth Fertig
WNYC (NY)
December 13, 2016
A new study points to a program in Brooklyn housing court that pilots one possible solution: court navigators.

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News Story

Unrepresented Civil Litigants Fare Better With Nonlawyers, Study Shows

Corinne Ramey
Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
December 13, 2016
Trained legal helpers can aid with paperwork or answer questions from a judge but can’t argue in court.

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News Story

Trump Budget Would Gut Legal Aid For Veterans, Domestic Abuse Victims And Disaster Survivors

Ryan Reilly
Huffington Post
March 16, 2017
If the Trump administration gets its way, the Legal Services Corporation is getting the axe.

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News Story

Legal Services Corp., Under Trump, Faces New Threat to Existence

Marcia Coyle
National Law Journal
March 16, 2017
The Legal Services Corp., created in 1974 under the signature of President Richard Nixon, is once again on the chopping block as another Republican president—Donald Trump— proposes to zero out its funding in his first budget.

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News Story

Proposed cuts would reduce legal aid for poor

Shannon Eblen
Courier-Post (NJ)
March 23, 2017
Cuts to funding for legal services for the poor could force thousands of New Jersey residents to go without representation in civil cases, advocates warn.

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News Story

Trump budget hits legal aid and public service sectors

Marilyn Odendahl
Indiana Lawyer
May 24, 2017
Conversely, the LSC is confident Congress would continue to allocate funding as it has for the last 42 years.

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Op-Ed

Law schools are letting down their students and society—here are three steps they can take to fix things

Gillian Hadfield
Quartz
September 20, 2017
This is bad news for students. But it is even worse news for the rest of us.

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News Story

Maine school moves to reverse shortage of rural lawyers

Noel K. Gallagher
Portland Press Herald (Maine)
October 22, 2017
A new program puts aspiring young lawyers in country practices in hopes of increasing access to justice in underserved areas.

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News Story

Human trafficking survivors get a highly qualified legal advocate

Kristina Davis
San Diego Union-Tribune
November 3, 2017
When Jamie Quient first asked how she, a civil litigation attorney, could help victims of human trafficking, a federal prosecutor advised her: We need lawyers.

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Column

Defending the Family: The Need for Legal Representation in Child-Welfare Proceedings

Rachel Blustain
Nation, The
January 16, 2018
More than half of Mississippi parents who walk into family court don’t have a lawyer.

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News Story

Amid another call for defunding, LSC asking for an increase

Marilyn Odendahl
Indiana Lawyer
February 20, 2018
LSC leaders are confident of continued support from both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill but the organization is asking for more money even though it may still get a funding cut in fiscal year 2018.

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Editorial

Encouragement and Aspirations for the #LegalAidDefenders

Connecticut Law Tribune
March 2, 2018
Within the swirl of political activity of 2017 lay yet another attack on the Legal Services Corp., the federal agency that serves as the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans.

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News Story

A Blank Check for Legal Aid Gets Harder to Cash

Jack Karp
Law360
November 26, 2018
IOLTA programs across the country have been a major source of dollars for civil legal aid programs for decades, but anemic interest rates since the financial crash in 2008 have largely drained what was once a much deeper pond.

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News Story

Will Congress Heed Trump’s Call To Nix Legal Aid Funder?

RJ Vogt
Law360
March 24, 2019
For the third year in a row, President Trump’s budget calls for eliminating LSC, but advocates for America’s main funder of civil legal aid remain hopeful that lawmakers will again rebuff that recommendation.

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News Story

Why Partnerships Can Help Maximize In-House Pro Bono

Michele Gorman
Law360
November 3, 2019
It’s partnerships like Chubb’s that have helped legal departments and companies establish and grow successful pro bono programs to give back to their communities through free legal representation, according to Takacs and other panelists.

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Column

American Bar Assn. President Criticizes U.S. Legal System As Backward, Resistant to Change

Patricia Barnes
Forbes
February 3, 2020
“We need new ideas,” said Martinez. “We are one-fifth into the 21st century, yet we continue to rely on 20th-century processes, procedures and regulations. We need to retain 20th-century values but advance them using 21st-century approaches that can increase access to justice.”

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News Story

ABA Approves Innovation Resolution, With Revisions to Limit Regulatory Changes

Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
Law.com
February 17, 2020
The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates passed a resolution to push for new approaches to the practice of law that would improve access to justice, but not before adding a disclaimer to address concerns raised by some state bar associations about outside investment in law firms.

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News Story

Legal aid worried about aftermath of coronavirus

Marilyn Odendahl
Indiana Lawyer
March 18, 2020

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News Story

USA’s top law group hopes to limit legal harm to the poor

Willoughby Mariano
Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC)
March 16, 2020

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News Story

ABA President Calls for Reform to Meet Legal Needs of the Low-Income

Jeff Manning
Oregonian
October 13, 2014
If reform isn't done, the Justice Gap will continue to grow, says ABA President William Hubbard. More and more people in the middle class are now being affected as well.

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Blog Post

Language Access Projects Crucial to Making Legal Services Accessible

Lonnie A. Powers
Huffington Post
May 22, 2014
Language access is crucial explains Lonnie Powers, as many people with limited English skills struggle to navigate the justice system.

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News Story

Self-help centers could better serve consumers by helping them find lawyers, survey indicates

G.M. Filisko
ABA Journal
February 1, 2015
According to But Bonnie Hough, a new national survey reveals another gap: consumers who can afford legal services but still aren't getting them.

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News Story

Task Force Backs Changes in Legal Education System

Tamar Lewin
New York Times (NYT)
September 20, 2013
Among changes recommended by a draft ABA task force report is training nonlawyers to provide limited legal services, as in Washington State.

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News Story

A Call for Drastic Changes in Educating New Lawyers

Ethan Bronner
New York Times (NYT)
February 10, 2013
The legal profession is contemplating radical changes to legal educational amid broad agreement that the current system is broken.

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Letter to Editor

Legal Help for the Poor: The View From the A.B.A.

William T. Robinson III
New York Times (NYT)
August 30, 2011
To address justice gap, increase LSC funding and pro bono work instead of opening the practice of law to unschooled, unregulated nonlawyers.

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This page last modified: Wed, April 8, 2015 -- 5:31 pm ET

Independent nonprofit created by the ABA that conducts major research projects to advance justice and the understanding of law and its impact on society.
http://www.americanbarfoundation.org/

Primary geographic focus: NATIONAL
Organization type(s): Bar/Pro Bono, Research/Policy/Organizing
Acronym or short name: ABF

The American Bar Foundation’s mission is to serve the legal profession, the public, and the academy through empirical research, publications, and programs that advance justice and the understanding of law and its impact on society.

Created by the American Bar Association more than sixty years ago, and supported by annual grants from the American Bar Endowment, the ABF is an independent, non-profit organization that conducts large-scale research projects on the most pressing issues facing the legal system in the United States and the world. Research at the ABF is conducted by a residential research faculty and over 50 affiliated scholars from across the nation and the world.

The ABF is the largest recipient of grants from the Law and Social Science Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), where the ABF has an 85% success rate in applications compared to an overall success rate of 21% in the social and economic sciences. ABF is a thought leader and a source of research that is shaping policy.

This page last modified: Wed, April 8, 2015 -- 5:14 pm ET

National association of more than 13,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. Based in Washington, DC.
Organization website

Primary geographic focus: NATIONAL
Organization type(s): National Association
Acronym or short name: AILA
Tags: Immigration Process

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is the national association of more than 13,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. AILA Member attorneys represent U.S. families seeking permanent residence for close family members, as well as U.S. businesses seeking talent from the global marketplace. AILA Members also represent foreign students, entertainers, athletes, and asylum seekers, often on a pro bono basis.

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News Story

Facing High Legal Fees, Immigrants Are Using Web Tools to Apply for Green Cards

Madeleine Wattenbarger
VICE News
October 23, 2017
Tech services are promising to help undocumented people apply for legal status, but can they deliver?

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News Story

A Growing Lawyer ‘Army’ Is Banding Together to Protect Immigrants

Tania Karas
Nation, The
November 23, 2017
Immigrants with attorneys are four times more likely to be released from detention.

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Feature

How an Army of Women Lawyers Formed to Protect Immigrants in the Trump Era

Mattie Kahn
Elle Magazine
January 26, 2018
This weekend marks 12 months since the first Trump travel ban, an executive order that incited nationwide protests, spurred lawsuits, and drove hundreds of immigration attorneys to set up shop in airport terminals from New York to Los Angeles.

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News Story

DOJ tinkers with immigration courts to speed deportations

Caitlin Dickson
Yahoo! News
April 13, 2018
There are limited avenues for appeal and no constitutional right to a lawyer for anyone caught up in it.

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News Story

Should America Give Refuge to Abused Women?

Julia Preston
Marshall Project
April 17, 2018
Trump seems to say, not anymore.

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News Story

Immigrant toddlers appear in court alone

Christina Jewett, Shefali Luthra
Kaiser Health News (KHN)
June 28, 2018
Children as young as 3 are appearing in court without their parents to plead their case to stay in the country.

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News Story

ICE is ordering immigrants to appear in court, but the judges aren’t expecting them

Dianne Solis
Dallas Morning News
September 16, 2018
They’d been ordered to be in court by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But their official notices to appear on Sept. 13 were greeted by court staffers who matter-of-factly called them “fake dates.”

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News Story

ICE told hundreds of immigrants to show up to court Thursday — for many, those hearings are fake

Kate Smith
CBS News
January 31, 2019
Immigration attorneys in Chicago, Miami, Texas, and Virginia told CBS News their clients or their colleagues' clients were issued a Notice to Appear (NTA) for hearings scheduled Jan. 31. The attorneys learned the dates weren't real when they called the courts to confirm.

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This page last modified: Fri, April 10, 2015 -- 2:43 pm ET

Focuses on service to veterans, servicemembers and communities. Currently has about 2.4 million members in 14,000 posts worldwide.
Link to organization

Primary geographic focus: NATIONAL
Organization type(s): National Association, Other
Tags: Veterans

The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization, committed to mentoring youth and sponsorship of wholesome programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security, and continued devotion to our fellow servicemembers and veterans.

The American Legion is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization with great political influence perpetuated by its grass-roots involvement in the legislation process from local districts to Capitol Hill. Legionnaires’ sense of obligation to community, state and nation drives an honest advocacy for veterans in Washington. The Legion stands behind the issues most important to the nation’s veterans community, backed by resolutions passed by volunteer leadership.

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News Story

Despite progress in backlog, thousands of Florida’s veterans still wait for benefits

Monica Disare
Miami Herald
August 10, 2014
As VA backlog keeps shrinking, thousands of Florida veterans still wait for their benefits.

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This page last modified: Thu, April 16, 2015 -- 7:05 pm ET

The law school of American University. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of Northwest Washington, D.C.
Link to website

Primary geographic focus: District of Columbia
Organization type(s): Law School

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Op-Ed

Trump is targeting unauthorized illegal immigrant children — US citizen kids could be next

Cori Alonso-Yoder
Hill, The
August 8, 2018
These policies demonstrate the White House’s dwindling hesitation to increase penalties on the most vulnerable in order to advance its nativist objectives.

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This page last modified: Thu, August 16, 2018 -- 4:53 pm ET

Non-profit law firm working in Flroida and nationwide. Founded in 1996 as the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC).
Link to organization

Primary geographic focus: Florida, NATIONAL
Organization type(s): Research/Policy/Organizing
Acronym or short name: AI Justice
Tags: Children & Juvenile, Immigration Process, Language Access, Minorities: Racial/Ethnic

In Florida and on a national level, it champions the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children; advocates for survivors of trafficking and domestic violence; serves as a watchdog on immigration detention practices and policies; and speaks for immigrant groups who have particular and compelling claims to justice.

Its multicultural and multilingual staff works to build alliances between immigrant and nonimmigrant groups, including government, civic, social and faith-based communities.

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Op-Ed , Video

Your Honor, Can I Play With That Gavel?

Jennifer Anzardo Valdes
New York Times (NYT)
August 22, 2018
The U.S. government expects children as young as 18 months to represent themselves in immigration court. Lawyers in Miami made a coloring book to help kids understand what they’re facing.

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News Story

After being separated at the border, they began a quiet life in Miami. What’s next?

Brenda Medina
Miami Herald
September 13, 2018
Their separation was part of the controversial zero tolerance policy, which Attorney General Jeff Sessions officially announced a week later, in San Diego.

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Interview

Trump Administration’s Suspension Of Legal Aid For Migrant Children Prompts Outcry LISTEN· 4:04

Mary Louise Kelly
National Public Radio (NPR)
June 7, 2019
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Michelle Ortiz, deputy director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, about the Trump administration's plan to suspend legal aid for unaccompanied migrant children.

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Audio , News Story

South Florida Attorneys Bring Help For Migrant Kids That Have To Face U.S. Courts On Their Own

Madeline Fox
WLRN (South Florida)
August 8, 2019
South Florida facilities for unaccompanied minors who crossed the U.S. border have loomed large in the debate over the treatment of the youngest immigrants.

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Feature

Where Are the Children?

Sarah Stillman
New Yorker
April 20, 2015
This feature piece shines a light on role of civil legal aid and immigration advocates for kids and families in detention.

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This page last modified: Thu, April 30, 2015 -- 1:31 pm ET

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Primary geographic focus: Arizona
Organization type(s): Bar/Pro Bono

This page last modified: Tue, April 14, 2015 -- 5:45 pm ET