2019 Equal Justice Conference

Pro bono and fund development can work in hand in hand to increase engagement and support for a legal aid program when the two functions are strategically integrated. This panel will be an interactive discussion of challenges, opportunities, and best practices for identifying what works, what doesn’t, and what you can do to most effectively increase funding and pro bono assistance from the legal community.

Immigration is in the news on a daily basis. Join this networking session to share the latest issues and strategies.

This session is designed to build on the workshops we have done for the past few years on how to explain legal aid as constituent services to legislators and their staff. Now that many LSC grantees and other legal aid programs have begun to develop relationships with federal and state legislators and staff, we want to identify ways to build on and expand those connections, e.g., provide training for district caseworkers; involve legislative staff in community outreach efforts. The panel will include LSC grantee Executive Directors and civil legal practitioners with experience meeting with and educating federal and state legislators and their staff. The panel will also address compliance with lobbying restrictions applicable to LSC grantees in communicating with legislators.

Across the nation, persons experiencing homelessness are criminalized for their basic human needs to rest, to ask for help, to shelter themselves, and even to eat. But recent wins by attorneys using First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment theories are forcing communities to reshape how they approach homelessness.

Health care and immigration have found themselves under attack in the Trump Administration. The new proposed "public charge" rule merges these two issues as it threatens health care for immigrant individuals and families. This session will highlight innovative ways nonprofits and law firms are working together to address these issues.

e will give EJC attendees a "sneak peek" at our brand new product, a DOJ-OVW funded best practices guide for supervision of DSV attorneys both staff and volunteer. Through an engaging discussion we will work through the intersectional themes and suggestions of the best practices guide. We will share common examples and strategies for success and transformative leadership for multigenerational staff and volunteer attorneys working with vulnerable and traumatized clients.

Now is an excellent time to build a legal practice focused on serving the unique needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals and communities. Whether you're in private practice or working at a legal services organization, in the beginning stages of hatching an idea or already have a full-fledged LGBTQ Law Unit up and running, we will offer invaluable tips and strategies to help you avoid common challenges and pitfalls, and to build a practice that is both successful and sustainable.

In this session we will cover: community needs assessments, advisory committees, and priority setting; securing the right staff trainings and professional development resources; developing specific legal and cultural expertise; nurturing relationships with and remaining accountable to multiple intersecting client communities; building LGBTQ+ attorney leadership pipelines; responsibly winding down a project or practice when it's time; and developing a supportive internal infrastructure of client engagement and data collection that will endure long after your dedicated funding streams and/or personal enthusiasm for the project comes to its natural end.

The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in Janus v. AFSCME, 585 U.S. 16 (2018), has created new challenges for mandatory bar associations and providers of civil legal aid, affecting the earlier ruling in Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990), which supported many of the programs of fully integrated state bars.

The Supreme Court’s recent remand in the 8th Circuit case of Fleck v. Wetch, 868 F.3d 652 (2017), on Janus grounds, and federal court challenges in Texas and Wisconsin to the state bar’s access to justice initiatives and funding of civil legal aid have left a cloud of uncertainty among bar leaders, access to justice advocates, and civil legal aid programs.

This session will explain these cases’ potential impact and engage participants in a discussion of next steps in preparing a community response.

Communicating with low-income and vulnerable clients presents unique practical issues in addition to the ethical ramifications for civil legal services lawyers. Using various scenarios, this Workshop will first engage participants in a discussion about the nature of communications in this context, including the provision of unbundled and limited legal services and the use of technology tools to communicate with these clients. In terms of civil legal aid lawyers’ ethical obligations in these and other scenarios, panelists will discuss the application of Model Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1 (Competence), 1.2 (Scope of Representation), 1.4 (Communication), 1.6 (Confidentiality), and 1.18 (Prospective Clients). Attendees will discuss how to communicate with clients ethically and effectively, and in a way that is trauma-informed and builds trust.