Executive Director

We have tried to keep makingjusticereal.org focused on Legal Aid’s policy agenda, issues in the equal justice and legal services movement and successes in our cases and projects.  One of our guiding principles has been to use the blog to move the work forward and stay away from personal observations.  I am going to violate that rule.

This last week, here in the District of Columbia, there was a remarkable step forward for civil rights  –  same sex couples were given the right to marry.  In a time where budget shortfalls, an increasingly stingy federal court and a gridlocked federal government have set back the cause of people who have been historically disenfranchised, this change in DC law has been a beacon of hope.  Progress is possible and we can move the law towards decency and equality for all – that the law genuinely values civil rights.

I was moved to write this blog during my ride home last night.  A rider in a seat in front of me commented to his companion, “I think gay marriage is great but I am bored of seeing it on the front page of the Post.”   While I admit that some of the coverage was thin on substance, it has been a joy to read.  It is genuinely thrilling to celebrate when an historic wrong is corrected and the law recognizes that all people are entitled to dignity.  During these difficult times, this is very good news indeed.  Keep it coming.

Development Associate

As regular readers of this blog know, Legal Aid’s Executive Director, Jonathan Smith, is one of this year’s recipients of the Meyer Foundation’s Exponent Award.  The Award recognizes strong and effective nonprofit leaders, and is a testament to the commitment and hard work that Jonathan has given to Legal Aid over the last seven years. 

Recently, the Meyer Foundation interviewed Jon for their March Newsletter on topics ranging from Legal Aid’s growth during his tenure, to the economic downturn, to this very blog!  Be sure to check out the full interview here.

Executive Director

We have written before in Makingjusticereal.org about the impact that the recession has had not only on the needs for legal help, but also on the budgets of legal assistance organizations.  As the recession drags on, the situation grows more desperate for people who live at the bottom of the income scale.  Unemployment rates continue to rise in many neighborhoods as government and private services are withdrawn.  Legal assistance, which is often necessary to address poverty related disputes, is also shrinking.

Professor Peter Edelman and I had the opportunity to give the topic a more thorough treatment in the March 2010 Washington Lawyer.  The article builds on the joint “Rationing Justice” report of the D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers and the D.C. Access to Justice Commission.

With the District’s budget in free fall, the next few months will be critical to preserving safety-net programs.   Please consider attending this important briefing:

 ******************************************
What’s In Store
For FY 2011?

 A forum on the D.C. budget outlook
for fiscal year 2011.

 ******************************************

 Monday, March 8, 2010

Registration and Coffee: 9:00 a.m.
Program: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Charles Sumner School, Great Hall
1201 17th Street NW

Speakers include:

•  Ed Lazere, Executive Director, DC Fiscal Policy Institute
• Eric Goulet, Budget Director, Council of the District of Columbia
• Fitzroy Lee, Chief Economist, Office of the Chief Financial Officer
• Dawn Slonneger, Chief of Staff, Office of the Honorable Vincent C. Gray
• T.J. Sutcliffe, Director of Advocacy & Public Policy, The Arc of the District of Columbia

 R.S.V.P. requested to Tina Marshall, marshall@cbpp.org

Sponsors:

The Arc of DC
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
Fair Budget Coalition
Think Twice Before You Slice

Chief Operations Officer

The Legal Aid Society’s Consumer Unit continues to work to preserve affordable and sustainable housing despite the most difficult situations.  One area that Wendy Weinberg, Supervising Attorney of the Unit, and Jennifer Ngai, Equal Justice AmeriCorps Fellow, both focus on are foreclosures that result from fraudulent and/or predatory lending.  Jen shares the story of client with whom our Consumer Unit has successfully intervened on behalf of to prevent a foreclosure. 

Unfortunately, stories like the one shared here are all too common in the District of Columbia.  Funding cuts proposed in the District’s budget threaten to further limit the ability for legal services programs to continue at their current levels let alone grow the program to meet the increasing need.  Legal Aid is grateful to the opportunities provided by organization like Equal Justice / AmeriCorps program as it has allowed us to expand our staffing in this unit.

Legal Director

Legal Aid is pleased to announce the Fair Budget Coalition (“FBC”) as the 2010 recipient of Legal Aid’s Partnership Award.  Legal Aid’s Partnership Award was created to recognize significant collaborations between Legal Aid and other non-legal organizations that directly increase our ability to serve our clients.  The FBC will accept the award at Legal Aid’s Servant of Justice Awards Dinner, scheduled for Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at the JW Marriott Hotel.

 The Fair Budget Coalition is a worthy organization which has provided extraordinary advocacy on behalf of communities living in poverty in the District of Columbia.  The Fair Budget Coalition mission is to “fight[] for a just and inclusive District of Columbia through advocacy and organizing and by advancing budget and public policy initiatives which reflect the interdependency of the District’s community and economic development systems.”  Last year, the FBC worked hand in hand with Legal Aid to oppose changes to the TANF program that would have hurt families living in poverty.  Every year, the FBC is a powerful voice at the City Council focusing on issues of economic justice.  To read more about the FBC’s work, click here: http://www.fairbudget.org/.  Or, better yet, come to the SOJ dinner on April 27 and hear about the Fair Budget Coalition in person.

Executive Director

The snow week in February has consumed a small lake of press ink, and nothing has gotten more attention than the skill, or lack thereof, of the Mayor to clear it from the roads.  The obsession with plowing has obscured a much larger issue: how will the District pay for all those trucks on the road?

The tens of millions of dollars in extra expense for snow removal could not come at a worse time.  The District is facing a budget shortfall over the next two fiscal years of $500 million.  If the past is any guide, the District’s budget will be balanced by cutting services to vulnerable citizens: those living in poverty, the elderly, children and persons with disabilities.

Cuts to social welfare programs are especially harsh this year.  Unemployment in some wards approaches 30%, recent studies reveal a spike in childhood hunger, there is an unprecedented affordable housing crisis and the District has among the lowest welfare payments in the country.

When faced with a similar budget crisis last summer, the District chose to cut programs and impose only a nominal tax increase.  In contrast to the Council’s reluctance to increase revenue, Steven Pearlstein suggested in his Washington Post column that there be a new snow removal tax to create a several hundred million dollar plowing fund.

A tax increase for snow removal may or may not be a good idea, but an increase to ensure that the social safety net remains intact merits consideration.   Wouldn’t it make more sense if we measured the success of government by whether every child is housed and fed and everyone who wants to work has a job, rather than how quickly snow is plowed.

Some of the most satisfying work I do is “initial client interviews” with people who come in during our walk-in hours looking for legal help.  I sort out their issues, make a preliminary determination whether they are within Legal Aid’s scope and, if so, send a write-up and recommendation to the appropriate unit for consideration of representation.  More often, I wind up giving substantive or procedural legal advice to people I know we can’t take on as clients.  Although I have to turn them away, many benefit from a sympathetic ear, referral to other resources, or frequently guidance and reassurance so that they can handle the problem themselves.

Until recently, the rest of my time has been spent as a member of the Public Benefits Unit, largely assisting clients with Social Security disability and retirement issues, which can be mind-numbingly complex.  Among other things, I have become an expert on Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans, which produce a flurry of activity in the last couple of months of each year; in the season just past I helped more than 35 low-income clients review their plans, make changes necessitated by plan changes or new prescriptions, and deal with the glitches endemic to the program.  Currently, I continue to work with the Public Benefits Unit but am gradually transitioning to a more flexible work schedule with a heavier mix of special projects (in other areas as well) that I can work on from home. 

Although it may not often be feasible to replicate my particular status as a staff attorney, there is a variety of opportunities for retired (or partially retired) lawyers to work out arrangements that meet their individual interests and the needs of the numerous DC legal services organizations.  The points I would most emphasize is that one must think of the work as a job like any other, must be prepared to learn new things, and must be willing to take individual responsibility for nitty-gritty details.

Executive Director

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for providing critical supports to people living in or near poverty.   During the recession, the demand for assistance has risen, but DHS has failed to meet the challenge.   Long lines at service centers, improperly denied benefits and too few staff plague the agency.   At the City Council Oversight Hearing for the Department of Human Services on February 17, the Director of DHS testified that the agency was hiring new staff and revising program operations to promote greater efficiency and accountability. 

However, it has taken the agency far too long to respond to this crisis.  Even now, the agency is still investing too many resources in  long-term planning that may or may not produce results at the expense of immediate, proven fixes.   Additionally, the District has also failed to expand the Food Stamps program and is limiting the Interim Disability Assistance (IDA) program although these benefits are urgently needed and paid for with federal dollars.   The District must take action to ensure that the District families, people with disabilities and the unemployed who rely on DHS for safety net benefits get this help immediately.

Jennifer Mezey, Supervising Attorney

Read the testimony of Legal Aid Public Benefits Supervisor Jennifer Mezey at the agency’s February 17 performance oversight hearing.

Executive Director

The Legal Aid Society will hold its annual Servant of Justice Dinner on April 27, 2010.  We are looking forward to a tremendous evening and a greatly honored to be able to give our Servant of Justice Award to two advocates who have made a difference in the lives of individuals and communities living in poverty.

Vernon Jordan

Vernon Jordan started his career as a lawyer at the height if the civil rights movement.   After graduating from Howard Law School in 1960, he joined the legal team that desegregated the University of Georgia.   He went on to leadership positions in the NAACP, the Southern Regional Council and in 1964 led the Voter Education Project.   He worked closely with the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations on the enactment and enforcement of civil rights laws.

 Mr. Jordan became the director of the United Negro College Fund in 1970 and President of the Urban League in 1972, a position he held for nine years.  He has been a leader in creating diversity throughout the corporate world and significantly, has pushed for greater opportunities for minorities in the profession of law.  He led the Clinton transition and has remained a strong and influential voice in the United States and internationally on civil rights and equally justice issues.

Mr. Jordan is a partner at the law firm of Akin Gump and serves on many corporate and non-profit boards. 

Florence Wagman Roisman

Florence Roisman is responsible for one of the most important decisions in modern landlord and tenant law.  As a young lawyer, she argued and won Javins v. First Nat’l Realty Co the seminal case that created the implied warrantee of habitability in residential rental housing.   First established by Professor Roisman in Javins, this doctrine has been adopted in virtually every state.  She has been a thought leader in housing law ever since.  She has written extensively and speaks often on the intersection between poverty, race and the law as it relates to housing issues.   Among her many influential writings is “The Lawyer as Abolitionist: Ending Homelessness and Poverty in Our Times,” 19 U. Public L. Rev. 237 (2000), which has had a powerful effect a generation of anti-homelessness advocates.

Professor Roisman is the William F. Harvey Professor of Law at the Indiana University School of Law Indianapolis.  She has taught at the Georgetown law Center and the law schools of the University of Maryland, Catholic University, and Widener University.  Professor Roisman serves on the many non-profit boards including the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, of which she was a co-founder.  She was also a founding director the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.    

The Dinner program will include additional honors to a long time volunteer and a community partner and we will have an exciting keynote address.  Look for future blogs with more information about the program.