Yesterday, DC Attorney General Karl Racine announced that the District has joined 42 states in a $6 million settlement with the nation’s largest debt buyer and collector — Encore Capital Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Midland Credit Management, Inc. and Midland Funding, LLC — in order to resolve claims involving the company’s use of illegal tactics to collect on unverified debts. Read more →

Last week I started a two-week SNAP Challenge which entails eating on the amount of food stamps benefits a SNAP recipient would receive: $4.40 per day.

With Week 1 completed, I wanted to share some of my reflections on the experience so far. Below are some of my biggest takeaways from Week 1 and my daily SNAP journal: Read more →

The Bar Association of DC (BADC) has announced that it will honor Jeremy Peterman of Orrick and his fellow 2018 Generous Associate Campaign Co-Chairs with the Young Lawyer of the Year Award for their exemplary legal service to DC’s community. The award will be presented this Saturday, December 1, at BADC’s Annual Banquet and Awards Gala.
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The DC Court of Appeals issued two orders earlier this month that will likely have a significant effect on the provision of civil legal services in the District of Columbia. The rules changes that were announced in the orders, which go into effect January 1, 2019, enjoyed the broad support of the DC Access to Justice Commission, the DC Consortium of Legal Services Providers, and the Washington Council of Lawyers, among others. Read more →

On Tuesday, the DC Council will hold a first vote on the Eviction with Dignity Act of 2018. We urge Councilmembers not to support the legislation without first making critical changes.

Since May of this year, Legal Aid, along with many of our colleagues in the legal services community, has been actively working with representatives of housing providers and members of DC Council on much-needed reforms to the eviction process. As my colleague Damon King wrote in July, our efforts suffered a setback when emergency legislation was put into place that lacked critical protections for the District’s most vulnerable tenants.  Legal Aid testified on September 24 about the serious need for revisions to the legislation before it became permanent, and many of the councilmembers appeared receptive to those concerns. Read more →