07Jul 2023 by Charles E. Price
Vermont Law School opens immigration, criminal justice legal aid clinic downtown

Vermont Law School opens immigration, criminal justice legal aid clinic downtown

LEGAL
Vermont Law and Graduate School now has a larger presence in downtown Burlington.The school received a $975,000 federal grant, secured by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to combine their immigration legal aid clinic and broader justice reform work into the Center for Justice Reform Clinic, which will be in their new downtown Burlington office.The office, on the fourth floor of 126 College St., officially opened June 22, a milestone marked by a ribbon cutting and speeches by the mayor, the president of Vermont Law and Graduate School and the dean of the law school.Mayor Miro Weinberger and Rod Smolla, president of Vermont Law and Graduate School, cut the ribbon to officially open the school's downtown location. The office will be the home of the school's new Center for Justice Reform Clinic,…
Read More
18May 2023 by Charles E. Price
The Impact of Stagnant Legal Aid Rates on Access to Justice in Australia – JURIST – Commentary

The Impact of Stagnant Legal Aid Rates on Access to Justice in Australia – JURIST – Commentary

LEGAL
Sophia Richards, fourth-year law student at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and James Trevallion, barrister at the NSW private Bar and co-chair of the Bar Association's Legal Aid Committee, discuss how stagnant Legal Aid rates impede access to justice.. .Access to justice is a foundational principle of the rule of law and is often phrased as requiring “the right of equal access to justice for all” through governments providing “fair, transparent, effective, non-discriminatory and accountable services.” In Australia, this principle was described in Dietrich v. The Queen as “the equal justice for all principle.”LegalAid is an example of an organization created to make access to justice more equitable by providing legal services to those who cannot otherwise afford it. It is a government funded organization providing free legal advice and…
Read More
02Mar 2023 by Charles E. Price
Ministers face legal battle with criminal solicitors over legal aid | Legal aid

Ministers face legal battle with criminal solicitors over legal aid | Legal aid

LEGAL
Ministers could face a legal battle over their refusal to increase legal aid rates for criminal defense solicitors in England and Wales by the minimum recommended in an independent review.The Law Society, the professional body for solicitors, claims there has been an “unlawful and irrational” failure to implement the 15% minimum increase recommended by Christopher Bellamy as necessary to sustain the future of the criminal justice system.It has issued legal proceedings after it put the government on notice through a pre-action letter sent to the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, in January, warning that it would go to the high court if he did not rethink the decision.Lubna Shuja, president of the Law Society, said it had been left with “no choice” but to take legal action after Raab, who also…
Read More
04Jul 2022 by Charles E. Price
Thousands of federal inmates still await early release under Trump-era First Step Act, advocates say

Thousands of federal inmates still await early release under Trump-era First Step Act, advocates say

LAW
Thousands of nonviolent federal prisoners eligible for early release under a promising Trump-era law remain locked up nearly four years later because of inadequate implementation, confusion and bureaucratic delays, prisoner advocacy groups, affected inmates and former federal prison officials say.Even the Biden administration's attempt to provide clarity to the First Step Act by identifying qualified inmates and then transferring them to home confinement or another form of supervised release appears to be falling short, according to prisoner advocates familiar with the law.The Department of Justice was tasked with carrying out the law through the federal Bureau of Prisons, but the bureau director, Michael Carvajal, a Trump administration holdover, announced his retirement in January amid criticism of a crisis-filled tenure marked by agency scandals. No replacement for Carvajal has been named,…
Read More
04Jul 2022 by Charles E. Price

The irony of today’s tough-on-crime rhetoric

LAW
America faces a challenge on the issue of crime. Whether we deal with it effectively or not, however, depends on the willingness of leaders from both the left and right to drop the slogans and culture wars and truly put public safety first. "Let them go." "Lock them up." “Defund the police.” “Back the blue.” Conflicting messages from political leaders are not only confusing and divisive, they also miss the point that many people don't feel safe and want solutions that work. Regardless of the historical decline in overall crime rate — a trend that accounts for the current uptick in certain violent crimes — some are demagoguing the broader issue to usher in an era of draconian sentences under the guise of public safety. Ironically, these tough-on-crime proposals can…
Read More