Via this blog over here, pointing to this one over here, both pointing to this thread in the Texas District and County Attorneys Association’s online forums, we learn that prosecutors are now getting written agreements to the destruction of DNA evidence as part of plea bargains. As Wretched of the Earth puts it, “Want […]

Somehow this (strangely written) press release, about the “record numbers” of “self-represented” litigants in U.S. courts, got lost in my backlog. These statistics are not really news, but we ought to note that the release comes from a debt-counseling/”educational” firm called “Credit Card Rest in Peace.” Is it disturbing that the nonlawyer private […]

The Legal Services Corporation (the federally-funded U.S. entity that supports many of America’s legal aid organizations) will be getting a $22 million funding increase in 2007. Last Thursday, H.J. Res. 20 became law, upping the appropriation for LSC from $326.5 million to $348,578,000. This is LSC’s first increase in four years. All […]

Community legal education doesn’t really show in the agenda for this year’s Rebellious Lawyering conference, either (although it has in the past). But, a panel on anarchist lawyering makes up for that, for me—especially a panel made up entirely of Katya Komisaruk.

The 2007 Equal Justice Conference is coming up, as well as the concurrently-held annual gathering of State Access to Justice Commissions. What will the big topics be, according to the advance agendas? Pro bono, pro bono, pro bono, and pro bono (43% of agenda items, by my rough count). Also, a little […]

Today was a pan-Canadian “Student Day of Action” for demonstrations in support of reduced university tuition fees. I got to see these protests in both Montréal and Ottawa today—lots of students bundled up with toques and mitts and carrying signs in frigid weather. How bad are the fees? Well, they’re at their […]

This afternoon I could be found way in the top of the Centre Bell, watching golden boy Sidney Crosby and his fellow Pittsburgh Penguins fall in overtime to les Canadiens de Montréal. Why blog this? During the singing of the American national anthem, a row of three folks in Habs sweaters in front […]

Recently the author of this blog over here suggested that the denial-of-service attack idea could be used as a model for real-life protesting.  I thought, “now that could surely work,” and wondered why I’d never heard of anything like that (except maybe this or this).  Tonight, however, at the Charlottetown stop of the Wal-Town tour, […]

This week, the Canadian government apologized to a citizen and offered him $10.5 million CDN. This week, the U.S. government insisted on continuing to consider that person a terrorist threat. This week, the U.S. president continued to promise that many more troops and dollars would be spent in Iraq. This week, the […]

A new bill introduced this month in the U.S. Senate would ease restrictions on the types of clients that American federally-funded legal aid programs can serve. According to the Legal Services Corporation, S. 237 would let LSC grant recipients help non-U.S. citizens apply for legal temporary residence in the U.S. and help legal temporary […]