Florida Innocence Commission calls for changes to photo lineups
\n(The Orlando Sentinel © 05/18/2011)
A statewide panel seeking to prevent convictions of innocent defendants ? the Florida Innocence Commission ? on Monday recommended a sweeping change in the way Florida police agencies conduct photo lineups of people accused ");
document.write("of crimes.\r\n\r\nThe commission's recommendation, made during a meeting at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, is designed to reduce the number of people wrongly accused of crimes...\n
Student's perseverance, triumph inspires
\n(Bradenton Herald © 05/07/2011)
The Bradenton Herald\n \n\nEighteen-year-old Leonardo Leal couldn't afford ");
document.write("to pay for senior pictures. For years, he didn't have a solitary place to call home. But all that's changing for the guy called Leo by his friends.\n\nThe Braden River High School valedictorian has been one of Manatee County's sought-after students. Once homeless, Leo has been accepted to Harvard, Stanford and Brown universit...\n
Lakeland Woman Pushes Social Sec");
document.write("urity Office to Accommodate the Deaf
\n(The Ledger © 05/07/2011)
LAKELAND | Debbie Lauricella is stone deaf. Because of that, she says she suffered numerous slights at Lakeland's Social Security office but took them in stride, albeit reluctantly, until one day she was pushed too far.\r\n\r\n\"I just had enough,\" she said.\r\n\r\nBecause she got angry and determined that day in 2009, the way Lakeland's Social Security Administration office accommodates the deaf has bee...\n
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid gets Bar Foundation grants
\n(Florida Times-Union © 03/23/2011)
The Florida Bar Foundation has awarded nearly $190,000 in grants to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid to provide legal assistance to poor people, the foundation announced this afternoon.\n\n\nLegal Aid received $124,000 for affordable housing advocacy and a $65,920 children's legal services grant for its \"crisis in Duval County foster care edu");
document.write("cation systems project.\"\n\n\nGainesville-based Three Rivers Legal ...\n
Florida Bar Foundation approves several grants
\n(St. Augustine Record © 03/23/2011)
ORLANDO -- The Florida Bar Foundation board of directors met March 18 in Tampa and approved Children's Legal Services and Affordable Housing grants to legal aid organizations ");
document.write("around the state, as well as a number of projects funded under its Law Student Assistance and Improvements in the Administration of Justice grant programs.\r\n\r\nThe following is a list of the grant programs for which funds were...\n
Foundation Equal Justice Fellows will implement legal aid projects
\n(The Florida Bar News © 03/15/2011)
The Florida Bar Foundation recently announced its 2011-13 class of Equal Justice Works Fellows, who will embark this fall on two-year fellowships through which they will implement innovative projects at Foundation-funded legal aid organizations....\n
Perfect storm hits legal aid
\n(The National Law Journal © 01/04/2011)
Th");
document.write("e situation looked grim for Texas legal aid groups. In 2009, the take from Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts had plummeted due to record-low interest rates. Public interest law groups faced massive budget cuts.\r\n\r\nThe Texas Legislature came to the rescue with a one-time $20 million emergency allocation to fill the shortfall in 2009 and 2010, but the state now is dealing with its own budget crisi...\n
Juvenile offenders still get near-life terms
\n(Sarasota Herald-Tribune © 11/21/2010)
Instead, Florida courts in several high-profile cases are re-sentencing the juveniles to new terms that still amount to life sentences.\n\nAnd Gov. Charlie Crist and the state Cabinet are poised next month to reject the clemency case of a 15-year-old who received four life sentences for armed robberies in the Tampa Bay area.\n\nIn Crist's last Clemency Board meeting, set for Dec. 9, lawyers are asking...\n
As assistance programs face a 'gathering storm,' a foundation turns to lawyers for contributions
\n(Palm Beach Post © 11/15/2010)
A "gathering storm," says the finance man.\n\n"A potential crisis," says his boss, Bob Bertisch, the man who runs the main local source of legal assistance for the poor, the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County.\n\nThe f");
document.write("inance man, Michael Spillane, and Bertisch know their numbers, know the grants, donations and monetary gifts they cobble together each year to provide legal services ...\n
Orlando law school wins $100,000 grant to help juveniles with illegal life prison sentences
\n(Orlando Sentinel © 09/29/2010)
By Rene Stutzman, Orlando Senti");
document.write("nel\n \n\n \n \n \n \n\n4:54 PM EDT, September 29, 2010\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n ...\n
Jacksonville legal aid group helping reunite Ethiopian family
\n(Florida Times-Union © 07/30/2010)
By Matt Dixon \n \n\nSenit Huluka began life in Ethiopia. She followed her husband to a refugee camp in Yemen after he was forced to flee Ethiopia, and later snuck back into her native country - twice - to give birth to her daughters.\n\n\nShe has not seen her girls, ages 18 and 11, since they were born.\n\n\nWith that turbulent past shaping the day's events, Huluka sat in the basement of a Jacksonv...\n
Canday creates Innocence Commission
\n(The Florida Bar News © 07/15/2010)
Florida Chief Justice Charles T. Canady issued an administrative order on his second day in office creating a Florida Innocence Commission.\r\n\r\nThe 23-member commission was made possible by the work of former Chief Justice Peggy Quince, who obtained $200,000 in legislative funding through the help of inc");
document.write("oming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne. Additional support is being provided throu...\n
Editorial: Innocence panel good for Florida
\n(The Tallahassee Democrat © 07/06/2010)
The Florida Innocence Commission was created Friday by Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Canady, marking a significant new day f");
document.write("or justice in our state.\r\n\r\nSimultaneously, the Florida Bar Foundation board of directors approved a $114,862 grant to help fund this commission, which Canady created by an administrative order.\r\n\r\nThe commission is charged with studying issues related to wro...\n
Fla. Supreme Court chief justice forms innocence panel
\n(The Associated Pres");
document.write("s © 07/03/2010)
TALLAHASSEE -- The new chief justice of the state Supreme Court created the Florida Innocence Commission on Friday, saying it will study issues dealing with wrongful convictions over the next two years.\r\n\r\nChief Justice Charles Canady signed an administrative order establishing the 23-member panel just a day after beginning his two-year term overseeing the high court. Panel members include legisla...\n
Canady announces creation of the 'Florida Innocence Commission'
\n(Florida Capital News © 07/02/2010)
Newly installed Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady hit the ground running today, only the second day of his administration, by announcing the creation of the ?Florida Innocence Commission,?\r\n\r\nCanady, a former Republican congressman from Orlando, is following up on the groundwork of his predecessor, Justice Peggy Quince, the first black female to hold the position. The comm");
document.write("ission a...\n
Jacksonville lawyers to help study wrongful convictions in the state
\n(The Florida Times-Union © 07/02/2010)
TALLAHASSEE - Two Jacksonville lawyers, Howard Coker and Hank Coxe, were named to a commission created Friday by the state Supreme Court's new chief justice that will study issues dealing with wrongful con");
document.write("victions over the next two years.\r\n\r\nChief Justice Charles Canady signed an administrative order establishing the 23-member panel a day after beginning his two-year term overseeing the high cour...\n
Jacksonville medical-legal partnershp expands as need grows
\n(The Florida Times-Union © 06/28/2010)
On his 18th birthday, Joshua");
document.write(" York became an adult in the eyes of the law. But in the eyes of his mother and his doctor, he is still a child in many ways. Diagnosed with autism, Joshua is slow to understand what he?s being told and always has relied on his mother to make medical decisions for him.\r\n\r\n?As a mother of a son with a disability,? Gina York said, ?you want to do anything for him to be sa...\n
Florida Supreme Court looks into wrongful convictions
\n(Orlando Sentinel © 06/13/2010)
It was 2003, and this is how it started in Florida: Sheila Meehan had dozens of boxes stacked in her Tallahassee garage filled with letters and legal paperwork from hundreds of Florida inmates who claimed they were innocent and that DNA tests would prove it.\r\n\r\nMeehan and her boss, Jennifer Greenberg, were launching the Innocence Project of Florida. Money was so tight, they set up desks in a rent-...\n
Dead inmate's name lives on in Florida State Prison abuse case
\n(The St. Petersburg Times © 06/07/2010)
RAIFORD ? When the family began to sing \"like a bird from prison bars, I'll fly away,\" the four inmates stopped packing dirt on the new grave and listened.\r\n\r\nOn this day in late May, more than a dozen voices in perfect harmony wafted across a vast field where thousands of unclaim");
document.write("ed Florida inmates are buried, their graves marked by metal license plates.\r\n\r\nThis one reads: \"Jeremiah Thomas, 19047...\n
Mortgage fraud: FAMU Law students canvass Orlando-area neighborhoods
\n(Orlando Sentinel © 06/05/2010)
PINE HILLS ? Louvon Roberson didn't face foreclosure when she paid a local company to modify her home ");
document.write("loan, but because money was going to be tight for a few months due to upcoming knee surgery, she needed lower mortgage payments.\r\n\r\nWith her husband disabled and unable to work, Roberson, 52, said she was trying to avoid falling behind, so she paid a loan-modification agent $1,295 in August.\r\n\r\n\"...\n
Study By FSU Professor Cited Repeatedly By U.S. Supreme Cou");
document.write("rt
\n(Tallahassee-WCTV (CBS) © 05/17/2010)
Press Release\n \n\nTALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A study conducted by Florida State University College of Law Professor Paolo Annino and the school?s Public Interest Law Center was cited repeatedly by members of the United States Supreme Court in a landmark decision issued Monday, May 17.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ...\n
Judge meets man he helped to exonerate
\n(Sarasota Herald-Tribune © 05/14/2010)
Gallen and two other appeals judges heard the case and ruled in April 2009, telling a circuit judge to hold another hearing and reconsider the denial of the DNA test.\r\n\r\nGallen's opinion got the attention of the Florida Innocence Project, who jumped to help argue Bain's case. Bain sought to retest the victim's underwear and pajamas, introduced by the state at trial");
document.write(" because they were said to con...\n
Former foster child travels Road to Independence
\n(Orlando Sentinel © 04/19/2010)
When Kamesha Grant turned 18 in November, she packed a suitcase, left her home in St. Cloud, climbed aboard a bus alone and headed for a new life. As a foster child, it was time to move on.\r\n\r\nThat's the way th");
document.write("e system typically works in Florida. But it's not just a shove out the door. In Grant's case, there was something better ahead.\r\n\r\nTaking advantage of the state's Road to Independence pr...\n
Legalese translation into Spanish project provides access to justice
\n(South Florida Business Journal © 03/03/2010)
GULFPORT — Spa");
document.write("nish speakers facing legal issues are a potential market for a business development project led by David Fernandez and other Stetson University College of Law students.\n\n\nFernandez, president of Stetson’s Hispanic Bar Association, foresees a possible future business venture providing Hispanics access to the legal system as he and some organization members translate Florid...\n
Disabled teen's dad wins fight over diaper costs
\n(Miami Herald © 01/30/2010)
Severely disabled, Sharett Smith, 17, needed one thing in order to leave behind her green-and-white plush doggie and her brown teddy bear and go out with her family to church or the park: diapers. At a price tag of $200 to $300 per month, her widowed father could not afford them. And the state's Medicaid program, which pays for Sharett's care, refused to help. This week, a federal judge ruled ...\n
Pro Bono success stories
\n(Jacksonville Daily Record © 01/12/2010)
01/11/2010by Kathy Para JBA Pro Bono Committee ChairLegal house calls give immobile client peace of mind Debbie Lee-Clark deals in providing senior citizens peace of mind. Though the federal judge law clerk?s day job limits what type of pro bono work she can perform, she has still found a way to help serve Jacksonvill");
document.write("e?s under served population by drafting advance directives and simple wills for t...\n
A second chance at home
\n(South Florida Sun-Sentinel © 12/24/2009)
Tylor Montgomery was tired of running away, tired of the group foster home shuffle, tired of wearing out his social workers, his relatives, himself.\n\n\"I wanted for so long ju");
document.write("st to come home,\" Tylor said. \"I needed to get my act together.\"\n\nWith the help of a child-welfare system that's usually better at tearing families apart than putting them back together, he has.\n\nIt might not look like much, t...\n
DNA clears man after 35 years in prison
\n(MSNBC.com © 12/18/2009)
BARTOW, Fla. - James Bain used");
document.write(" a cell phone for the first time Thursday, calling his elderly mother to tell her he had been freed after 35 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.\r\n\r\nMobile devices didn't exist in 1974, the year he was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a 9-year-old boy and raping him in a nearby field.\r\nNeither did the sophisticated DNA testing that officials mor...\n
Place for Children at courthouse returns
\n(Orlando Sentinel © 12/12/2009)
Children will start playing with dolls and trains again at the Orange County Courthouse.\n\n\n\n\n\nDonors stepped up and saved a program that offers free day care to parents serving on juries, testifying as witnesses and attending hearing at the downtown Orlando courthouse.\n\n\n\n\n\nA Place for Children, which is operated by the Children's Home Society, will re-open on Monday. Budget woes forced the 10-yea...\n
Jury finds Rechnitz defrauded widow of her home in a foreclosure scam
\n(St. Petersburg Times © 10/03/2009)
In a \"groundbreaking'' case that could be the first of its kind in the nation, a jury this week found that the owner of a St. Petersburg foreclosure rescue company scammed a 60-year-old Port Charlotte woman out of her home. \r\n\r\nThe Sarasota County jury awarded $93,467 to Wanda Costa, who unwit");
document.write("tingly sold the house to Gideon Rechnitz for nothing in 2006 even though she had substantial equity at the...\n
Legal services offered for abandoned, orphaned and homeless immigrant children
\n(St. Petersburg Times © 07/31/2009)
TAMPA ? By the time Xiomara Medrano broke down in design class that day at Leto High School, she had");
document.write(" been living on her own for years.\n\nShe'd bounced from one stranger's home to the next ? about a dozen in 18 months, working as a waitress to pay rent. Then the restaurant fired her, fearing repercussions over her illegal immigration status.\n\nShe worried that if she told adults her problems ? that h...\n
Pro Bono Spotlight
\n(Jacksonville D");
document.write("aily Record © 07/20/2009)
Attorneys needed for JALACARE Program\nby Kathy Para, Pro Bono\nDevelopment Coordinator for\nJacksonville Area Legal Aid\nRobert, a teenager browsing the laptop computer offerings at the local electronics store, is captivated by the latest 3-D gaming graphics of one particular model and can?t quite tear himself away from the video game that?s running on it.\nA salesman comes over and asks if he can hel...\n
Volunteers provide a ramp to freedom for disabled Ponte Vedra Beach man
\n(Florida Times-Union © 07/17/2009)
PONTE VEDRA BEACH - It took just one life-changing moment for James Ballas' home to become his prison.\n\n\nIt took one more to free him.\n\n\nOn Thursday, that moment came: A crew of volunteers that included members of the St. Johns County Fire and Rescue Department erected a ramp from his home to the parking lot. Its sloping wood structure represented a day's work, but nearly ");
document.write("a year of legal and emoti...\n
Senator to sponsor freed inmate William Dillon
\n(The Florida Today © 06/15/2009)
State Sen. Mike Haridopolos said he would sponsor a bill to help get compensation for William Dillon, a Brevard County man who spent 27 years in prison for murder before DNA evidence led to his release. The Merritt I");
document.write("sland Republican said he would put together a special claims bill for Dillon, who was released from prison in December. Dillon, 49, needed to find a sponsor because a drug conviction w...\n
Readers offer to buy diapers
\n(Miami Herald © 06/12/2009)
Offers to buy diapers for an impoverished Miami man who says he's had to choose ");
document.write("between utilities and disposable briefs for his severely disabled daughter flooded The Miami Herald following a story published Thursday.Dozens of South Floridians have offered to buy diapers, groceries and other goods for Floyd Smith, a 52-year-old unemployed widower who is raising a disabled 16-year-old and three oth...\n
Dad's choice: food or diapers");
document.write("
\n(Miami Herald © 06/11/2009)
Widowed and unemployed, Floyd Smith is struggling to house and feed his four children on $1,000 a month in benefits.The Miami resident's biggest expense outside of rent: diapers.Smith, whose wife died of brain cancer last year, spends $200 a month on diapers for his 16-year-old daughter Sharett, who has severe cerebral palsy and mental retardation. He says he can't afford the diapers and other nec...\n
Cane workers see last chance to recover Fla. wages
\n(Daytona Beach News-Journal © 06/05/2009)
MIAMI (AP) -- One of the country's most powerful sugar companies is trying keep more than 1,400 West Indian cane cutters from suing for back wages by using a 19th century Florida law requiring they each put up bond, an attorney for the workers says. The lawsuit is the last in a series of wage cases first brought in 1989 against five sugar companies. An attorney for");
document.write(" the workers said he expects ...\n
Ave Maria law school awarded $13,000 grant from Florida Bar Foundation
\n(Naples Daily News © 05/14/2009)
The Ave Maria School of Law has announced that it has been awarded a $13,000 grant from the Florida Bar Foundation for its Public Service Fellows Program.\n\nThe money will be used to provid");
document.write("e financial assistance for students working in legal aid organizations in southwest Florida this summer, including Legal Aid Service of Collier County, the Lee County Legal Aid Society, and the Florida Equal Just...\n
Attorney honored for pro-bono work
\n(Citrus County Chronicle © 05/07/2009)
Inverness attorney Jeannette Haag s");
document.write("aw a perfect opportunity to right a wrong.\n\n A woman on the brink of losing her home turned to Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida for help, but the case was so complicated, several attorneys didn’t know how to approach it. \n\n “It required a lot of expertise,” Haag said.\n\n That’s when she and her firm, Haag, Haag & Friedrich, st...\n
IMMOKALEE:
\n(Ft. Myers Florida Weekly © 05/06/2009)
THE DIMINUTIVE mocha-complected woman with hair blacker than melted midnight stands in the harsh glare of an unshaded 100-watt light bulb and explains to Cpl. Esteban Rodriguez of the Collier County Sheriff's Office how someone has entered her home, found her purse and stolen $1,000 —money she earned picking produce in the fields. Lord knows how long it took her to set aside such a sum. Man...\n
Mortgage Crisis
\n(Daily Business Review © 04/29/2009)
Program helps keep owners from losing homes\r\n\r\n\r\nApril 29, 2009 By: Billy Shields\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\nAlex Sink\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nssistant public information officer Dana Larachuita was answering phones at The Florida Bar?s Tallahassee office when she got a call from a nurse on the brink of losing her home. \r\n\r\nDiagnosed with a career-altering illness, the nurse had fallen two month");
document.write("s behind on her mortgage afte...\n
Family fights school district for special needs equipment
\n(Fort Pierce Hometown News © 04/27/2009)
By Jeanne Willard\n\nStaff writer\n\nVOLUSIA COUNTY - A bean bag chair might be fine for kids lounging at home, but when one was offered to Steven Berkani, 17, for use in the classroom, the special");
document.write("-needs teen felt demeaned.\n\n\"It's kind of belittling,\" said the Atlantic High School junior who suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair.\n\nHis mother, Karen Berkani, was incensed.\n\n\"He's n...\n
Abuse of detainees must end
\n(St. Petersburg Times © 04/09/2009)
Reports by Human Rights Watch and the Florida Immi");
document.write("grant Advocacy Center as well as a Washington Post investigation show that detained immigrants, many of them held in Florida jails, routinely do not receive proper medical care. For some of those immigrants, that has proven to be a death sentence. In an increasing number of cases, according to the advocacy groups, Immigration and Customs Enforcemen...\n
Contro");
document.write("versial water policy in Immokalee reversed
\n(Ft. Myers News-Press © 04/07/2009)
The Immokalee Water & Sewer District will now accept photo IDs from any government, including a foreign one, reversing a policy that denied some immigrants services.\n\nIllegal immigrants in the Collier County agricultural town had been turned away for water service after lease-holders lacked valid U.S. or state-issued IDs.\n\n\"That's good news,\" said Adan Labra, an Immokalee organizer with The Farmw...\n
Editorial: Too few eligible for assistance
\n(Miami Herald © 04/06/2009)
In February, Congress passed the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. \r\n\r\nAs a result Florida now has a tremendous opportunity to boost its economy and help thousands of unemployed workers stay afloat as they look for their next job. \r\n\r\nMore than 800,000 of our residents became unemployed in the past year. With families st");
document.write("ruggling everyday to cover necessities such as housing, healthca...\n
Out-of-work lawyers turn to volunteering for legally needy
\n(St. Petersburg Times © 04/06/2009)
TAMPA — The prospective client came dressed in a ball cap and a polo shirt, a large white envelope stuffed with papers and photographs tucked under his arm.");
document.write("\n\nHe believed he had the goods to sue his former employer for wrongful termination, but he didn't have money for a lawyer.\n\nJohn Salgado took notes on a yellow legal pad and sorted through documents as the man made an animated pitch for h...\n
Fighting Back
\n(Daytona Beach News-Journal © 03/31/2009)
Charlotte Bogue is a health");
document.write("y, active 79-year-old, and until recently thought she was pretty smart about taking care of her affairs.\n\nBut now Bogue believes someone may have scammed her and stolen her identity. She called the state Attorney General's Office, filed a police report and is seeking the help of Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida.\n\n\"I was at one time president of the homeowners asso...\n
Free at last, thanks to advocates
\n(Orlando Sentinel © 03/30/2009)
By Helen Eckinger | Sentinel Staff Writer \r\nMarch 30, 2009 \r\n \r\nJoe Dillon holds a 1994 photo of himself, his wife, Traci, and his stepbrother William (right). Cleared of a 1981 murder by DNA evidence, William Dillon is seeking $1.35M in compensation from the state. (Ryan Pelham, Orlando Sentinel / December 5, 2007)\r\n\r\nNo one knows exactly how many people are behind bars in Florida for crimes they...\n
Treat detained immigrants with dignity
\n(The Miami Herald © 03/19/2009)
She spent days lying in the jail cell's cot ''stiff as a corpse,'' with pain in her joints that demanded medical attention. The symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis were unbearable, but the prison guards gave her no pity.\r\n\r\nSeveral weeks passed at the Monroe County Jail and Lourdes wasn't given any of the nine medications she needs t");
document.write("o treat her severe arthritis. Her jailers justified it by sayi...\n
Residents Davie mobile home park Palma Nova drop lawsuit
\n(The South Florida Sun Sentinel © 03/17/2009)
Residents at Palma Nova mobile home park in Davie who stayed beyond the Feb. 28 eviction deadline won't have to move until May 31.\r\nPark owner Austin Forman");
document.write(" agreed to waive their rent for three months. In return, Legal Aid Service of Broward County Click here for restaurant inspection reports has agreed to drop its class-action lawsuit against the town and Forman.\r\nThe park was once home to more...\n
For jobless lawyers, plan B includes good works
\n(CNN.com © 03/16/2009)
It was t");
document.write("he best of times in 2004, when attorney Dave Dineen graduated from Boston University School of Law and landed a job at a top Massachusetts corporate firm, Foley Hoag LLP.\r\nBy 2007, the National Association for Law Placement was reporting the most promising year in two decades. Nearly 92 percent of graduating attorneys were employed, and the median starting salary at private practices had i...\n
Esther Olavarria tapped to help shape immigration policy in Washington
\n(The Miami Herald © 02/27/2009)
Florida immigrant advocates looking for possible clues to the direction President Barack Obama will take his new administration may need to look no further than the appointment this week of a woman whose name is familiar to virtually all immigration advocates and attorneys in Miami: Esther Olavarria....\n
PBC school district to spend $100,000 to address claims that it mistreats disabled students
\n(Palm Beach Post © 02/03/2009)
The Palm Beach County School Board is expected to settle with three civil rights groups that filed a state complaint alleging students with behavioral or emotional disabilities were not getting the academic or emotional services they needed and were instead being unfairly punished for behaviors that stem from their disabi");
document.write("lities. \n\n\nIn a settlement agreement that will go before the board Wednesday,...\n
New anti-fraud policy for driver's licenses alarms advocates for immigrants
\n(South Florida Sun-Sentinel © 02/02/2009)
By Luis F. Perez\n \n \n \n \n\nSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel\n \n \n \n \n \n\n February 2, 20");
document.write("09\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n\nThey're immigrant victims of rape, torture, domestic violence and other crimes who have been notified they can legally stay in the United States. \n\nUntil June, they could use federal notice of that status to obtain a...\n
Program helps owners remain in their homes
\n(Florida Times-Un");
document.write("ion © 01/31/2009)
In the past three months, 189 Beaches homeowners have defaulted on their mortgages and are facing foreclosure, according to a national online company that tracks such information.\n\n\n\n\n\nBut few of them are taking advantage of Jacksonville's Foreclosure Intervention Program, where counselors work with local banks, mortgage companies, lawyers and some local funding to help homeowners find alternative...\n
Doctors bail on Medicaid program
\n(Florida Times-Union © 01/30/2009)
A 2-year-old Medicaid privatization program former Gov. Jeb Bush touted as a national model for improving care while limiting state costs is foundering, with nearly a quarter of the participating doctors leaving over payments and the inability to treat patients as they see fit.\n\n\nIn Duval County, the death of one man and a woman?s stroke have been among tragedies with ties to the Medicaid Reform p...\n
Interest Rate Drop Has Dire Results for Legal Aid
\n(Sarasota Herald-Tribune © 01/19/2009)
BOSTON — Scores of legal aid societies that help poor people with noncriminal cases — like disputes over foreclosures, evictions and eligibility for unemployment benefits — are being forced to cut their staffs and services, even as r");
document.write("equests for help have soared.\n\n \n\n\n\nIn an odd twist, the societies have been hit hard by the Federal Reserve’s steep reduction of its bench...\n
A foundation, a judge and pro bono lawyers give homeowners hope
\n(Sarasota Herald-Tribune © 01/18/2009)
On the same day the Herald-Tribune reported another spike in monthly for");
document.write("eclosure filings in our region, The New York Times filed a story on another bad trend affecting Florida and the nation: rising complaints against companies that charge imperiled property owners thousands of dollars to \"rescue\" them from foreclosure.\n\n \n\n\n\nFederal and state agencies have sued some of the \"foreclosure rescue com...\n
America looks for change qui");
document.write("ckly ...
\n(Florida Times-Union © 01/17/2009)
To eyes worldwide, he is reform incarnate.\n\n\n\n\n\nHe is that blend of political prowess and intellectual gift spawning great hope for a better America.\n\n\n\n\n\nHe is that promise, the executive-level pivot reinventing a nation at war, an education system in jeopardy and an economy in peril.\n\n\n\n\n\nVoters agreed. It's time.\n\n\n\n\n\nOn Tuesday, Barack Obama will take the oath of office with polls showing he's...\n
City fighting for homeowners
\n(Florida Times-Union © 01/17/2009)
Jacksonville leaders have been working for months, trying to come up with solutions to keep Forbes magazine's dismal prediction from coming true.\n\n\n\n\n\nThey don't want the city to become the nation's Foreclosure Capital.\n\n\n\n\n\nEven without the magazine's prediction, city leaders say they were seeing the warning signs. City Council members had started receiving calls from consti");
document.write("tuents facing foreclos...\n
William and Helen Thomas Charitable Foundation's gift to aid Legal Aid Society
\n(Palm Beach Daily News © 01/17/2009)
The William and Helen Thomas Charitable Foundation of Palm Beach recently awarded the Legal Aid Society's Non-Citizen Victims of Domestic Violence Project $20,000 to provide services ");
document.write("to immigrant victims of abuse to protect their physical safety and to help them obtain legal status in the United States.\n\n\nLegal Aid Society of Palm Beach County Executive Director Bob Bertisch said \"abusers of undoc...\n
Broward County social advocates warn about human trafficking at rally
\n(South Florida Sun-Sentinel © 01/10/2009)<");
document.write("/b>
By Doug Phillips\n \n \n \n \n\nSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel\n \n \n \n \n \n\n January 10, 2009\n \n \n \n \n\nFORT LAUDERDALE\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n\nSocial service advocates want people to help alert authorities about possible victims of human trafficking.\n\n\"Do you want somebody living next door to you who you know is being beaten, t...\n
State Suspends Tampa Bay Academy's License
\n(Tampa Bay Online © 01/10/2009)
The state officially stopped the Tampa Bay Academy today from providing long-term mental health care to the most troubled children, but the academy's problems aren't unique to its corporate parent in Texas.\n\n\nThe mental health center's last-minute attempt to show regulators it could fix its problems didn't prevent the state from suspending its license. Officials with Florida's Agency for Health Ca...\n
Young lawyers ready for AOC
\n(Florida Bar News © 01/07/2009)
Young Lawyer?s Division President Jewel White Cole told the Bar?s Board of Governors that she?s looking forward to the division?s upcoming Affiliate Outreach Conference in January, largely because it offers a rare chance to talk to YLD members face- to-face.\n\n?One of the things about young lawyers ");
document.write("is that we are connected to our pda?s and our laptops, and we don?t really get out and talk with one ...\n
Jacksonville Bar Association: Volunteering for children
\n(Florida Times-Union © 12/27/2008)
The reason I went to law school in the first place can be traced to the eye-opening experience of volunteering as a Guardian Ad L");
document.write("item in Miami back in the 1980s.\n\n\n\n\n\nPerhaps because I didn't have children of my own, I became acutely aware that kids - newborns to teens - who had been removed from their parents had no legal representation.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe only voice they had was the Guardian Ad Litem, usu...\n
Renters not immune to foreclosure
\n(Florida Times-Union © 1");
document.write("2/27/2008)
Jondalynne Chan thought she did everything right.\n\n\n\n\n\nWhen she moved to Jacksonville from North Carolina, she researched good neighborhoods and checked out her landlord on the local court database.\n\n\n\n\n\nBut just a few months after she signed the lease in August, she was served with court papers: The mortgage company was filing a foreclosure action, saying the landlord was five months behind on pa...\n
Pro bono goes stagnant
\n(Florida Bar News © 12/23/2008)
Associate Editor\n\nOn starting a new career in the law, every Florida attorney takes an oath that includes the following: \n\n?I will never reject, from any consideration personal to myself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed, or delay anyone?s cause for lucre or malice. So help me God.?\n\nIn keeping with that promise, the Florida Supreme Court has set an aspirational goal of having every Flori...\n
Miami nonprofit joins effort to make deportations harder
\n(Palm Beach Post © 12/23/2008)
MIAMI — A legal services center that represents many immigrants throughout South Florida has entered a U.S. Supreme Court case on behalf of a Baltimore man who wants to make it harder for immigration officials to deport some individuals seeking political asylum.\n\n\nThe Flori");
document.write("da Immigrant Advocacy Center, a Miami nonprofit, has prepared a "friend of the court" brief on behalf of Jean Ma...\n
Broken economy hitting homes
\n(Tallahassee Democrat © 12/20/2008)
For nearly 11 years, Callie and Sam Moore made every payment on their mobile home in southern Leon County. But in May, Sam Moore lost hi");
document.write("s job as a city truck driver. Now, the couple is faced with the prospect of losing their home.\n\n\"After I lost my job, everything started going downhill,\" he said, \"and right now, we're living off the little pension I have in my savings. ... I don't know how much l...\n
Collier Women?s Bar Association names Legal Aid attorney woman attorney of the year
\n(Naples Daily News © 12/19/2008)
NAPLES —\nThe Collier County Women’s Bar Association has named Sister Maureen Kelleher as the organization’s Woman Attorney of the Year for 2008. Kelleher is the managing attorney of Legal Aid Service of Collier County — a private, non-profit law firm providing free civil legal services to low-income individuals in Collier County.\n\nThe \"Woman of the Year\" award is presented ...\n
Legal Services marks 30 years
\n(Tallahassee Democrat © 10/30/2008)
The stack of applications from people asking the nonprofit Legal Services of North Florida for help keeps rising.\n\n\"It's out of control,\" said senior attorney Marc E. Taps.\n\nThe nonprofit Legal Services of North Florida on Wednesday celebrated its 30th anniversary of giving legal aid to the poor, victims of domestic violence, children and the elderly. The organization serves more than 7,000 c");
document.write("lient...\n
Pilot program designed to help immigrants avoid scams
\n(St. Petersburg Times © 10/20/2008)
TAMPA ? Florida will serve as the test state for a campaign aimed at helping immigrants avoid scams during the immigration process.\r\nCitizenship and Immigration Services officials announced the pilot program Friday in Tampa...");
document.write(".\n
![](\"http://www.newspaperclips.com/npcapp/publisherUsage.aspx/31543/0/72/image.gif?rnd=634413250474921257\"){kind=small}
\n");