TOURO LAW CENTER AND NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ISSUE LAW REVIEW ADVOCATING RIGHT TO COUNSEL

The first half of the issue reproduces much of the discussion held at a conference at Touro Law Center in March 2008. Andrew Scherer, Executive Director of Legal Services NYC, Dean Lawrence Raful of Touro Law Center, and the outgoing and incoming presidents of the New York State Bar Association deliver introductory addresses that call attendees of the conference to action.

Full press release below:

TOURO
LAW CENTER
AND NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ISSUE LAW REVIEW ADVOCATING RIGHT TO COUNSEL

Unfortunately, at a time when more Americans are finding
themselves in desperate need of legal assistance, fewer are able to obtain
affordable legal services in critical matters affecting their lives.  Without a lawyer, low-income people too often
risk losing access to basic human needs such as food, shelter, child custody,
and health care.  Prior to the economic
crisis, legal services organizations were already overwhelmed by the need for
their assistance, and under-funded to meet the demand.  Now that more individuals and families are
facing financial distress, the justice gap is growing exponentially.

In order to address this justice gap and assure that the
promise of equal justice for all is fulfilled, the New York State Bar
Association and Touro Law Center have been working together with scholars,
lawyers, judges and activists from New York and around the country to advance
the discussion about providing a right to a lawyer for low-income people with
high-stakes civil claims.  Touro Law
Review gathers some of these insights into a special 25th Anniversary edition
journal entitled, "An Obvious Truth: Creating an Action Blueprint for
a Civil Right to Counsel in New
York State."   This issue can be found at http://www.tourolaw.edu/lawreview/Vol25_No1_2009.html

This volume presents a variety of perspectives that deepen
public understanding of the issue and illuminate pathways for advocacy to make this
important goal a reality.  Contributors
to the law review describe the areas of human need and substantive law where a
right to counsel is needed and could make a difference.  Others frame the right to counsel in the
context of a broader discussion of international human rights and domestic
civil rights. The review as a whole shows how the justice system itself is
advanced through providing low-income civil litigants with lawyers.

The first half of the issue reproduces much of the
discussion held at a conference at Touro
Law Center
in March 2008.   Andrew
Scherer, Executive Director of Legal Services NYC, Dean
Lawrence Raful of Touro Law Center, and the outgoing and incoming presidents of
the New York State Bar Association, deliver introductory addresses that call
attendees of the conference to action.  The
volume also includes a New York State Bar Association Report, authored by Laura Abel of the Brennan Center
for Justice, which presents a comprehensive overview of the need for counsel in
substantive law areas affecting shelter, sustenance, safety, domestic violence
and the particular legal concerns of special populations.  Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights provides an inspiring historical overview of the emergence of the
right to counsel from the struggle for civil rights in the United States.
Speakers at a plenary session present local, state, national and international
perspectives on the need for a right to counsel.  These presentations include a discussion of a
New York City bill that would establish a right to counsel for seniors facing
loss of their homes through foreclosure or eviction; an update on the “Civil
Gideon” movement that is growing throughout the United States; the viewpoint of
the New York State Office of Court Administration on the impact of a right to
counsel on the state’s justice system; and an analysis to the role of
international human rights law in providing the legal foundation for a right to
counsel.

The second half of the law review includes articles that explore
in greater depth the substantive issues addressed at the conference.  Paul Marvy and Laura Abel discuss current
state-based litigation and advocacy that advance a right to counsel in various
areas of civil law.  Professor Raymond
Brescia of Albany Law School provides
the legal and factual underpinning of the need for counsel for tenants facing
eviction in New York
State; he details the
multiple ways that the current state of the law and the courts fail to address
this critical need.  Professor Martha
Davis of Northeastern
Law School
presents the right to counsel as a human rights issue, with roots in the
struggle for international human rights and possible solutions in international
law.  Stephen Loffredo of CUNY Law School and Don Friedman of Empire Justice Center
argue that state legislatures have a constitutional duty to recognize and fund
a qualified right to appointed counsel at welfare administrative hearings; they
present a legislative proposal to implement that duty.  Kia Franklin of the Drum Major Institute for
Public Policy expands on a workshop at the conference to explore the need for
and the implications of providing counsel in health-related proceedings.  Sarah Marx, editor of Touro Law Review,
discusses the progress and obstacles in implementing a right to counsel for children
in New York State.  Dennis Kaufman of Legal Services of Central
New York proposes a strategy focused on getting the US Supreme Court to declare
a right to counsel in family law proceedings; he bases his analysis on Malcolm
Gladwell’s concept of forces converging to create a “Tipping Point” for emerging
social change.  Finally, there is an
article based on the conference workshop discussion on the particular need for
counsel facing special populations, such as the elderly, disabled, prisoners
and immigrants.

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