New eNewsletter Will Chronicle Developments Toward Achieving a Civil Right to Counsel
By Marcia Henry, Senior Attorney-Senior Editor
The inaugural issue of Civil Right to Counsel Update is now available. To be published quarterly, the Update will report on all aspects of advocacy to achieve recognition of a right to counsel for low-income people in civil cases that affect basic human needs. In criminal cases, a right to counsel has long been recognized any time a defendant faces even a brief period of incarceration. But no parallel right exists in civil cases, despite consequences-like permanent loss of custody of a child, or loss of safe and subsidized housing, or denial of health care-that can be at least as devastating.
The National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel coordinates advocacy strategies at the state level to expand the right to counsel in civil cases. The inaugural issue of Civil Right to Counsel Update reports on thinking strategically about starting a right-to-counsel effort, litigation in Alaska, new legislation in Alabama and Louisiana, pilot projects being supported by the Boston Bar Association, and more.
The Shriver Center produces the Update in its capacity as one of the partners-along with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, the Public Justice Center in Maryland, and the Committee for Indigent Representation and Civil Legal Equality (CIRCLE) housed at the Northwest Justice Project-in the Civil Right to Counsel Leadership and Support Initiative.
Subscribe now! Go to www.civilrighttocounsel.org, enter your e-mail address in the lower left corner of the home page, and complete the subscription form. Civil Right to Counsel Update will keep you apprised about litigation, legislative activity, involvement of bar associations and the access to justice community, research on the importance of counsel and the impact of the lack thereof, related conferences and workshops, and more.
Tags: Access to Justice/Legal Services/Civil Gideon, civil right to counsel, Shriver Center
October 29th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Thank you for keeping this important issue in the forefront.