Updates on Planning Initiative  

***DRAFT PLANNING REPORT***
PDF VERSION - ***DRAFT PLANNING REPORT***

Comments will be taken on the Draft Planning Report through September 21, 2007

Message from Chairperson Colleen Khoury

Appendix A - Supporting Documents
PDF Version - Appendix A - Supporting Documents

Appendix B - Homelessness Crisis Intervention Model
PDF Version - Appendix B - Homelessness Crisis Intervention Model

Appendix C - Quality Assurance Template
PDF Version - Appendix C - Quality Assurance Template

 

Messages from Chairperson Colleen Khoury

June 21, 2006 Letter to MSBA

August 11, 2006 Update to Work Group Members  

November 14, 2006 Update to Work Group Members

Annual Letter

May 5, 2007 Update to Work Group Members Regarding Work Group Final Reports

JAG Statewide Planning Initiative Work Group Final Reports - 5-5-07

 

Other News

In Historic Resolution, the American Bar Association Calls for a Right to Counsel in Civil Cases
On August 3, 2006, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association unanimously approved a resolution urging the government at the federal, state, and territorial levels to assure that poor people have a right to legal counsel in civil cases where basic human needs are at stake.  Such cases, the resolution says, may include those that deal with shelter, sustenance, safety, health, or child custody.  Michael S. Greco, the president of the ABA, says, “This is historic in the realm of an extraordinarily meaningful action by the ABA .”  Greco and other proponents of the recommendation compared the recommendation’s potential impact to the 1963 ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright in which the Supreme Court declared that individuals are entitled to counsel in criminal cases.  Laura Abel, Deputy Director of the Poverty Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, applauded the resolution, saying, "The ABA has taken a huge step towards ensuring that low-income people have meaningful access to our justice system." In partnership with clients and communities across the country, advocates intend to urge legislatures and courts to recognize the right to counsel in certain categories of cases and to make funding available to finance the right.  James Podgers, A Civil Law Gideon: ABA House of Delegates Calls on Government to Recognize Right to Legal Counsel in Key Civil Cases, ABA Journal Annual Meeting Daily Report, Aug. 8, 2006; also base on original reporting by Brennan Center staff. (Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law)  

ABA House of Delegates Unanimously Passes Trio of Civil Legal Aid Resolutions - NLADA Update 8-28-06, VOL. 8 No 13

Law Day 2007 Columns  

Jon D. Levy, Law Day 2007: Looking back in 50 years, Portland Press Herald, May 1, 2007

M. Calien Lewis, M. Calien Lewis: 50 years on, reflections on Law Day, Bangor Daily News, May 1, 2007

Law Day 2006 Columns

A vision for a better civil justice system, Calien Lewis, Lewiston Sun Journal, April 30, 2006

Justice:  legal services for all, Thomas Harnett, Times Record, May 4, 2006

Law Day, 2006:  Does Maine provide justice for all?, Associate Justice Howard Dana, Kennebec Journal, May 1, 2006

Low-income Mainers still need help with legal services, Judge Kermit Lipez, Maine Sunday Telegram, April 30, 2006

 

 

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