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A Legal Aid Society paralegal was arrested Monday in a case involving credit-card fraud, a Chanel handbag and police impersonation. Toni Myers, 30, allegedly stole a man’s credit-card to buy a $5,500 purse Feb. 21, and had it delivered to his Flatiron District apartment building, the NYPD said. The pricey purchase triggered a fraud alert to the 20-year-old victim, cops said. When Myers went to pick up the package from the building the next morning, the doorman became suspicious and refused to hand it over, according to a criminal complaint. Myers “attempted to wrestle the package from the doorman’s hands,”...

On Monday, the Knesset plenum approved the final readings of an amendment to the Legal Aid Law, which abolishes the economic eligibility test for representation in claims under the Prohibition of Discrimination in Products, Services and Entry to Entertainment and Public Places Law, 5761-2000. According to the amendment, the Legal Aid Department of the Justice Ministry will provide representation and legal counsel to anyone who needs it in the context of harm to equality or discrimination, without the need to meet economic...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has “quietly” put an end to most work at the Office for Access to Justice (ATJ), one of the lesser initiatives of the Eric Holder era, according to a Thursday New York Times report.The tiny ATJ was founded in 2010 under then-Attorney General Eric Holder. Its last published organization chart, from 2015, shows only three appointees and their support staff. ATJ distributed grants and drafted “statements of interest” aimed at supporting the right to competent legal representation for the poor and indigent secured by the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court’s famous 1963 decision in...

Jackie has a lawyer. Palma Pustilnik, an attorney at Charlottesville's Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, said Wednesday morning that she'd been retained as counsel by the woman at the center of a Rolling Stone account depicting a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house. The magazine revealed Friday that it found "discrepancies" in Jackie's account and said its "trust in her was misplaced." The fraternity tied to the allegation, Phi Kappa Psi, has said it found no evidence to support her claims and several key facts in the story were refuted by records.

A dispute within the family of Nelson Mandela has come under new scrutiny after a South African university law clinic said it gave free legal aid to a group of the former president’s relatives on the grounds that some are poor. … Some South Africans who believe the Mandela family has ample resources say the legal assistance should have gone to a better cause. …

Nearly a million poor people continue to be denied representation in the nation’s courts because legal aid clinics lack sufficient financing, a federally supported legal agency reported Tuesday. “There still exists a substantial justice gap in this country,” said Helaine M. Barnett, president of the nonprofit agency, the Legal Services Corporation, which receives appropriations from Congress to support more than 900 legal aid offices for low-income clients in civil cases across the country.

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _______________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release July 23, 2009 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION, 2009 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Every day the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) breathes life into the timeless ideal, "equal justice under law." It reaches those who cannot afford the assistance they need and those who would otherwise go without vital representation. Today we recognize the 35 years during which the LSC has moved our...

It has come to my attention that there have been allegations that conservatives hate the idea of legal aid and indignant defense. Allegations that the republican party wants to prevent the poor who can't afford a lawyer from getting one when they are accused of a crime or suffer civil injustice or whatever. Thoughts of a poor single black mother wrongfully accused in a court with rich plaintiffs with 7 digit salary attorneys all alone against a complicated legal system also come to mind. Relax. It isn't true. In fact it has been found in some cases to be the...

That's right folks, Evil Republicans, you know, the kind of people who don't care about the poor, who are always making trouble and promoting racism, fascism and capitalism to oppress the brown and poor, they just took part along with a conservative GOP politician in helping a man who was being defrauded by his former Rep Payee and by the social security administration to recover retroactive funds and keep the administration off his back when they wanted to make his former payee payee again. Its like this. The man is someone we talked about before. He had been defrauded by...

WASHINGTON A federally funded California nonprofit that gives legal help to Central Valley farmworkers and others violated federal prohibitions against political behavior, soliciting clients and other activities, an inspector general's report said Thursday. The report was requested by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare, who's been critical of California Rural Legal Assistance and also of the federal Legal Services Corporation that funds it. The report found that California Rural Legal Assistance, which claims to provide free legal help to 20,000 poor rural Californians each year, apparently flouted congressional reforms blocking actions like lobbying and advocacy, getting involved in class-action litigation...

SAN DIEGO ---- While eight U.S. servicemen sit in a military jail accused of war crimes and under an international spotlight, 10 young civilians, strangers to the defendants, are thumbing through legal books and organizing evidence to help the defense. It's nearly a full-time job for the civilians. And they are doing it as volunteers. The 10 are law students. Their professors are the attorneys tapped to represent Pfc. John Jodka, one of the eight men accused of kidnapping and killing an Iraqi man on April 26 in the village of Hamdania. It's the kind of case that seasoned professionals...

Dear FReepers,I have been embroiled in an eight year battle with the Social Security Administration without benefit of legal help. Up to now I have managed but filing an effective, and compelling, federal appeal is impossible for a layman. There is no attorney in my area who would take the long running case. I contacted the Federal Appeals Agency in Georgia, that is all they do is file appeals, but they want $175 for consultation and a whopping six thousand dollar retainer. Needless to say, after ten years of being out of work I do not have this money.Neither does...

Brussels — The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that two vegetarian activists convicted of defaming fast-food giant McDonald's did not receive a fair trial in Britain. The Strasbourg, France-based court ruled that David Morris and Helen Steel should have received legal aid from the British government. It awarded Mr. Morris €15,000 (about $32,000 Canadian) and Ms. Steel €20,000 ($24,000). Mr. Morris and Ms. Steel were found guilty of libelling McDonald's in 1997 and were ordered to pay damages of £60,000 for handing out leaflets attacking the company's working practices and policies. The much-publicized trial, widely known as the...

SACRAMENTO — Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has opened a legal defense fund to fight a political scandal involving himself and various associates. Unlike other campaign funds, Shelley's account can raise money from donors in unlimited amounts, as long as the money is used exclusively for legal costs involving problems arising from his government duties. Shelley's legal troubles began in the summer, when the FBI and state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer opened investigations into the origin of donations to Shelley's 2002 campaign. In addition, the state auditor is examining his awarding of no-bid contracts to political associates. "We thought the...

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. — Many elderly residents of nursing homes will be forced to sell their houses to help pay for their care under changes state Medicaid officials plan to implement Sept. 1.</p> <p>And the state will no longer allow heirs a "homestead exemption'' of $50,500 when it seeks to recover its costs from estates of nursing home residents who have died, state Health Services Secretary Marcia Morgan said yesterday.</p>

Boost to legal aid for indigent residents in works [Jeb signs new law: The Civil Legal Justice Act] Sunday, July 14, 2002 By MARY KELLI BRIDGES, mkbridges@naplesnews.com Collier and Lee counties are among a few areas that soon will benefit from a new law to help provide civil legal assistance for the indigent. The Civil Legal Justice Act became effective May 30, when Gov. Jeb Bush signed it into law. It's intended to provide legal services for individuals who can't afford to hire their own attorneys but who are in need of basic assistance, such as receiving veterans services, Medicaid...