FEMA To Katrina Victims: It's Payback Time
CBS Evening News – Aug 31

In the wake of Katrina, FEMA released emergency funds to more than 700,000 households. Auditors later said the agency had overpaid by nearly a half-billion dollars, providing assistance to people who, they claim, didn't deserve it. So FEMA sent out about 150,000 letters demanding its money back. … "And they call this helpline and get very little information, and very little detail in terms of why they are in this position now," says attorney [and Equal Justice Works Lawyer] Ranie Thompson. Thompson says her clients are among the thousands of people lost in a process she calls broken, one that's built on the presumption of guilt.

Law School Dean Gets National Recognition for Nurturing Public Service
UMB News – Aug 31

Karen H. Rothenberg, JD, MPA, dean of the University of Maryland School of Law, will receive Equal Justice Works' Dean John R. Kramer Award for 2007 at the organization's awards dinner in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11. Rothenberg is the Marjorie Cook Professor of Law, and founding director of the Law & Health Care Program. The award honors her dedication to nurturing an outstanding spirit of public service at the School.

Media ignored Mississippi's use of waivers to redirect funds designated for low-income Katrina victims
Media Matters – Aug 30

Hurricane Katrina "leveled everybody" on the Gulf Coast, says Reilly Morse, a civil rights lawyer from Biloxi who works for the Mississippi Center for Justice, a statewide organization that provides legal assistance to low-income residents."

Advocates Criticize Federal Roundups; Say Raids Trap Noncriminal Immigrants
By Brian Ballou and Maria Sacchetti, Boston Globe – Aug 30

Advocates for immigrants accused federal officials yesterday of rounding up regular undocumented immigrants and possibly some legal residents, in addition to alleged gang members in raids in several local communities, sparking fear and mistrust that could deter immigrants from reporting crimes in the future. … Anjali Waikar, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts [and Equal Justice Works Fellow], said even immigrants here illegally are protected by the Constitution.

Hurricane recovery, Republican-style
By Tim Shorrock, Salon.com – Aug 29

As residents of Mississippi's Gulf Coast gather today to commemorate the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, they will recall a cataclysmic storm that spared no one, rich or poor, from its destruction. …Hurricane Katrina "leveled everybody" on the Gulf Coast, says Reilly Morse, a civil rights lawyer from Biloxi who works for the Mississippi Center for Justice, a statewide organization that provides legal assistance to low-income residents. "For a very short while, everybody had the same experience, and that spawned a sense of community that I don't think ever existed before." But since the aid money began flowing, said Morse, "there's really been two recoveries here: one that generally favored homeowners with resources, and another one that basically priced the poor out of the housing market."

A win for housing the poor
Editorial, Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, NJ) – Aug 28

Few would deny that New Jersey's attempts to create affordable housing on a scale sufficient to demonstrably ease the plight of the state's most disadvantaged families has been a stumbling effort at best. … Adam Gordon, a Fair Share Housing Center attorney (and Equal Justice Works Fellow), put it well: "It is time for all of New Jersey towns to step up and do their fair share in providing opportunities, so that all of our families can choose to live where they want." After all, the delivery of affordable housing is more than a legal obligation, it is a moral obligation as well.

Appeals court orders council to review agreement
Asbury Park Press (NJ) – Aug 25

An appeals court has ordered the state Council on Affordable Housing to review an agreement that allows Colts Neck to meet an obligation to provide 107 units of affordable housing by paying $2.83 million to Long Branch. "The state needs to stop playing games with affordable housing," said Adam Gordon, attorney for Fair Share.

Housing Advocates Claim Victory
Associated Press – Aug 25

An appellate court on Friday ordered the state to reconsider a plan by a wealthy Monmouth County (NJ) community to pay a poverty-laden nearby town to take on its affordable housing obligation, a decision hailed as crucial by affordable housing advocates. .. The decision doesn't prohibit other communities from entering into the agreements long criticized by housing advocates as unfair to the poor. Rather, Adam Gordon, a Fair Share Housing Center attorney, said the court agreed with its argument the state improperly counted housing units in approving the agreement. "No longer can towns evade the law through bogus RCAs that serve only to exclude working and mid le-class families from New Jersey's most desirable towns," he said.

Legal Wrangling: Nonprofit law center is helping displaced Gulf Coast residents navigate the recovery maze
By Nicole Wallace, Chronicle of Philanthropy – Aug 23

Disagreements with contractors and outright contractor fraud are the most recent wave of problems the lawyers at the Mississippi Center for Justice are seeing. Help from lawyers across the country who have donated their time — worth twice as much as the center's $1.5-million annual budget — has enabled the organization to keep up with the constant demand for services. … That ability to think systematically and to translate the needs of individuals into public-policy recommendations is what separates the Mississippi Center for Justice from many other legal-services groups, says David Stern, chief executive officer of Equal Justice Works, a Washington charity that seeks to promote a public-service ethic among lawyers.

Deported teen shares Gomez's frustration
By Kathleen Mcgrory, The Miami Herald – Aug 2

Fiorella Maza, a standout student, ballet dancer and track star, had just started her freshman year at Miami Dade College when immigration agents knocked on her door. Instantly, her middle-class American life was turned upside down. …"We're seeing these kinds of cases more and more," said Kelleen Corrigan, an attorney with the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center [and an Equal Justice Works Fellow].

People: Out of Cambodia
The National Law Journal – August 4

Equal Justice Works, an organization that trains and supports "public-service-minded" law students, has named Kenneth Anderson as assistant director of its law school advocacy and outreach unit. Anderson just moved back from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he was a legal professional development adviser for the American Bar Association's Asia initiative.

Pro Bono: It’s Not Only Taking Cases
By Kathleen McNelis, Louisiana Bar Journal – Aug 2007

If you’ve ever said you can’t possibly do pro bono because you don’t have the time, you’re not alone. A recent national study conducted by the American Bar Association reported 69 percent of attorneys polled said, “The main discouragement from doing — or doing more — pro bono is a lack of time. … As an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps attorney working with the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s Pro Bono Legal Corps, I am working to improve and develop pro bono services for our community with the participation of law students and attorneys.

One Nebraskan’s Perspective: The Long Road Home and the Winds of Population Change
By Timothy J. Riveria, The Nebraska Lawyer – August

"The whole thing was like a bad dream," said Bobbie Young while she stood in her kitchen. "I tend to block that entire episode out of my mind," said my grandfather, Johnny Young. They were two of the many people who fled the New Orleans area as a result of the storm, and whose home received over a foot of water. Fortunately, they were able to rebuild. As they prepared my room for me, I thought about the radical difference both in their home's state of repair and in their demeanors since the last time that I had seen them. Approximately one year earlier, I visited them while they were still living in a FEMA trailer parked in their front yard. I was still in law school at the University of Iowa and participating in a spring break service project in New Orleans. This time, I was back in the area to begin my term as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Attorney with the Katrina Pro Bono Legal Corps.