Attorneys staffing the struggling indigent defense program say the solutions they’re seeing can’t keep up with the systemic problems.
Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services
Posted inLocal & State, News
Gov. Mills hesitant to pursue emergency funds for indigent legal services, emails show
Gov. Janet Mills asks the agency in charge of providing legal defense to low-income Mainers if it has done enough to recruit attorneys to address an ongoing shortage.
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Posted inLocal & State
Maine attorney general, ACLU agree to settlement talks in indigent legal services case
The dispute centers on whether the state provides effective legal representation to the state’s poor.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Indigent defender commission sends emergency funding request to governor, lawmakers
The Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services is asking for $13.3 million before next year to increase the hourly rate for attorneys. But lawmakers would have to come together for an unlikely special session to approve the spending.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Citing emergency, Maine’s legal service for the poor requests $13.3 million
Faced with a dwindling roster of attorneys, the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services wants to increase the hourly rate from $80 to $150 for lawyers who agree to represent low-income Mainers.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Lawyers are to be blamed for lack of access to justice in Maine
It’s not that attorneys don’t want to represent low-income clients – it’s that we’ve made it impossible for each other to do so.
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
Our View: No longer just a crisis but an indefensible failure
The more we neglect legal representation for people who can’t pay for it, the more painful the cost – social and financial – to the state of Maine.
Posted inLocal & State
Maine reaches ‘point of failure,’ seeks $62.1 million for indigent public defense
Lawmakers are asked to more than double state spending on poor, criminal defendants.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Judge approves class-action status for Maine indigent legal services lawsuit
The ruling means the ACLU suit against the state will have more than 5,800 defendants instead of just 5.
Posted inLocal & State, News
More than 20 criminal defendants in Aroostook spent weeks without counsel, draft memo notes
The memo from the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services says 23 people whose requests for legal help were granted by a judge spent an average of about 60 days waiting for an attorney.