Joint Non-Track Sessions
Thursday, November 17, 2005
The "Fugitve Felon" Dragnet in Social Security - Establishing Good Cause Exceptions and Challenging the Law |
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10:15 am - 11:45 am |
| The Social Security Administration and the Veterans Administration are suspending SSI and VA benefits of individuals with outstanding warrants for offenses which are usually minor and often old. Recent legislation extended the policy to Social Security benefits and established good cause exceptions. This session will explain how the policy is applied and its impact. Litigation challenging SSA’s interpretation of the law will also be discussed.
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| Gerald McIntyre, National Senior Citizens Law Center; Rachel Gail Henderson, Georgia Legal Services Program |
Designing A Presentation In The Age Of The Short Attention Span |
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10:15 am - 11:45 am |
| Depending on which study you look at the average adult attention span ranges from 8 seconds to a maximum of 20 minutes. This session will address this issue and provide practical techniques for presenters looking to design a session which will engage the audience, increase retention and allow the presenter to track the progress of the learning as the session progresses. The session is designed to be beneficial to both the occasional presenter and full-time trainers. The fast moving format will model a large variety of teaching techniques and provide the participants with new options and ideas for use in their presentations. |
| Jeff Sherr, Department of Public Advocacy; Phyllis Subin |
Short and Long Term Policy Impacts of Hurricane Katrina |
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10:15 am - 11:45 am |
| Some of the leading experts on poverty law and policy will analyze issues related to hurricane relief efforts as they affect poor people and their communities, both in immediate response efforts and over the longer term. Panelists will discuss issues related to housing, land use and title, racial justice, consumer affairs, a wide-range of public benefit and emergency relief issues and other matters of importance to advocates. |
| Rebecca Troth, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty; Kate Meiss, Neighborhood Legal Services - Los Angeles; Walt Sanchez, Lorenzi-Sanchez; Alan Houseman, CLASP, moderator |
Race and Poverty Roundtable: Transforming the Devastation of Katrina into a Race and Anti-Poverty Action Agenda |
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1:45 pm - 3:15 pm |
| The illuminations of race and poverty broadcast across the world in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have highlighted what in many communities is an every day state of affairs. Inadequacies in the justice system, abysmal educational systems, inadequate health care, and high poverty rates that disproportionately affect communities of color are but a few of the many challenges that plague low-income communities from New York City to Los Angeles, and from Detroit to New Orleans. This roundtable discussion will explore the realities of race and poverty in America, and how the equal justice community can engage these issues in a meaningful way -- every day and in every community. |
| Ajamu Baraka, US Human Rights Network; Stephanie Robinson, Jamestown Project at Yale |
Courtroom Technology – Defining the Future, Making a Difference |
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1:45 pm - 3:15 pm |
| This session explores how participants can take advantage of today's leading technology, providing participants with a visual presentation of how to strategize and effectively use technology to emphasize key points during a trial. Learn how to use bulleted lists; develop relationship slides; include media; create simple timelines; and more. |
| Imetrea Vennie, DC Public Defender Service |
Rallying Around Mental Health: How Problem Solving Lawyering and Therapeutic Jurisprudence Help Clients and Communities |
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3:30 pm - 5:00 pm |
| Members of the Consortium on Community Problem Solving will highlight ways unlikely allies have tackled difficult mental illness issues in families, communities, and courts. A "founding father" of Therapeutic Jurisprudence will address merging Therapeutic Jurisprudence with criminal lawyering and legal aid. The Center for Court Innovation will highlight their recent developments. |
| Camille Holmes, Project for the Future of Equal Justice; David Wexler, University of Puerto Rico; Carol Fisler, Center for Court Innovation |
Friday, November 18, 2005
The Mechanics Of The Disaster Relief Effort |
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10:15 am - 11:45 am |
| How have the delivery systems of indigent defense and civil legal services responded in the midst of the devastation left in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita? How are the lawyers finding clients, and how are clients finding lawyers? How are clients and lawyers finding the relief resources they need? |
| Anthony Barash, ABA Center for Pro Bono; John Eidleman, LSC; Walt Sanchez, Lorenzi-Sanchez LLP; David Hall, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid |
Hurricane Katrina Roundtable: What have we Learned? Where do We Go From Here? |
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2:15 pm - 3:45 pm |
| This highly interactive facilitated roundtable session will allow advocates and clients to discuss among themselves issues related to Hurricane Katrina and the resulting effort to assist the thousands of people with legal issues arising from the disaster. |
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Maintaining Your Ethical Course in the Eye of the Storm: Legal Aid and Defender |
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4:00 pm - 5:30 pm |
| All lawyers will face at one time or another a client, opposing counsel or judge who pushes your patience and practice to the edges of their ethical limits. How does the lawyer maintain her or his ethical duties when dealing with the dramas of the occasional disgruntled client, unscrupulous opposing counsel and/or biased and overbearing judge. This session for civil legal aid lawyers and public defenders will provide case examples and strategies for maintaining your ethical bearings when navigating these troubled waters. |
| James McCauley, Virginia State Bar Association |
Drug Court: A Collaborative Model to Keep Families Together |
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4:00 pm - 5:30 pm |
| Although there have been numerous drug court initiatives, few have been instituted in the child dependency courts for parents whose substance abuse is the primary barrier to them being able to care for their children. Baltimore City’s Juvenile Court has embarked on a concerted effort to serve parents in such circumstances using a model of collaboration amongst numerous agencies. The effort includes child’s counsel, parent’s counsel (the public defender), the Department of Social Services, the Court, and local and state government. The goal is to provide immediate and appropriate substance abuse treatment to parents so that reunification can occur as quickly as possible. In the alternative, if reunification is not in the best interest of an individual child, this model is designed to create permanency for the child as quickly as possible. |
| Joan Little, Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., Child Advocacy Unit; Judge Martin P. Welch, Baltimore City Circuit Court; Stephanie Franklin, Family League of Baltimore; Vanita Taylor, Office of the Public Defender
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