Bill Text: MS HB1528 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Mississippi Rural Legal Services Scholars Program; establish.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2010-02-02 - Died In Committee [HB1528 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2010-HB1528-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B; Appropriations
By: Representative Bailey
House Bill 1528
AN ACT TO CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI RURAL LEGAL SERVICES SCHOLARS PROGRAM; TO AUTHORIZE LOANS TO APPROVED APPLICANTS; TO PROVIDE LOCATIONS FOR THE SCHOLARS; TO PROVIDE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS; TO PROVIDE FOR FUND DISTRIBUTION FOR THE PROGRAM; TO CREATE A SELECTION COMMITTEE TO SELECT PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROGRAM; TO AMEND SECTIONS 9-21-43 AND 73-3-203, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 73-3-205 AND 73-3-207, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR PURPOSES OF AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) There is created the Mississippi Rural Legal Services Scholars Program for the purpose of recruiting, retaining and training qualified persons to practice law with the Mississippi Legal Services Program. A loan of up to Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) per year may be awarded to each approved applicant who demonstrates a long-term commitment to pursuing a career in assisting the public in legal representation. At least five (5) scholars shall be accepted each year to participate in the program. One (1) scholar shall be located in each of the five (5) following municipalities: (a) Clarksdale; (b) Greenville; (c) Jackson; (d) Meridian; and (e) Oxford.
(2) To be eligible to receive assistance from the Mississippi Rural Legal Assistance Program, attorneys or law school graduates must:
(a) Have a total outstanding debt of not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) on eligible law school loans;
(b) Be a member of The Mississippi Bar or be admitted as a member of The Mississippi Bar within one (1) year after being selected as a participant;
(c) Earn less than Sixty Thousand Dollars ($60,000.00) per year; and
(d) Commit to remain in service with the grantee for a minimum of three (3) years if they participate in the Mississippi Rural Legal Scholars Program.
(3) All funds for the program shall be distributed through the Civil Legal Assistance Fund to the Mississippi Legal Services Corporation and North Mississippi Rural Legal Services based on the percentage of poverty population within the program service area, consistent with the formula used by the Legal Services Corporation. The Administrative Office of Courts may accept funds from public or private sources for deposit into the fund and the Legislature is authorized to annually appropriate up to Seventy-five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00) into the fund.
(4) The Mississippi Rural Legal Services Scholars Selection Committee shall be comprised of the following four (4) members of the Legal Services Corporation: the executive director, managing attorney, director of litigation and a legal services board member. The committee shall be responsible for reviewing applications, making recommendations and notifying scholars of approval. To be eligible for selection, the attorney or law school graduate must submit a completed application and all supporting documents before the deadline as established by the committee.
SECTION 2. Section 9-21-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
9-21-43. (1) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special fund designated as the Civil Legal Assistance Fund. The funds shall be administered by the Supreme Court through the Administrative Office of Courts. The Administrative Office of Courts may also accept monies from any public or private source for deposit into the fund. Money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned from the investment of monies in the fund shall be deposited to the credit of the fund.
(2) All monies shall be allocated to only those organizations providing legal services to low income Mississippians and to the Mississippi Rural Legal Services Scholars Program created in Section 1 of this act. Furthermore, no monies from this fund shall be expended to provide legal services in matters currently prohibited by the Legal Services Corporation, Washington, D.C., and no funds shall be expended on persons who are not financially eligible to receive legal services as directed by the Legal Services Corporation, Washington, D.C.
(3) The monies appropriated shall be distributed to eligible legal services programs based on the percentage of poverty population within the program service area, consistent with the formula used by the Legal Services Corporation.
(4) Monies appropriated to the fund may be used to promote increased participation by the private bar in the delivery of legal services to the indigent through the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project.
(5) Recipients of funds shall have the following duties:
(a) To develop, operate and administer programs within their respective service areas that provide free legal services to indigent clients involved in civil matters;
(b) To report annually to the Supreme Court, through the Administrative Office of Courts, on its activities, including providing a copy of its annual audit that accounts for the use of the funds; and
(c) To refund annually all unused or uncommitted funds.
(6) Recipients of funds who are participants in the Mississippi Rural Legal Services Scholars Program shall comply with the provisions of Section 1 of this act.
SECTION 3. Section 73-3-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
73-3-203. It is in the public interest to encourage the establishment and operation of effective legal internship and clinical legal education programs by law schools in this state and the utilization of services of law students in such programs as a form of legal education including the Mississippi Rural Legal Services Scholars Program.
SECTION 4. Section 73-3-205, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
73-3-205. For purposes of this article, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Law student" means a law student regularly enrolled in a law school in this state who (i) if enrolled and assigned in a legal internship program, has completed two-thirds (2/3) of the required number of hours for graduation from that school, or (ii) if enrolled in a clinical legal education course, has completed one-half (1/2) of the required number of hours for graduation from that school.
(b) "Legal internship program" means a program or course for academic credit which is established by a law school of this state and directed or generally supervised by a member of the faculty or staff of the school in which law students are assigned to work under the supervision of supervising attorneys.
(c) "Supervising attorneys" means attorneys who: (i) are licensed to practice law in Mississippi and who are public officials, or (ii) are licensed to practice law in Mississippi and have actively practiced more than three (3) years in public offices, agencies or departments, in public defender offices, or in nonprofit or publicly funded legal services or agencies and to whom students are assigned as interns.
(d) "Clinical legal education course" means a course for academic credit which is established by a law school in this state in which law students assist a clinical teacher in providing legal services to clients under the direct and regular personal supervision of the clinical teacher.
(e) "Clinical teacher" means a member of the faculty or staff of a law school in this state who teaches and supervises law students in a clinical legal education course and is licensed to practice law in Mississippi.
SECTION 5. Section 73-3-207, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
73-3-207. A law student enrolled in a legal internship program or a clinical legal education course is authorized to engage in limited practice in the courts of this state with the following conditions and limitations:
(a) The law student will petition the court and take the oath, as prescribed in this article, and be admitted to limited practice by an order of a judge of a circuit or chancery court, as prescribed in this article, in the district in which the student will practice.
(b) Upon filing the oath and order in the office of the clerk of that court, the law student will be authorized to engage in limited practice in any court in the state subject to any controls and limitations ordered by the judge of the court.
(c) The authority for limited practice by a law student will continue during any regular school terms in which the law student is enrolled in a legal internship or clinical legal education course, including the intersessions between terms. The authority may be revoked by the court granting it for good cause.
(d) A law student may not directly represent clients but may only assist the supervising attorney or clinical teacher in representing their clients. All pleadings and entries of record in courts must be signed by the supervising attorney or clinical teacher.
(e) Law students may appear and participate in trials and hearings in courts if the supervising attorney or clinical teacher is present and supervising the student.
(f) Law students assigned as interns to prosecuting attorneys may assist the supervising attorney before grand juries subject to the same prohibitions and penalties as to disclosure and secrecy as are members of the grand jury.
(g) Law students will be subject to the same standards and rules of professional conduct and ethics and the same rules of discipline as are licensed attorneys.
(h) Law students shall receive no compensation for their services but may be reimbursed actual expenses if funds are available for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.
