Turning The Corner Once More
2014
Legal Services of New Jersey creates an online application for its statewide intake and referral hotline, LSNJAWSM.
In August, the filing fee funding bill finally passes, authorizing an additional $10.1 million for Legal Services annually. Collections begin in late fall.
In October, Legal Services of New Jersey presents major Equal Justice awards to former New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean and retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justice James H. Coleman.
2015
Filing fee revenues at first are as projected, but decline slightly in State FY 2016, the first full year; other state funding remains unchanged.
2016
New Jersey Legal Services completes 50 full years of service to the state, with a legacy of over 2.4 million cases on behalf of 8 million individuals, major changes in every area of law affecting low-income people, and some 800 reported and unreported judicial decisions.
Donald Trump is elected President in November. The Trump administration proposes the defunding of Legal Services Corporation in each of the next four years’ budget proposals, seeking to shutter the national Legal Services program. Instead, with bipartisan support, Congress increases funding to the LSC by $80 million over the same four years.
Legal Services’ state appropriation again remains unchanged. Filing fee revenues continue to be lower than authorized.
2017
President Trump proposes a FY 2018 budget that calls for the elimination of the LSC, allocating $33 million for closeout costs. Congress responds by funding LSC at $410 million, an increase of $25 million.
The governor proposes a new $5 million cut in state Legal Services funding, but the legislature restores the full amount and the governor leaves the restoration intact as part of a July agreement with legislative leadership.
Legal Services of New Jersey launches the New Jersey Equal Justice Library and Archive (NJELA) in June, at a ceremony honoring former Supreme Court Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz, Merck Chairman and CEO Kenneth C. Frazier, and the late State Senator Wynona M. Lipman, all of whom are inducted into NJELA Circle of Honor.
LSNJ commemorates 50 years of Legal Services in New Jersey at the New Brunswick Hyatt in December.
2018
Phil Murphy is sworn in as governor of the state of New Jersey.
New Jersey Legal Services’ state appropriation obtains its first increase in several years bringing its state funding closer to 2011 levels.
President Trump again proposes defunding the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), requesting an FY 2019 allocation of $18.2 million for closeout costs. Congress responds by funding LSC at $415 million, an increase of $5 million from the prior year.
A new TechnoCorner website is launched to centralize and share technology-related information statewide. Information is re-organized and new features, included targeted alerts, added.
For the “Clearing Your Record” Online Expungement Video Series, LSNJ films and re-cuts eight of 14 videos in both English and Spanish to update statutory changes to waiting periods and classifications of certain crimes.
2019
President Trump again proposes defunding the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), requesting a FY 2020 allocation of $18.2 million for closeout costs. Congress responds by funding LSC at $440 million, an increase of $25 million.
Melville “De” Miller, Jr. announces his plan to step down as president of LSNJ, and is named president emeritus.
LSNJ holds its Equal Justice Awards ceremony and, for their extraordinary achievements in advancing social justice, inducts into the NJEJLA Circle of Honor Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman; Robert Del Tufo, former NJ attorney general (posthumously); Loretta Weinberg, former majority leader of NJ Senate; and Robert N. Wilentz, former New Jersey Supreme Court Chief justice (posthumously).
Diane K. Smith, executive director of Legal Services of Northwest Jersey (LSNWJ), retires. Michael L. Wojcik is appointed director of LSNWJ.
Northeast New Jersey Legal Services receives a $27,500 LSC Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) to assess the program’s current intake systems and technologies and develop a plan to improve efficiency of the intake process with a focus on the needs of limited English proficiency individuals. 2019 also marks the 20th anniversary of the TIG program.
As part of a larger corporate pro bono initiative addressing issues related to criminal and social justice, LSNJ forms a pro bono partnership with Verizon for attorneys and others to handle expungement matters.
LSC receives $15 million in emergency supplemental appropriations from Congress to support the delivery of legal services to individuals affected by hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and other disasters that occurred from 2017-2019.