Podcasts about Legal aid

Having a juvenile criminal record can impact one's ability to obtain employment, housing, and other benefits, even decades after a conviction. Since 2013 the Public Defender's office of Hamilton County has provided legal assistance to get criminal and juvenile records sealed and expunged. If you or someone you know has Read More Shared by United Resource Connection February 10, 2026

The Columbian recently reported that Clark County recorded the highest rate of evictions per capita in Washington state for the third year in a row. In 2025, Clark County landlords filed 2,275 cases to evict tenants, an increase of roughly 33% since 2023.    Washington has passed legislation in recent years to help tenants, including a new law Governor Bob Ferguson signed last May that limits rent increases  to no more than 10% in a year. In 2021, Washington became the first state in the nation to establish a right to free legal counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction. But amid growing need and rising caseloads, the Washington State Office of Legal Aid is seeking $3 million in supplemental funding from lawmakers for the next fiscal year.    Mia Ryder-Marks is a reporter for The Columbian covering homelessness, affordable housing and veterans. She joins us for more details.  

Nearly two weeks after Winter Storm Fern paralyzed Nashville, questions are swirling about damages, insurance, and where to get help — especially if you're a renter. Elizabeth Leiserson, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, joins executive producer Whitney Pastorek to help break down the recovery process. What's your landlord responsible for? Can you withhold rent? When do you need a lawyer? And who can you call for help? If you or someone you know is facing eviction or mortgage foreclosure due to the storm, or missed an eviction court date, please visit las.org/evictionhelp or call 833-837-HOME (4663). If you have an upcoming court date, do not skip it. Your chance at getting help from the Eviction Right To Counsel program dramatically increases if you show up — look for the blue table. If you need to check your court date or the status of your case, call the General Sessions Court Clerk at 615-862-5195. Visit our running resource page of opportunities to help and be helped here. Donate to the United Way and Community Foundation Winter Storm Recovery Fund at UnitedWayGN.org Donate to NewsChannel 5's Winter Storm Relief Fund in partnership with Hands On Nashville and Second Harvest by texting NC5 to 50155. If you need assistance with ANYTHING, call 211 or visit nashvilleresponds.com. Report power outages to NES by texting OUT to 637797. Get more from City Cast Nashville when you become a City Cast Nashville Neighbor. You'll enjoy perks like ad-free listening, invitations to members only events and more. Join now at membership.citycast.fm/nashville Want some more City Cast Nashville news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Nashville newsletter.  Follow us @citycastnashville You can also text us or leave a voicemail at: 615-200-6392 Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE.

On Episode 618 of Impact Boom, Noel Lim of Anika Legal discusses how reimagining legal services through student-led, tech-enabled models is driving community impact and unpacks the role of collaboration, integrity, and innovation in reshaping access to justice and tackling Australia's housing crisis. If you are a changemaker wanting to learn actionable steps to grow your organisations or level up your impact, don't miss out on this episode! If you enjoyed this episode, then check out Episode 244 with Katie Richards on legal tips to help your social enterprise thrive -> https://bit.ly/4ru6DuK The team who made this episode happen were: Host: Indio Myles Guest(s): Noel Lim Producer: Indio Myles We invite you to join our community on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram to stay up to date on the latest social innovation news and resources to help you turn ideas into impact. You'll also find us on all the major podcast streaming platforms, where you can also leave a review and provide feedback.

In this episode, Niall Boylan discusses if repeat offenders should have access to free legal aid in Ireland.

In this episode, Niall Boylan discusses if repeat offenders should have access to free legal aid in Ireland.

On the phone-in: Krista Forbes & Anna Mancini are lawyers from Nova Scotia Legal Aid. They answer listeners' questions about navigating the justice system. And off the top, we speak with professor Robert Huish about interprovincial trade barriers.

Late last summer, Darren Tierney stepped into the newly created role of Permanent Secretary at a pivotal moment for the organisation. In a new episode of Statistically Speaking our host Miles Fletcher sits down with Darren to talk about what happens next.    TRANSCRIPT   MILES FLETCHER Hello and welcome to another episode of Statistically Speaking, the official podcast of the Office for National Statistics. I'm Miles Fletcher.   Now, if you've followed the UK news much over the past year, you'll know the ONS has been under more scrutiny than at any point in its history, questions about trust, priorities, its core economic data and whether the organisation has simply been trying to do too much at once, have all been very publicly aired.   Today's episode is about what happens next. Late last summer, Darren Tierney stepped into the newly created role of Permanent Secretary at a moment when some of the UK's most relied upon statistics, especially those based on the Labor Force Survey, were under real pressure. In this conversation, we'll talk about Darren's background in government, running large, complex public services and helping to craft and enact key policies. We'll explore how data has shaped his career so far, and what he found when he arrived at the ONS. We'll also dig into some of the hardest questions facing the organisation, and what absolutely has to be fixed first, what may need to stop, how user expectations are being balanced with that and how full confidence in official statistics can be restored. This isn't just an internal reset. What the ONS does and how well it does it matters to policymakers, businesses and the public alike. So join us as we talk about focus, priorities, and the road ahead.   So then Darren, to begin at the beginning, you're not an economist or statistician by profession yourself. What motivated you to take leadership of what is the central organisation in UK statistics?   DARREN TIERNEY Sure, well look as a non-statistician you can imagine I was a little bit daunted when this prospect first came along for precisely that reason.  I was kind of worried that maybe not being a statistician or an economist might be a real drawback but as I thought more about the job, and more about what was needed for the organisation at the time, and with the split of the roles, I thought actually, I can really help. But what really drew me to the role was that although I'm not a statistician, Iv'e been an avid consumer of ONS products for the 25 years that I've been a policy wonk in Whitehall. And going from a good policy professional to a great one, requires both access to good data and also a real understanding of it and knowing how to use it. And it's that background that kind of helped me and really got me into it, and so I saw it as a real opportunity to come and help an organisation that really couldn't be any more consequential for the UK.   MILES FLETCHER The Devereux review said that what was needed was someone with really serious operational experience, having run serious civil service operations, and you bring plenty of that. Could you just detail some of that? You've had a very strong rise, you know, through the ranks of the civil service. Just trace that for us, if you would.   DT Yeah. So I started life in what was the old Prescott empire of DETR, which was environment and transport in the regions as a policy wonk working on aviation. I then went and joined the Ministry of Justice, where I spent three years in the private offices of Harriet Harman, Jack Straw and Ken Clarke, and that kind of real frontline policy making, as it were, is the thing that I did a lot of in the first half of my career.   The second half of my career, which is much more relevant to the ONS, was centred around transformation and change. And again, I spent about 12 years or so in the MOJ, and my senior career there was about transforming systems and running big programs. And I went from there to international trade, just after the Referendum, where like a lot of officials at the time, I was quite keen to run to where the energy or the fire was after Brexit. But I didn't fancy working DExEU, and this new department called Trade seemed quite interesting. So I went there, and again, this was a kind of brand new department, and it grew from a few hundred people to about four and a half thousand. And so that kind of building and running the department as a strategy director for investments and exports,  I guess those two experiences in justice and trade are the two that I rely on most in this role.   MF So you spent time in the corridors of power then, the ministerial heights of the civil service, but also having to try and make the machine run efficiently as well, and to deliver public services and achieve policies in the real world. What role has data played in that? And what sort of statistics were you using? What sort of insights were you getting? Can you share some experiences of how that's shaped your career, and your understanding, particularly of the job in hand here at the ONS.   DT Sure, I guess the job where it was most relevant was when I was in justice, where I worked in civil and family policy, Legal Aid and supporting on prison reform, and particularly on youth justice reform, and maybe that's a good example to pull out. Justice is one of those areas where people have very strong views about what the right policy prescription is, but there's often quite a lack of evidence that goes behind some of these strong policy positions, if I can put it like that, and one of the things that bedevilled us was trying to turn very strong ministerial desire for action across the human justice system into something that was evidence based, and where we could point to proof that these things would work, and we did that several times in the youth justice system.   Perhaps the one that I look back on most fondly in the youth estate...We were constantly telling ourselves, and indeed the world, that kids in the youth estate were getting thirty hours a week of education, and that was true in the sense that that's what we were buying. We were procuring thirty hours a week from providers, but the kids in the estate were not getting thirty hours a week and we didn't really know until we sent in a team of researchers from the MOJ analytical team to do some surveys, and then we also analysed some of the ROI coming out of that estate. And of course, what we discovered was that although we were buying thirty hours of education, it was always being disrupted by all the other services that these kids needed to access. So every dentist, every doctor, every lawyer that was coming in to interact with those kids, that was happening during what would otherwise be the school day, but we didn't really know that. And for years, we were kind of running this system and telling ourselves and indeed telling the world, that this was what was going on, but having analyzed that system and got ourselves some real data we were able to change that system so that it was education first, and all of those other ancillary services would take place outside of the school day. So sometimes it can be quite basic bits of analysis that can result in the biggest changes.   MF I guess the lesson there is, we always need to never totally trust the data we've got and find better insights and better ways of looking at things. And I guess that leads us into the challenge here at the ONS. What were your first impressions when you took the plunge in, suffice to say, quite interesting circumstances in the earlier part of 2025. What did you make of your earliest days here at the ONS and formulating what needed to be done?    DT  Your characterization of it is right. Before I even arrived, I was talking to a lot of the stakeholders, including Robert Devereux and others, and in doing that and in reading around the issues, I ended up getting quite a negative view of what was going on, perhaps understandably, because that was what was being reported. So I was expecting an organization that was perhaps much more kind of browbeaten than the one I found. And that's not to sound complacent at all, but the thing that I was surprised at when I arrived was just the desire for progress, for action, for us to kind of turn the page, and for us to get back to being a respected NSI. And that that sort of energy that I found amongst the senior team was great because I was expecting to have to do quite a lot of jigging up of the system to get us into that mode, but actually, when I arrived, people were already there. So that was my first impression. My second impression really was just the quality of the people here, the skills, the experience and the expertise here at the ONS is genuinely inspiring. And I said this to Civil Service World a few weeks ago. We abuse the phrase "world class" in Whitehall, we often claim things are world class when they're not, but we do have some genuine world class expertise in the ONS and I was genuinely inspired when getting to meet some of those people during the first few days and weeks.   MF It sounds as though people had a good idea of what needed to be done, what was coming out in the media, and of the various inquiries that took place last year, was that the general feeling was that ONS had become spread too thin, and needed to prioritize on those things that ONS is best known for. It does have a worldwide reputation for, crucially, what people most rely upon it to get it right, prioritizing those. Was that what emerged?   DT It really was. And that sense that getting back to the core business of an NSI (National Statistical Institute) was what people were people were really hungry for us to do. I think there is a danger when saying something like that, of sounding like no one valued that hugely innovative work that happened during the pandemic. And that's definitely not the case. I think the reputation of the ONS developed during the pandemic for innovation, for fleet footedness, and of doing some brilliant work in support of the country at a time when it was most needed, is genuinely well recognized across the system. But I think alongside that, there was a sense that perhaps the organisation took its eye off the ball on the core functions of an NSI. And certainly, in my first few weeks when I went to see the Governor of the Bank and the Chancellor, they were really clear that what they need from us right now, is a real focus back on those core economic statistics and population statistics. So yeah, that was a very strong sense in those first few weeks   MF But of course, that means stopping doing some things. What is being stopped so far? What do you think is going to have to stop? How is that process proceeding?   DT So alongside my arrival, and just before, the organization had done some useful internal things to prioritise. So we moved some money around from the IDP programme.   MF That's the Integrated Data Programe, bringing in data from other parts of government.     DT And as that programme was coming to an end, we moved some resource from that. We also moved some people from one of our specialist hubs, to get them behind the recovery plans. There was some kind of internal prioritisation as it were, that happened as I was arriving, which was essential really, just to get us on the front foot, to then begin the recruitment of 150 extra people to come and work behind the recovery plans, and we've got around one hundred of those in place, and in Q! This year we will hire the rest. But that wasn't sufficient, so alongside that we made plans for prioritizing our outputs and that resulted in the kind of engagement that we have been doing for the last few weeks. So that process is still underway, and we are hoping in the next few weeks to bring some of those elements to a conclusion. I mean, I think inevitably, as we've done that, there are lots of things that people would like us to keep doing, but I hope they understand, and in deciding what to de-prioritise, again, there's a risk that people think that no one values that work. And of course, that's not true. There are tonnes of people out there who really, really value the output that we might stop, but my message to them is that we really need to focus now, it's quite existential for us to focus on the recovery plans on economic and population statistics, to get those right. There won't be any new money coming our way, so we'll have to prioritize internally. None of that necessarily means that it will be forever, but it is important that we do it, so we're on top of what we need to be on top of for the next period.   MF It's clear that the pressure is ONS, particularly to get those core economic statistics right, and we'll talk a little bit more about the detail on that. But firstly, on this broad subject of user expectations. Parliament essentially asks the ONS to do two things; that's to provide the statistics to help policy makers, but also to inform the public as well on social and economic issues. Is there a danger in these circumstances, when demands from the bank and the Treasury are to get the first part of that right, is there a risk with the public interest, data which people access to form their own judgment. Is there a risk of that taking second place?   DT I think there is a risk of that, but we're very alive to it. And one of the good things that we did towards the end of last year is we were finalizing our mission statement. And in kind of doing that consultation on that mission statement internally, one of the phrases that we added at the end of our mission statement was to inform the public, and that was  a deliberate decision to remind ourselves about that statutory underpinning that we have, but also to remind ourselves that we can't just focus on one thing. So as much as we need to prioritize, I'm very clear that we have more than one function. We're not just an Economics Institute, we do far more than that, and we will continue to do more than that.  And that business to inform the public is absolutely core to what we're about. So your right to raise it as a risk, but I think it's one that we've clocked, and one that we're very clear about.   MF   Okay, let's focus on one aspect of the turnaround plans in progress at the moment, which has attracted more attention than any single issue facing the ONS currently, and that's the very important Labour Force Survey (LFS). That's how the employment figures for the UK essentially have been complied for some decades now. It's one of the biggest, if not the biggest, regular household survey in the country, depended on by policy makers, economic commentators and, of course, politicians as well. It got itself into a bit of a state, didn't it? The response rates, it's not too dramatic to say, collapsed during the wake of the pandemic. How important is getting that right among your priorities, and what is progress to date, and what still needs to be done?   DT You're right to raise that. I mean, I've been saying to people that there isn't one single thing that we will fix in the ONS where we will declare victory. This will be an ongoing effort and continuous improvement. But if there was one thing that is quite totemic in the recovery it will be the labour force survey and the transformed labour force survey. So there's a considerable amount of effort across the organization in getting behind both of those bits of work. So it is quite totemic. You're right. It's the single biggest thing that the bank and the Treasury would like us to get on top of, and it also does go to credibility, because of the credibility of the response rates. So it is hugely important. I've been really impressed by the quality of the work that's been going on to try and get on top of it. And the team that's there is absolutely laser focused, doing both of those things at the same time. So the first things is fixing the current labour force survey as far as we can, and they've made some real progress with that, so getting response rates back up to pre covid levels. We've now got a field force workforce at similar levels, and we're starting to see some real benefit from that. So the OBR at the budget included a reference to the LFS in their budget report where they said they now have more confidence in the survey and I think that's real testament to the amount of work that has gone into it. But alongside that, I think what we do recognize is that the current LFS isn't sustainable in its current setup, so that's why we are working, again, with laser like focus on the transformed survey, to make it more online, a bit shorter, a bit more focused. And I'm really hopeful that that, over the next year will prove itself to be a sustainable answer to this issue.   MF The long-term plan is to go out to people with a survey, which does take a lot less time to fill in. And that was one of the criticisms of the traditional one, that it represented a big time commitment for people and perhaps it wasn't surprising that there was a challenge around getting people to take part. But at the same time, we seem to have a particular problem in the UK, where we are on what evidence is available certainly, an outlier in terms of survey response rates. Have you got a sense of what the issue is there? Was it the ONS getting things wrong? Or is it something more profound about the culture now in the UK, that makes people suspicious about taking part in official surveys?   DT I think that you're right. We are a bit of an outlier now, because this kind of phenomenon happened everywhere across the globe in the pandemic but we seem to have been worse off than most. I think there is a kind of trust issue across our society in engaging with government agencies on data which is, I think, is more profound than some other societies. So I think we are fighting against that. I think it probably also suffered a bit from being quite a long-standing survey, having grown over time. I think one of the interesting things when you look across the globe though, where countries do this better than we do, at least in terms of response rates, is that most of those countries mandate their social surveys, and certainly their labour force survey equivalents. Now we don't do that here for our social surveys, but I think that's something that is a policy issue for ministers, something that we need to kind of resolve, to decide whether or not that is the long-term answer for a small number of social surveys.   MF So that's a conversation in progress at the moment, whether people might be required to take part in these surveys in future.   DT Yeah, it is. It was a recommendation in the Leivesley  review that we at least look at it,  so we're doing that to try and establish well what are the pros and cons of that sort of approach, so we can inform future policy decisions by ministers on this issue. I don't for a moment underestimate how tricky a policy issue that is, but I think we do need to confront it so that we can put it to bed, or we can progress it, because we are notable across the globe by not doing that.   MF So, there's a clear sense of urgency in the plan with action, as you've said already, to tackle really pressing issues like the Labour Force Survey. So we're getting more people into the field doing interviews and so forth. And in the meantime, a conversation about prioritizing core statistics. But what comes next in 2026, what should people who might be following the ONS look out for from the organization next?   DT I think 2026, I've been saying internally, is our year of delivery and action and recovery. So last year, we obviously had the crisis point in the summer. And since the summer, we've been doing a lot of work internally into our overall plans, our mission, how we want to lead the organization, what we want the culture to be, what are our plans for getting on top of the economic and population statistics, preparing for the Census...So there's been lots of planning, lots of strategizing, lots of structural changes, that sort of thing, that I think was absolutely necessary. But the focus for 2026 I think needs to be on execution and delivery. To spend this year delivering against the plans that we've made and that's going to be the focus of the top team for the next twelve months.   MF The ONS has enjoyed a reputation for innovation, and that really came out during the pandemic. Is there a risk that innovation will cease or are there new things happening on that front to really improve the overall offering?     DT So again, I think that is a risk, and it's something I've talked about within the organization. That because I've come in with such a sharp focus on the recovery plans, it could just be head head down and focus on those things for the next two years. And then wake up in two years time to realise we are vastly behind the times, on AI or some whizzy new ways of using admin data or whatever it might be, and that's why we've done some things internally to make sure we still have some space and some capacity to do that innovation. I'm really keen that we do that, it can't be at the expense of the recovery plans so that's still our number one priority, but we have carved out some expertise and some capacity to still challenge us on how we should be doing statistics in the future. A big part of that will be how do we learn from others on AI and on tech more generally. So watch this space, it's definitely still something that we're focussed on.   MF Yeah, the resistance that's out there on some people to take part in those surveys. What about all this data that government has been already it's been a persistent criticism that government collectively hasn't done enough to pool that data and to and to really get get value out of it and to make public services more efficient, policies more effective.   DT I think that is a legitimate criticism if I'm honest, you know, it's been a conversation live in Whitehall since I can remember - data sharing and the lack of it. Obviously, there's been huge advances in that recently, some really good innovation around data sharing, including in the ONS, but even more generally, but I still sense there's real risk averse culture around data sharing across government departments that I think we need to try and tackle. For me it's as much about culture and ways of working as it is about legislation and risk. And I'm quite keen that we play our part in pushing the rest of the system on that. I think it's going to be one of the benefits of the split of the role, so that we will have a National Statistician full time being the National Statistician who isn't worried about the running of the ONS. And I'm really keen that whoever that person is, in future, if they can help the system really galvanised around data sharing and data linkage, that will be a real benefit of the new approach.   MF What about the culture of the ONS itself? And as you just said, there are two people at the top of the system now, as it were, an incoming national statistician, a you as Perm Sec. Culture has got to be your department, hasn't it? And the Devereaux review talked about some really quite deep-seated cultural issues. What was the culture that greeted you on arrival? And what mechanisms do you think are going to help to create the right culture and deliver the dramatic changes that you're working towards?   DT Yes, I think what Robert set out in his report was accurate, and that's certainly what I discovered when I arrived.  I think it manifests itself in a range of ways, but perhaps the two biggest for me are probably a lack of trust across the organization. And that's trust as it was between the board and the executive team, trust between the senior civil service  and the rest of the organization, lack of trust between our trade union colleagues and management, lack of trust between some of the different teams themselves. And I think that that, having been left unchecked, is quite corrosive. I think it's led to some of the issues that Robert set out in his report. I think it also leads to a lack of collaboration, a lack of join up when that is the predominant culture. So we've spent quite a lot of time, of my personal time, has been focused on breaking through some of that. It's quite a hard thing to do within organizations - to change the culture. I've deliberately not had something called a cultural transformation program, I'm not sure they ever really work. I think what we can do instead is just start doing stuff differently, and that's what we've been doing. Some of that has been a bit managerial. We put in place a leadership statement, for example, something the organization could use to hold senior leaders to account. I 've started sharing performance panels for senior civil servants. We've put in place some slightly sharper performance management. We will start doing regular pulse surveys, just to try and instil some of that managerial approach to fixing some issues. But for me it's also about who do we reward and why. One of the things I've been banging on about since I arrived is the "three C's" - that's clarity, consistency and consequences, and these really speak to the culture. And just briefly for listeners, clarity is what are we for, does everyone know what that is, and does everyone agree with it. And that's why we've created a new mission statement. Consistency is, how do you apply that set of values to the things you do on a daily basis, and you don't let it go when times get tough. And then consequences...there has to be both positive and negative consequences for people in the organization for doing the right thing or not. And I think that that kind of framework has taken hold in the organization, and I'm quite keen that we keep using it keep using it as our bellwether for are we doing the right thing. Do we reward the right behaviours, are we all being held to account for how we want the ONS to be. I think that's how we are going to get the change here.   MF What would you say to someone who might be thinking of applying to a job at the ONS, they might think well what we do is really important and really interesting, but I've read this stuff in the news which suggests, well, they've got their challenges.     DT So this is a live issue. So we've been recruiting for some very senior posts in the last few months, and I've been really haertened by the response that we've had. So for example, we are interviewing later on this month for Director General for Technology in the organization, we had over 200 applications for that, and I spoke to quite a few people who were interested in advance. And, of course, the thing is that once you're away from the heat of the crisis that the organisation was in last summer, for people who want to come and work in this organization, if you're a technology leader, for example, coming to work at the ONS, which basically just does data, you know, we collect, analyse and publish data. That's hugely attractive if you're a senior leader in technology or data. And I think I've been able to persuade them that we've turned the corner on what it's like to work here. So I've been really kind of enthused by both the quality and the number of people who have wanted to come work for us for us in some of those senior roles that we've advertised, but similarly, at all levels of organization. So one of our campaigns to hire some junior analysts across the organisation attracted hundreds and hundreds of applications. So I still think that the core business of the ONSremains very, very attractive to lots of people out there. My job is to turn the page on the culture of the organisation and that remains the case.   MF And as we start 2026, what gives you the most confidence that ONS is now on the right path? And what are the main objectives ahead?   DT I think there were some emerging plans which were kind of credible, I think we've really strengthened those in the last four or five months. I think the quality of the people will take us a huge way in our transformation and I'm really enthused by that. I always think of Colonel Boyds aphorism of "people, ideas and machines. And in that order." And I think we have excellent people who are generating brilliant ideas, and I think we're getting on top of the machines, as it were, so that we can really transform ourselves. What I really want is for the ONS to be in the news for its outputs and not for the organisation itself, and this year is going to be all about making sure that's true.   MF Because of course some people might say, well, we've got AI that's going to revolutionize everything. We're not going to need the ONS anymore. Just how wrong, or indeed right, is that?   DT My sense is that AI will have a huge part to play, but it's not going to take over. So again, that aphorism of people, ideas and machines, in that order. And it's the "in that order", that I think is the most important thing. AI will be tremendously helpful to us, but it's never going to replace expertise. So I'm quite keen to harness it, and use it for our internal efficiencies and productivity of course. We should harness some of the great ideas that are emerging out there in the private sector on stats production and surveys, we should absolutely do that, but I don't think we should be naive in assuming that there's suddenly going to be this great fix, I just don't think that's true. So I'm quite keen to continue to kind of experiment with AI, and we've already been doing that in the organization with some success. We want to keep scaling that up, but I want to temper the enthusiasm with some reality, that at least for the foreseeable future, we're still going to be using surveys, we're still going to be using admin data from across the system, and then on top of that we will use some of our AI expertise to help us   MF And we're going to have a census in 2031, it survives for another time around...   DT It definitely does. The government's taken a very firm decision on that, and we're now ramping that up at quite some level, as we've got the senior team now firmly in place for the Census. This year will mark the ramp up phase in preparation for the test in 2027,  and it's obviously a hugely important thing for us, and I'm quite keen that we get the maximum benefit from ramping up the census at the same time as focussing on our recovery plans. So yeah, so I'm excited about the census     MF Darren, thank you so much for that fascinating tour of what you've been doing and what lies ahead. Just finally then, what's your message to everyone who relies on ONS data, or who might be interested in ONS statistics, for 2026?   DT My overall message is, work with us. This is a really important time for statistics in the UK. We need everyone's help. If you're a citizen, fill in the surveys that you're asked to fill in as that's hugely beneficial for your systems. If you work in the system, bear with us and lean in and help us, because we will need your help as we get through the recovery phase here. But I'm optimistic that we can turn the corner, and that the statistical system in the UK will be in good health by the time we get to the end of 2026.   MF And on that note, we come to the end of this podcast. I think it's fair to say we've heard a clear sense of direction, a renewed focus on the statistics people most rely on, a commitment to improving quality and resilience and the recognition that trust in official data has to be earned and re-earned over time.   My thanks to Darren Tierney for joining us, and to you for listening. You can follow developments on everything we've been discussing today by subscribing to future episodes of Statistically Speaking on Spotify, Apple podcasts and all the other major podcast platforms. You can also follow us on X, previously known as Twitter, via the at ONS focus feed and do check out the national statistical blog for updates on all things ONS. You can find that at blog.ons.gov.uk, all lower case.   I'm Miles Fletcher, and from myself and our producers, Julia Short and Alisha Arthur, goodbye.          

Sateesh Nori joins us on The Geek in Review for an episode that flips the usual legal innovation conversation away from law firm efficiency and toward survival-grade help for people stuck in housing courts and legal aid queues. They open with news from Sateesh himself, he has started a new role with LawDroid, working with Tom Martin, and he frames the mission in plain terms. Legal tech should stop orbiting lawyers and start serving the person with the problem, especially the person who does not even know where to begin.Sateesh traces his path into law through debate, literature, politics, and a desire to push back on a family tradition of medicine. He describes his work as a long, continuous pursuit of fairness rather than a single turning point, and he admits the early myth that drew many into the profession, the dream of dramatic courtroom advocacy. The conversation quickly lands on the core tension, the legal system sells itself as rule of law and due process, yet ordinary people experience confusion, delay, and closed doors.From there, Sateesh offers his critique of the current AI gold rush in legal. Too many products promise “faster horses” for lawyers, while the access to justice gap remains untouched because the real bottleneck sits upstream. People need early guidance, clear pathways, and tools that reduce friction before problems metastasize into crises. He argues for technology as “life-preserving tools,” not lawyer toys, and pushes the industry to center tenants, families, and workers navigating high-stakes issues without counsel.The episode gets concrete with Depositron, a tool Sateesh helped bring to life with LawDroid to help renters recover security deposits through a simple, mobile-friendly workflow. He shares back-of-the-napkin math showing how large the problem is in New York, and why small, focused tools matter at scale. Greg ties the theme to earlier Geek in Review conversations about courts as a service, with the reminder that users experience the justice system like a bureaucracy, not a public utility built for them.Finally, Sateesh expands the lens to systemic redesign, triage and intake failures, burnout in legal aid, and the hard truth that the current one-on-one model leaves most people unserved. He explores funding ideas ranging from public investment to small-fee consumer tools that sustain themselves, and he sketches future-facing concepts like AI-assisted dispute resolution to provide faster closure. In the crystal ball segment, he predicts a reckoning for the legal market as AI reshapes client expectations, with major implications for law students, staffing models, and the profession's sense of purpose.Listen on mobile platforms:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Substack [Special Thanks to ⁠Legal Technology Hub⁠ for their sponsoring this episode.]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: geekinreviewpodcast@gmail.comMusic: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jerry David DeCicca⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LawDroidLawAnswers AIDepositronRoxanne AI (Housing Court Answers)Housing Court AnswersJosef Sateesh Nori, The Augmented Lawyer (Substack)Transcript

The Maroon has the top stories from the week. The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC) launched a new data research center that uses artificial intelligence to aid researchers. A South Side legal aid clinic for immigrants is adapting amid heightened ICE presence; reporter Celeste Alcalay discusses how organizers say their work has changed. Featuring: Aubrey Barb, Amber Lin, and Celeste Alcalay Edited by: Aubrey Barb

The Maroon has the top stories from the week. The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC) launched a new data research center that uses artificial intelligence to aid researchers. A South Side legal aid clinic for immigrants is adapting amid heightened ICE presence; reporter Celeste Alcalay discusses how organizers say their work has changed. Featuring: Aubrey Barb, Amber Lin, and Celeste Alcalay Edited by: Aubrey Barb

Facing criminal charges in the UK? Discover who qualifies for legal aid, how the Interests of Justice test works, and what to look for when choosing a criminal defence solicitor. Learn your rights during police interviews and why communication matters more than you think.https://barkco.com Bark & Co Solicitors City: London Address: Hamilton House Website: https://barkco.com

Quinten Steenhuis brings a builder's mindset to legal innovation, rooted in early Indymedia activism where scavenged hardware became community infrastructure. That scrappy origin story carries through a dozen years of eviction defense at Greater Boston Legal Services, with a steady focus on tools that help people solve problems without waiting for a savior in a suit. Along the way, Quinten also lived the unglamorous side of mission tech, keeping systems funded, supported, and usable when budgets get tight and priorities get loud.The conversation then jumps to Suffolk Law's approach to generative AI education, including a required learning track for first-year students. Quinten frames the track as foundational training, then points to a deeper bench of follow-on courses and the LIT Lab clinic where students build with real tools, real partners, and real stakes. The throughline stays consistent, exposure alone solves nothing, so Suffolk puts reps, projects, and practice behind the syllabus.A standout segment tackles the “vaporware semester” problem, where student-built prototypes fade out once finals end. The LIT Lab fights that decay by narrowing tool choices, standardizing around DocAssemble, and supervising work with a clinic-style model, staff stay close, quality stays high, and maintenance stays owned. Projects ship through CourtFormsOnline, with ongoing updates, volunteer support, and a commitment to keep public-facing legal help online for the long haul.Then the episode turns toward agentic workflows, with examples from Quinten's consulting work in Virginia and Oregon. One project uses voice-based intake to screen for eligibility, confirm location and income, gather the story in a person's own words, and route matters into usable categories. Another project speeds bar referral by replacing slow human triage with faster classification and better user interaction patterns, fewer walls of typing, more guided choices, more yes-or-no steps, and fewer dead ends.In the closing stretch, Quinten shares the sources feeding his learning loop, LinkedIn, Legal Services Corporation's Innovations conference, the LSNTAP mailing list, podcasts, and Bob Ambrogi's LawSites, plus the occasional spicy Reddit detour. The crystal ball lands on a thorny challenge for both academia and practice, training lawyers for judgment and verification when AI outputs land near-correct most of the time, then fail in the exact moment nobody expects. Quinten's bottom line feels blunt and optimistic at once, safe workflows matter, and the public already uses general chat tools for legal help, so the legal system needs harm-reducing alternatives that work.Listen on mobile platforms:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[Special Thanks to ⁠Legal Technology Hub⁠ for their sponsoring this episode.] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Email: geekinreviewpodcast@gmail.comMusic: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jerry David DeCicca⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Suffolk Lit LabLemma LegalPipe CatLinks (as shared by Quinten):Transcript

How can you and your loved ones benefit from Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma? Founded in the 1960's, Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma has been bringing “no cost” legal services to Oklahoma to give access to much needed services to families!We will be asking all the questions that you want answers to and that's why we bring you these radio shows as well as in print in the Oklahoma Senior Journal. In the OSJ Radio Studio is Michael Figgins, Legal Aid Services Executive Director & Attorney at Law. www.legalaidok.orgMichael Figgins J.D. graduated from the School of Law at Gonzaga University in 1980. In 2012, Michael became the Executive Director of Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma (LASO).Since 2012, LASO has grown from a program with 80 staff attorneys and a budget of $6 million, to a team of almost 300 and a budget that exceeds $40 million.https://legalaidok.org/

As Chief Executive Officer of Brown Harris Stevens, she oversees more than 2,300 agents across New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Florida. Since 2018, she has led the firm's growth into one of the most successful privately held real estate companies in the country, with the highest average sales price per agent nationwide. Before entering real estate, Bess served as an Assistant State's Attorney in Maryland and as a Legal Aid attorney in New York City. She serves on the Boards of the Real Estate Board of New York and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and received REBNY's Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award in 2021. Bess recaps the 2025 real estate trends, shares her outlook for '26, and discusses interest rates and the 'Mamdani Effect' on the NYC market. We also discuss our mutual concern over the alarming rise in global antisemitic rhetoric and violence. Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel

Legal Aid and Legal Assistance Bill 2025 : un accès élargi à la justice pour les plus vulnérables by TOPFM MAURITIUS

Pippa speaks to Nomawethu Mtebele and Charlotte Makua from Legal Aid SA after the organisation secured a major victory for an elderly woman in Ceres who had been living in fear because of a violent and abusive son-in-law. Lunch with Pippa Hudson is CapeTalk’s mid-afternoon show. This 2-hour respite from hard news encourages the audience to take the time to explore, taste, read and reflect. The show - presented by former journalist, baker and water sports enthusiast Pippa Hudson - is unashamedly lifestyle driven. Popular features include a daily profile interview #OnTheCouch at 1:10pm. Consumer issues are in the spotlight every Wednesday while the team also unpacks all things related to health, wealth & the environment. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Lunch with Pippa Hudson Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays between 13:00 and 15:00 (SA Time) to Lunch with Pippa Hudson broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/MdSlWEs or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/fDJWe69 Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Help Centers are provided by the Hamilton County Court system to provide legal assistance representing yourself in Municipal Court or Juvenile Court. The Help Centers are staffed with three full-time attorneys and two paralegals, and are supported by volunteer law students and volunteer attorneys in the community. These services are Read More Shared by United Resource Connection November 26, 2025

When temperatures outside fall below 60 degrees for 24 consecutive hours, landlords in Cincinnati must provide a minimum temperature of 70 degrees inside rental units. Landlords who don't comply can face fines up to $300 for the first day and $750 for each additional day they don't supply heat. Additionally, Read More Shared by United Resource Connection November 20, 2025

Cllr Anne O’Sullivan has called for a review of the terms and conditions of free legal aid to ensure, what she says would be, a fair and equal system for all.

Meg Groff's memoir Not If I Can Help It (Rivertown Books, 2025) recounts some of the most harrowing, infuriating, yet inspiring stories from Groff's work as a Legal Aid attorney representing women and children whose only resource is the sheer courage they exhibit every day. Groff dedicated forty years of her life to fighting for justice for victims of domestic violence in rural and suburban Pennsylvania. Against the odds, Groff won hundreds of exhilarating courtroom victories—and also suffered some heartbreaking defeats. In Not If I Can Help It, she brings these stories to life with vivid detail, deep empathy, surprising humor, and the boundless passion for justice that has driven her life and work. Readers who care about law, human rights, and the struggles of ordinary people will be captivated and inspired by this powerful book and the sobering insights it offers about the American way of justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Meg Groff's memoir Not If I Can Help It (Rivertown Books, 2025) recounts some of the most harrowing, infuriating, yet inspiring stories from Groff's work as a Legal Aid attorney representing women and children whose only resource is the sheer courage they exhibit every day. Groff dedicated forty years of her life to fighting for justice for victims of domestic violence in rural and suburban Pennsylvania. Against the odds, Groff won hundreds of exhilarating courtroom victories—and also suffered some heartbreaking defeats. In Not If I Can Help It, she brings these stories to life with vivid detail, deep empathy, surprising humor, and the boundless passion for justice that has driven her life and work. Readers who care about law, human rights, and the struggles of ordinary people will be captivated and inspired by this powerful book and the sobering insights it offers about the American way of justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Meg Groff's memoir Not If I Can Help It (Rivertown Books, 2025) recounts some of the most harrowing, infuriating, yet inspiring stories from Groff's work as a Legal Aid attorney representing women and children whose only resource is the sheer courage they exhibit every day. Groff dedicated forty years of her life to fighting for justice for victims of domestic violence in rural and suburban Pennsylvania. Against the odds, Groff won hundreds of exhilarating courtroom victories—and also suffered some heartbreaking defeats. In Not If I Can Help It, she brings these stories to life with vivid detail, deep empathy, surprising humor, and the boundless passion for justice that has driven her life and work. Readers who care about law, human rights, and the struggles of ordinary people will be captivated and inspired by this powerful book and the sobering insights it offers about the American way of justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

Claudia Connor is a deeply committed non-profit leader and activist sharing her passion and experience in this riveting interview. For decades, Claudia has held leadership positions with agencies diligently working to create direct service programs and resources that impact our community members. Currently, she is the US Regional Representative with Church World Service, a faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster. Claudia has also held executive titles with CT Institute for Refugees & Immigrants (CIRI) and Save the Children. Claudia was a former criminal defense attorney working with Legal Aid in NYC with the Prisoners Rights Project, and is no stranger to defending civil rights and social justice. Her passion grew from her progressive and activist parents who modeled strength and resistance while she was growing up. She shares an experience while in college at UNC Chapel Hill that influenced her decision to join a student social justice group which ultimately changed the trajectory of her career. After years living abroad in Asia and Africa which ultimately deepened her viewpoint and commitment to social justice, she informs the listener of the many changes and necessary adaptations that have occurred in 2025 since federal funds have been challenging to depend on and sustain. Fundraising for CWS relies on communities, private foundations, and collaborations to engage in events like “crop walks” to help raise mission-critical funds for programming and services that directly benefit thousands of people while raising awareness about hunger and poverty. Her hopeful and positive outlook is her guiding light along with the inspiration of her colleagues and community despite the various challenges that percolate when leading a team during uncertain times.

Legal technologists discuss a recent survey that found that legal aid attorneys are adopting AI at a faster rate than other legal professionals on Talk Justice. In May of 2025, Everlaw partnered with the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, Paladin and LawSites to conduct a survey of 112 legal aid professionals. The survey formed the basis of the report, “The AI Advantage: How Technology Can Help Bridge the Justice Gap,” which was published in September. It found that 74% of the legal aid organizations surveyed are already using AI in their work, which is double the generative AI adoption rate of the wider legal profession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Legal technologists discuss a recent survey that found that legal aid attorneys are adopting AI at a faster rate than other legal professionals on Talk Justice. In May of 2025, Everlaw partnered with the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, Paladin and LawSites to conduct a survey of 112 legal aid professionals. The survey formed the basis of the report, “The AI Advantage: How Technology Can Help Bridge the Justice Gap,” which was published in September. It found that 74% of the legal aid organizations surveyed are already using AI in their work, which is double the generative AI adoption rate of the wider legal profession.

The Take One campaign is a statewide initiative encouraging Texas lawyers to take on one pro bono case a year for a veteran in need. Rocky Dhir sits down with Major General Alfred Valenzuela and past State Bar President Terry Tottenham to discuss the campaign's mission to bridge the gap between lawyers and veterans. Their conversation highlights the challenges veterans often face when transitioning back to civilian life and the vital role legal support can play in that process. Through Take One, attorneys in every practice area can use their expertise to handle cases that align with their specialties while meeting the diverse legal needs of those who have served our nation. To learn more about serving our veterans, visit the Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans website, and read about the Take One campaign in the November Issue of the Texas Bar Journal.

The Take One campaign is a statewide initiative encouraging Texas lawyers to take on one pro bono case a year for a veteran in need. Rocky Dhir sits down with Major General Alfred Valenzuela and past State Bar President Terry Tottenham to discuss the campaign's mission to bridge the gap between lawyers and veterans. Their conversation highlights the challenges veterans often face when transitioning back to civilian life and the vital role legal support can play in that process. Through Take One, attorneys in every practice area can use their expertise to handle cases that align with their specialties while meeting the diverse legal needs of those who have served our nation. To learn more about serving our veterans, visit the Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans website, and read about the Take One campaign in the November Issue of the Texas Bar Journal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thursday, October 16th, 2025Today, dozens of Pentagon reporters have turned in their access badges and exited the Pentagon; Brown University rejects Trump's extortion bid; a federal judge has blocked Trump's federal layoffs; a different federal judge has issued a restraining order against Republican Rep Cory Mills; Los Angeles County declares a state of emergency over immigration raids; Young Republicans are losing their jobs over racist chat groups; one person is dead and another two are missing in devastating floods in Alaska; Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries will debate on CSPAN; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.Thank You, IQBARText DAILYBEANS to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Message and data rates may apply. Guest: Leah Greenberg Co-Executive Director IndivisibleNoKings.orgLeah Greenberg | Indivisible, @leahgreenberg.bsky.social - Bluesky, @Leahgreenb - Twitter NO KINGS II October 18 10am-2pm - San DiegoStoriesNO KINGS! Tips for Protesting with PTS and Anxiety | MSW Media YouTubeTrump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela | The New York TimesJournalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules | AP NewsBrown University Rejects White House Deal for Special Treatment | The New York TimesJudge orders Trump administration to pause shutdown layoffs | The Washington Post1 dead, 2 missing after severe Alaska flooding Coast Guard official says left "absolute devastation" | CBS News‘It's revolting': More Young Republican chat members out of jobs as condemnation intensifies | POLITICOLos Angeles County declares state of emergency over immigration raids | ABC NewsCory Mills slapped with restraining order after Florida judge sides with accuser | POLITICOMike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries will debate on C-SPAN | POLITICOGood TroubleFor all you good people in Clay Higgins' district - he is hosting a tele-town hall on October 16th at 6PM CSTCall in if you live there! Link To Stream: Town Halls - Congressman Clay Higgins**California! YOU have your prop 50 ballots. Fill them out and return them ASAP.Yes On Prop 50 | CA Special Election Phone Banks - mobilize.us**October 20 Deadline -Petition of America First Legal Foundation for Rulemaking**October 18 - NoKings.org **Vote Yes 836 - Oklahoma**How to Organize a Bearing Witness Standout**Fire Kilmeade - foxfeedback@foxnews.com, Requests - Fox News**Indiana teacher snitch portal - Eyes on Education**Find Your Representative | house.gov, Contacting U.S. SenatorsFrom The Good NewsFind Your Representative | house.gov, Contacting U.S. SenatorsLittle Free LibraryNoKings.org(Mark your calendar for November 14th, 2025 - Chicago, Illinois - Dana)Our Donation LinksNational Security Counselors - DonateMSW Media, Blue Wave California Victory Fund | ActBlueWhistleblowerAid.org/beansFederal workers - email AG at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. Find Upcoming Actions 50501 Movement, No Kings.org, Indivisible.orgDr. Allison Gill - Substack, BlueSky , TikTok, IG, TwitterDana Goldberg - BlueSky, Twitter, IG, facebook, danagoldberg.comMore from MSW Media - Shows - MSW Media, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, The Breakdown | SubstackReminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Our Donation LinksNational Security Counselors - DonateMSW Media, Blue Wave California Victory Fund | ActBlueWhistleblowerAid.org/beansFederal workers - feel free to email AG at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. Find Upcoming Actions 50501 Movement, No Kings.org, Indivisible.orgDr. Allison Gill - Substack, BlueSky , TikTok, IG, TwitterDana Goldberg - BlueSky, Twitter, IG, facebook, danagoldberg.comCheck out more from MSW Media - Shows - MSW Media, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, The Breakdown | SubstackShare your Good News or Good TroubleMSW Good News and Good TroubleHave some good news; a confession; or a correction to share?Good News & Confessions - The Daily Beanshttps://www.dailybeanspod.com/confessional/ Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:The Daily Beans on Apple PodcastsWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?The Daily Beans | SupercastThe Daily Beans & Mueller, She Wrote | PatreonThe Daily Beans | Apple Podcasts Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the United States, over 90% of civil legal needs go unrepresented – a staggering justice gap that leaves millions of people facing eviction, domestic violence, wrongful conviction and other urgent legal crises without access to an attorney. For these individuals, the difference between getting legal help or going without can literally be the difference between safety and harm, between keeping a home and losing everything. One year ago, Thomson Reuters launched its AI for Justice program to help address this crisis by providing legal aid organizations with access to CoCounsel, its professional-grade AI legal assistant, along with specialized training and support. The results have been significant: attorneys are saving up to 15 hours per week, organizations are serving as many as 50% more clients daily, and urgent case materials are being prepared up to 75% faster. But more importantly, these efficiency gains are translating into real-world impact  – domestic violence victims receiving protection orders more quickly, wrongfully evicted tenants getting back into their homes before their possessions are destroyed, and innocent people in prison having their exoneration petitions filed years sooner. In this episode of LawNext, host Bob Ambrogi talks with two people at the forefront of this initiative:  Laura Safdie is head of innovation for legal at Thomson Reuters and has been championing access to justice through technology since her days at Casetext, where she was a cofounder.  Pablo Ramirez is executive director of the Legal Aid Society of San Bernardino, a small organization of 45 staff members serving over 9,000 people a year in one of California's largest counties.  Together, they share powerful stories of how AI is enabling legal aid lawyers to be more efficient and more effective in doing what they came to this work to do – fighting for their clients.  They discuss the three pillars of the AI for Justice program  – access, support and scale  – and how Thomson Reuters is working to create a blueprint that can be replicated across the legal aid community. They also tackle the challenges that remain, from overcoming fear and skepticism about AI to reaching a highly disaggregated network of small, resource-strapped organizations. And they explore the bigger question: Can AI actually help close the justice gap, or are we just nibbling at the edges of an ever-growing problem?   Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out. Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks. Briefpoint, eliminating routine discovery response and request drafting tasks so you can focus on drafting what matters (or just make it home for dinner). Eve, taking care of the tasks that slow you down so you can operate at your highest potential   If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.  

Leaders of nonprofit law firms discuss their disaster response work for major storms and floods in Texas, North Carolina and Louisiana on Talk Justice. The conversation was recorded at a briefing for the U.S. House of Representatives, where these local leaders educated Congressional staff on the importance of providing legal services in the aftermath of natural disasters. Robert Doggett, Executive Director of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), joined to talk about the July floods in central Texas; Ashley Campbell, executive director of Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC), spoke about the ongoing response to Tropical Storm Helene; and Laura Tuggle, executive director of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS), discussed her state's history of dealing with major storms like Hurricanes Ida and Katrina. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leaders of nonprofit law firms discuss their disaster response work for major storms and floods in Texas, North Carolina and Louisiana on Talk Justice. The conversation was recorded at a briefing for the U.S. House of Representatives, where these local leaders educated Congressional staff on the importance of providing legal services in the aftermath of natural disasters. Robert Doggett, Executive Director of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), joined to talk about the July floods in central Texas; Ashley Campbell, executive director of Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC), spoke about the ongoing response to Tropical Storm Helene; and Laura Tuggle, executive director of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS), discussed her state's history of dealing with major storms like Hurricanes Ida and Katrina.

A cyber attack on the government's Legal Aid Agency has resulted in vulnerable people's data stolen and lawyers without pay.Writer: Poppy BullardProducer: Amalie SortlandHost: Tomini BabsEpisode photography: Joe MeeExecutive Producer: Rebecca MooreTo find out more about The Observer:Subscribe to TheObserver+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free contentHead to our website observer.co.uk Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hundreds of lawsuits filed by people who say they were sexually abused in New York City juvenile detention centers have been dismissed by a Bronx judge, leaving more than 450 survivors in legal limbo due to wording in the city's gender-based violence law. Meanwhile, the New York City Council has set aside $2 million to provide divorce lawyers for low-income survivors of domestic violence. Also, the New York Jets fell to the Miami Dolphins 27–21 on Monday Night.

Each episode on Unstoppable Mindset I ask all of you and my guests to feel free to introduce me to others who would be good guests on our podcast. Our guest this time, Erin Edgar, is a guest introduced to me by a past podcast guest, Rob Wentz. Rob told me that Erin is inspirational and would be interesting and that she would have a lot to offer you, our audience. Rob was right on all counts. Erin Edgar was born blind. Her parents adopted an attitude that would raise their daughter with a positive attitude about herself. She was encouraged and when barriers were put in her way as a youth, her parents helped her fight to be able to participate and thrive. For a time, she attended the Indiana School for the Blind. Her family moved to Georgia where Erin attended high school. After high school, Erin wanted to go to college where she felt there would be a supportive program that would welcome her on campus. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapple Hill. After graduating she decided to continue at UNC where she wanted to study law. The same program that gave her so much assistance during her undergraduate days was not able to provide the same services to Erin the graduate student. Even so, Erin had learned how to live, survive and obtain what she needed to go through the law program. After she received her law degree Erin began to do what she always wanted to do: She wanted to use the law to help people. So, she worked in programs such as Legal Aid in North Carolina and she also spent time as a mediator. She will describe all that for us. Like a number of people, when the pandemic began, she decided to pivot and start her own law firm. She focuses on estate planning. We have a good discussion about topics such as the differences between a will and a living trust. Erin offers many relevant and poignant thoughts and words of advice we all can find helpful. Erin is unstoppable by any standard as you will see. About the Guest: Erin Edgar, Esq., is a caring, heart-centered attorney, inspirational speaker and vocal artist. She loves helping clients: -- Plan for the future of their lives and businesses, ensuring that they have the support they need and helping them find ways to provide for their loved ones upon death. --Ensure that the leave a legacy of love and reflect client values -- Find creative ways that allow them to impact the world with a lasting legacy. She is passionate about connecting with clients on a heart level. She loves witnessing her clients as she guides them to transform their intentions for their loved ones into a lasting legacy through the estate planning process. Erin speaks about ways to meld proven legal tools, strategies, and customization with the creative process to design legal solutions that give people peace of mind, clarity, and the assurance that their loved ones will be taken care of, and the world will be left a better place Ways to connect with Erin: Facebook: https://facebook.com/erin-edgar-legal LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/erinedgar About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of unstoppable mindset. We're glad that you're here with us, wherever you may be. Hope the day is going well, and we have Erin Edgar on our episode today. Edgar is a very interesting person in a lot of ways. She's a caring, heart centered attorney. She is also an inspirational speaker and a vocal artist. I'm not sure whether vocal artistry comes into play when she's in the courtroom, but we won't worry about that too much. I assume that you don't sing to your judges when you're trying to deal with something. But anyway, I'll let her answer that. I'm just trying to cause trouble, but Erin again. We're really glad you're with us. We really appreciate you being here, and I know you do a lot with estate planning and other kinds of things that'll be fun to talk about. So welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Erin Edgar ** 02:14 Thank you, Michael. It's great to be here, and I haven't sung in a courtroom or a courthouse yet, but I wouldn't rule it out.   Michael Hingson ** 02:23 I have someone who I know who also has a guide dog and his diet. His guide dog, it's been a while since I've seen him, but his guide dog tended to be very vocal, especially at unexpected times, and he said that occasionally happened in the courtroom, which really busted up the place. Oh, dear.   Erin Edgar ** 02:45 I imagine that would draw some smiles, hopefully, smiles.   Michael Hingson ** 02:48 Well, they were, yeah, do you, do you appear in court much?   Erin Edgar ** 02:53 Um, no, the type of law that I practice, I'm usually, I don't think I've ever appeared in court after I've written people's wills, but I have done previous things where I was in court mediating disputes, which is a kind of a separate thing that I used to do, so I've been in court just not recently. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 03:17 Well, that's understandable. Well, let's start a little bit with the early Erin and growing up and all that sort of stuff. Tell us about that? Sure.   Erin Edgar ** 03:26 So I was born in cold, gray Indiana, and, yeah, chilly in the wintertime, and I started out I was blind from birth, so my parents thought it would be a good idea to send me to the school for the blind for a while. And back when I was born, um, teen years ago, they did not mainstream visually impaired and disabled students in that state, so you went where you could, and I was at the blind school for until I reached third grade, and then we moved to Georgia, and I've been in the south ever since I live in North Carolina now, and I started going to public schools in fourth grade, and continued on that route all the way up through high school.   Michael Hingson ** 04:21 Oh, okay. And so then, what did you do?   Erin Edgar ** 04:29 So after, after that, I, you know, I was one of those high school students. I really wanted to get out of dodge and leave my high school behind. I went visiting a couple of colleges in Georgia, and I said to my parents, I said, I really don't like this. It's like going to high school again. Literally, I was meeting people I had been in high school with, and I decided, and was very grateful that my parents. Were able to rig it some way so that I could go to an out of state school. And I went to UNC Chapel Hill here in North Carolina, Tar Heels all the way. And I was there for undergrad. And then I got into law school there as well, which I was very excited about, because I didn't have to go anywhere, and graduated from law school again a while ago in the early 2000s   Michael Hingson ** 05:31 Okay, and so then you went straight into law from that.   Erin Edgar ** 05:37 I didn't I did some other things before I actually went into law itself. I worked with some local advocacy organizations, and I also mediated, as I said earlier, I did mediations with the county court, helping mediate criminal disputes. And we're talking about like things with you get in a dispute with your neighbor and you yell at each other, those kind of People's Court type things. They were fun and interesting. And then I did go into law. After that, I started working with Legal Aid of North Carolina, which is a an organization that helps people in poverty who cannot afford a lawyer to go and have have their options communicated to them and some help given to them regarding their public benefits or certain other, you know, public things that we could help with we weren't able to help with any personal injury, or, you know, any of the fun stuff you see on TV. So and then, when the pandemic hit, I started my own law practice and completely changed gears and went into writing estate plans and wills for a living.   Michael Hingson ** 07:07 Do you think that your time doing mediation work and so on taught you a lot about humanity and human nature and people?   Erin Edgar ** 07:16 It did. I bet it did. It was invaluable, actually, in that area taught me a lot about, I don't know necessarily, about human nature. However, it did teach me a lot about how to talk to people who were on different pages. You know, they had, perhaps, values and principles that weren't quite the same, where they had a different way of looking at the same exact situation, and how to bring those those people together and allow them to connect on a deeper level, rather than the argument we're able to get them to agree to kind of move forward from that, so nobody has to be found guilty, right? And you know a judge doesn't have and you don't have to drag a criminal conviction around with you. I think the most rewarding cases that I had, by far were the education cases. Because I don't know if anyone knows this, but in most states, in the United States, if you don't send your kids to school, you are guilty of a crime. It's called truancy, and you can be arrested. Well, the county that I live in was very forward thinking, and the school system and the court said, that's kind of dumb. We don't want to arrest parents if their kids aren't going to school, there's something behind it. You know, there the school is not providing what the child needs. The child's acting out for some reason, and we need to get to the bottom of it. So what they did was they set up a process whereby we come in as neutral observers. We did not work for the court. We were part of a separate organization, and have a school social worker there or counselor, and also have a parent there, and they could talk through the issues. And in a lot of cases, if the children were old enough, they were teenagers, they were there, and they could talk about it from their perspective. And truly amazing things came out of those situations. We could just we would discover that the children had a behavioral issue or even a disability that had not been recognized, and were able to come up with plans to address that with you know, or the school was with our help,   Michael Hingson ** 09:42 going back a little bit, how did your parents deal with the fact that you were blind? I gather it was a fairly positive experience   Erin Edgar ** 09:50 for me. It was positive. I was so fortunate, and I'm still so grateful to this day for having parents who you. I were very forward thinking, and advocated for me to have and do whatever, not whatever I wanted, because I was far from spoiled, but, you know, whatever, yeah, yeah, you know. But whatever, however I wanted to be successful, they advocated for me. And so my mother actually told me, you know, when I was born, they went through all the parent things like, oh, gosh, what did we do wrong? You know, why is God punishing us? You know, all that. And they, very early on, found support groups for, you know, parents with children with either blindness or disabilities of some sort, and that was a great source of help to them. And as I grew up, they made every effort to ensure that I had people who could teach me, if they couldn't, you know, how to interact with other children. I think, for a while when I was very little, and I actually kind of remember this, they hired an occupational therapist to come and teach me how to play with kids, because not only was I blind, but I was an only child, so I didn't have brothers and sisters to interact with, and that whole play thing was kind of a mystery to me, and I remember it sort of vaguely, but that's just A demonstration that they wanted me to have the best life possible and to be fully integrated into the sighted world as much as possible. So when I was at the blind school, and I was in this residential environment, and there was an added bonus that my parents didn't really weren't happy in their jobs either, and they weren't happy with the education I was getting, that they decided, well, we're just going to pick up and move and that was, quite frankly, as I look back on it now, a huge risk for them. And they did it, you know, 50% for me and 50% for them, maybe even 6040, but as I look back on it now, it's another demonstration of how supportive they were, and all the way through my school age years, were very active in ensuring that I had everything that I needed and that I had the support that I needed.   Michael Hingson ** 12:19 That's cool. How did it go when you went to college at UNC?   Erin Edgar ** 12:25 Yeah, that's an interesting question, a very good question.   Michael Hingson ** 12:29 You didn't play basketball, I assume? Oh no, I figured you had other things to do.   Erin Edgar ** 12:33 Yeah, I had other stuff to do. I sang in the choir and sang with the medieval chorus group, and, you know, all this other, like, musical geek, geeky stuff. But, or, and when we were looking for colleges and universities, one of the criteria was they had to have a solid kind of, like disability, slash visually impaired center, or, you know, support staff that would help in, you know, allow people with disabilities to go through the university. So at UNC Chapel Hill, the they had as part of their student affairs department Disability Services, and it just so happened that they were very aware of accommodations that blind people needed. I wasn't the first blind student to go through undergrad there. That's not law school, that's undergrad. And so you know, how much was it? Time and a half on on tests if I was doing them on the computer, double time if I was doing them in Braille. A lot of the tests were in Braille because they had the technology to do it. And also the gentleman who ran the Disability Services Department, I think, knew Braille, if I'm not mistaken, and could transcribe if necessary. But I was at the stage at that point where I was typing most of my exams anyway, and didn't need much that was in Braille, because I had books either electronically or they had a network of folks in the community that would volunteer to read if there was not, you know, available textbooks from RFD, and what is it, RFP and D? Now was at the time, yeah, now Learning Ally, there wasn't a Bookshare at that time, so we couldn't use Bookshare, but if there weren't textbooks available, they would have people in the community who would read them for them, and they would get paid a little bit. Now, when I went to law school, it was a totally different ball game, because I was the first law student who was blind, that UNC Chapel Hill had had, and it was a different school within the school, so that student affairs department was not part of law school anymore, and we had quite a time the first semester getting my book. Works in a format that I could read them in. They did eventually, kind of broker a deal, if you will, with the publishers who were either Thompson Reuters or Westlaw at the time to get electronic versions. They were floppy disks. This is how old I am. Floppy disks. They were in this weird format. I think it was word perfect or something. Usually it was, and they   Michael Hingson ** 15:27 didn't really have a lot of them new or no, they didn't know now, newer publishing system,   Erin Edgar ** 15:32 yeah, there wasn't PDF even, I don't think, at the time. And the agreement was I could get those, and I actually had to buy the print textbooks as well. So I have this whole bookcase of law books that are virgin, unopened, almost. And they are, you know, some of them almost 25 years old, never been opened and of no use to anyone. But I have them, and they look nice sitting down there in that bookshelf antiques books. They're antiques. So the first year was a little rough, because for a while I didn't have books, and we were able to make arrangements so that I could kind of make up some classes on a later year and switch things around a little bit. And it ended up all working out really well once we got started.   Michael Hingson ** 16:16 Yeah, I remember when I was going through getting my bachelor's and master's in physics, I needed the books in braille because, well, it's the only way to be able to really deal with the subject. You can't do it nearly as well from recordings, although now there's a little bit better capability through recording, because we have the DayZ format and so on. But still, it's not the same as reading it in Braille and for mathematics and physics and so on. I think that the only way to really do it is in Braille. And we had challenges because professors didn't want to decide what books to use until the last minute, because then, oh, a new book might be coming out and we want to get the latest book, and that didn't work for me, right? Because I had a network that I, in part, I developed with the Department of Rehabilitation out here, helped our office for disabled students didn't really have the resources to know it. They were very supportive. They just didn't really deal with it. But the bottom line is that we had to develop, I had to develop the network of transcribers, but they needed three to six months to do the books, at least three months and and sometimes I would get them one or two volumes at a time, and they barely kept ahead of the class. But, you know, it worked, but professors resisted it. And my the person who ran the Office for Students with Disabilities, said, Look, you have to work on these things, but if you're not getting cooperation from professors, and you come and tell me, and I will use the power of this office to get you what you need, there's another thing you might consider doing, she said. And I said, What's that? And Jan said, Go meet the chancellor. Make friends, yeah, friends in high places. And so I did. And Dan, oh, there you go. Became pretty good friends over the years, which was pretty cool,   Erin Edgar ** 18:15 you know, it was weird because we didn't, I didn't have that problem with the professors. They were, you know, I had a couple of old codgers, but they weren't really worried about the books. They were fine with me having the books, but it was the publishers. The publishers were irritated that that I needed them, and, you know, in an alternative format. And I didn't really, I was not. I was one of those people that if someone said they were going to do something for me, I kind of let people do it. And at the time, I was really not an advocate, advocator for myself, at that time, a very good self advocate. And so I kind of let the school interface with that. I think it would have been really interesting, if I look back on it, for me to have taken a hand in that. And I wonder what would have happened well, and at this point, you know, it's neither here nor there, but that's really fascinating. Making Friends with the chancellor, sometimes you have to do stuff like that   Michael Hingson ** 19:15 well. And the idea was really to get to know Him. And what there was, well, obviously other motivations, like, if we needed to go to a higher court to get help, we could go to the chancellor. I never had to do that, but, but the reason for meeting him and getting to know him was really just to do it and to have fun doing it. So we did,   Erin Edgar ** 19:36 yeah, and I kind of had a comparable experience. I met the Dean of the Law School for that very reason. And he said, you know, if you've got trouble, come to me, my parents got involved a little bit. And we all, you know, met together and maybe even separately at some points just to make sure that I had everything that I needed at various times. Mm. Yeah, and I made friends with the some of the assistant deans at the law school, in particular because of the situation, and one of whom was the Dean of the Law School Student Affairs, who was helping me to get what I needed. And for a while, when I was in law school and beyond. He was like, We lent books to each other. It was very funny. We found out we had the same reading tastes beyond law books. It wasn't, you know, legal at all, but we were like, trading books and things. So a lot of really good relationships came out of that.   Michael Hingson ** 20:37 And I think that's extremely important to to do. And I think that's one of the things that that offices for students with disabilities that tend to want to do everything for you. I think that's one of the things that it's a problem with those offices, because if you don't learn to do them, and if you don't learn to do them in college, how are you going to be able to be able to really act independently and as an advocate after college, so you have to learn that stuff   Erin Edgar ** 21:05 Absolutely. That's a very good point.   Michael Hingson ** 21:09 So I, I think it was extremely important to do it, and we did, and had a lot of fun doing it. So it was, was good. What are some of the biggest misconceptions you think that people had about you as a blind child growing up?   Erin Edgar ** 21:25 Oh yeah, that's a great question. I think that one of the biggest misconceptions that people had about me, especially when I was younger, is that I would know I would be sort of relegated to staying at home with parents all of my life, or being a stay at home parent and not able to be kind of professionally employed and earning, you know, earning a living wage. Now, I have my own business, and that's where most of my money goes at the same at this point. So, you know, earning a living wage might be up in the air at the moment. Ha, ha. But the the one thing I think that the biggest misconception that people had, and this is even like teachers at the blind school, it was very rare for blind children of my age to grow up and be, you know, professionals in, I don't want to say high places, but like people able to support themselves without a government benefit backing them up. And it was kind of always assumed that we would be in that category, that we would be less able than our sighted peers to do that. And so that was a huge misconception, even you know, in the school that I was attending. I think that was the, really the main one and one misconception that I had then and still have today, is that if I'm blind, I can't speak for myself. This still happens today. For instance, if I'm if I want, if I'm going somewhere and I just happen to be with someone sighted, they will talk whoever I'm, wherever I'm at, they will talk to the sighted person, right? They won't talk to you. They won't talk to me. And so, for instance, simple example, if I'm somewhere with my husband, and we happen to be walking together and we go somewhere that I need to go, they will talk to him because he's guiding me, and they won't talk. And he's like, don't talk to me. I have no idea, you know, talk to her, and part of that is I'm half a step behind him. People naturally gravitate to the people that are leading. However, I noticed, even when I was a young adult, and I would go, you know, to the doctor, and I would be with my my parents, like, maybe I'm visiting them, and I need to go to the doctor, they would talk to them and not me, yeah, which is kind of sad. And I think it happens a lot, a lot more than people realize.   Michael Hingson ** 24:10 Yeah, it does. And one of my favorite stories is, is this, I got married in 1982 and my wife has always been, or had always been. She passed away in 2022 but she was always in a wheelchair. And we went to a restaurant one Saturday for breakfast. We were standing at the counter waiting to be seated, and the hostess was behind the counter, and nothing was happening. And finally, Karen said to me, she doesn't know who to talk to, you know? Because Karen, of course, is, is in a wheelchair, so actually, she's clearly shorter than this, this person behind the counter, and then there's me and and, of course, I'm not making eye contact, and so Karen just said she doesn't know who to talk to. I said, you know? All she's gotta do is ask us where we would like to sit or if we'd like to have breakfast, and we can make it work. Well, she she got the message, and she did, and the rest of the the day went fine, but that was really kind of funny, that we had two of us, and she just didn't know how to deal with either of us, which was kind of cute. Mm, hmm. Well, you know, it brings up another question. You use the term earlier, visually impaired. There's been a lot of effort over the years. A lot of the professionals, if you will, created this whole terminology of visually impaired, and they say, well, you're blind or you're visually impaired. And visually impaired means you're not totally blind, but, but you're still visually impaired. And finally, blind people, I think, are starting to realize what people who are deaf learned a long time ago, and that is that if you take take a deaf person and you refer to them as hearing impaired, there's no telling what they might do to you, because they recognize that impaired is not true and they shouldn't be equated with people who have all of their hearing. So it's deaf or hard of hearing, which is a whole lot less of an antagonistic sort of concept than hearing impaired. We're starting to get blind people, and not everyone's there yet, and we're starting to get agencies, and not every agency is there yet, to recognize that it's blind or low vision, as opposed to blind or here or visually impaired, visually impaired. What do you think about that? How does and how does that contribute to the attitudes that people had toward you?   Erin Edgar ** 26:38 Yeah, so when I was growing up, I was handicapped, yeah, there was that too, yeah, yeah, that I was never fond of that, and my mother softened it for me, saying, well, we all have our handicaps or shortcomings, you know, and but it was really, what was meant was you had Something that really held you back. I actually, I say, this is so odd. I always, I usually say I'm totally blind. Because when I say blind, the immediate question people have is, how blind are you? Yeah, which gets back to stuff, yeah, yeah. If you're blind, my opinion, if you're blind, you're you're blind, and if you have low vision, you have partial sight. And visually impaired used to be the term, you know, when I was younger, that people use, and that's still a lot. It's still used a lot, and I will use it occasionally, generally. I think that partially sighted, I have partial vision is, is what I've heard people use. That's what, how my husband refers to himself. Low Vision is also, you know, all those terms are much less pejorative than actually being impaired,   Michael Hingson ** 27:56 right? That's kind of really the issue, yeah. My, my favorite example of all of this is a past president of the National Federation of the Blind, Ken Jernigan, you've heard of him, I assume, Oh, sure. He created a document once called a definition of blindness, and his definition, he goes through and discusses various conditions, and he asks people if, if you meet these conditions, are you blind or not? But then what he eventually does is he comes up with a definition, and his definition, which I really like, is you are blind if your eyesight has decreased to the point where you have to use alternatives to full eyesight in order to function, which takes into account totally blind and partially blind people. Because the reality is that most of those people who are low vision will probably, or they may probably, lose the rest of their eyesight. And the agencies have worked so hard to tell them, just use your eyesight as best you can. And you know you may need to use a cane, but use your eyesight as best you can, and if you go blind, then we're going to have to teach you all over again, rather than starting by saying blindness is really okay. And the reality is that if you learn the techniques now, then you can use the best of all worlds.   Erin Edgar ** 29:26 I would agree with that. I would also say you should, you know, people should use what they have. Yeah, using everything you have is okay. And I think there's a lot of a lot of good to be said for learning the alternatives while you're still able to rely on something else.   Michael Hingson ** 29:49 Point taken exactly you know, because   Erin Edgar ** 29:53 as you age, you get more and more in the habit of doing things one way, and it's. Very hard to break out of that. And if you haven't learned an alternative, there's nothing you feel like. There's nothing to fall back on, right? And it's even harder because now you're in the situation of urgency where you feel like you're missing something and you're having to learn something new, whereas if you already knew it and knew different ways to rely on things you would be just like picking a memory back up, rather than having to learn something new. Well, I've never been in that position, so I can't say, but in the abstract, I think that's a good definition.   Michael Hingson ** 30:34 Well, there are a lot of examples, like, take a person who has some eyesight, and they're not encouraged to use a cane. And I know someone who was in this situation. I think I've told the story on this podcast, but he lived in New Jersey and was travel. And traveled every day from New Jersey into Philadelphia to work, and he was on a reasonably cloudy day, was walking along. He had been given a cane by the New Jersey Commission for the Blind, but he they didn't really stress the value of using it. And so he was walking along the train to go in, and he came to the place where he could turn in and go into the car. And he did, and promptly fell between two cars because he wasn't at the right place. And then the train actually started to move, but they got it stopped, and so he was okay, but as as he tells the story, he certainly used his cane from then on. Because if he had been using the cane, even though he couldn't see it well because it was dark, or not dark, cloudy, he would have been able to see that he was not at the place where the car entrance was, but rather he was at the junction between two cars. And there's so many examples of that. There's so many reasons why it's important to learn the skills. Should a partially blind or a low vision person learn to read Braille? Well, depends on circumstances, of course, I think, to a degree, but the value of learning Braille is that you have an alternative to full print, especially if there's a likelihood that you're going to lose the rest of your eyesight. If you psychologically do it now, that's also going to psychologically help you prepare better for not having any eyesight later.   Erin Edgar ** 32:20 And of course, that leads to to blind children these days learn how to read, yeah, which is another issue.   Michael Hingson ** 32:28 Which is another issue because educators are not teaching Braille nearly as much as they should, and the literacy rate is so low. And the fact of the matter is even with George Kircher, who invented the whole DAISY format and and all the things that you can do with the published books and so on. The reality is there is still something to be said for learning braille. You don't have sighted children just watching television all the time, although sometimes my parents think they do, but, but the point is that they learn to read, and there's a value of really learning to read. I've been in an audience where a blind speaker was delivering a speech, and he didn't know or use Braille. He had a device that was, I think what he actually used was a, was, it was a Victor Reader Stream, which is   Erin Edgar ** 33:24 one of those, right?   Michael Hingson ** 33:25 I think it was that it may have been something else, but the bottom line is, he had his speech written out, and he would play it through earphones, and then he would verbalize his speech. Oh, no, that's just mess me up. Oh, it would. It was very disjointed and and I think that for me, personally, I read Braille pretty well, but I don't like to read speeches at all. I want to engage the audience, and so it's really important to truly speak with the audience and not read or do any of those other kinds of things.   Erin Edgar ** 33:57 I would agree. Now I do have a Braille display that I, I use, and, you know, I do use it for speeches. However, I don't put the whole speech on   Michael Hingson ** 34:10 there that I me too. I have one, and I use it for, I know, I have notes. Mm, hmm,   Erin Edgar ** 34:16 notes, yeah. And so I feel like Braille, especially for math. You know, when you said math and physics, like, Yeah, I can't imagine doing math without Braille. That just doesn't, you know, I can't imagine it, and especially in, you know, geometry and trigonometry with those diagrams. I don't know how you would do it without a Braille textbook, but yeah, there. There's certainly something to be said for for the the wonderful navigation abilities with, you know, e published audio DAISY books. However, it's not a substitute for knowing how to   Michael Hingson ** 34:55 read. Well, how are you going to learn to spell? How are you going to really learn sit? Structure, how are you going to learn any of those basic skills that sighted kids get if you don't use Braille? Absolutely, I think that that's one of the arenas where the educational system, to a large degree, does such a great disservice to blind kids because it won't teach them Braille.   Erin Edgar ** 35:16 Agreed, agreed. Well, thank you for this wonderful spin down Braille, Braille reading lane here. That was fun.   Michael Hingson ** 35:27 Well, so getting back to you a little bit, you must have thought or realized that probably when you went into law, you were going to face some challenges. But what was the defining moment that made you decide you're going to go into law, and what kind of challenges have you faced? If you face challenges, my making an assumption, but you know what?   Erin Edgar ** 35:45 Oh, sure. So the defining moment when I decided I wanted to go into law. It was a very interesting time for me. I was teenager. Don't know exactly how old I was, but I think I was in high school, and I had gone through a long period where I wanted to, like, be a music major and go into piano and voice and be a performer in those arenas, and get a, you know, high level degree whatnot. And then I began having this began becoming very interested in watching the Star Trek television series. Primarily I was out at the time the next generation, and I was always fascinated by the way that these people would find these civilizations on these planets, and they would be at odds in the beginning, and they would be at each other's throats, and then by the end of the day, they were all kind of   Michael Hingson ** 36:43 liking each other. And John Luke Picard didn't play a flute,   Erin Edgar ** 36:47 yes, and he also turned into a Borg, which was traumatic for me. I had to rate local summer to figure out what would happen. I was in I was in trauma. Anyway, my my father and I bonded over that show. It was, it was a wonderful sort of father daughter thing. We did it every weekend. And I was always fascinated by, like, the whole, the whole aspect of different ideologies coming together. And it always seemed to me that that's what human humanity should be about. As I, you know, got older, I thought, how could I be involved in helping people come together? Oh, let's go into law. Because, you know, our government's really good at that. That was the high school student in me. And I thought at the time, I wanted to go into the Foreign Service and work in the international field and help, you know, on a net, on a you know, foreign policy level. I quickly got into law school and realized two things simultaneously in my second year, international law was very boring, and there were plenty of problems in my local community that I could help solve, like, why work on the international stage when people in my local community are suffering in some degree with something and so I completely changed my focus to wanting to work in an area where I could bring people together and work for, you know, work on an individualized level. And as I went into the legal field, that was, it was part of the reason I went into the mediation, because that was one of the things that we did, was helping people come together. I realized, though, as I became a lawyer and actually started working in the field, most of the legal system is not based on that. It's based on who has the best argument. I wanted no part of that. Yeah, I want no part of that at all. I want to bring people together. Still, the Star Trek mentality is working here, and so when I when I started my own law firm, my immediate question to myself was, how can I now that I'm out doing my own thing, actually bring people together? And the answer that I got was help families come together, especially people thinking about their end of life decisions and gathering their support team around them. Who they want to help them? If they are ever in a situation where they become ill and they can't manage their affairs, or if you know upon their death, who do they want to help them and support them. And how can I use the law to allow that to happen? And so that's how I am working, to use the law for healing and bringing people together, rather than rather than winning an argument.   Michael Hingson ** 39:59 Yeah. Yeah, well, and I think there's a lot of merit to that. I I value the law a great deal, and I I am not an attorney or anything like that, but I have worked in the world of legislation, and I've worked in the world of dealing with helping to get legislation passed and and interacting with lawyers. And my wife and I worked with an attorney to set up our our trust, and then couple of years ago, I redid it after she passed away. And so I think that there was a lot of a lot of work that attorneys do that is extremely important. Yeah, there are, there are attorneys that were always dealing with the best arguments, and probably for me, the most vivid example of that, because it was so captivating when it happened, was the whole OJ trial back in the 1990s we were at a county fair, and we had left going home and turned on the radio, only To hear that the police were following OJ, and they finally arrested him. And then when the trial occurred, we while I was working at a company, and had a radio, and people would would come around, and we just had the radio on, and followed the whole trial. And it was interesting to see all the manipulation and all the movement, and you're right. It came down to who had the best argument, right or wrong?   Erin Edgar ** 41:25 The bloody glove. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. Yeah, yep, I remember that. I remember where I was when they arrested him, too. I was at my grandparents house, and we were watching it on TV. My grandfather was captivated by the whole thing. But yes, there's certainly, you know, some manipulation. There's also, there are also lawyers who do a lot of good and a lot of wonderful things. And in reality, you know, most cases don't go to trial. They're settled in some way. And so, you know, there isn't always, you know, who has the best argument. It's not always about that, right? And at the same time, that is, you know, what the system is based on, to some extent. And really, when our country was founded, our founding fathers were a bunch of, like, acted in a lot of ways, like a bunch of children. If you read books on, you know, the Constitution, it was, it was all about, you know, I want this in here, and I want that in here. And, you know, a lot of argument around that, which, of course, is to be expected. And many of them did not expect our country's government to last beyond their lifetimes. Uh, James Madison was the exception, but all the others were like, Ed's going to fail. And yet, I am very, very proud to be a lawyer in this country, because while it's not perfect, our founding documents actually have a lot of flexibility and how and can be interpreted to fit modern times, which is, I think the beauty of them and exactly what the Founders intended for.   Michael Hingson ** 43:15 Yeah, and I do think that some people are taking advantage of that and causing some challenges, but that's also part of our country and part of our government. I like something Jimmy Carter once said, which was, we must adjust to changing times while holding to unwavering principles. And I think absolutely that's the part that I think sometimes is occasionally being lost, that we forget those principles, or we want to manipulate the principles and make them something that they're not. But he was absolutely right. That is what we need to do, and we can adjust to changing times without sacrificing principles. Absolutely.   Erin Edgar ** 43:55 I firmly believe that, and I would like to kind of turn it back to what we were talking about before, because you actually asked me, What are some challenges that I have faced, and if it's okay with you, I would like to get back to that. Oh, sure. Okay. Well, so I have faced some challenges for you know, to a large extent, though I was very well accommodated. I mean, the one challenge with the books that was challenging when I took the bar exam, oh, horror of horrors. It was a multiple, multiple shot deal, but it finally got done. However, it was not, you know, my failing to pass the first time or times was not the fault of the actual board of law examiners. They were very accommodating. I had to advocate for myself a little bit, and I also had to jump through some hoops. For example, I had to bring my own person to bubble in my responses on the multiple choice part, it. And bring my own person in to kind of monitor me while I did the essay portion. But they allowed me to have a computer, they allowed me to have, you know, the screen reader. They allowed me to have time and a half to do the the exam. And so we're accommodating in that way. And so no real challenges there. You know, some hoops to jump through. But it got all worked out.   Michael Hingson ** 45:23 And even so, some of that came about because blind people actually had to go all the way to the Supreme Court. Yes, the bar to the Bar Association to recognize that those things needed to be that way,   Erin Edgar ** 45:37 absolutely. And so, you know, I was lucky to come into this at a time where that had already been kind of like pre done for me. I didn't have to deal with that as a challenge. And so the only other challenges I had, some of them, were mine, like, you know, who's going to want to hire this blind person? Had a little bit of, you know, kind of challenge there, with that mindset issue for a while there, and I did have some challenges when I was looking for employment after I'd worked for legal aid for a while, and I wanted to move on and do something else. And I knew I didn't want to work for a big, big firm, and I would, I was talking to some small law firms about hiring me, small to mid size firms. And I would get the question of, well, you're blind, so what kind of accommodations do you need? And we would talk about, you know, computer, special software to make a talk, you know, those kinds of things. And it always ended up that, you know, someone else was hired. And I can, you know, I don't have proof that the blindness and the hesitancy around hiring a disabled person or a blind person was in back of that decision. And at the same time, I had the sense that there was some hesitation there as well, so that, you know, was a bit of a challenge, and starting my own law firm was its own challenge, because I had to experiment with several different software systems to Find one that was accessible enough for me to use. And the system I'm thinking about in particular, I wouldn't use any other system, and yet, I'm using practically the most expensive estate planning drafting system out there, because it happens to be the most accessible. It's also the most expensive. Always that. There's always that. And what's it called? I'm curious. It's called wealth Council, okay, wealth. And then the word councils, Council, SEL, and it's wonderful. And the folks there are very responsive. If I say something's not accessible, I mean, they have fixed things for me in the past. Isn't that great? And complain, isn't that wonderful? It is wonderful. And that's, that's awesome. I had a CRM experience with a couple of different like legal CRM software. I used one for a while, and it was okay. But then, you know, everyone else said this other one was better and it was actually less accessible. So I went back to the previous one, you know. So I have to do a lot of my own testing, which is kind of a challenge in and of itself. I don't have people testing software for me. I have to experiment and test and in some cases, pay for something for a while before I realize it's not, you know, not worth it. But now I have those challenges pretty much ironed out. And I have a paralegal who helps me do some things that, like she proof reads my documents, for instance, because otherwise there may be formatting things that I'm not, that I miss. And so I have the ability to have cited assistance with things that I can't necessarily do myself, which is, you know, absolutely fine,   Michael Hingson ** 49:04 yeah. Now, do you use Lexus? Is it accessible?   Erin Edgar ** 49:08 I don't need Lexus, yeah, yeah. I mean, I have, I'm a member of the Bar Association, of my, my state bar association, which is not, not voluntary. It's mandatory. But I'm a member primarily because they have a search, a legal search engine that they work with that we get for free. I mean, with our members, there you go. So there you go. So I don't need Lexus or West Law or any of those other search engines for what I do. And if I was, like, really into litigation and going to court all time and really doing deep research, I would need that. But I don't. I can use the one that they have, that we can use so and it's, it's a entirely web based system. It's fairly accessible   Michael Hingson ** 49:58 well, and. That makes it easier to as long as you've got people's ears absolutely make it accessible, which makes a lot of sense.   Erin Edgar ** 50:08 Yeah, it certainly does well.   Michael Hingson ** 50:10 So do you regard yourself as a resilient person? Has blindness impacted that or helped make that kind of more the case for you? Do you think I do resilience is such an overused term, but it's fair. I know   Erin Edgar ** 50:24 I mean resilience is is to my mind, a resilient person is able to face uh, challenges with a relatively positive outlook in and view a challenge as something to be to be worked through rather than overcome, and so yes, I do believe that blindness, in and of itself, has allowed me to find ways to adapt to situations and pivot in cases where, you know, I need to find an alternative to using a mouse. For instance, how would I do that? And so in other areas of life, I am, you know, because I'm blind, I'm able to more easily pivot into finding alternative solutions. I do believe that that that it has made me more resilient.   Michael Hingson ** 51:25 Do you think that being blind has caused you, and this is an individual thing, because I think that there are those who don't. But do you think that it's caused you to learn to listen better?   Erin Edgar ** 51:39 That's a good question, because I actually, I have a lot of sighted friends, and one of the things that people just assume is that, wow, you must be a really good listener. Well, my husband would tell you that's not always the case. Yeah. My wife said the same thing, yeah. You know, like everyone else, sometimes I hear what I want to hear in a conversation and at the same time, one of the things that I do tell people is that, because I'm blind, I do rely on other senses more, primarily hearing, I would say, and that hearing provides a lot of cues for me about my environment, and I've learned to be more skillful at it. So I, I would say that, yes, I am a good listener in terms of my environment, very sensitive to that in in my environment, in terms of active listening to conversations and being able to listen to what's behind what people say, which is another aspect of listening. I think that that is a skill that I've developed over time with conscious effort. I don't think I'm any better of a quote, unquote listener than anybody else. If I hadn't developed that primarily in in my mediation, when I was doing that, that was a huge thing for us, was to be able to listen, not actually to what people were saying, but what was behind what people were saying, right? And so I really consciously developed that skill during those years and took it with me into my legal practice, which is why I am very, very why I very much stress that I'm not only an attorney, but I'm also a counselor at law. That doesn't mean I'm a therapist, but it does mean I listen to what people say so that and what's behind what people say, so that with the ear towards providing them the legal solution that meets their needs as they describe them in their words.   Michael Hingson ** 53:47 Well, I think for me, I learned to listen, but it but it is an exercise, and it is something that you need to practice, and maybe I learned to do it a little bit better, because I was blind. For example, I learned to ride a bike, and you have to learn to listen to what's going on around you so you don't crash into cars. Oh, but I'd fall on my face. You can do it. But what I what I really did was, when I was I was working at a company, and was told that the job was going to be phased out because I wasn't a revenue producer, and the company was an engineering startup and had to bring in more revenue producers. And I was given the choice of going away or going into sales, which I had never done. And as I love to tell people, I lowered my standards and went from science to sales. But the reality is that that I think I've always and I think we all always sell in one way or another, but I also knew what the unemployment rate among employable blind people was and is, yeah, and so I went into sales with with no qualms. But there I really learned to listen. And and it was really a matter of of learning to commit, not just listen, but really learning to communicate with the people you work with. And I think that that I won't say blindness made me better, but what it did for me was it made me use the technologies like the telephone, perhaps more than some other people. And I did learn to listen better because I worked at it, not because I was blind, although they're related   Erin Edgar ** 55:30 exactly. Yeah, and I would say, I would 100% agree I worked at it. I mean, even when I was a child, I worked at listening to to become better at, kind of like analyzing my environment based on sounds that were in it. Yeah, I wouldn't have known. I mean, it's not a natural gift, as some people assume, yeah, it's something you practice and you have to work at. You get to work at.   Michael Hingson ** 55:55 Well, as I point out, there are people like SEAL Team Six, the Navy Seals and the Army Rangers and so on, who also practice using all of their senses, and they learn, in general, to become better at listening and other and other kinds of skills, because they have to to survive, but, but that's what we all do, is if we do it, right, we're learning it. It's not something that's just naturally there, right? I agree, which I think is important. So you're working in a lot of estate planning and so on. And I mentioned earlier that we it was back in 1995 we originally got one, and then it's now been updated, but we have a trust. What's the difference between having, like a trust and a will?   Erin Edgar ** 56:40 Well, that's interesting that you should ask. So A will is the minimum that pretty much, I would say everyone needs, even though 67% of people don't have one in the US. And it is pretty much what everyone needs. And it basically says, you know, I'm a, I'm a person of sound mind, and I know who is important to me and what I have that's important to me. And I wanted to go to these people who are important to me, and by the way, I want this other person to manage things after my death. They're also important to me and a trust, basically, there are multiple different kinds of trusts, huge numbers of different kinds. And the trust that you probably are referring to takes the will to kind of another level and provides more direction about about how to handle property and how how it's to be dealt with, not only after death, but also during your lifetime. And trusts are relatively most of them, like I said, there are different kinds, but they can be relatively flexible, and you can give more direction about how to handle that property than you can in a will, like, for instance, if you made an estate plan and your kids were young, well, I don't want my children to have access to this property until they're responsible adults. So maybe saying, in a trust until they're age 25 you can do that, whereas in a will, you it's more difficult to do that.   Michael Hingson ** 58:18 And a will, as I understand it, is a lot more easily contested than than a trust.   Erin Edgar ** 58:24 You know, it does depend, but yes, it is easily contested. That's not to say that if you have a trust, you don't need a will, which is a misconception that some, yeah, we have a will in our trust, right? And so, you know, you need the will for the court. Not everyone needs a trust. I would also venture to say that if you don't have a will on your death, the law has ideas about how your property should be distributed. So if you don't have a will, you know your property is not automatically going to go to the government as unclaimed, but if you don't have powers of attorney for your health care and your finance to help you out while you're alive, you run the risk of the A judge appointing someone you would not want to make your health care and financial decisions. And so I'm going to go off on a tangent here. But I do feel very strongly about this, even blind people who and disabled people who are, what did you call it earlier, the the employable blind community, but maybe they're not employed. They don't have a lot of   Michael Hingson ** 59:34 unemployed, unemployed, the unemployable blind people, employable   Erin Edgar ** 59:38 blind people, yes, you know, maybe they're not employed, they're on a government benefit. They don't have a lot of assets. Maybe they don't necessarily need that will. They don't have to have it. And at the same time, if they don't have those, those documents that allow people to manage their affairs during their lifetime. Um, who's going to do it? Yeah, who's going to do that? Yeah, you're giving up control of your body, right, potentially, to someone you would not want, just because you're thinking to yourself, well, I don't need a will, and nothing's going to happen to me. You're giving control of your body, perhaps, to someone you don't want. You're not taking charge of your life and and you are allowing doctors and hospitals and banks to perpetuate the belief that you are not an independent person, right? I'm very passionate about it. Excuse me, I'll get off my soapbox now. That's okay. Those are and and to a large extent, those power of attorney forms are free. You can download them from your state's website. Um, they're minimalistic. They're definitely, I don't use them because I don't like them for my state. But you can get you can use them, and you can have someone help you fill them out. You could sign them, and then look, you've made a decision about who's going to help you when you're not able to help yourself,   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:07 which is extremely important to do. And as I mentioned, we went all the way and have a trust, and we funded the trust, and everything is in the trust. But I think that is a better way to keep everything protected, and it does provide so much more direction for whoever becomes involved, when, when you decide to go elsewhere, then, as they put it, this mortal coil. Yes, I assume that the coil is mortal. I don't know.   Erin Edgar ** 1:01:37 Yeah, who knows? Um, and you know trusts are good for they're not just for the Uber wealthy, which is another misconception. Trust do some really good things. They keep your situation, they keep everything more or less private, like, you know, I said you need a will for the court. Well, the court has the will, and it most of the time. If you have a trust, it just says, I want it to go, I want my stuff to go into the Michael hingson Trust. I'm making that up, by the way, and I, you know, my trust just deals with the distribution, yeah, and so stuff doesn't get held up in court. The court doesn't have to know about all the assets that you own. It's not all public record. And that's a huge, you know, some people care. They don't want everyone to know their business. And when I tell people, you know, I can go on E courts today and pull up the estate of anyone that I want in North Carolina and find out what they owned if they didn't have a will, or if they just had a will. And people like, really, you can do that? Oh, absolutely, yeah. I don't need any fancy credentials. It's all a matter of public record. And if you have a trust that does not get put into the court record unless it's litigated, which you know, it does happen, but not often,   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:56 but I but again, I think that, you know, yeah, and I'm not one of those Uber wealthy people. But I have a house. We we used to have a wheelchair accessible van for Karen. I still have a car so that when I need to be driven somewhere, rather than using somebody else's vehicle, we use this and those are probably the two biggest assets, although I have a bank account with with some in it, not a lot, not nearly as much as Jack Benny, anyway. But anyway, the bottom line is, yeah, but the bottom line is that I think that the trust keeps everything a lot cleaner. And it makes perfect sense. Yep, it does. And I didn't even have to go to my general law firm that I usually use. Do we cheat them? Good, and how so it worked out really well. Hey, I watched the Marx Brothers. What can I say?   Erin Edgar ** 1:03:45 You watch the Marx Brothers? Of course.   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:49 Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun, and I'm glad that we did it and that we also got to talk about the whole issue of wills and trusts and so on, which is, I think, important. So any last things that you'd like to say to people, and also, do you work with clients across the country or just in North Carolina?   Erin Edgar ** 1:04:06 So I work with clients in North Carolina, I will say that. And one last thing that I would like to say to people is that it's really important to build your support team. Whether you're blind, you know, have another disability, you need people to help you out on a day to day basis, or you decide that you want people to help you out. If you're unable to manage your affairs at some point in your life, it's very important to build that support team around you, and there is nothing wrong. You can be self reliant and still have people on your team yes to to be there for you, and that is very important. And there's absolutely no shame, and you're not relinquishing your independence by doing that. That. So today, I encourage everyone to start thinking about who's on your team. Do you want them on your team? Do you want different people on your team? And create a support team? However that looks like, whatever that looks like for you, that has people on it that you know, love and trust,   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:18 everybody should have a support team. I think there is no question, at least in my mind, about that. So good point. Well, if people want to maybe reach out to you, how do they do that?   Erin Edgar ** 1:05:29 Sure, so I am on the interwebs at Erin Edgar legal.com that's my website where you can learn more about my law firm and all the things that I do,   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:42 and Erin is E r i n, just Yes, say that Edgar, and   Erin Edgar ** 1:05:45 Edgar is like Edgar. Allan Poe, hopefully less scary, and you can find the contact information for me on the website. By Facebook, you can find me on Facebook occasionally as Erin Baker, Edgar, three separate words, that is my personal profile, or you can and Michael will have in the show notes the company page for my welcome as   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:11 well. Yeah. Well, thank you for being here, and I want to thank all of you for listening. This has been a fun episode. It's been great to have Erin on, love to hear your thoughts out there who have been listening to this today. Please let us know what you think. You're welcome to email me at Michael H i@accessibe.com M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, www, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, I wherever you're listening, please give us a five star rating. We really appreciate getting good ratings from people and reading and getting to know what you think. If you know anyone who you think might be a good guest, you know some people you think ought to come on unstoppable mindset. Erin, of course, you as well. We would appreciate it if you'd give us an introduction, because we're always looking for more people to have come on and help us show everyone that we're all more unstoppable than we think we are, and that's really what it's all about, and what we want to do on the podcast. So hope that you'll all do that, and in the meanwhile, with all that, Erin, I want to thank you once more for being here and being with us today. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much,   Erin Edgar ** 1:07:27 Michael. I very much enjoyed it.   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:34 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite

In this episode of What's the Law Say? Clint chats with Dane Henry, Advocacy, Training and Technology Attorney at Legal Aid of West Virginia. They discuss tools available to the public online to assist with legal issues. These resources include final products like drafted court documents and letters to opposing parties. There are also tools designed to assess legal claims through technology like the Kinship Connector and the Renter's Rights WV resources available on LAWV's website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meghna Philip, director of the special litigation unit at the Legal Aid Society, talks about its call for the department of investigation to look into all cases of deaths in police custody, after a fifth death occurred this year.

Kate Marr is on a mission to make justice accessible for everyone. As Executive Director of Community Legal Aid SoCal, she leads a team of attorneys tackling issues from housing and immigration to domestic violence, health, and consumer rights. In this episode, Kara and Kate talk about why knowing your rights is key to empowerment, how legal aid transforms lives, and the hidden barriers many low-income families face. You'll hear how Kate's leadership is giving citizens their power back, what it takes to serve an entire community's legal needs, and why access and privilege often determine life's outcomes. This episode explores legal equity, community empowerment, and the fight to make justice a right—not a privilege. Time Stamps: 01:43 Welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast 01:56 Meet Kate Mar: Executive Director at Community Legal Aid SoCal 02:16 Understanding Community Legal Aid SoCal 03:03 The Legal Aid Gap and Services Provided 06:03 Challenges and Real-Life Examples 07:49 The Importance of Knowing Your Rights 09:56 Economic Realities and Legal Aid 11:52 Mental Resiliency and Case Management 18:02 Fundraising and Financial Challenges 22:40 The Impact of Legal Aid and Personal Reflections 25:38 The Power of Collective Effort 26:51 Early Aspirations and Career Path 30:11 Channeling Rage into Positive Action 32:34 The Importance of Community Support 36:44 Global Perspectives on Leadership and Resilience 44:50 Innovative Legal Aid Initiatives 48:29 The Role of AI in Legal Services 50:11 Final Thoughts and Ways to Connect The Powerful Ladies podcast, hosted by business coach and strategist Kara Duffy features candid conversations with entrepreneurs, creatives, athletes, chefs, writers, scientists, and more. Every Wednesday, new episodes explore what it means to lead with purpose, create with intention, and define success on your own terms. Whether you're growing a business, changing careers, or asking bigger questions, these stories remind you: you're not alone, and you're more powerful than you think. Explore more at thepowerfulladies.com and karaduffy.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nuestrxs colegas de Legal Aid de Sonoma County nos visitaron para educarnos de nuestros derechos de vivienda sin importar sus tenemos estatus migratorio o no. Es importante que nos eduquemos y apoyemos a gente en nuestra comunidad. #sonomacounty #vivienda #viviendafamiliar #rentas #podcast #familia #migrantes #inmigrantes

Today's location-specific episode features Arkansas.  We explore the overview of the housing guiding document called Arkansas Landlord Tenant Laws.  Each of my location-specific podcasts is set up the same way answering the same four questions:  1) What are the basics of the Arkansas Landlord Tenant Laws, 2) What are the nuances of this location – what is different that stands out?, 3) Some guidance about abandoned items left behind by a tenant in a rental inArkansas, and 4) Where to get help in your local area in Arkansas.  Then I'll go through what I call my “Bingo Card” of standard items I see most often in tenancy laws in different locations.  This episode is NOT all inclusive – you must research further in your specific area including your County, Regional District, Parish, City or any other Governing Body that involves your rental location, but today's episode will get you started!This episode includes resources for Arkansas including:Arkansas Landlord/Tenant HandbookLandlord And Tenant Rights - Arkansas Attorney GeneralLandlord/Tenant Law - Landlord/Tenant - Arkansas Law Help at Legal Aid of ArkansasACAAA – Helping People. Changing Lives.

Twenty years after the disaster, a Louisiana lawyer tells how Hurricane Katrina changed civil legal services forever on Talk Justice. Southeast Louisiana Legal Services is the largest nonprofit civil legal aid provider in the state, serving 22 parishes from seven offices, with the largest office in New Orleans. In 2005, before tragedy struck, Laura Tuggle had been a staff attorney in SLLS' housing law unit. At the time, legal services related to natural disasters were not a part of the conversation at all. Now, she is Executive Director at SLLS and disaster legal services have come a long way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty years after the disaster, a Louisiana lawyer tells how Hurricane Katrina changed civil legal services forever on Talk Justice. Southeast Louisiana Legal Services is the largest nonprofit civil legal aid provider in the state, serving 22 parishes from seven offices, with the largest office in New Orleans. In 2005, before tragedy struck, Laura Tuggle had been a staff attorney in SLLS' housing law unit. At the time, legal services related to natural disasters were not a part of the conversation at all. Now, she is Executive Director at SLLS and disaster legal services have come a long way.

Link to episode page This week's Cyber Security Headlines – Week in Review is hosted by Rich Stroffolino with guest Montez Fitzpatrick, CISO, Navvis Thanks to our show sponsor, ThreatLocker ThreatLocker® is a global leader in Zero Trust endpoint security, offering cybersecurity controls to protect businesses from zero-day attacks and ransomware. ThreatLocker operates with a default deny approach to reduce the attack surface and mitigate potential cyber vulnerabilities. To learn more and start your free trial, visit ThreatLocker.com/CISO All links and the video of this episode can be found on CISO Series.com  

For the first time the return on investment for legal aid has been calculated. 

On today's Legally Speaking Podcast, I am delighted to be joined by Gus Neate.Gus is the CEO and Co-Founder of WilsonAI, an AI-driven platform designed to streamline legal operations for businesses. An engineer by background, Gus qualified as a Private Equity Lawyer at Clifford Chance. He has experience working in the product team at legal tech platform, H4 and multiple in-house legal teams.So why should you be listening in? You can hear Rob and Gus discussing:- AI-Powered Legal Support and Making it Accessible- The Future Of Legal Professionals, Particularly Paralegals- Groundbreaking In-House Legal Transformations- Ethical AI Considerations Moving Ahead- Technological Legal Innovations from Wilson AIConnect with Gus here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gus-neate

  Huge thanks to our sponsor, ThreatLocker ThreatLocker® is a global leader in Zero Trust endpoint security, offering cybersecurity controls to protect businesses from zero-day attacks and ransomware. ThreatLocker operates with a default deny approach to reduce the attack surface and mitigate potential cyber vulnerabilities. To learn more and start your free trial, visit ThreatLocker.com/CISO. Find the stories behind the headlines at CISOseries.com.

On Tuesday's show: The White House is proposing an end to federal funding for legal aid nonprofits that help low-income Americans obtain assistance with all manner of legal matters. We learn more from R.A. Schuetz of the Houston Chronicle.Also this hour: We mark the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and recall its roots here in Houston with Lex Frieden, a local disabilities advocate who was instrumental in creating the law and getting it passed.Then, we learn about the rise of sensory-friendly events around town, as local businesses and organizations create events for individuals who struggle with bright lights, loud noises, or overstimulation from crowds.And we take you to an exhibit at the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts in Spring called “Art Unleashed,” which, unlike most exhibits and most museums, actually encourages you to reach out and touch the pieces of art on display.

New York City's largest public defender group, the Legal Aid Society, has delayed a planned strike after demanding higher pay and lower caseloads. Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo says the state should return power to the city to set its own rent regulations. Plus, a Brooklyn family court judge has dismissed manslaughter charges against a 12-year-old accused of accidentally shooting his 15-year-old cousin last year.

In this episode of the Investing in Integrity podcast, Ross Overline, CEO and co-founder of Scholars of Finance, sits down with John Geelan, General Counsel and Secretary at Piper Sandler Companies.For 20 years, John has been a driving force at Piper Sandler, rising from Assistant General Counsel in 2005 to leading the firm's legal department. With deep expertise in corporate governance, public company reporting, and corporate development, he has helped steer the firm through complex legal and strategic challenges. As President of the Piper Sandler Foundation, he also ensures the firm's philanthropic efforts align with its broader mission.John's journey provides a unique lens into the intersection of law, finance, and corporate responsibility. He shares insights on creativity in problem-solving, maintaining mental health in leadership, and navigating high-stakes decision-making. Plus, he explores policy shifts in Washington and the growing influence of AI in financial services.Meet John GeelanJohn Geelan is the General Counsel and Secretary of Piper Sandler Companies, a role he has held since 2012. As a member of the firm's executive leadership team, he oversees legal, governance, and regulatory matters while also serving as President of the Piper Sandler Foundation. Geelan joined the company in 2005 after working in private practice at Faegre & Benson LLP. He serves on the boards of the Children's Theatre Company and The Fund for Legal Aid. Geelan holds a bachelor's degree in economics and music from the University of St. Thomas and a J.D. from Notre Dame Law School.

Tonight's rundown: Hey BillOReilly.com Premium and Concierge Members, welcome to the No Spin News for Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Stand Up for Your Country.  Talking Points Memo: Bill analyzes how the Democratic Party and media enablers have mislead America on Joe Biden, Medicaid and tax cuts for the rich. Clayton Weimers, Executive Director of Reporters Without Borders USA, joins the No Spin News to break down the United States' drop in the press freedom rankings and the reasons behind it. The latest on the Wisconsin judge indicted for allegedly assisting an undocumented migrant in evading ICE. Mexico continues to be one of the most dangerous countries, highlighted by the recent killing of a Mexican mayoral candidate. This Day in History: The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts. Final Thought: Check out Legal Aid for free legal assistance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices