Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN)

Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN)

PLAN Program Facts though 2012

Looking at What We Know About the Effectiveness of the Delivery of Legal Services in Pennsylvania, April 2013
The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, a joint committee of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, studied the delivery of legal services in Pennsylvania and made a report titled A Performance Audit of Pennsylvania's Access to Justice Act in May 2011. Read the report highlights and written comments of Pat Berger, the committee staff person who led the study and presented its findings. The report is favorable in terms of the proper use of funds by legal services and the clients helped. There are just two recommendations: Study the effectiveness of telephone brief services, which the IOLTA Board did with a subsequent report in July 2012, and make the filing fee permanent (The sunset has since been extended, but the fee has not made permanent.). Although the report includes findings of favorable client outcomes, it does not include a specific economic benefits analysis.

PLAN 2013 Excellence Awards

PLAN Martin Luther King Jr. Summer Internship Program 2012 Brochure

Lobbying for legal aid are, from left, Lackawanna County Common Pleas Judge Chester Harhut, Pennsylvania IOLTA Executive Director Al Azen and Samuel W. Milkes, executive director, Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, in Washington, D.C., spring 2012.

Video Tributes to PLAN Excellence Awardees, March 27, 2012

PLAN Report Describes Recent Funding Cuts as Presenting 'Particular Challenges,' January 2012

Just the Facts on PLAN, Nov. 23, 2011

PLAN Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship Program 2011 Brochure

2011 Martin Luther King Program Summer Interns
The Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network's (PLAN) Martin Luther King Jr. program for rising second and third year law students was established in 1991 to promote cultural and ethnic diversity in legal services and to honor Dr. King. Pictured here are the program's 2011 summer interns. For more information, visit the program page on the PLAN website .

2011 PLAN Statewide Training Conference, May 11 - May 12
Legal aid professionals and others concerned about access to justice will meet in Harrisburg for the 2011 Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, May 11-12. The PBA Pro Bono Office is a proud partner with PLAN in hosting this event, sponsoring the Wednesday, May 11, evening barbecue on the patio at the Harrisburg Hilton and conducting a session Thursday morning, May 12, on the ethics of pro se representation.

PLAN Board and others meet in Harrisburg, Spring 2011

Former PLAN Executive Director Howard Thorkelson Dies, Feb. 26, 2011
Click here for the obituary.

Legal Aid and Bar Leaders Celebrate and Strategize on Pro Bono, Feb. 24, 2011 (click here for photos from the event)

Pennsylvania Legal Aid Programs to Receive More Than $100,000 in Cy Pres Residual Funds, October 2010
Pennsylvania Legal Aid programs will to receive $100,595.88 in cy pres residual funds from the class action case Miller v. Royal Maccabees Life Insurance Company through the Circuit Court of Cook County. Fifty percent of the residual funds from this case will benefit Illinois programs that benefit Access to Justice for low-income residents. The judge ordered the remaining funds split among legal aid organizations across the county. Illinois has a law in place that directs 50 percent of residual funds to access to justice type organizations.

PLAN 2011 Excellence Awards Program Recognizes LRAP Efforts
Click here for the list of awardees recognized by the 2011 Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Excellence Awards program for their involvement in the creation of Pennsylvania's Statewide Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP).

PBA Archive of PLAN Materials

Photos at the PLAN Reception at the 2010 Conference of County Bar Leaders, Lancaster

2010 Excellence Award Winners

2009 PLAN Martin Luther King Jr. Summer Interns

'How Pa. Legal Aid System is Organized,' by PLAN Exec. Dir. Samuel W. Milkes, Pennsylvania Lawyer Magazine, Jan./Feb. 2009

Foreclosure Counseling Project, 2009

MidPenn Legal Services Program-Wide Fact Sheet, FY 2008-09

Cy Pres Report, 2008

PLAN Postcards and Posters, 2008

2008 PLAN Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship Recipients and Summer Interns

2008 PLAN Statewide Training Conference, May 12-14

Trends in Legal Aid Funding in Pennsylvania, November 2007