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Seminar Information: 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Twenty Fourth Judicial District Court, Council Chambers 
200 Derbigny Street, Gretna, Louisiana

Tenative Agenda:
9:00 - 9:15 AM          Welcome Remarks 
                                Hon. Scott U. Schlegel, 24th Judicial District Court

9:15 - 10:15 AM        Handling Child Support Matters 
(1.0 CLE)                  Hon. Barron C. Burmaster, Jefferson Parish Juvenile Court     

10:20 - 11:20 AM      Handling Traffic and Misdemeanor Matters for Re-Entry            
(1.0 CLE)                  Hon. Johnny Lee, Jefferson First Parish Court
                                  Hon. Olden Toups, Gretna Municipal Court
                                  Jennifer Eagan, Louisiana Supreme Court

11:30 - 12:00 PM      Handling Consumer Debt Matters for Re-Entry
(0.5 CLE)                  Samuel J. Ford, Scott, Vicknair, Hair & Checki, LLC

12:00 - 12:30 PM      Lunch - Question & Answers Session

Program Description:
Louisiana is the highest incarcerating state in a nation that is the highest incarcerating country in the world. Over 36,000 inmates are currently being housed and over 70,000 being supervised. About 17,000 people are released each year from Louisiana prisons and jails to Louisiana communities. Of those released from incarceration in Louisiana, more than half (59%, according to Pew Charitable Trusts' Louisiana Data Analysis Part III and Survey Research) will return while under supervision.

One key factor to successful reentry is employment.  A key factor to steady, gainful employment is transportation.  Yet many of our returning citizens are unable to gain or regain their driving privileges because of unresolved misdemeanor (mostly traffic) charges and child support issues.

Louisiana is beginning to aggressively address its incarceration rate through a variety of means, including through a system of Re-Entry Courts, the Louisiana Offender Rehabilitation, Workforce Development Program at Angola, and LCIW. There are four such reentry courts in the Eastern District of Louisiana, including two in Orleans Parish, one in St. Tammany Parish and one in Jefferson Parish.  These courts oversee the reentry of a relatively discreet group of returning citizens who have gone through extensive programming during a roughly 2-year period of incarceration at Angola or LCIW. 

A coalition of organizations and stakeholders have developed a Re-Entry Court Pro Bono Program to address the legal needs of Re-Entry Court participants. The program seeks to train and assist attorneys in Jefferson, Orleans, St. Tammany, and Washington parish accept cases on a pro bono basis. To embark on this endeavor, the Jefferson Parish Bar Association and the Access to Justice Commission's Building Bridges Committee is hosting a CLE on Wednesday, November 29 to educate attorneys interested in volunteering with the program.  

At the CLE, you will learn about the reentry court program, the Reentry Court Legal Pro Bono Program, and best practices for handling civil and traffic matters for participants sentenced to Re-Entry Court.

To sign up, register online. Questions should be submitted to Amy Duncan at amy.duncan@lsba.org.

To learn more about the Re-Entry Court Collaborative Lawyering Project, download the flyer here.