2013 is the 50th Anniversary of the US Supreme Court's decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, in which the Court established the right to representation by an attorney, at government expense, for people who cannot afford to pay for counsel. The court found that it was an "obvious truth" that a criminal defendant cannot have a fair trial unless counsel is appointed. Find out why it is an equally obvious truth that there should be a right to counsel for low-income people who face court cases that may result in orders evicting them from their homes, denying them custody of their children and affecting other basic human needs.

RSVP by close of business Wednesday, September 26 to probono@nysba.org or (518) 487-5641 to attend at the New York State Bar Association.

The Program will include:

• New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman,
• N.Y. State Bar Assoc. President David Schraver

And a live panel discussion of experts, including:

• Fern Fisher, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for the NYC Courts and Director of the NY State Courts Access to Justice Program
• Bryan Hetherington, Chief Counsel, Empire Justice Center
• Martha Davis, Professor, Northeastern University Law School
• John Pollock, Coordinator, National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel
• Andrew Scherer (moderator), author, Residential Landlord-Tenant Law in NY and Senior Fellow, Furman Center at NYU Law School

The law schools listed below will be showing a live broadcast of this event, along with agendas unique to their schools. If you wish to participate at one of these locations, please contact the school directly.

• Albany Law School
• Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
• Brooklyn Law School
• Columbia University School of Law
• Cornell Law School
• CUNY Law School
• Fordham University School of Law
• Hofstra University School of Law
• New York Law School
• New York University School of Law
• Pace University School of Law
• Rutgers School of Law
• St. John's University School of Law
• Seton Hall University School of Law
• Syracuse University College of Law
• Touro College
• Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
• University at Buffalo Law School
• Yale Law School