2026 Equal Justice Conference

This session will focus on developments at the Legal Services Corporation, the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense, and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association. Presenters will address these issues from their respective institutional perspectives, with discussion of developments in Congress and the federal executive branch and updates on issues and initiatives facing the legal profession and the equal justice community, including policies and practices, funding, and critical programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Public interest legal services organizations should be able to attract professionals to work for them despite lower salaries. And public interest professionals — legal aid attorneys, public defenders, nonprofit advocates, and government workers—should not be limited in making career choices between serving the public and managing unmanageable student debt. Yet, persistent barriers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program deny relief to many who may qualify and the situation might be getting worse. This session will explore recent policy changes, including the Executive Order (EO) directing the U.S. Department of Education to reconsider which organizations are eligible for PSLF – potentially affecting some nonprofits and advocacy groups and their staff. The Department of Education has promulgated rules to exclude from PSLF eligibility organizations that engage in activities deemed to have a “substantial illegal purpose.” Panelists will discuss ongoing advocacy efforts, legal strategies and tools aimed at ensuring access to PSLF. Participants will gain up-to-date guidance to navigate PSLF and learn how to advocate for fairer, more accessible implementation nationwide.

This session examines how legal aid can responsibly adopt AI. Presenters will explore opportunities for expanding access and reducing costs, while addressing challenges of ethics, bias, privacy, and regulation. Attendees will gain best practices, awareness of emerging standards, and guidance for implementing AI that strengthens justice rather than undermines it.

This session is designed to build on the workshops we have done for the past few years on how to explain legal aid as constituent services to legislators and their staff. Now that many LSC grantees and other legal aid programs have begun to develop relationships with their federal and state legislators and staff, we want to identify ways to build on and expand those connections, e.g., provide trainings for district caseworkers; involve legislative staff in community outreach efforts. The panel will include LSC grantee Executive Directors and civil legal aid practitioners with experience meeting with and educating federal and state legislators and their staff. The panel will also address compliance with LSC lobbying restrictions applicable to LSC grantees in communicating with legislators.