by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy Friday everyone!  With abundant gratitude, we say good-bye this week to our summer interns and our PSJD Publications Coordinator.  What outstanding work they provided, and they greatly enriched the site.  The 2014 Federal Legal Employment Opportunities Guide is now available on PSJD and the 2014 Comprehensive Fellowship Guide will be available for purchase in the NALP Bookstore very soon.  Thank you to our wonderful summer assistants!

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants: If you know someone we should honor, drop me a line.

Here are the week’s headlines:

• NALP seeks nominations for the 2014 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award;
• Missouri public defenders have excessive caseloads;
• Duke Law opens 10th legal clinic;
• Hackcess to Justice 2014 begins Aug.7 in Boston;
• Humanist charities raising funds for unaccompanied migrant childrens’ legal aid;
• SF public defender hires first immigrant-only attorney;
• Spotlight on Public Service Servants: Law School Pro Bono coordinators;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

August 1, 2014 – The 2014 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award is open to all 2Ls and 3Ls at PSJD subscriber law schools.  The Award recognized the significant contributions that law students make to underserved populations, the public interest community, and legal education by performing pro bono work.  To find out more information on how to nominate a deserving student, check out the PSJD site.  The deadline for nominations is Friday, August 29, 2014.

August 1, 2014 – “The American Bar Association yesterday unveiled the findings of a report that uses a data-driven approach to quantify the time Missouri public defenders are able to dedicate to cases compared with the time they need. The association says the research shows defenders here have excessive caseloads. The excessive caseloads identified in “The Missouri Project” report deny indigent defendants the constitutional right to effective counsel, the bar said in a statement. The association also said the research done here can be used as a national blueprint for public defender workload studies.”  (Columbia Daily Tribune)

August 2, 2014 – “Duke Law School’s 10th legal clinic promises to build students’ civil litigation skills while serving the – legal needs of low-income North Carolinians. The Civil Justice Clinic, which will welcome its 1st class of students in August, represents a unique partnership between Duke Law & Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC). Under the – supervision of clinic Director Charles R. Holton ’73, a litigator & partner at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, as well as lawyers in LANC’s Durham office, students will handle civil matters, working directly with clients.”  (southcarolinasc)

August 2, 2014 – “Technology has taken a firm hold in the legal industry. Every day legal professionals use technology-enabled tools for discovery, litigation support, document assembly and information needs. But the promise of technology has been fleeting when it comes to the access to justice arena. Last year the Legal Services Corporation produced a seminal report outlining five key ways that technology can expand access to justice, especially through computers and mobile devices. The ABA is challenging lawyers,  law students developers, coders and others interested in improving access to justice through technology to devise a technology-enabled solution to one of the five areas outlined in the LSC report at two-day, judged hackathon.”  Prize money will be rewarded to the top 3 hacks.  (hackcess to Justice)

August 2, 2014 – “The nation’s largest humanist charity is raising funds to offer legal assistance to the unaccompanied immigrant children flooding over the border.  The Humanist Crisis Response program will donate the funds to two organizations that provide attorneys for minors in immigration hearings — the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona, and Kids in Need of Defense, which operates in California and Texas.  The Humanist Crisis Response Program is a joint effort of two humanist organizations, Foundation Beyond Belief, and the American Humanist Association.”  (Phoenix NewTimes)

August 6, 2014 – “For the first time in his office’s history, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi has hired an attorney to work full-time representing noncitizens facing deportation or other legal issues.  Francisco Ugarte, who previously worked at Dolores Street Community Services, joined Adachi’s team this week and will advise other attorneys in the office on the mind-bogglingly complicated terrain of immigration law and represent some undocumented clients in federal immigration court.”  “Adachi said his office would handle only cases in which the undocumented children are entangled in the local criminal justice system for some other reason. But Adachi is consulting with Supervisor David Campos, who in early September will ask his fellow supervisors to approve an undetermined amount of money to fund legal representation for these kids – including paying nonprofit and private attorneys.”(SFGate)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants:  Can you believe it’s already time for some law schools to go back to school?  This week we’re honoring those law school professionals who put together service projects as part of 1L Orientation Week.  This week we celebrate one example – Jen Tschirch and The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law.  Their Orientation Week is coming up next week, and I’m told they’re expanding to 5 sites.  It is a lot of work for one person to coordinate, but we all know how dedicated you all are and how you gladly do this for your students.  Check out news and pics from last year.  Good luck to you and your students.

Are you doing a great project or have you expanded your reach to new members of your community?  I’d love to recognize your efforts this month.  Please forward your stories to cjackson@nalp.org.  We’d love to include pictures as well.  Thank you all for the amazing scope of work that gets accomplished both this month and the inspiration to keep it going that you inspire in all law students.

Super Music Bonus! This week brings us an interesting interpretation/cover.