Friends of Farmworkers, Inc., is looking for a two law students with strong commitments to social justice for internships during the summer of 2012. The interns will advocate for migrant workers in Pennsylvania.

Friends of Farmworkers (FOF) aims to improve the living and working conditions of indigent farmworkers, mushroom workers, food processing workers, and other workers from immigrant and migrant communities by providing direct legal services for claims arising out of employment to workers throughout PA and to organizations whose members are client-eligible workers and their families.

The summer advocate is responsible for drafting complaints, pleadings, or briefs for filing with administrative bodies (OSHA, NLRB, EEOC, and state equivalents) and state and federal courts. The interns are able to observe and participate in meetings with clients, advocacy organizations, governmental agencies. In addition, Friends of Farmworkers prefers the intern to be fluent in Spanish, Chin, Burmese, or Dzongkha.

A stipend can only be offered to one of the interns, but Friends of Farmworkers will work with the other candidate to help secure funding through their law schools or other sources.

If interested, check out the listing at PSLawNet!

Vera Institute is looking for a graduate-level intern to work with the Center on Sentencing and Corrections staff in Vera’s Washington DC office to begin in January and work until June 2012.

Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections (CSC) provides non-partisan support to judges, corrections administrators, state legislators, and other officials who are seeking to improve their systems and outcomes. CSC provides an integrated mix of research, technical assistance, and planning services to advance criminal justice policies that promote fairness, protect public safety, and ensure that resources are used efficiently.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for a motivated student to join a dynamic and innovative staff on a cutting edge project. The intern will work closely with Vera’ Segregation Reduction Project (SRP) staff.

The SRP partners with state’s departments of corrections to reduce their reliance on segregation, transfer prisoners in segregation to other levels of security safely, and improve conditions of confinement for prisoners who remain in segregation.

The position may include conducting literature reviews and best practices searches, doing legal research, tracking litigation filed in partner states, drafting findings and recommendation memos, and performing basic tasks to assist with quantitative analysis of large administrative data sets.

If you’re interested, check out the listing at PSLawNet!

Equal Justice Works seeks a visionary manager from the public defender community to join them in expanding employment opportunities in indigent defense across the country. Currently, there are 18 Public Defender Corps (PDC) fellows working in the northeast and southeast United States.

The PDC is a partnership with the award-winning Southern Public Defender Training Center, a visionary organization dedicated the changing the culture of indigent defense from one which processes individuals quickly through the criminal defense system to one of client-centered representation and zealous advocacy. The manager will be a key leader in improving indigent defense by bringing talented new lawyers into the field.

The Program Manager’s primary function is to help create public interest law opportunities in indigent defense and provide programmatic support to host sites, the Southern Public Defender Training Center and other stakeholders of the newly-inaugurated Public Defender Corps. The Program Manager reports to the Federal Programs and Strategic Initiatives Director. Some travel required.

Additionally, the fellowships manager will also be involved in program development, fundraising, and program management.

If you’re committed to public interest work, find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

by Kristen Pavón

In a press release today addressing a 14 percent reduction in funding for 2012, Legal Services Corporation’s Chairman John G. Levi echoed the access to justice crisis concerns and warnings we’ve all heard before.

Federal funding has long been the cornerstone for legal aid, and essential to fulfilling our nation’s promise of equal justice for all.  We all understand that the rule of law is in jeopardy when the protections of the law are not available to increasingly large numbers of low-income citizens—especially victims of domestic abuse, the elderly and people facing the loss of  their homes. The nation’s poverty population has never been this large, and, as a consequence, requests for civil legal assistance are increasing.

He also outlined three ways LSC is trying to do its part in promoting access to justice:

1. Expanding partnership and collaborations
2. Using the newly established Pro Bono Task Force to identify innovative practices that can help increase pro bono services
3. Exploring how to more effectively use technology

There are lots of great and innovative ideas out there about pro bono and how to address our access to justice crisis and many conversations have taken place — now is the time for implementation. Let’s do.

Read Levi’s entire statement here.

If you work for an LSC-funded organization, how are you adapting to the funding cuts? How, if at all, will you fill the gaps?

The Ella Baker Center is looking for an intern for January 2012 through March 2012 for a short-term project on creating and updating a guide for families of incarcerated youth to assist them in navigating the juvenile justice system from arrest to final disposition.

The guide will also include the policies, procedures, and rights of youth who are incarcerated in California’s Division of Juvenile Justice. The position is for 8-10 weeks, 20 hours a week.

Got a passion for juvenile justice issues? Learn how to apply at PSLawNet!

OneJustice is looking for an individual hoping to make a dramatic difference in the world, gain exceptional work experience on a high-caliber team, and play an influential and exciting role in a highly-productive environment.

The staff attorney is responsible for expanding and managing OneJustice’s statewide Capacity Building Project, which seeks to expand the capacity of legal services nonprofits to serve more clients through nonprofit management trainings and resources, linking nonprofits with law student summer interns, and linking nonprofits with postgraduate legal fellows. The Attorney will leverage resources to better serve attorneys and staff at legal services organizations, thereby better serving all Californians.

OneJustice is a statewide legal services nonprofit that expands legal help for underserved Californians by building infrastructure and partnerships in the legal community. Every day, OneJustice works with lawyers and law students around the state to assist and empower Californians in need of legal help to overcome legal barriers to basic life necessities.

If interested, check out the listing at PSLawNet!

by Kristen Pavón

The Guardian reported yesterday that the legal profession is bracing itself for an increase in pro se litigants as a result of the legal aid budget cuts, which are set for 2013.

. . . [W]ith £350m set to be lopped off the legal aid budget in 2013, removing funding for areas such as divorce and housing cases, turning up to court without a brief is about to become a lot more common.

A report on litigants-in-person to be published on Friday acknowledges this, setting out measures for minimising the chaos that will be caused by the coming surge of “DIY lawyers”.

Here are a few of the solutions lawyers are considering to address this surge:

• Prevention of legal battles through public legal education
• Increased reliance on and use of experienced volunteers, including law students, unemployed lawyers and retired lawyers
• Creating a more formalized pro bono structure in law firms (rely on peer pressure rather than a pro bono mandate)

Pretty general suggestions if you ask me… Read more here.

Thoughts?

This public interest law firm is looking for a senior attorney with 5+ years of experience practicing civil complex litigation and class actions.

The Legal Advocacy Center of Central Florida, Inc. (LACCF) is a non-profit non- Legal Services Corporation restricted law firm dedicated to enforcing the legal rights of eligible low-income clients and disabled persons in Florida Legal Services Region III by providing advice and counsel, legal representation on “impact matters” and class action lawsuits, community education and outreach, and legislative advocacy.

Sound interesting to you? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

The Institute for Justice Center for Judicial Engagement is hosting a law student essay contest! Entries are due no later than February 6, 2012.

Here’s some background info from IJ:

For too long, the public debate over the role of the judiciary in American society has been consumed by a battle between two empty slogans: “judicial activism” and “judicial restraint.”

The Institute for Justice’s Center for Judicial Engagement seeks to change that debate:  Judges should not be “activist” (which is too often simply a code word for “a judge whose decision the speaker does not like”), nor should they be “restrained” (which is too often simply code for complete judicial abdication).  Instead, judges should be engaged—engaged in the process of applying the law to the actual facts of the case before them, including constitutional cases.

The Center’s law student essay contest seeks to reward the best law student writing designed  to persuade the general public of the virtues of judicial engagement.

Word limit

Entrants should write an essay of no more than 2,000 words.

Topic

In an essay aimed at a popular audience, discuss the role of the courts in American government and the differences among judicial engagement, judicial activism, and judicial abdication.

Recent debates over the role of the courts in reviewing legislative enactments have focused heavily on terminology:  specifically, whether we should be most concerned with courts that engage in “judicial activism” or whether, as the Eleventh Circuit wrote in striking down portions of the Affordable Care Act, in cases of legislative overreach, “the Constitution requires judicial engagement, not judicial abdication.”

Winners will be those who most clearly and persuasively articulate the principles and importance of judicial engagement.  Further explanation of those principles and their application can be found at www.ij.org/cje<http://www.ij.org/cje>.

Prizes!

First prize will be a $3,000 award, along with a free trip to Washington, D.C. to receive your prize at IJ’s headquarters; second prize will net a $1,000 award; and third prize $500.

How to Enter & Deadline

Students should email a Word version of their essay (no PDFs) to essays@ij.org no later than February 6, 2012.  Late entries will not be considered.  The Institute for Justice will announce winners by mid-April of 2012.

Good luck!

The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia is looking for an attorney for its Domestic Violence / Family Law Unit.

The Legal Aid Society was established in 1932 to “provide legal aid and counsel to indigent persons in civil law matters and to encourage measures by which the law may better protect and serve their needs.” Legal Aid is the oldest general civil legal services program in the District of Columbia.

The Staff Attorney will handle a caseload of family law cases, including custody, child support, protection orders, and divorce matters; interview prospective clients; participate in community outreach; and engage in systemic reform efforts.

To find out more and to learn how to apply, check out the listing at PSLawNet!