We blogged earlier about the New York Times blog post last Monday about a deferred Ropes & Gray associate who was spending a year at the Legal Aid Society in their housing practice. The young lawyer agreed to answer questions posted in the comment section, and his thoughtful answers appeared in the Times today.

The Skadden Foundation has announced its incoming class of fellows. This year, the foundation awarded 27 fellowships to students who will graduate from 20 law schools throughout the country.  Comparatively, in 2009, 28 students from 14 different schools were awarded fellowships.  In 2008, 36 fellowships were awarded to students representing 16 schools.

Keep informed with PSLawNet’s weekly aggregation of public interest news stories from around the country.

• 1.18.10 – National Law Journal [forthcoming edition] – last term, the Supreme Court interpreted “the Constitution to require that forensic and other evidence be presented mainly in person, not by affidavit.”  Some prosecutors and law enforcement officials howled at the prospect of having to make lab technicians and other analysts available for testimony at every trial at which their work product was used.  Briscoe v. Virginia, argued earlier this week, “could be a vehicle for reversing that 5-4 decision less than a year after its issuance.  But that outcome appears far from certain.”  Link to article (which recounts the argument).

• 1.14.10 – Sun-Sentinel (Florida) – in Broward County, the public defender and the state attorney, both elected officials, are engaged in a charged debate about practices of the state attorney’s office.  A letter from the public defender “leveled a broadside…saying [that prosecutors] systematically sit on evidence favorable to defendants, cover up for bad cops and use a double standard of justice that favors the wealthy…”  The state attorney denies the accusations and is vigorously defending his office.  Link to article.

• 1.13.10 – Pacific Business News – “Citing the financial difficulties of the recession, the Hawaii Immigrant Justice Center will now operate as a new division of the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii…The Center said four of its 10 employees will be kept on to work for the new division.  Link to article.

  Click through for a New York Times blog post on deferred associates, civil legal services funding news, and more…

A recurring feature on the blog will be “Five Questions for a Public Interest Leader” – a short interview with a variety of public interest legal leaders including non-profit directors, public defenders, law school administrators, and more. For our third “Five Questions” we turn to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), which includes the Attorneys General from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, as well as the United States Commonwealths and Territories. NAAG works to “foster interstate cooperation on legal and law enforcement issues, conducts policy research and analysis of issues, conducts training, and facilitates communication between the states’ chief legal officers and all levels of government.”

Now, the five questions!

Equal Justice Works just posted about a new Q&A resource from the U.S. Department of Education explaining how income-based repayment (IBR) works to help alleviate student loan debt. IBR is a critical part of the 2007 College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which also includes provisions for student loan forgiveness for people engaged in public service careers. You can learn more about IBR, CCRAA, and student loan management through Equal Justice Works’ resources (linked to in their post) and the resources on the PSLawNet Financing a Public Interest Career page.

In international news today: the Pakistan National Assembly passed The Public Defender and Legal Aid Office bill Wednesday, which would create and maintain a national office to provide free legal services to indigent defendents. Though the bill must still be approved by the Senate, this is an exciting step forward in expanding access to justice.

The National Law Journal reported today that applications for federal clerkships went up over 60% in 2009. Another important trend noted was that over 50% of the applicants were law school graduates rather than students in their final year (up from just 18% in 2005). This is reflecting significant changes in how graduating students can pursue immediate post-grad opportunities, as well as shifts in what jobs currently employed (or recently laid-off) attorneys are seeking out. The article highlights the importance of networking and internships as ways to get your foot in the door – as judges are overwhelmed by the number of online applicants they are relying more and more on these traditional methods to hire their clerks.

Jennifer Thomas, Director of Legal Recruiting for D.C. PDS

A recurring feature on the blog will be “Five Questions for a Public Interest Leader” – a short interview with a variety of public interest legal leaders including non-profit directors, public defenders, law school administrators, and more. For our second “Five Questions” we feature Jen Thomas, Director of Legal Recruiting for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. At PDS she is in charge of entry-level and lateral recruiting, and oversees the law clerkship program.

Now, the five questions!

My colleague Katie put up an excellent post about public interest networking last week.  It reminded me that I was asked several months ago to explain networking’s usefulness.

I’ll go into the answer I came up with below.  First, though, for context, I will note that I was diametrically opposed to the concept of networking while in law school.  In fact, I refused on principle to use the word “network” as a verb.  Six years later, my professional network is by far my most valuable asset.  This is in large part due to the fact that I have come to disassociate “networking” (which allows us to achieve professional goals by working with others) from “schmoozing” (which allows us to learn how to hold a wine glass and plate in one hand while shaking hands with the other).  I thought networking and schmoozing were one and the same.  I was wrong.  Networking is a necessary undertaking for professional success.

Click through to learn about the importance of networking…

The New York Times had a blog post yesterday about a deferred Ropes & Gray associate who has been working with the Legal Aid Society through a NYC Bar Association program. This post sparked an interesting comment thread, and the associate himself will be back to the blog to answer posted questions on Friday. We thought this was a good opportunity to share other coverage of deferred associates working with public interest organizations from this past year.

For more coverage of deferred associates and public interest placements, keep reading.