There has been a flurry of recent announcements about charitable foundation and government grants awarded to legal services providers:

1. According to a press release, the “…New York Bar Foundation today awarded four New York City-based legal aid organizations more than $528,000 in grant money to fund tenant screening training and outreach programs in neighborhoods across New York City. The funds were distributed as part of a $1.2 million cy pres class action settlement fund…”
2. A Legal Aid of North Carolina press release announced that the “Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation will continue its vital support for LANC by renewing a major grant of $450,000 for its Home Defense Project.
   The Home Defense Project (HDP) fights to save homes and reduce foreclosures in North Carolina. In North Carolina, home foreclosures are expected to exceed 50,000 in 2010.”
3. In Indiana, the Evansville Courier & Press has reported that “[t]he Indiana Supreme Court is providing $1.5 million to Legal Aid agencies in the state.  The first installment, $750,000, already has been given to 11 agencies…  The Indiana General Assembly appropriates funding for the Civil Legal Aid Fund, and the Indiana Supreme Court awards the grant money to qualified agencies across the state.  In its news release announcing the funds, the Supreme Court said it’s ‘committed to ensuring that individuals involved in civil matters also have access to attorneys’.”

The ABA is seeking nominations for several pro bono awards:

Each year the Pro Bono Committee presents five awards to individual lawyers and institutions in the legal profession that have demonstrated outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services. The Awards will next be presented at the Pro Bono Publico Awards Luncheon on Monday, August 9, 2010 at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA….  Nomination forms and all supporting materials must be submitted via email by 5 p.m. Central time on Monday, March 8, 2010. No extensions will be granted.

The ABA’s Pro Bono Awards webpage provides background info and additional detail on the nominations procedure.

You may or may not have heard about the Legal Aid boycott going on in Ontario for the last 6+ months. Criminal defense lawyers have refused to take case certificates (more on this later) for guns, gangs, and homicide cases to protest the low government-set billing rates. The boycott highlights the current economic struggles of legal aid and public defense programs in Canada, which are similar in many ways to those in the United States.

Learn more about the Canadian Legal Aid system and the ongoing boycott.

The Partnership for Public Service (whose mission is to “revitalize our federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve and by transforming the way government works”) has a weekly feature in the Washington Post titled “Federal Player of the Week.” This week’s profile in particular caught our eye – Christina Stanford is an attorney in the Office of Legal Advisor in the U.S. Department of State. She discusses the breadth of her experience, from working on the 9/11 response task force to being stationed in Baghdad to working on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

“Sanford said she always had an interest in public service, but she never imagined a career so rich, diverse and challenging.”

If you are interested in a career in the federal government, read this profile, and explore the information on the Partnership website as well as the PSLawNet Federal Government Resources. Legal hiring is one of the top five areas where the federal government is going to be hiring in the next few years, and the breadth and depth of opportunity in a federal career is worth exploring.

The Washington Post’s Supreme Court reporter, Robert Barnes, brings observers up to speed with a piece on the Court’s return to session after the holiday break. 

Constitutional scholars and those in the political arena are eager for the court to issue a decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission.  As Barnes notes, a case that began with a relatively narrow question about the underwriting of a highly critical “documentary” about Hillary Clinton during the last campaign season took on much broader dimensions when the Court chose to expand its examination to whether a longtime ban on certain corporate and union campaign contributions passes constitutional muster:

The court heard oral arguments on the original question in March 2009, but adjourned in June without a decision. Instead, the justices said they would consider the larger question of whether it is constitutional to ban corporations and labor unions from drawing funds from their general treasuries to support or oppose candidates.

Congress for decades has outlawed such expenditures, and 22 states have similar bans. Both sides agree that a ruling saying such restrictions are unconstitutional would mean a sea change in the way political campaigns are funded.

The court’s decision to hear the larger question in September, in advance of its regular term, was seen as a possible attempt to expedite the ruling before the midterm primary season. But not much time is left; Illinois will hold elections on Feb. 2.

Three other closely watched matters that the court will hear this spring involve a 2nd Amendment case challenging the authority of municipalities and states to restrict gun ownership, a case dealing with criminal defendants’ rights to call crime lab technicians to the stand to challenge their conclusions, and an NFL anti-trust case.

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

• 1.8.10 – Albany Times-Union – Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, New York’s highest-ranking jurist, testified in front of the state legislature about the dire need for increased legal services funding.  While the state court system has already, in an unprecedented move, allocated $15 million to shore up funding, Lippman highlighted dramatic shortfalls in IOLA funding and noted that “[w]e cannot and will not stand idly by as legal services programs are forced to shut their doors, leaving our most vulnerable citizens without help in their time of greatest need.”  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: Additionally, the North Country Gazette reports that Jonathan E. Gradess, executive director of the New York State Defenders Association, expressed support at the hearings for bolstering civil legal services funding.  Interestingly, Gradess “also pointed out that calls for a ‘civil Gideon’…would be a ‘pyrrhic victory’ if modeled on the current implementation of…Gideon v. Wainwright.”  This likely reflects the view by many in the indigent defense community that Gideon’s promise has not been achieved because public defense programs are inadequately staffed and under-resourced.]

• 1.8.10 – Arizona Daily Star – in the wake of the Tucson City Council’s decision to slash the city budget by $25 million, the city prosecutor will lay off 3 of her office’s 38 attorneys.  The layoffs “will force the elimination of the Mental Health Court, a highly touted program devoted to keeping mentally ill people out of jail…[and] the elimination of the neighborhood prosecution team, which handles…neighborhood nuisance issues.”  The courthouse administrators and public defender’s office avoided layoffs.  Link to article.

• 1.5.10 – Daytona Beach News-Journal – Equal Justice Works Fellow Shelly Campbell is working to ensure that veterans who face substance abuse problems, homelessness, and psychological disorders are able to access the full range of benefits to which they are entitled.  Link to article.

After the jump, read about legal services funding initiatives, a call from two state’s chief judges to allow limited-scope representation of low-income clients, a re-entry program for recently released federal inmates, and more.

As a recent law school graduate, I remember listening to the endless advice in school of “network, network, network!” and trying my hardest to tune it out because, let’s face it, talking to strangers can be scary. However, I’m here now (about a year into my efforts to proactively network) to tell you two things: 1) it turns out strangers aren’t that scary (and a lot of networking isn’t with people you’ve just met), and 2) networking is vitally important for students pursuing public service careers!

Keep reading to learn more about networking ⇒

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. Our inaugural “Five Questions” is with Sara Woods, Executive Director of Philadelphia VIP.

Sara Woods, Executive Director of Philadelphia VIP

In her own words, VIP “is the hub of pro bono services in Philadelphia, a position we’ve proudly held for 28 years. Our mission is to provide access to justice for low-income individuals, families, small businesses and nonprofit organizations by recruiting, training and supporting volunteer attorneys who are matched with pro bono clients.” As Executive Director, Sara ensures that the organization runs smoothly, engages in fundraising, hires and manages the staff, and does extensive outreach and coalition-building.

Now, the five questions!

1.  How did you get to your current job?

I have worked in the public sector for my entire legal career. During my first job as a staff attorney at a legal services agency, I coordinated the volunteer attorney program and got hooked! I then moved on to running the pro bono programs at a law school…and from there, I found my dream job at VIP.

2. What advice do you have for law students who are interested in civil legal services and/or non-profit management?

Good question!  In this challenging economic climate, it may feel impossible to find a job in the legal services world.  My advice would be first don’t give up!  There are jobs, but it just may take a while.  In the meantime, position yourself as well as possible, starting in law school by maximizing your public sector experience and minimizing debt.  Volunteer during the school year, take clinical courses, participate in bar association activities that involve the public sector….anything you can do to network.

3. Top 3 Dos and Don’ts for public interest job applications (resumes and cover letters in particular)

Dos

• list all the public sector experience you’ve had, whether legally related or not
• show me your accomplishments at the jobs you have had, as opposed to listing tasks
• tell me how you can help my agency and our clients

Don’ts

• typos (no surprise there!)
• generic cover letters (Dear Sir/Madam, or “I want to work at your firm because…”
• focusing on how working at my agency will benefit YOU

4. Relatedly, what’s the worst mistake you’ve seen someone make in a job application?

I had a student who lied about grades on the application.  That one takes the cake.

5. What has been your most valuable experience(s) either in law school or professionally in getting where you are today?

In a word, relationships.  I was taught early on by my parents that everything in life is about relationships, so it’s important to always play fair, develop networks and never burn bridges.  That has definitely helped get me where I am today.

We’d like to thank Sara for agreeing to be our first Public Interest Leader, and we look forward to many more interesting and informational interviews.  If you have ideas for people we should interview or questions we should ask, email us at pslawnet (at) nalp (dot) org or leave a comment here.

As casualties of the recession, more and more individuals and families are unable to afford legal counsel for civil matters – like home foreclosures, debt collection actions, and divorces – that could have a huge impact on their welfare.  The extraordinary strain on the civil legal services community’s infrastructure, and also on courthouse staffs, has been documented in Washington, DC, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, and elsewhere.

Yesterday’s New York Times reports that in a effort to make more legal services available to New Yorkers in need, the state hopes to attract retired attorneys to a new volunteer program, matching them with legal services providers to work with clients.

“…officials changed the state’s rules this week to add a new category of lawyer, attorney emeritus, that will free lawyers of some burdens of full-time practice, like paying for malpractice insurance, while channeling them to dozens of legal programs around the state that represent low-income people without charge. Until now, lawyers were required to register with the state as either active or retired.”

According to a NYC Legal Aid Society attorney who sees potential in the project, the Society “was turning away eight of every nine people who come to it seeking legal help in civil cases.”  Recruiting experienced practitioners to help narrow the justice gap and to aid clients in efficiently navigating the court system could pay dividends for overextended public interest lawyers, judges, and courthouse officials.

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