We’ve blogged before about the potential demise of KSAs, as well as other developments in federal hiring. Today, the Washington Post reported on plans by the White House to put pressure on the Office of Personnel Management and other agencies to move forward with meaningful hiring reform, including eliminating KSAs, tightening up the process so it will only take 80 days from posting a position to filling it (rather than the current 140-200), and moving to a system of “category hiring.” The Post explains,

Departments within agencies would also switch to a new system known as “category hiring.” Under this plan, after the Army has screened candidates and hired an accountant, for example, the Navy also could hire from the Army’s list. Currently, the Army picks from the top three candidates and the others must start the process anew, even for a similar position with a different agency in the same department.

These changes will make the federal application process much less painful, and will hopefully help encourage top talent to seek employment in the federal government. As always, PSLawNet will keep you updated as this project moves forward.

The New York Times reports:

New York’s highest court ruled Thursday that a broad class-action suit challenging the state’s system of providing public defenders can move forward because there are enough signs that the system is failing poor people.

The 4-to-3 ruling by the State Court of Appeals came in a closely watched suit that civil liberties lawyers said could be a model for similar challenges across the country. It also set the stage for a sweeping battle in the courts and perhaps the Legislature.

…

The ruling was something of a milestone after decades of reports and findings by state commissions that New York’s locally financed system for meeting the constitutional requirement to provide lawyers for indigent defendants, which varies greatly by county, is inadequate, with inattentive, unavailable, poorly trained and poorly supervised lawyers handling huge caseloads. In many counties, the ruling noted, poor defendants are routinely arraigned without lawyers at all during initial appearances, where bail is set and many defendants are sent to jail.

The way is now cleared for a trial or a settlement by New York, as has been the result in several other states that have faced such challenges. There have been similar class-action challenges over public defense systems in states like Connecticut, Indiana, Minnesota and Montana that have ended with inconsistent decisions and settlements. Last month, the Michigan Supreme Court permitted a similar challenge to proceed.

Regarding that Michigan case, which has been closely watched by civil liberties and indigent defense advocates throughout the country, 4/30/10 Associated Press coverage actually suggests that there is some uncertainty about whether the case will ultimately go forward as a class action.

From our friends at the Partnership for Public Service:

The Partnership for Public Service will host its eighth annual Public Service Career and Internship Fair on July 14 from 3:00-7:00 p.m. at the National Building Museum. Last year’s event connected 78 federal agencies with more than 6,000 well-qualified and diverse candidates.

 

This fair is dedicated to providing summer interns in Washington, DC, students–both graduate and undergraduate, and recent graduates with access to agency representatives, and information about their agencies’ missions and available positions. By facilitating conversations between federal workers and promising young people, we hope to encourage entry-level talent to bring their skills and experiences to the government as dynamic federal employees.

 

Agency registration for this event is now open. Agencies that register before May 31 will receive a discount on the cost of their registration packages. The last day to sign up for the event is July 1. Visit ourpublicservice.org/careerfair to learn more and register! 

 

Registration for students and recent graduates will open on June 1. Please email careerfair@ourpublicservice.org if you would like to be added to our outreach list. 

The Washington Post reports on a $2.6 million cy pres award – stemming from an old, class-action lawsuit about cell-phone fees – that will go to funding financially-strapped legal services programs throughout the Terrapin State.

A legal aid clinic in Oxon Hill will reopen and one in Baltimore that serves consumers across the state will avoid a scheduled closing as a result of a $2.4 million award stemming from a decade-old lawsuit over excessive late fees on cellphone bills.

Thirteen legal programs in Maryland that help clients facing evictions, wage disputes and other civil cases will share the money, helping buoy programs battered by ongoing public funding cuts and drops in foundation donations.

…

Maryland Legal Aid in Baltimore received the largest amount — $911,000 — which its head, Wilhelm Joseph Jr., said will plug a funding hole linked to the current low interest rates on accounts that historically generate payments for legal aid programs. As rates dropped, so did the interest income on which Wilhelm’s groups and others heavily rely. “The great pain for me was watching our money decline just as more people needed our services,” said Wilhelm.

As is noted in the Post article, and as we’ve noted in the past, Maryland’s legal services funding infrastructure was hit badly by IOLTA shortfalls in recent funding cycles.  So this is great news.

Equal Justice Works has announced its incoming class of fellows.  We extend our congratulations to all 43 of them!  Now more than ever, energetic, creative minds are needed to fight for those who live on society’s margins.   A press release from Equal Justice Works notes that the 43 fellows will be placed with 41 public interest orgnizations in 17 states and in DC.  Here’s a little more from the press release:

The Equal Justice Works Fellowship program is the largest postgraduate legal fellowship program in the country.  Equal Justice Works Fellows design projects with nonprofit organizations providing legal services in low income and underserved communities in a range of issue areas including homelessness prevention, immigration, criminal defense and Native American rights.

At the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley, CA, Brendan Darrow will represent Spanish-speaking renters who have been thrust into the housing crisis by their landlords’ default.  Unaccompanied immigrant children facing deportation in the Greater Boston area will be able to receive legal assistance from Erin Cox, who will be working with Lutheran Social Services in Wellesley.  And at the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Mike Becher’s project will address surface coal production’s effects on human health and safety and the perpetuation of poverty in the coalfields of Appalachia

“The 2010 Equal Justice Works Fellows are entering the field when legal aid has been devastated, leaving more people desperately needing affordable legal services,” said Cait Clarke, Director of Public Interest Law Opportunities at Equal Justice Works. “These attorneys have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to public interest law and helping to address the legal needs of the most vulnerable among us.  We are proud to welcome them to the legal services community.”

Here’s a link to a list of all of the fellows and their host organizations.

We strive to make PSLawNet the best public interest law career site out there, with constant updates and changes to improve things for you, our users. We are thus very excited to announce a brand new resource on the site: State and Local Government Resources! This new page includes links to hundreds of state and local government agencies that hire attorneys and/or law students. It is searchable by state via an interactive map, and includes listings for many major city employers as well. Please check it out, and feel free to share feedback with us here or by email.

The PSLawNet Blog keeps its finger on the pulse of developments in federal hiring processes because we know that many law students and attorneys find federal careers to be attractive options.   (And frankly, the federal government has been seen in recent months as an employment oasis, given the dearth of job opportunities with law firms, nonprofits, and in local and state government.)  We maintain a robust library of federal career resources here. 

Here, we’re just passing along a short article from the Government Executive newsletter which takes note of the success that the NSA – and subsequently, its sister intelligence agencies – has had by using virtual recruiting.

About 18 months ago, recruiters from the National Security Agency started attending virtual career fairs — online recruiting events hosted by such diverse entities as The Wall Street Journal and Monster.com. Lori Weltmann, manager of the Recruitment Services Division at NSA, was struck by how excited her employees were after working the fairs. “It was quick. It was easy. They felt like they were really connecting with candidates,” she says. “After we did about a half dozen of these I said, ‘Why can’t we do one of our own?'” The agency could tailor a fair to draw the kind of tech-savvy candidates it was seeking, instead of wading through the more generalized community of job seekers attracted to the virtual forums sponsored by other organizations and companies, she thought.

…

Agency leaders liked the idea, and in February 2009, four months after Weltmann first pitched the idea, NSA hosted its first virtual job fair.It was so successful, Ronald Sanders, then the chief human capital officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, asked NSA to brief other intelligence agencies about the effort. In March, using NSA’s experience as the benchmark, nine agencies, including NSA, cooperated in hosting the first virtual intelligence career fair.

Today, the New York Law Journal is reporting about the uncertain status of the Equal Justice Conference, a national gathering of legal services and pro bono advocates that is (still, at the moment) scheduled to meet next week in Phoenix.  The EJC is co-sponsored by the ABA and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.  According to the NYLJ article, though, the NLADA has backed out of its sponsorship role in protest of the controversial immigration law that was recently passed in Arizona.

The American Bar Association is facing mounting pressure to move a conference in Phoenix scheduled for next week after its co-sponsor backed out and two New York public interest law groups called for a boycott to protest Arizona’s controversial new immigration law.

One quibble with the NYLJ article: in its headline it refers to the EJC as being an “immigration” conference.  It’s not.  While immigration advocacy is certainly a topic covered at the EJC, the conference focuses more broadly on civil legal services, pro bono, and access-to-justice issues.

UPDATE – 5.5.10 – last night the ABA circulated a statement indicating that it would go forward with the Equal Justice Conference in Phoenix.  The statement took pains, though, to recognize the difficult choice that NLADA and potential conference attendees have been facing.  Here’s a portion of the statement:

Ultimately, we have decided to proceed with the conference.  We believe that the event will strongly affirm the crucial work our participants do and serve as a clarion call that there is still much that needs to be done.  Had circumstances been different, we may well have chosen to relocate this event.  But at this time, there are simply no viable options to reschedule a conference of this magnitude .  We do not want to cancel the conference altogether; that would deny programming of critical importance to the justice community and the people they serve, and would be a disservice to the numerous registrants who are relying upon our presentation of this event.  As important, many of our colleagues in Arizona have urged us to proceed with the Conference.

The statement had this to say about NLADA’s choice not to co-sponsor the conference:

The ABA understands and respects the position taken yesterday by NLADA to withdraw its co-sponsorship of this event in protest of the very controversial Arizona law and is grateful for their support of our going forward.

For today’s dose of public interest law-related inspiration, we turn to this story in the Huffington Post on Nikki Johnson-Huston, a public sector attorney in Philadelphia who overcame childhood homelessness to graduate from Temple Law (whose Dean, Joanne Epps, we’ve interviewed on the blog). Ms. Johnson-Huston’s experiences and current success (she works in the City of Philadelphia Law Department’s Major Tax Unit) are sure to inspire victory over any looming law school final.

PSLawNet has returned to daily blogging following a week mostly away for the NALP Annual Education Conference, where we enjoyed a lot of strong public interest-related programming. We have decided to support all our law school readers who are currently facing finals by making this week Inspiration Week on the blog – we will endeavor to only share positive and inspirational stories to help you power through those pesky exams.

First up, The Legal Intelligencer recognized its 2010 Women of Distinction last week, and public interest lawyers were very well represented. We were particularly glad to see Marsha Levick and Lourdes Rosado of the Juvenile Law Center honored, as we’ve blogged about the Center here before.

So best of luck on finals, student readers, and check back throughout the week for more inspiration!