The Louisiana Public Defender Board is hiring a Deputy Public Defender – Director of Juvenile Defender Services.  This is a full-time, executive-level staff position with the State of Louisiana. Responsibilities include:

• Work with representatives of all three branches of state government and other criminal justice stakeholders, including judges, district attorneys, sheriffs, probation officers, and law enforcement officials to promote sound juvenile justice policies in relation to fair adjudication processes, and placement and treatment of juveniles charged in delinquency proceedings that focus on rehabilitation of the offender.
• Promote positive changes (state-wide) in educational opportunities, mental health services and other treatment services for juveniles in the court system.
• Conduct a community outreach/education campaign for all stakeholders (including the client community) to raise public appreciation of the cognitive, emotional, decision-making, and/or behavioral capacities of children and young adults and, as such, raise public support for programs/resources that give special attention to the uniform and competent representation of juveniles.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

Last year, we highlighted two programs– Project Salute and its Veteran’s Law Clinic at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. These programs address the growing legal needs of low-income veterans by assisting veterans access federal disability and pension benefits.

Students at Quinnipiac Law are contributing in the same vein.  They’re utilizing the school’s mountainous backdrop to aid veterans to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).

Racers, runners, and a few dog walkers trekked through the Sleeping Giant Mountain to support this generation’s veterans returning from action in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The WWP, which honors and empowers wounded warriors by raising awareness and enlists the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women.

Quinnipiac School of Law student groups Phi Delta Phi International Legal Fraternity and the Veterans Advocacy Group hosted the second annual Sleeping Giant 5K Run/Walk Challenge on Saturday, April 16. The sponsors chose the WWP because some of the students are veterans or have veterans in their families.

Luckily, it did not rain this year and enthusiasm levels were high.  The participants could not overstate the significance of raising awareness for veterans issues.

The National Consumer Law Center is seeking an attorney to specialize in consumer issues affecting low-income Americans. As a member of NCLC’s advocacy staff, the attorney will develop and implement strategies that help combat exploitive practices in the marketplace. The attorney will concentrate primarily on policy and systemic advocacy, research and writing, training, and special reports and projects, including work on the Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project for at least the first one to two years. The position is located in NCLC’s main office in Boston. Some travel is required.

Founded in 1969, NCLC is a non-profit advocacy organization that challenges predatory and destructive business practices that drain income and wealth from low-income families and their communities.  NCLC is the leading source of legal and public policy expertise on consumer issues for lawyers, federal and state policymakers, consumer advocates, journalists, and social services providers.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

This week’s Bulletin, cats and kittens, is shorter than normal.  But it’s packed with legal services funding news, including: how LSC $ cuts will affect New York programs; Equal Justice Works’s CEO David Stern talks public interest careers; a look at the fiscal challenges confronting Western Massachusetts Legal Services; coverage of the FY2011 federal budget agreement which pared down LSC funding by about 4%; a law school/legal services partnership provides pro bono services to those who serve in uniform; Wisconsin may cut all state funding for civil legal services. 

• 4.14.11 – a New York Law Journal piece looks at the impact the Legal Services Corporation funding cuts will have on Empire State legal services providers.  (Note: the LSC funding cuts are covered in item 4 below.)  From the NYLJ: “Even though a $15.8 million funding cut for the Legal Services Corp. included in a federal budget agreement is smaller than legal aid advocates had feared, the reduced funds will be acutely felt by New York groups already struggling with state funding cuts…. New York City-based Legal Services NYC will suffer the biggest cut in LSC funding, losing $701,411. That will probably mean having to let go of six or seven lawyers or paralegals, according to Raun J. Rasmussen, the chief of litigation and advocacy for the 220-lawyer group.”  The piece goes on to detail how cuts will affect other LSC grantees in New York.

• 4.12.11 – our friend David Stern of Equal Justice Works is profiled in the Washingtonian’s “Capitol Comment” blog.  David explains how his career path took him to Equal Justice Works’s helm, and offers a criticism of legal education’s emphasis on cold, analytical thinking: “Unfortunately, yes, law school strips [the desire to practice in public interest] away in many respects. It tries to teach lawyers to think in sterile, analytical ways without a lot of heart. There’s also a lot of competition in law schools for those coveted six-figure-salary jobs, and so people are malleable, they’re generally young, and all of these activities—the sterile thinking, the going after the coveted job, the very large educational debt—often strips away those public-service aspirations. Our job is to keep those embers burning.”  Bonus trivia: quite aside from being one of the nation’s most vocal advocates for the value of public interest work, David’s a pretty solid softball player.  Good glove, surprising power, and he can pitch.

• 4.12.11 – the Business Journal of Western Massachusetts looks at the fiscal challenges confronting Western Massachusetts Legal Services – “its current budget of $2.5 million is roughly half of what it was just a few years ago” – and the organization’s recent fundraising efforts.

• 4.12.11 – the Blog of the Legal Times reports on the federal budget compromise’s impact on Legal Services Corporation funding (which we also blogged about earlier this week).  From the BLT: “The bipartisan deal on the federal budget includes a $15.8 million midyear cut for the Legal Services Corp., according to new details released on Tuesday. The cut is smaller than the $70 million that House Republicans proposed to take in February from the Legal Services Corp., which is the nation’s largest funding source for civil legal aid to the poor. Still, program officials had hoped to avoid any cut because demand for legal aid has increased during the economic downturn. Legal Services Corp. received $420 million from Congress last year, so the cut represents a 3.8% reduction in its full-year budget. But because the federal government’s fiscal year began Oct. 1, officials will need to find the money with more than half the year already passed.”  Also, here’s LSC’s press release about the funding cut.

• 4.11.11 – the Jacksonville Daily Record looks at a terrific pro bono project that serves Army reservists with legal needs.  In particular, volunteer law students and attorney help reservists, who can be called up to active duty on very short notice, with “the creation of advance directive documents: Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Surrogate Designation, Designation of Preneed Guardian, a Living Will and a Simple Will.”  The model for this program, set up by Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and Florida Coastal School of Law, is simple and easily replicable.  The “legal teams” consisted of a volunteer attorney and a law student, and they worked off of laptops that had the necessary form templates loaded on to them.

• 4.11.11 – a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog notes that Wisconsin legal services providers face sharp cuts in state funding: “Among the big losers in Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget are groups who provide legal services to the indigent in civil cases — all $2.6 million that used to help finance such representation would be cut.”

The Equal Rights Center seeks a Manager for its Immigrant Rights Program to lead all aspects of the Program’s activities.

The Equal Rights Center (ERC) is a national non-profit civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C. With members located in 42 states and the District of Columbia, the ERC works nationally to promote equal opportunity in housing, employment, disability rights, immigrant rights, and access to public accommodations and government services.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of B.S. or B.A. in a related field (included liberal arts, social science, law, psychology, or urban studies) is preferred, a J.D. a plus.
• Minimum of three years experience with issues affecting the immigrant community is required.
• Excellent verbal, written communication, analytical, and presentation skills.
• Bi-lingual (fluent) in English and Spanish, strongly preferred, fluency in another language considered.
• Familiarity with relevant civil rights laws, test coordination, investigation methodologies, and primary and secondary research sources.
• Attention to detail, imagination, organization, reason, timeliness, dynamism and empathy. It is essential the manager be a solid decision-maker who is also a team player.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law’s public service community has reached new heights, and it is very excited to have the opportunity to expand our staff to meet the needs of our students and alumni who pursue public service opportunities.

The Assistant Director will:

• Counsel JD and LLM students and alumni on public service job search strategies and career development
• Conduct workshops and individual sessions on resume writing, interviewing and networking, etc.
• Organize and present panel discussions and informational programs on public service topics;
• Assist in the administration of various programs including the Summer Funding Programs, Post-Graduate Public Service Fellowship Program, Loan Repayment Assistance Program, and Post-Graduate Judicial Clerkship Program;
• Assist in developing and managing pro bono and community service projects for students; and conducting outreach to public service employers.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

A summer public interest experience can be tremendously influential and educational.  A public interest experience offers you the opportunity to learn how  public interest and pro bono attorneys use the law as an instrument of social justice.  And on a very practical level, you can also cultivate practical skills that are useful in any number of settings.

In light of all these things, we want you to have the best experiences that you can this summer.  So, we consulted with over 25 public defenders and legal services executive directors with programs throughout the country.  We asked them to help us help you.  They gave us concrete tips about how you can succeed during your summer experiences and some pitfalls to avoid.  We also reached out to law school public interest career advisors who routinely counsel students about maximizing their work experiences and asked for the wisdom they’ve collected over the years.  Here are some of their thoughts:

Even before your first day, educate and set goals for yourself.

• Background Reading?

Put your world class Googling abilities to good use.  Being informed and as up to date as possible is always an asset–and it will save everyone’s time!

• Set Professional Development Goals

Whether you’re directly asked about your goals or you take the initiative to articulate what you’d like to gain from your experience, setting goals.  From drafting a motion to participating in client intake, try to think broadly about the skills and writing samples you’d like to come away with!

Be proactive. It’s the best way to engage!

• Ask Questions!!!

Overwhelmingly, supervisor that there is nothing I like more than a thoughtful question. It suggests to me conscientiousness and a commitment to doing good work.

• Proactive, proactive, proactive…

Public interest lawyers can be pulled in many different directions at once.  Rather than slinking into a corner to stay out of the way, ask how you might help.

• Check-in often
  

Communicate with your supervisor about what you’re working on, how you’re doing with your assignments, and how busy you are.  Hopefully you won’t have to take the initiative every time, but if you feel disconnected from your supervisor it’s probably a good time to check in.

More tips to make the most of your summer public interest experience to come!

Americans United for Separation of Church and State seeks an Assistant Legislative Director. This is a management-level position in the organization. The Assistant Director will aid the Legislative Director in planning and implementing Americans United’s entire legislative program; and will represent the organization on Capitol Hill, in coalitions, and in external speaking engagements.

Who’s eligible? Here is what is sought: 5+ years legislative experience, ideally involving church-state separation or other civil rights issues. J.D. preferred but not required. Experience working with coalitions and elected officials necessary.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

The good folks at the National Legal Aid & Defender Association put out a short piece this morning explaining how LSC’s FY2011 funding was affected by the shutdown-averting agreement on the Hill last week.  All in all, it could have been a lot worse for LSC; they’ll see a cut of less than 4% between FY2010 and FY2011 funding levels.  From NLADA:

The House and Senate leadership have agreed on an overall spending package for FY 2011 that includes cuts in LSC basic field funding of $15 million plus an additional recision of .2%, bringing the total cut to basic field funding to $15.81 million.  The final FY 2011 overall appropriation for LSC is $404.19 million.  The final appropriation for basic field programs is $378.19 million.  This amounts to a basic field cut of 3.77% for FY 2011.H.R. 1473, the FY 2011 appropriations bill, was released late last night.  The measure contains $38 billion of spending cuts, more than half of which hit programs in education, labor and health.  The LSC cut is significantly less than other cuts in the Justice Department and other functions within LSC appropriations subcommittee. 

The bill is expected to be taken up in both the House and Senate by the end of this week.  The current Continuing Resolution expires Friday, April 15.

LSC also issued a press release today, including a quote from its board chair:

“Every dollar provided for civil legal assistance helps low-income individuals gain access to our justice system. We are grateful that funding cuts will not be as deep as initially proposed, and we look forward to working with the Congress on Fiscal Year 2012 funding to provide even greater access to justice for the growing number of low-income Americans in need of civil legal assistance,” LSC Board Chairman John G. Levi said.

Assuming that Congress finalizes this compromise and avoids a (ridiculously unneccessary and useless-for-spending-reduction-purposes, but we digress) shutdown, the real battle for LSC will begin when lawmakers get to the FY2012 budget.  A House appropriations subcommittee held an LSC funding hearing last week; we aggregated some hearing coverage in item 3 of last week’s Public Interest Law News Bulletin.

The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS)’s Housing Defense Project seeks a law student for an unpaid summer 2011 internship.  NDS is a non-profit public law office providing community-based and client-centered legal defense. The Housing Defense Project provides eviction defense services to residents of Harlem and Washington Heights who are threatened with eviction due to a criminal matter, and places special emphasis on women and families facing housing-related collateral consequences.

Activities will include assistance with housing court cases, client intake, legal research on questions of housing /criminal law, and direct representation in New York City Housing Authority hearings.  

A selling point?!  No prior housing experience required.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).