By Lauren Forbes

Legal Services of Southern Piedmont seeks a Family Support and Health Care Attorney.  The purpose of the Family Support and Health Care Program is to ensure that low-income children, the elderly, disabled persons, immigrants and their families have access to health care and public services. The program is designed both to obtain specific relief for the individuals and families who contact the program for assistance, and also to utilize systemic advocacy strategies to change the rules, procedures and practices of federal and state agencies to ensure access to health care and public services for all affected persons.

The program focuses its advocacy efforts on the following issues:

• Access to quality health care for children and parents in low and moderate-income families.
• Assisting families on, formerly on or in danger of needing welfare in becoming self-sufficient by improving access to child support enforcement, child care, education, training, transportation, substance abuse treatment, Food Stamps, EITC, Medicaid, affordable housing, and other supportive services.
• Improving health care and income support for the disabled and elderly poor, with a focus on issues involving Social Security, SSI, Medicaid, Medicare, and on improving mental health services, care in nursing and rest homes, access to community-based care, services to the HIV-positive population, and managed care.
• Working closely with the LSSP Immigrant Justice Program to address these issues as they impact immigrants.

FSHCP combines representation of individuals in administrative appeals with class action litigation and other impact advocacy to try to change government agency policies and practices to benefit low income and medically needy persons in Mecklenburg county and throughout North Carolina.

To see the complete listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

By Jamie Bence

From our friends at Equal Justice Works, a Friday webinar on public interest students who find themselves faced with hefty loans.

Drowning in Debt? Learn How Government and Nonprofit Workers Can Earn Public Service Loan Forgiveness Works

July 8, 2011 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

A must attend for anyone with high educational debt planning to work or currently working for the government or a nonprofit, this webinar explains how you can benefit from the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the most significant law affecting public service in a generation.

From this interactive webinar, you will learn and be able to ask questions about:

• Understanding your Federal loans
• How the Income-Based Repayment plan works
• How to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Register for this webinar here.

By Lauren Forbes

A piece in The Queens Courier announces an official location change for The City University of New York’s School of Law (CUNY Law) that has been long-awaited.  CUNY Law,  a school with a public interest mission,  is now positioning itself to train even more public servants with an upcoming change of scenery.  In an effort to better serve Queens, CUNY  Law is gearing up to leave its current Flushing location in favor of the more transportation-friendly Long Island City.

CUNY Law reports that L.I.C.’s central location will allow for an easier commute from all five boroughs and from around the region. Further, the move will enable the School to realize its long-held ambition to establish a part-time program, an innovation that would help make the Law School accessible to a more diverse range of students. With its greater centrality, its mission will be enhanced by its closer proximity to the public interest community and to its clients.

Assemblymember Grace Meng and Councilmember Peter Koo toured the under-construction facility on Thursday, June 30. During the tour, Koo noted that the school will provide more of the kinds of lawyers society needs.

“There are too many lawyers, but not enough working in public interest,” he said. “This school is one of the best public interest law schools in the country and with this move it will serve even more people.”

Meng said that while she was sad to see the school leave Flushing, she knows that it will have an even greater presence in L.I.C.

“As a law school dedicated to public interest, CUNY Law is a great asset to our community, offering pro bono legal assistance through its clinic and supporting new lawyers who are eager to devote themselves to practice law for social justice,” she said. “The school’s move to Long Island City will allow even more people to access these critical services.”

Dean Michelle Anderson said that while Flushing was a great home for a number of years, moving to L.I.C. will help the school to better serve the community. According to Anderson, the Flushing location sometimes hindered the school – but in L.I.C. more people will have access to CUNY’s wealth of resources.

…
The new building, located at 2 Court Square, is LEED Gold certified and boasts 225,000 square feet of space for larger classrooms, an auditorium and a moot courtroom. The school will also be accessible by more than a dozen subway and bus lines, as well as the Long Island Railroad.

Both aspiring public interest lawyers and community members with legal needs will likely benefit from CUNY Law, “Law in the service of human needs,” being made more accessible to public transit. Thank you for your many years of service, Flushing’s 65-21 Main Street! Congratulations, CUNY Law!

By: Steve Grumm

On the heels of our brief post yesterday about a proposal in the House to slash LSC funding by over 25% in FY12, LSC put out a press release.  We’ve reprinted it is in its entirety below.  In some ways this funding proposal is just an opening salvo.  LSC’s board favors an FY12 appropriation of about $515 million, and the Obama Administration supports $450 million in LSC funding.  The Senate subcommittee charged with LSC funding hasn’t produced a figure yet.

Nevertheless,  the House proposal is alarming.  It is being marked up today by the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations subcommittee, with a full committee markup scheduled for next week.  According to the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, the House wants to bring a funding bill to the floor before an August 5 recess.  The Senate is moving more slowly on this front, however.

Here’s LSC’s press release:    

July 6, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

House Proposal Would Cut Civil Legal Aid by $104 Million

Washington, DC— Funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) would be cut by 26 percent in Fiscal Year 2012 under a proposal announced by the House Appropriations Committee today. The Committee bill proposes a $300 million budget for LSC—rolling back LSC funding to a level not seen since 1999.

Basic field grants, which are currently provided to 136 nonprofit civil legal aid programs across the nation, would be cut to $274.4 million, a 27.5 percent reduction from current funding of $378.6 million.

LSC’s preliminary estimates show that about 235,000 low-income Americans eligible for civil legal assistance at LSC-funded programs would be turned away if the Committee proposal were enacted.

“The proposed cut would prove to be especially damaging to low-income persons whose health and safety are at risk—the elderly, the victims of domestic violence, the disabled, children, veterans and others—by denying them access to justice,” LSC President James J. Sandman said.

“At LSC programs, requests for assistance are increasing. The poverty population eligible for civil legal assistance has grown by 17 percent since 2008, to an all-time high of 63 million Americans. And funding from non-federal sources is decreasing. This is not the time to undercut the fundamental American commitment to equal justice for all,” Mr. Sandman said.

In April, Congress cut LSC funding by 4 percent for Fiscal Year 2011, to $404.2 million from $420 million. The impact of that cutback, combined with reductions in state funds, Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts and other funding sources, has put many LSC-funded programs under great financial stress.

LSC-funded programs by the end of 2011 project net staff reductions of 445 employees, including more than 200 attorneys, because of layoffs and attrition, according to survey responses provided by 121 of the 136 LSC-funded programs.  In the responses, 57 percent of the programs project budget deficits for 2011 totaling more than $19 million. Forty-two percent of the respondents said they had imposed a salary freeze, and 31 percent anticipate reducing employee benefits this year.

Some LSC-funded programs have dipped into reserve funds to postpone downsizing and reduced client services, but almost all report that continued cuts to their funding in 2012 will lead to layoffs, office closures and reduced services to clients. Many rural areas, where there are not enough private lawyers to volunteer pro bono services, will be especially vulnerable to office closures because they are already minimally staffed.

Last year, the 136 nonprofit programs funded by LSC closed nearly 1 million cases, which affected 2.3 million people. The legal aid programs also assisted an additional 1.4 million Americans, through referrals to private lawyers, self-help workshops and other services.

From 2009 to 2010, foreclosure cases were up 20 percent at LSC-funded programs; unemployment compensation cases increased 10.5 percent; landlord-tenant disputes rose by 7.7 percent; bankruptcy, debt relief and consumer finance cases were up by nearly 5 percent, and domestic violence cases increased by 5 percent.

“Never in American history has the need for federal support for access to justice been clearer. We look forward to working with the Congress in the coming weeks on continuing and expanding civil legal assistance to low-income Americans,” Mr. Sandman said.

Established by Congress in 1974, LSC is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that promotes equal access to justice and funds high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and families.  LSC-funded programs provide legal services to persons at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline.

By: Steve Grumm
Just got an email update from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.  Bad, bad news:

House Appropriations Subcommittee Slashes LSC Funding

 The House Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations subcommittee has posted its draft FY 2012 bill, which recommends a $104 million reduction for Legal Services Corporation funding. Markup is scheduled for tomorrow, July 7, and full committee markup is Wednesday, July 13.

 The subcommittee’s recommendation is $300 million, a $104 million reduction from the FY 2011 funding level of $404.2 million. The entire cut comes from the basic field line, which is reduced by 27.5 percent – from $378 million to $274 million.

….

The message does close with some slightly reassuring news:

The Senate subcommittee has not drafted its bill yet. We expect the White House to strongly defend its request of $450 million, and we are hopeful that LSC will get an increase over FY 2011 funding. The Senate is unlikely to act before the August recess. If last year is any barometer of the FY 2012 process, we may well see a number of continuing resolutions throughout the fall.

By Jamie Bence

Slip the surly bonds of Hump Day Malaise and check out today’s post, which comes from NASA in Huntsville, AL.

NASA is looking for exceptional leaders for the 21st century! If you are interested in leading dynamic organizations responsible for fulfilling or supporting exciting scientific and aeronautic missions, there may be a place for you on the team. Seize this opportunity to use your current skills, build new ones, and make significant contributions to our nation’s future. As an added benefit, you would be joining an agency ranked as one of the best places in the Federal government to work.

Serves as Chief Counsel and top advisor to the Marshall Space Flight Center Director and entire staff on matters of law and legal policy in connection with Center activities. Develops local policies consistent with and in coordination with the Agency General Counsel.

To see the complete listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

By Jamie Bence

Equal Justice Works is now accepting proposals for the 2012-2014 fellowship cycle! Please be advised that you will need to create a log in to see complete proposal information.

The deadline this year is set for September 14 at 5pm.

While we’re on the subject of fellowships, PSLawNet is currently in the process of updating our 2012 Fellowship Guide. If you’re searching for a potential fellowship sponsor, our Application Deadline Calendar has over 250 fellowship deadlines for this cycle. To search our complete listings, visit PSLawNet (login required).

EDIT: and, we have a terrific resource for those interested in project-based fellowships like Equal Justice Works and Skadden: Project-based Fellowship Applications – Take Cues from Those Who Know

By: Steve Grumm

From Richard Zorza’s Access to Justice Blog, we learn of a resources page listing federal grants available to legal services providers:

Special thanks to the DOJ Access Initative for its Grants Information Page, bringing together informtion about a wide range of Federal grants, including many that would not normally get the attention of access advocates.

For example as of his date, the civil area includes information about a Neighborhood Revialization grant program.

The page allows you to subscribe for e-mail alerts when there is an update.

By Jamie Bence

Today’s Job o’the Day comes from Sunny California, in the lovely Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles seeks a supervising attorney for their consumer & housing law unit.

This position is available immediately. The job location may be in Pacoima, Glendale, or El Monte California with frequent local travel required.

Duties:
Supervises attorneys and paralegals in all aspects of poverty law, including hearings, litigation and policy advocacy work on individual and impact cases, including health care, government benefits, housing, family law immigration and community development. Responsible for policy work, special staff projects and substantive legal work. Handles quality control, assistance and supervision of representation at hearings and in court, and opportunities for providing direct representation. Develops training and resource materials and trains advocates. May be asked to perform other duties and responsibilities to meet program priorities.

NLSLA is one of Los Angeles County’s leading public interest law offices and has been the primary legal aid program serving the San Fernando Valley for 40 years and the San Gabriel, Pomona & Antelope Valleys since 2001. The NLSLA staff of 100+, including 45 lawyers, provides legal assistance to low-income individuals, families and groups in the areas of family law and domestic violence, housing, health care, education, public benefits, economic and job development, immigrant rights, consumer rights, and environmental justice. The NLSLA program offices are located in the cities of Glendale, Pacoima and El Monte.

To view full listing, visit PSLawNet (login required).

By Jamie Bence

On July 4, the Philadelphia Inquirer featured a story about Kevin Harden Jr., whose path from teenage criminal to Philadelphia prosecutor in just 7 years has as many twists and turns as one might expect:

Harden is a rarity among city prosecutors – someone who lived both sides of the law, went straight, and now prosecutes people for doing the kinds of things he once did.

That it turned out this way is something Harden credits to coincidence, key interventions by outsiders, and getting shot.

It’s a past – seven arrests, including four for drugs – that Harden does not advertise but also does not hide.

It also has made for a sometimes rough seven months at the prosecutor’s office.

In several articles about what it has called “turmoil” in the District Attorney’s Office, the Philadelphia Daily News has quoted unnamed insider sources referring to Harden as one of several “questionable hires” by Seth Williams since his election in 2009.

It’s a tag Williams derides.

Williams called Harden well-qualified and his life story “amazing.”

“Everyone in government is talking about how we need to give people second chances,” Williams said. “I’d be pretty disingenuous if I didn’t stand for that proposition myself.”

As a law student at Temple University, Harden became active in youth antiviolence activism, drawing from his earlier mistakes.  The turning point in his former life, he says, came when he was shot 5 times while visiting his brother at a community event:

Harden said he realized that he was shot – no one was arrested – not because of what he did but because of what neighborhood folks assumed he still was: a drug dealer.

“It wasn’t everybody else,” Harden said. “It’s your ability to do what’s right. There’s a line that has to be walked.”

Except for a 2007 arrest after an auto accident in Kutztown, where he was studying criminal justice at the university – he pleaded guilty to not having insurance and paid for damage to the other car – Harden has walked that line since.

To read the full story, click here.