By: Steve Grumm

Really tough.  Here’s a piece from the California-based Recorder about a recent round of attorney hiring in Santa Clara County.  It’s noteworthy that the Santa Clara prosecutor and defender are ramping up hiring at a time when many prosecutors and defenders are losing staff.  And it’s encouraging.  What’s discouraging, however, is the fierce competition for the open Santa Clara positions.  That’s the real story here.  Observe:

In the past year, the [Santa Clara County D.A.’s] office has hired 14 lawyers but still has 12 slots to fill — and 700 people have applied.

…

Like the DA’s office, the public defender’s office is hiring to staff the arraignments. [Public Defender Mary] Greenwood says she received 400 applications for seven new attorney positions in her office.

What’s not the real story, in my view, is the headline’s – “Healthy Pay Scale Makes District Attorney’s Office a Lawyer Magnet” – suggestion that the high salaries are causing the glut of job applications.  No doubt, the D.A.’s office starting-salary figure – $92,000 – is an eye-opener.  (In 2010 the national median starting salary for a local prosecutor was $50,000.)  But I bet there’d be an enormous applicant pool even if the salary was markedly lower. 

The piece also offers a nice look at what kind of experience and credentials the DAs are looking for in Santa Clara and neighboring counties.  It’s a bit of a mix.  Some prosecutors hire law grads with minimal experience, some take on laterals from law firms, and some prefer to stick with the more narrow approach of recruiting via their own internship programs.

My suggestion to aspiring prosecutors and defenders, from wherever they’re coming, is to get some courtroom and, if possible, case management experience.  For defenders especially, it’s also rewarding to gain experience working with low-income clients.  In 2010 we asked prosecutors and defenders what they would advise law students/grads to do to make themselves the best job candidates. A representative sample of their responses:

• Public defenders desire candidates with clinical and/or pro bono experience working with incarcerated and low-income clients. According to one public defender, “previous experience in a PD’s office is always a plus for law students and a must for attorneys.”
• Local prosecutors value trial experience, whether obtained through a clinical program, through a third-year practice rule experience, or in some other capacity.

American University, Washington College of Law is seeking applications for Practitioners-in-Residence for academic years 2011-12 and beyond in a number of its in-house clinics. 

American University’s in-house, “live-client” Clinical Program, comprising ten (10) in-house clinics and serving approximately 240 students per year, is respected for its leadership in scholarship, development of clinical methodology, contributions to increasing access to justice for under-served clients and breadth of offerings.

At this time, it is anticipated that there be openings in the following in-house clinics: international human rights clinic; domestic violence clinic; immigrant justice clinic; and disability rights law clinic.

The Practitioner-in-Residence Program is a program designed to train lawyers or entry-level clinicians interested in becoming clinical teachers in the practice and theory of clinical legal education.  Many graduates of the Practitioners-in-Residence program have gone on to tenure-track teaching positions at other law schools. Practitioners can serve in these positions for up to three (3) years.  Practitioners supervise student casework, co-teach weekly clinic seminars and case rounds, and engage in course planning and preparation with the clinic’s tenured faculty. They also teach a course outside of the clinical curriculum.  The Practitioner-in-Residence Program provides full-year training in clinical theory and methodology and a writing workshop designed to assist Practitioners in the development of their clinical and doctrinal scholarship.

Interested? Check the listing at PSLawNet for more information!

Why post one Job ‘o the Day when we can post two?  NYC’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – “mental hygiene”? seems a bit archaic, no?  anyway… – is seeking a law intern for the spring 2012 semester, with a possible extension through the summer.  What will the intern be working on?  Tobacco control policy.  A blurb from the job description:

The Bureau of Tobacco Control (BTC) has been a flagship program of the DOHMH since 2002. By implementing a comprehensive five-point plan that includes taxation, legal action, education, cessation and evaluation, BTC has overseen one of the fastest declines in smoking prevalence ever recorded – a 35% decrease in adult smoking since 2002. The NYC youth smoking rate has also decreased by more than half since 2001. BTC continues to implement cutting-edge, evidence-based interventions that make it harder to smoke and easier to quit. Program strategies include city-wide giveaways of quit smoking medications and aggressive, targeted media campaigns to increase awareness of the dangers of smoking and benefits of quitting.

The Bureau of Tobacco Control is currently seeking a legal intern to assist with creating new policy initiatives, including legal research and analysis of current city laws and tobacco control laws from other jurisdictions. This position will work closely with the Bureau’s Policy Unit, including the Director of Policy and Senior Legal Counsel for Policy, Tobacco Control; the Health Department’s General Counsel; and other city and state officials in the public health field. This position will provide excellent experience working on policy development for the right candidate.

We are looking for candidates interested in joining us for the spring semester. An extension through the summer is possible.

View the full listing on PSLawNet here.

By: Steve Grumm

It feels awfully un-rebellious to include an explanatory parenthetical in the post title.  But anyway, the conference is colloquially known as RebLaw.  Registration is open.  Sign up, spend the weekend in New Haven, meet public-interest-minded students, profs, and practitioners from around the country.  Some background:

RebLaw is the nation’s largest student-run public interest conference. Every year the conference brings together practitioners, law students, and community activists from around the country to discuss innovative, progressive approaches to law and social change.

We hope that RebLaw 2012 will be full of conversations that challenge not only the state of the law but also ourselves and our own preconceptions. We will strive to create a safe and nourishing community for all rebels, providing a variety of outlets to channel the passion and outrage we bring to the conference. By encouraging all forms of expertise and experience, we will value and amplify the creativity and insights we all possess. Grounded in a sense of where all of our work fits into broader movements, we will work together to hone our tools for change. RebLaw 2012 will be a success to the extent that it inspires courageous thinking, supportive relationships, and radical action.

Some logistical details:

What: The Eighteenth Annual Rebellious Lawyering Conference. The RebLaw Conference is an annual, student-run conference that brings together practitioners, law students, and community advocates from around the country to discuss innovative, progressive approaches to law and social change.
Where: Yale Law School, New Haven, CT.
When:  Friday, February 17–Saturday, February 18, 2012
Cost: Standard registration is $30. Registration is free for members of the Yale, UConn, New Haven, and Quinnipiac communities.

RebLaw Homepage & Registration: http://www.yale.edu/reblaw/index.htm

RebLaw Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/RebLaw/198623836882539

Are you a fan of unruly sports fans and cheesesteaks?  Good.  Here’s a great postgraduate position (don’t let “law clerk” fool you) in the World’s Most Glorious City….

The Pro-Se Law Clerk provides legal advice and assistance to the Court in connection with petitions and complaints filed by prisoners. The position’s duties and responsibilities include: (1) the substantive screening, after filing, of all prisoner and inmate petitions and motions, including state habeas corpus petitions, federal habeas corpus petitions, motions to vacate sentence, and civil rights complaints; drafts appropriate recommendations and orders for the Court’s signature. (2) reviews all complaints, petitions, and pleadings that have been filed by prisoners so as to determine the issues involved and the alleged basis for relief; (3) performs research, as required, to assist the Court in preparing opinions; (4) evaluates present procedures to determine new innovations for increasing the effectiveness in handling complaints, petitions, and pleadings; reviews the docket of pending prisoner and inmate litigation to assure the proper progress of such cases and advises the Court of those cases where action by the Court is appropriate….

To continue reading the job description, view the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Even before the government-wide hiring freeze which now curtails – but it’s important to remember has not fully stopped – federal recruiting, Uncle Sam had long been criticized for protracted application processes which could leave qualified job candidates in limbo for months.  The Obama Administration’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has undertaken reforms to, among other things, cut down on application processing time.  How have recent reform efforts been going? The Government Executive takes a look, and they include responses from some of the bigger agencies like the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

By: Steve Grumm

A sort of macabre way to start off our holiday-week blogging, but from the National Law Journal:

The number of death penalty sentences has dropped to the lowest point since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, according to a Dec. 15 report released by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Seventy-eight capital punishment verdicts were handed down this year compared to 112 last year, according to the DPIC’s Year End Death Penalty Report. Executions also decreased from 46 in 2010 to 43 in 2011.

“This is a long-term drop since the year 2000…and this year was a sharper drop,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s executive director and the report’s author, in an interview.

There were several factors that contributed to this year’s drop, according to the report. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn passed legislation to repeal the death penalty; Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber decided to order no more executions during his term; there was a drop in crime; and finally, public distrust of the system grew after Troy Davis of Georgia was executed despite strong doubts of his guilt were made known.

Here’s some additional coverage from the AP/Washington Post which notes that, on top of the number of death sentences being down, actual executions have decreased, too:

New death sentences in the United States have declined 75 percent from their peak since executions resumed in the 1970s, an anti-capital punishment group reports.

The Death Penalty Information Center said 78 people convicted of murder were sentenced to die so far in 2011, the first time in 35 years there have been fewer than 100 new death sentences.

The option of locking a convicted killer in prison for life without a chance of parole, as well as heightened awareness of the risks of executing the innocent, are driving the decrease, said Richard Dieter, the center’s executive director and author of the report.

In the peak year of 1996, 315 people received death sentences.

The nation also is seeing a sustained drop in executions. The 43 executions in 2011 were roughly half as many as in 2000. Ninety-eight prisoners were put to death in 1998, the busiest year for U.S. death chambers since executions resumed in 1977 following a halt imposed by the Supreme Court.

EPIC is currently accepting applications for the 2012 EPIC Fellowship. The one-year fellowship is designed for a highly-qualified law graduate specializing in privacy law.

The Fellowship will begin in September 2012. EPIC seeks applicants who have demonstrated an aptitude for legal research, writing, and advocacy. The EPIC Fellow will function as an integral part of EPIC’s Washington, D.C. office. The EPIC Fellow will develop expertise in one of the following substantive areas: Appellate Advocacy, Consumer Privacy, Domestic Surveillance, FOIA Litigation, International Privacy, or Voting Privacy.

Typical projects include: drafting legal briefs, submitting administrative filings, researching issues for Congressional testimony, creating web pages, and editing publications. EPIC encourages applications from interested third-year law students, judicial clerks, and recent graduates.

Interested? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  From my perch here in Washington I’m looking at a freakishly warm December morning, a disappointingly cold cup of coffee, a newspaper headline about Newt Gingrich (what year is this?) and a stack of unwritten holiday cards (a phenomenon that recurs every year, Newt or no Newt).  This week’s Bulletin contains a little bit of everything.  Here’s what we’ve got: 

• a new Connecticut provider to serve DV and human trafficking victims;
• ACLU of Montana critical of state’s public defense program;
• speaking of, a class-action over Georgia’s long-criticized public defense system may settle;
• young lawyers in “The OC” lend aid to the county’s legal services program;
• more public defense funding woes, this time addressed by Missouri’s high court;
• an unexpected glut of federal employee retirements;
• too many strings attached to law student summer public interest funding?;
• “A call for prosecutorial accountability”;
• Expanding New York State’s appellate pro bono program;
• A veterans diversionary court program in Oklahoma;
• LSC funding cuts hit hard in Mississippi;
• A formerly deferred associate recounts a formative experience representing DV victims;
• more medical-legal partnerships needed in the Lone Star State?
• cash-strapped government law offices leveraging private bar resources.

Here are the summaries:

• 12.15.11 – a new nonprofit law office in Connecticut will serve a highly vulnerable population.  From the New Canaan Observer: The Rights, Advocacy and Empowerment (RAE) Law Group has been formed to “promote, enforce and advocate for the rights of victims and survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual exploitation. The group will serve clients in Fairfield, New Haven and Middlesex counties.”  RAE apparently takes referrals from other service providers and provides representation for a “modest fee.”

• 12.15.11 – indigent defense trouble in the Treasure State.  From TV station KXLH: “The ACLU of Montana asserts there are many problems with the state’s public defender system and it’s asking the Montana Legislature to do its part in ensuring the agency operates smoothly.  If you can’t afford an attorney one will be appointed for you, and it’s likely the public defender could also be managing about 200 other cases….  The report also states attorneys aren’t getting the feedback and training they need to be successful in the courtroom.”  A lack of funding is seen as the main culprit.  Here’s a link to the ACLU’s report, which is being published 5 years after the Montana moved from a county-by-county to a statewide system.  The news isn’t all bad, but funding still is lacking.

• 12.14.11 – a class action regarding Georgia’s embattled indigent defense system may be settling.  The AP reports (and this is the whole article so no need to click through): “The Southern Center for Human Rights says a potential settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit that claims the state of Georgia must provide attorneys to handle the appeals of dozens of convicted criminals.  The case had been scheduled for a hearing before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter on Thursday. Kathryn Hamoudah of [SCHR], which brought the case, said Wednesday the settlement was not yet final and she did not know the details.  Plaintiffs want the state to make changes to make sure hundreds of indigent defendants have lawyers to represent them in their appeals. They claim cuts to the statewide public defender system has robbed them of their constitutional right to make their case.  The lawsuit was filed in 2009.”
   
• 12.14.11 – as a native Philadelphian I have little use for Orange County, CA.  From afar it seems so La-la Land-ish.  The OC did produce punk rock juggernaut Social Distortion, but otherwise it’s not my bag.  Nevertheless, here’s some good news about young lawyers pitching in to aid an overburdened legal services provider.  The Orange County Register reports that the Legal Aid Society of Orange County’s evictions unit is staring down LSC funding cuts and swelling caseloads.  The county bar’s young lawyers division heeded a call for help.  The YLD’s chair hoped “for maybe 10 volunteers [to handle pro bono eviction cases], but more than 40 responded to the call. Two weeks ago, about 35 went through training in wrongful-detainer law, and another session will be held in a few weeks. Then they’ll start taking cases.” 

• 12.14.11 – Show Me Oral Arguments!  A long-simmering controversy concerning the overburdened Missouri public defense program made it to the state’s high court.  Last year a defender refused new cases because the office’s caseload was overwhelming its ability to represent clients.  From the Springfield News-Leader: “The question is simple on its face: Does the Missouri Public Defender Commission have the authority to turn away defendants?  But the issue, taken up in oral arguments Tuesday in the state Supreme Court, splintered off into discussions ranging from constitutional rights to ethical burdens, from separation of powers to rule-making authority. No clear solution was offered.  The judges…also didn’t give an indication of how they are leaning. [E]ach stated conflicting concerns — forcing public defenders to represent clients regardless of caseload concerns or leaving the decision to local judges to find representation for poor defendants.”

• 12.12.11 – Uncle Sam is losing workers left and right to retirement.  From the Federal Times: “Retirement applications for the first 10 months of 2011 soared 24 percent from the same time last year, topping 92,000, according to statistics from the Office of Personnel Management….”  OPM Director John Berry told Congress last month…” that the rising retirement rate “…was likely caused by cash-strapped agencies offering buyouts and taking other steps to cut their workforces.”  What does this mean for aspiring civil servants?  The good news is obvious: open positions.  The bad news, of course, is the government-wide hiring freeze.  But the freeze has some cracks in it.  (That’s metaphor torture, for those scoring at home).  Agencies can still hire to fill “mission-critical” positions, so it’s not as though federal recruiting has stopped altogether.  This could bode well for law grads looking for a way in.

• 12.12.11 – is it becoming too burdensome for law students to get summer public interest funding from their schools?  From every law school dean’s fav periodical, U.S. News and World Report: “It’s fellowship application season for first and second year law students who want to work in public service law next summer. Many law schools offer…summer fellowships, which provide a stipend ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars, to students who pursue service-oriented roles rather than positions at big firms…. Many law students and J.D.’s report that their public service internships were fulfilling…. But some say that the internship applications come with too many requirements, warning aspiring public servants to carefully consider whether to participate.  Many law schools…require students to do between 5 and 10 hours of volunteer work on campus, and some also insist that students volunteer at fundraising auctions. ”  Oh, the horror!  I’m okay with requiring someone to do 5 hours of service to qualify for funding.  If nothing else it may separate the truly public-interest oriented students from those who would rather be at a firm but wish to hedge their bets.

• 12.12.11 – “A Call for Prosecutorial Accountability” appears as an op-ed in the National Law Journal: “Last term, the Supreme Court…limited municipal civil liability for prosecutors in Connick [v. Thompson]. In justifying this holding in part by stating that prosecutors are ‘personally subject to an ethics regime designed to reinforce the profession’s standards,’ the Court pointed to the existence of the [ABA] and state grievance mechanisms that set ethical standards for prosecutors and discipline them when they break the rules.  [Yet] new research analyzing the policies and procedures for disciplining attorneys in each state…shows that prosecutors are rarely held accountable when misconduct occurs….  Inspired by the Connick decision, students from the Liman Prosecutorial Mis­con­duct Research Project at Yale Law School examined the basis of the reliance on current attorney-sanctioning mechanisms. The resulting investigation of the disciplinary procedures in various states found that the process and results are largely inadequate for investigating claims of misconduct and holding prosecutors accountable.”

• 12.12.11 – “One year after establishing an experimental pro bono civil appellate program to handle family law appeals for people who cannot afford counsel, the New York State Bar Association is expanding the initiative to several other areas of law,” according to the New York Law Journal.   “Two upstate nonprofit organizations, the Legal Project in Albany and the Rural Center of New York in Plattsburgh, are providing staff support. The program is supported by a grant from the New York Bar Foundation.  During the first year, volunteer attorneys handled six appeals before the 3rd Department, one of them precedent-setting.  According to the American Bar Association, the State Bar’s pro bono appellate project is one of only 10 such programs in the country.”

• 12.11.11 – The Oklahoman looks at a diversionary judicial program for veterans in the Oklahoma City area.  “Veterans who get into legal trouble in Oklahoma County can apply to the program. Those who qualify have to go before a board that includes prosecutors, public defenders, counselors and veterans advocates. If they are selected for the program, they sign a contract agreeing to participate.  If they fail the program, charges can be refiled. Part of the contract includes waiving the statute of limitations on their case. They are not required, however, to plead guilty to a judge.”  The county prosecutor’s and public defender’s offices joined forces to create/administer the program.

• 12.10.11 – the LSC cuts are hitting hard in Mississippi.  From the Clarion-Ledger: “[T]wo Legal Services programs in Mississippi that provide civil legal help for the poor will see federal funding reduced by more than $821,000 in 2012.  The cuts in funding for the Mississippi Center for Legal Services, which serves 43 counties in the central and southern part of the state, and the North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, which serves 39 counties in the northern part of the state, were the result of a 14.85 percent reduction nationally in federal spending for Legal Services programs…. About 600,000 poor people in Mississippi are eligible for services, and about 30 attorneys are available in Mississippi for Legal Services.  The number of Legal Services attorneys is about one per 20,000 low-income residents.”

• 12.9.11 – a formerly-deferred DLA Piper associate recounts the positive experience he had spending his deferral period with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation’s domestic violence project.  After recounting two of his emotionally charged case experiences, he closes the piece: “Now, I am a second-year associate…working mainly in construction law. I am constantly aware of how much there is to learn about this area of law, and about practicing law, period. But learning the ropes in a court…with real live clients whose safety may be at stake, and in an often intense courtroom setting, forced me to understand how to respond swiftly and how to think outside of the box…. [T]hose experiences are easing my path from naïve, wide-eyed associate to useful lawyer…. I am very grateful to my firm and to AVLF for allowing me to start my practice with this experience. Serving as a Deferred Fellow turned out to be both incredibly useful and a great luxury: it gave me confidence, and it gave me the time and the support to learn skills I will always be able to use throughout my career.”

• 12.9.11 – more MLPs needed in the Lone-Star State?  From the Public News Service: “When a health problem persists despite medical treatment, the real issue could be a legal matter. There’s a growing national trend toward medical-legal partnerships (MLPs), which help people figure out whether they might benefit from lawyers in addition to doctors.  A weak economy and state budget cuts have been magnifying the need for such assistance, according to Priscilla Noriega, who directs an MLP in the Brownsville office of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.”

• December, 2011 – The December ABA Journal reports on how cash-strapped government law offices are leveraging private-bar resources to help stay afloat.  The Chicago Law Department is benefiting from the services of four local firms. And it turns out this isn’t a new trend.  “Since 2002, New York has saved approximately $84 million in legal fees” while benefiting from pro bono or “loaned associate” programs from law firms.  The article also looks at the L.A. City Attorney’s practice of recruiting law grads for six-month volunteer stints prosecuting misdemeanors, and the U.S. DOJ’s practice of recruiting unpaid Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys. (A few months ago I also wrote about the SAUSA trend.)

Northwest Defenders Association is a non-profit public defender agency representing clients in Seattle, Washington.  Agency attorneys and staff represent adult and juvenile clients charged with criminal offenses, parents and children in dependency actions and respondents in contempt of court proceedings.

Northwest Defenders Association is offering three internship positions with stipends of $1500 each for law students who have completed their second year of school.  They are offered in honor of Kimiko Nagaoka Mukai, mother of former Board Treasurer Don Mukai.  Ms. Mukai was in her second year of college when President Theodore Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, requiring Japanese Americans to report to internment camps.  Ms. Mukai and her family were held at Camp Minidoka in Idaho.  She was never able to complete college but received an honorary degree in 2002 at the age of 90.

If you’re interested, see the listing at PSLawNet!