By: Steve Grumm

These are oldies but goodies.  At this time last year we posted cover letter and resume-drafting tips for summer, public interest job applications.  So while we’re gearing up for our free, two-part summer job search webinars series that will take place on 1/25 and 2/1 (click for registration and details), we wanted to re-circulate last year’s posts, which retain all of their currency today:

• Public interest cover letters: tips and best practices for summer job applications;
• Public interest resumes: tips and best practices for summer job applications.

Good luck, and try to join us for both webinars to get your 2012 summer job hunt on.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Brodsky family have established the Edward Brodsky Legal Internship Program in order to inspire and facilitate the emergence of new young leaders in civil rights law. Edward Brodsky was a well-respected member of the legal community and a passionate leader committed to the furtherance of civil rights law. This internship was created in his memory through the generosity of the Brodsky family.

Brodsky Interns will work in the League’s National Office in New York, NY and will be afforded the opportunity to participate in critical day-to-day legal work on exciting issues on ADL’s docket, including First Amendment issues such as separation of church and state, religious freedom, free speech, as well as civil rights and discrimination issues. Brodsky Interns will engage in legal research and writing under the supervision of ADL attorneys, and be given the opportunity to assist in the preparation of amicus curiae briefs, testimony, model legislation, op-ed submissions and ADL Civil Rights Division publications when appropriate.

Are you a first or second-year law student with a commitment to First Amendment issues? Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  It’s been a relatively slow week as many of us have eased our ways back into the office.  Political junkies likely braved the fiasco that is cable news as it aired BREAKING, UNIVERSE-ALTERING DEVELOPMENTS (not involving grain elevators) from places like Coon Rapids, Iowa.  Today the Washington Post has run a funny picture of candidate John Huntsman reacting to a goat bite in New Hampshire.  This man is a former two-term governor and Mandarin-fluent ambassador to China.  Now he dodges Isak the Goat.  And that’s exactly how democracy should work.

Where was I? Oh, before we get to the news, one quick plug for a NALP/Equal Justice Works webinar series aimed at law students on the summer public interest job hunt.  Our two webinars will focus on cover letter and resume writing (part one) as well as interviewing and networking (part two).  Get the dates/details here.

At last, this week in public interest news:       

• criminal and civil justice gaps in the Volunteer State;
• possible monkey business in a Utah criminal case reads like a Law & Order script;
• is it more than the economy driving more law students into public interest careers?;
• the National Law Journal’s Pro Bono Hotlist profiles some headline-generating work;
• public interest items from January’s ABA Journal include a feature story on controversy involving an Illinois-based innocence project;
• animal law practice blowing up in Portland, OR (and why I loathe cats);
• the fiscal woes confronting Virginia-based legal services programs;
• the fiscal woes confronting West Virginia’s legal services program.

Here are the summaries:

• 1.5.12 – the widening civil and criminal justice gaps, as seen from the vantage point of Shelby County (Memphis, TN) Public Defender Stephen C. Bush, who writes in the Memphis Flyer: “In this moment, we cannot compromise on justice; living in poverty is hard enough. Our community has more than its share of hurting families, unemployment, substance abuse, hunger, sickness, mental illness, homelessness … the list goes on. These problems create more have-nots, more gaps. We cannot afford that. We must bear these costs together.”  Trivia: Shelby County has the 4th oldest defender program in the country.

• 1.4.12 – how’s this for a Law & Order twist: a prosecutor in the Utah County Attorney’s office faxed to county commissioners and the local defender’s office a letter which “called the public defenders’ [sic] office a ‘huge embarrassment’ and a ‘waste of money’.”  The letter referred to three defenders who worked on a homicide case – the defendant was convicted – as “a huge joke” and opined that “monkeys would do a much better job.”  The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the letter, which also referred to a defender sleeping at trial and throwing “temper tantrums,” was “signed by a ‘taxpayer in Utah County’.”  The prosecutor claims that an unknown third party handed her the letter, which she did not write but did fax…from a FedEx office.  Is there monkey business afoot?  Who knows?  But here’s the crazy part: in appealing the homicide conviction, a new defense legal team is asserting ineffective assistance and using the letter in making its case!  Apparently Utah’s standard for effective assistance is something above just monkeying around. 

• 1.3.12 – a short piece entitled “New Lawyers Have Rising Interest in Public Interest,” published on the higher-ed-focused Braintrack website, suggests that: “While the vast majority of new law school graduates find jobs with private law firms, many law schools have seen a significant uptick in the percentage of students pursuing careers in public interest….  Undoubtedly, the economy has played a role in these numbers: Since fewer opportunities are available at private firms, presumably students are more open to pursuing careers in public interest. But experts say that’s not the whole story.”  The piece goes on to suggest that students are increasingly public service minded and looking for meaningful careers in service.  Interesting.  Certainly the relative dearth of law firm jobs isn’t the only factor that’s driven more law students to consider careers in nonprofit and government arenas. But the weight of the anecdotal evidence that’s come my way suggests the altered job market is by far the biggest driver.  While I think it’s terrific that more students are considering public service careers, and while I have high hopes for the Millenials, I just haven’t seen evidence of non-economic factors having an oversized impact on student career choices.  But I was wrong about the Eagles making the playoffs and maybe I’m wrong about this.  

• 1.2.12 – Biglaw pro bono.  The NLJ’s Pro Bono Hotlist profiles the work of a handful of large law firms.  Their causes range from Holocaust victim reparations to education and election reform.  Without question, these pro bono efforts are laudable and I’m heartened to see Biglaw resources channeled to these ends.  But I’m disappointed that more pro bono poverty law work – those unsexy, non-headline-generating eviction, domestic violence, and veterans’ benefits cases – doesn’t figure prominently into the HotList mix.  Even the firms selected by NLJ are doing great poverty law work.  I’d love to see the HotList zoom in on the unheralded work of lawyers helping poor clients with nowhere else to go.

• January, 2012 – this month’s ABA Journal includes some noteworthy public-interest items:
  • one feature piece, entitled “Journalism & Justice: Did Innocence Project Student Reporters Get Too Close to Lawyers?” looks at a controversy that enveloped Northwestern’s Medill Innocence Project and which has raised questions about the role of student journalists in investigating convicts’ claims of innocence.
  • some coverage of the ABA’s work w/ the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to address the justice gap.
  • an interesting new corporate structure for socially conscious entrepreneuers is being accepted in a growing number of states.  The new “…corporate form – seven states in the last two years have amended their constitutions to allow for it – allows corporate officers to consider a social, community or environmental purpose as part of their mission.  It also helps shield benefit corporations from shareholder lawsuits for doing what they think is the right thing.”  

     

• 12.30.11 – the Portland Business Journal looks at the growth of “animal law” practice.  The article is password-protected and I don’t have access to it, so I include this just as an FYI to the animal enthusiast types in our readership.  (I am an animal enthusiast, having in my youth owned a retriever named Reggie and a rabbit named Crusader.  Turns out it’s tough to raise a rabbit in a Philadelphia neighborhood.  Cats paid all kinds of attention to Crusader and did not have his best interests at heart.  I have loathed cats ever since. Vile creatures.)  

• 12.31.11 – Virginia legal services programs are facing extraordinary fiscal challenges.  They expect layoffs and service cuts, particularly with last November’s LSC appropriation slash.  The legal services community is looking to the state legislature for help, in the form of establishing mandatory IOLTA program and increasing some court filing fees.  From the Virginian-Pilot: 
  • The program that sends interest on money held in trust to legal aid in Virginia is voluntary. It is mandatory in all states except Virginia, Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska and Idaho. With backing of Virginia’s bankers, the General Assembly passed a law in the 1990s stopping the program from becoming mandatory.  Delegate Manoli Loupassi, a Richmond Republican, has introduced a bill to repeal that law and thus allow the Virginia Supreme Court to consider requiring all lawyers to participate in the program. Similar bills died in the General Assembly a year ago.
  • Legal aid will ask lawmakers to approve a budget amendment that would increase the civil filing fee that goes to legal aid from $9 to $13.

•  12.30.11 – a call to the West Virginia bar: pick up pro bono efforts because legal aid is underfunded.  An editorial in The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register (a newspaper so badass it needs two names) highlights how the LSC cuts will impact Legal Aid of West Virginia and continues, “If Legal Aid is forced into layoffs, it will be up to local attorneys to swallow the loss of pay and offer their services pro bono. Here in our area, lawyers have a praiseworthy record of stepping up to the plate. In the past, they have been recognized for their high rate of pro bono work. The need for help will not disappear, even when the money does. 

Save these dates — January 25th and February 1st!

NALP and Equal Justice Works are bringing you a free two-part webinar series on the most important phases of the job application process — cover letters, resumes, interviewing and networking!

Attorneys with years of application review experience will highlight do’s and don’ts; explain how and why public interest application materials may substantively differ from law firm materials; and explore the dynamics of personal interactions in interviews and networking situations.

• Part One: Wed., 1/25/12 at 3pm Eastern – Best Practices in Drafting Cover Letters and Resumes.  Reserve your Webinar seat now!

Presenters:

• Steve Grumm, Director of Public Service Initiatives, NALP
• Stuart Smith, Director of Legal Recruitment, New York City Law Department
• Nicole Vikan, Assistant Director for Public Interest & Government Careers, Georgetown University Law Center

• Part Two: Wed., 2/1/12 at 12pm (Noon) Eastern – Best Practices in Interviewing and In-person Networking.  Reserve your Webinar seat now!

Presenters:

• Nita Mazumder, Program Manager for Law School Relations, Equal Justice Works
• Nicole Simmons, Career Counselor, The University of Texas School of Law
• David Zisser, Associate Counsel, The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Don’t keep it a secret, tell your friends!

The Fair Elections Legal Network (FELN) is a nonpartisan policy and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Its overall mission is to remove barriers to registration and voting for traditionally underrepresented constituencies and improve election administration through administrative, legal, and legislative reform.

FELN is seeking a lawyer with elections, organizing and/or campaign experience to serve as a staff attorney. Responsibilities include: 1) outreach and collaboration with voter registration and mobilization groups and other progressive organizations, to identify and eliminate barriers to voter participation; 2) legal research, analysis and writing to support FELN’s legal and administrative election reforms and ongoing assistance to outside organizations; 3) communication with election officials and other audiences; and 4) overseeing and coordinating organizational efforts in assigned target states, which may include some travel.

Ready to apply? Check the listing at PSLawNet to find out more!

By: Steve Grumm

Dean Rodriguez crystal balls 2012, predicting (and seemingly, at points, advocating for) developments in the conversations about how we educate lawyers and increasing transparency in placement stats, etc.  Among Rodriguez’s prognostications…

From enrage to engage:  We will see professional educators and lawyers working more thoughtfully to respond to the drumbeat of criticism about the structure of American legal education and its challenges.

…

Law schools as public service incubators:  The demands of the public, and especially the poor, for legal services is ever growing.  Law schools, public and private, big and small, national and regional, must and will develop mechanisms to serve the disadvantaged and to provide access to both basic and complex legal work.

The dean’s post prompted an interesting comment about how experiential learning may (and may not) be further integrated into the curriculum:

Much of the current disenchantment stems from the enormous economic downturn and attendant layoffs and failure-to-hires of recent law school graduates. This produces a demand for both better information about placement (and, perhaps, bar passage), as well as heartfelt but unfocused requests for training that will enable graduates to function as lawyers. If and when the economy improves, these feelings will not disappear, but will become less intense. To the extent that we take the latter request seriously, it will not lead, by and large, to doing a lot more public interest work. Although that work may produce some generalized skills training (e.g. how to draft a complaint), there is precious little paid work in public interest. Rather, taking the demand for skill seriously leads down a path to law schools having a law firm (just as medical schools have hospitals) where students start to learn how to practice under lawyer-professors, who both provide training and who charge clients for their services. We would need to work hard to make the position of lawyer-professor prestigious, so that we could attract the best and the brightest. Law school might become 4 years instead of 3. And there will be negotiations between the lawyer-professors and the Deans of law schools about how to split fees. Deans of law schools will need new sets of skills, akin to managing partner at a large law firm.

(Tip of cap to Prof. Brian Leiter’s blog.)

By: Steve Grumm

From every law school dean’s favorite periodical, the US News and World Report, comes a list of trends that are predicted to rear their heads in 2012.  Of note, accelerated JD programs (and combined-degree programs, e.g. JD/MSW & JD/MBA) are ones to watch for…

The Legal Aid Justice Center seeks a bilingual attorney to join its office in Falls Church, Virginia. The Center’s work includes the provision of general civil legal assistance in the areas of housing, consumer, and employment law for Northern Virginia’s diverse low-income immigrant communities. Also, Legal Aid Justice Center provides extensive representation to, and works closely with, the region’s predominantly Latino day laborers.

The Legal Aid Justice Center is a nationally recognized, non-profit program providing free civil legal assistance from four offices throughout the state of Virginia. Our dynamic staff of more than thirty advocates pursue systemic legal advocacy for all low-income Virginians using a wide array of strategies. Through legal representation, community organization, and statewide advocacy, the Legal Aid Justice Center works both to eliminate the immediate symptoms and to address the underlying causes of poverty in Virginia. We encourage diversity, value unique voices, pursue our goals with passion, and have fun while working for the public interest.

Want to join the team at Legal Aid Justice Center? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

Next Thursday, January 12 — Equal Justice Works will host another free webinar about educational loans — and you’re all invited!

Mark your calendars, peeps! Here are the deets:

Plan Before You Borrow: What You Should Know About Educational Loans BEFORE You Go to Graduate School

Thursday, Jan. 12, 1-2 p.m. EST

Interested in government or public interest work after graduating? This webinar will help you plan ahead and make sure you can take full advantage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the most significant law affecting public service in a generation.

The webinar will teach you about:

•     Taking out the right kind of loans

•     Consolidating or reconsolidating your previous student loans

•     How the College Cost Reduction and Access Act can free you to pursue a public interest career

Register here!

By: Steve Grumm

That’s also good advice for living life outside of law school.  The Natioanl Law Journal reports on a recent study about how law students’ dispositions can affect their performance and overall levels of satisfaction:

Which new law students will perform the best academically during their first semester and be the most satisfied with their lives? Those who are realistically hopeful, according to research into the way hope and optimism affect law student performance.

A study published in the December edition of the Journal of Research in Personality, and featured last year in the Duquesne Law Review, concluded that students who came to campus with high levels of hope got better grades and were more satisfied with their lives after completing their first semester, which tends to be the most stressful.  

This distinction between optimism and hope is quite helpful, in my opinion:

The researchers distinguished hope from optimism, high levels of which boosted life satisfaction but not first semester grades.

“Optimism is the expectation that the future will be good, regardless of how this happens,” said Kevin Rand, an assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. “Hope is the expectation about things you have actual control over.”

Free existential guidance from the PSLawNet Blog!  You’re welcome, people.