If you can talk about and demonstrate bilingual skills, they can be a valuable asset in the job market. MSN’s Career Builder site offers helpful tips:

Don’t put your language skills under “other”
As you would with any other skill on your résumé, you should quantify your ability to speak fluently. Don’t treat it like a hobby and bury it at the bottom of your résumé. “I would treat it like any other skill by listing it on your résumé and including examples of how it was used to your advantage,” says John Millikin, clinical professor of management at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. Quantify how your language skills helped business, whether it was by growing sales or reaching new audiences.

Understand what they need and what you can do
When researching the position, find out why the company might need a bilingual employee. Is the company expanding into a new region or diverse markets? Is it looking to better support an existing market?

Some positions will require someone who is a native speaker due to the level of written and oral interaction. Other positions may just require someone with the ability to correspond with internal teams from the around the world. By understanding how your language skills will be  used, you’ll be better able to fine tune your résumé and cover letter.

Don’t oversell your abilities
“Do not exaggerate your skills,” says Jonathan Riedel, CEO of Forword Translations. “If your conversational skills are intermediate and you claim they are advanced, you will embarrass yourself and your company when they ask you to interpret for a conference or to call a potential client on the phone. There is no need to cram for an interview if the job requires knowledge of Spanish and you feel unprepared. Only say you can do what you can do.”

Riedel adds that even if a candidate lists himself as a “beginner” in several languages on his résumé, it shows an employer that he’s open-minded, eager to learn and try new things, culturally sensitive and well-rounded.

How to quantify your bilingualism
If you were proving your sales skills on your résumé, you would include revenue earned, market share or client needs that were met. Treat bilingualism the same way. Provide evidence of your abilities and potential, either during the interview, on the résumé or in the cover letter. Here are some ways to do so:

• Show translated documents or content written in another language: Examples could include marketing materials, press releases, emails or social media interactions.

• Identify specific scenarios: Be ready to share a scenario that best represents how your understanding of a second language helped you in your career or improved a process or experience for your previous employer.

• Attach a dollar amount: Money talks. Any quantitative figures you can use to back your multilingualism well help you get ahead of other candidates.

• Show how it can grow business: Identify markets that the prospective company isn’t taking advantage of and explain how your bilingualism can help them expand into those markets. If you can walk into an interview and address a hole in the marketplace that can be solved by your skills, you become an asset to the company that it can’t afford to pass up.

The Center for Economic Progress (CEP) is seeking an outgoing and highly motivated individual to lead our Tax Clinic that has provided free legal counsel and representational services to low-income families for 12 years. CEP’s tax expertise and years of experience enables us to provide services that simplify the complicated federal tax code for our clients and resolve IRS controversies and disputes with the Illinois Department of Revenue related to collections, audits, innocent spouse relief and employee v. independent contractor disputes.

CEP provides free tax preparation, college financial aid assistance, tax-related legal assistance and financial coaching services that assist low-income clients in accessing significant financial resources, improving their credit status and building savings. Annually, CEP staff and 1,200 volunteers provide high-quality tax preparation and tax-related legal and financial services to over 20,000 clients in Chicago and surrounding communities.

The Director will lead CEP staff, interns and volunteers to deliver high quality tax representation for our low income clients. Primary responsibilities include:

• Planning and managing all operations for the Clinic, including intake, tracking, assignment of cases, case review, and client representation
• Recruiting, managing and training pro bono attorneys to handle tax representation cases
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with local and national partners, including the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service and SPEC, other tax clinics, law and accounting firms
• Developing marketing and outreach plans to provide workshops and presentations to community-based organizations, law firms and other entities related to tax law
• Developing curriculum and delivering training programs to VITA site managers and volunteers, as well as the Clinic staff, interns and volunteers
• Supporting CEP fundraising by identifying and pursuing new funding opportunities, contributing to grant applications and reports, and meeting with funders
• Representing the agency before the media to enhance awareness of CEP programs and broaden awareness of tax issues among various constituents
• Supervise a full-time attorney, student interns, and support staff

The deadline to apply is 6/22–find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Maria Hibbard

Two men who recently passed the bar in their respective states–Florida and California–have completed all of the on-paper requirements to become an attorney–college, law school, character examination, and bar passage–but Supreme Courts in both states are considering whether Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio and Sergio C. Garcia can be admitted to the bar and actually practice law. Both Godinez-Samperio and Garcia are undocumented immigrants, and U.S. law generally forbids these individuals from receiving professional licenses. Due to a gray area in federal law, however, they may work as independent contractors. According to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog:

…federal law doesn’t require those who hire independent contractors to ask for proof of immigration status. Stephen Yale-Loehr, a law professor at Cornell Law School, told the Associated Press that a client who pays for services isn’t breaking the law even if the contractor isn’t authorized to work in the U.S.

While the cases play out in California and Florida, Cesar Vargas, a CUNY School of Law graduate who entered the country illegally when he was 5 years old, has opened a legislative lobbying firm, DRM Capitol Group LLC — a nod to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the Dream Act, which would provide illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before age 16 with a path to citizenship.

The Dream Act remains in political gridlock, but these cases raise important issues about access to justice: the LA Times reports that hundreds of individuals from Garcia’s community showed up to see him be sworn in as a lawyer last year. Law graduates who have achieved law school graduation and bar passage–even without citizenship–may be able to provide access to attorneys to hundreds of communities who previously saw legal counsel as far out of reach. Even if these individuals do not practice in their home communities, should these law graduates be limited to work as independent contractors, or can they be licensed to practice like any other graduate with good qualifications? The cases in California and Florida will surely set a precedent.

The United States Attorney’s Office prosecutes federal criminal offenses and defends the interests of the United States in civil and appellate matters in the district. The Eastern District of Texas is a large district consisting of 6 staffed offices that cover 43 counties in the eastern part of the state, spanning more than 50,000 square miles from the Oklahoma border to the Gulf of Mexico. Offices are located in Beaumont, Lufkin, Plano, Sherman, Texarkana and Tyler. Our district works closely with federal agencies and law enforcement personnel located throughout the district and in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas has a vacancy in the Criminal Division in our Beaumont office. This position will be responsible for investigating and prosecuting a variety of federal crimes, with a primary emphasis on drug trafficking and capital crimes litigation. Employment with the U.S. Attorney’s Office offers a unique and challenging experience for the highly motivated and talented attorney who is committed to serving justice.

The deadline to apply is 6/15–find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Maria Hibbard

As I read Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow (a book off our PSLawNet summer reading list!) on the metro and bus this past week or so, I was acutely aware of passers-by glancing at the provocative title. The new Jim Crow? The old Jim Crow laws are known as sad and embarrassing time in our nation’s history; who would dare suggest that the same kind of discrimination exists today?

In her book, Alexander addresses head-on the proposition that instead of the direct “Jim Crow laws” that have long been eradicated, the war on drugs and mass incarceration of African American males throughout the 1980s and beyond has in effect created a similar type of “caste” system and had the effect of creating continuing the cycle of discrimination. Like the fellow commuters who glanced at my book, I too approached this hypothesis with skepticism; throughout the narrative, however, Alexander systematically lays down the history of Jim Crow laws and the effect mass incarceration has had in creating similar effects.

Because I was still in diapers at the beginning of the “War on Drugs,” I was initially startled by Alexander’s analysis of the way in which federal funding and incentive motivated local police officers to severely ramp up drug arrests. These searches targeted ghettos deemed likely to have more possible offenders and resulted in searches that may have stretched the limits of the Fourth Amendment. Most African American males incarcerated during this time period were not arrested for violent crimes, but for possession of drugs that were found at a traffic stop. Alexander next moves on to an analysis of the effect of this incarceration on felons once released. Convicted felons are not eligible for housing assistance or food stamps, and the effect of having to check the “felony box” on a job application can be detrimental to a recently released individual trying to support himself. Sooner or later, Alexander predicts, this same individual ends up back in jail. Alexander admits that Jim Crow laws and mass incarceration are not exactly alike, though, stating, “we have witnessed an evolution in the United States from a racial caste system based entirely on exploitation (slavery), to one based largely on subordination (Jim Crow), to one defined by marginalization (mass incarceration).”

Through shedding new light on the ways in which the War on Drugs has resulted in “legalized discrimination,” Alexander faces a topic that may be too often brushed aside in our “colorblind” society. Although somewhat repetitive and generalized, Alexander’s book is worth reading for the very reason that it addresses an important idea about access to justice not often taught law school. Alexander prefaces her book by saying “This book is not for everyone”–I can disagree. Even if you think it isn’t for you, The New Jim Crow is worth a read just to be able to think through its challenging propositions.

Our friends at Equal Justice Works are putting on a student debt webinar later this month.

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

Thursday, June 28, 3 – 4:15 p.m. EDT

A must attend for anyone with 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.

This webinar will teach you how to:

    – Understand your federal loans

    – Manage your monthly payments using income-driven repayment plans like Income-Based Repayment plan

    – How to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

EJW hosts webinars like this every month  that provide viewers with the opportunity to ask questions. Click here to view a schedule of webinars and to register for an upcoming session.

By: Maria Hibbard (and the PSLawNet staff and Advisory Group!)

A few weeks ago, the PSLawNet staff and Advisory Group contributed their recommendations to PSLawNet’s Summer Reading List. If you can’t bring yourself to read a whole book this summer–or you just want to stay informed–here are some favorite online periodicals and blogs to peruse. As a student I’m often tempted to stay focused on my little “law school bubble” and not know what’s happening in the “real world,” but staying updated on both the daily news and trends in the legal profession gives me perspective. In addition to these suggestions, you can find even more at the ABA’s annual Blawg 100 list.

General sources of information for being an educated person/lawyer:

• Clearinghouse for major legal news: http://law.com/jsp/law/index.jsp
• Keep updated on Supreme Court decisions as they happen: http://www.scotusblog.com/
• Broad coverage of court decisions and the legal industry: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/
• ABA Journal: http://www.abajournal.com/
• The Am Law Daily: http://www.americanlawyer.com/amlaw_daily.jsp
• NALP’s own news digest, published every Friday: http://www.nalp.org/newsdigest

General non-profit/public interest/access to justice blogs:

• Nonprofit Law Blog: http://www.nonprofitlawblog.com/home/
• Equal Justice Works Blog: http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/blog/
• ABA Center for Pro Bono Exchange blog: http://centerforprobono.wordpress.com/
• Richard Zorza’s Access to Justice blog: http://accesstojustice.net/
• Amnesty International’s Human Rights Now blog: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/
• The Brennan Center for Justice Blog: http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/

Public Health

• The Shriver Brief: http://www.theshriverbrief.org/

A number of larger cities have daily law bulletins or law journals, some of which require a subscription or login. A sampling:

• Chicago Daily Law Bulletin: http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/
• New York Law Journal: http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/
• Los Angeles Daily Journal: http://www.dailyjournal.com/

Academia

• Class Bias in Higher Education: http://classbias.blogspot.com/
• Law Professor Blogs: http://www.lawprofessorblogs.com/

What’s the easiest way to keep track of all of these resources? Use an RSS reader/aggregator! After you set one up, this service gathers the data from all your favorite sources and combines it into one readable format. Here’s a post on a number of RSS aggregators that are available—although I personally check my Google Reader every day: http://email.about.com/od/rssreaderswin/tp/top_rss_windows.htm.

The Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law at the University of Texas School of Law seeks a talented, versatile and energetic recent graduate of law to serve as an Environmental Law Fellow for one year beginning in September 2012.

Founded in 2009, the Center is a focal point for interdisciplinary analysis, debate, and discussion of the legal and policy issues relevant to energy, arbitration, and the environment.  It connects students, practitioners, and academics with the mission of advancing policy and legal ideas that promote effective and efficient environmental protection, sound energy development, and effective dispute resolution.  The Fellow will work under the supervision of the Center’s director, and collaborate with the director, other faculty, and students in the day-to-day operations and academic programs of the Center; help design and facilitate academic, curricular and research and advocacy projects with the Center’s affiliated faculty and students; and co-teach a course with a tenured professor at the Law School.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

One of the constant challenges in lawyering generally – but particularly in public defense work – can be putting aside personal sentiment and focusing entirely on a client’s best interest.  With that in mind, here’s an interesting story from the Chicago Tribune about an African American federal defender who is representing a man accused of a racially motivated crime.  This is a good read for aspiring public defenders.

It wasn’t until [federal defender MiAngel] Cody reached the courtroom and leafed through the indictment that she learned the details of the charges against the heavily tattooed white man sitting next to her — he was accused of setting fire to his neighbor’s home because the family was black.

Cody is African-American. She had just been appointed to defend an alleged white supremacist.

Cody privately conferred at some length with defendant Brian James Moudry and then stood next to him before a federal judge to enter a plea of not guilty on Moudry’s behalf. Appointed by the court to represent the indigent Moudry, Cody is scheduled to be by his side again when the case is back in court later this week.

…

Sitting in court late last month, Moudry’s tattoos provided a billboard of his white supremacist views: “Blue Eyed Devil” is scrawled on the back of his shaved head and the number “14” is imprinted on his throat — an apparent reference to a 14-word pledge to white power.

Several criminal-defense attorneys said it isn’t uncommon to represent a client whose beliefs are abhorrent to them. One recalled a defendant who was bothered by the lawyer’s Jewish faith. In Cook County, a defendant once unsuccessfully tried to ditch his public defender because she was a woman.

Most of the times, the attorneys said, they strive to provide a vigorous defense for those clients — sometimes even more so because of the ideological clash. And the truth is clients are often won over, they said.

Yet Cody’s race goes to the heart of the charges against her client, adding an extra layer of scrutiny for her, said one lawyer who faced a similar predicament.

“She is going to have to decide if she can separate his potential hatred for her … or the potential hatred for African-Americans … to do her job,” said Nishay Sanan, an Indian-American attorney who represented a self-avowed white supremacist in federal court in Chicago. “Good lawyers have to separate their feelings from their clients’ ideologies. Otherwise, a lot of clients wouldn’t be defended.”

One lawyer who knows Cody says she’s up to the task:

“Our job is to represent people charged,” said Terry MacCarthy, who ran the federal defender’s office in Chicago for 42 years and still has an office there. “A good criminal-defense attorney can handle anything … He’ll be in real good hands with her. She is one very good and very bright lawyer.”

We’ve recently updated our Career Fair page through the end of 2012: check it out! As you’re planning your budget for next year, it might be worth it to plan on attending a couple of these events throughout your next job search–career fairs and mini conferences offer valuable opportunities to network, interview with, and potentially find jobs with many employers in an efficient way. Many law school career services offices offer reimbursements or limited grants for conference registration fees and/or travel–check with your individual school to see if you can benefit from these programs!