The internship will entail in-depth research and analysis of novel legal issues, as well as preparation of legal memoranda for the immigration judges. Interns will have an opportunity to draft several decisions that will be taken under advisement by an immigration judge. Interns can expect to complete assignments that may later be used as writing samples. In addition, interns will be able to observe a variety of matters brought before the court. The intern will work under the supervision of the court’s attorney advisor but will also have substantial interaction with the individual immigration judges.

Projects assigned vary depending on the court’s docket but will include:

• Research and preparation of memoranda on complex legal issues;
• Drafting decisions on motions pending before the court; and
• Drafting decisions on applications for relief from removal, such as asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under Article 3 of the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

Yakima, Washington! (courtesy: eagle cap communications)

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  I’ve largely tuned out of non-legal news coverage this week.  The weather in DC – no humidity and plenty of sun – has been awfully seductive.  And things around the office have kept me occupied.  But one of my favorite weekly rituals is to rise around 4:30 on Friday mornings to enjoy the quiet predawn, go for a run, and catch up on news I’ve missed.  It’s a sort of relaxing beginning to the end of the week. 

So having looked at the news, the two big political items have been the presidential race taking form – both in terms of fundraising and messaging – and of course the Wisconsin recall election.  I do not underestimate how difficult and divisive are the times in which we live.  Pressures in the economy, the workplace, and the home will pull at our social fabric.  But it has still surprised me to see Wisconsinites so bitterly divided over the past several months.  (In my view, the recall’s real outcome has less to do with Gov. Walker retaining his post and more to do with the cloud of long-term uncertainty looming over unions.)

As for the recall itself, what a weird bit of business.  While dozens of local and state officials have been recalled throughout U.S. history, only two governors have.  Of course the infamous one that everybody remembers is the……1921 recall of Gov. Lynn Frazier of N. Dakota.  He was a popular guy but the agricultural economy went south and he got booted.  Then there was that other one from America’s beautiful, wondrous loony bin – California.  In that one The Terminator ousted Gray Davis to save Cal-eeee-for-knee-yaa from itself.

Oh, and speaking of California, it’s June and they’re still playing hockey in Los Angeles to determine the NHL’s Stanley Cup winner.  June.  Los Angeles.  C’mon now.  Shorten up the playoffs, NHL.

I’ll segue into public interest news with news of the broader legal economy.  NALP just put out employment data for the graduating law school class of 2011.  Not rosy.  View some data points and analysis here.  Two items worth highlighting:

• The overall employment rate for this cohort was 85.6%, which is the lowest since 1994.  But more alarming is this: [O]f those graduates for whom employment was known, only 65.4% obtained a job for which bar passage is required. This figure has fallen over 9 percentage points just since 2008—when it was 74.7%—and is the lowest percentage NALP has ever measured.

• The figures in the public service arena have been relatively static.  But one must remember that the greater number of law-school funded “fellowships” and bridge programs which place grads in public service positions factors into these data.  And this report measures the percentage of grads going into different types of jobs, not how many jobs there are all told.  Anecdotally we’ve all seen cuts in public service jobs.

Okay, this week in short:

• Florida’s high court hears arguments about whether overly burdened public defenders can limit caseloads;
• the CBS law department’s successful, wide-ranging pro bono program;
• IOLTA disbursement in the Hawkeye State;
• county budgets & weighty criminal dockets & prosecutorial discretion – it’s a tough mixture;
• NALP research shows that public interest lawyers took greater advantage of clinical programs while in school, relative to law firm attorneys;
• DOJ promotes AtJ on the international stage;
• some long-form reporting on LSC’s funding history;
• great legal services funding news from the Empire State;
• Oklahoma City School of Law put DOJ anti-domestic-violence funds to use;
• an Illinois attorney license fee bump will benefit legal services providers;
• foundation funding to support public interest scholarship programs at U. of Minnesota Law;
• huzzah, Illinois Legal Aid Online!;
• discussion of the NY 50-hour pro bono rule continues.
• BONUS MUSICAL TREAT! for those who read all the way to the bottom.  Or just see this and scroll to the bottom.  It’s a loophole.

The summaries:

• 6.7.12 – from the Miami Herald: “Grappling with whether poor people are getting adequate representation, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday about whether the Miami-Dade County public defender’s office should be able to decline to take cases because of overwork. The dispute raises constitutional questions about the quality of representation provided to criminal defendants and the relationship between the courts system and the Legislature. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office and a statewide group of prosecutors have fought the Miami-Dade public defender’s attempts to decline to take certain types of felony cases.”
  • More coverage from the Associated Press.
  • And here’s a Tampa Bay Times editorial published before the arguments. “What’s needed are objective workload standards for public defenders that set manageable limits. Florida’s high court should allow public defender offices to decline new appointments when caseloads exceed reasonable limits, pushing the Legislature to provide the necessary resources. A new workload study will soon be conducted through the Florida Public Defender Association with money appropriated in 2012 by the Legislature.  In the meantime, the justices have a responsibility to ensure that public defenders are not so overwhelmed that poor defendants receive an attorney in name only.
  • And a little more from the Orlando Sentinel. 

• 6.7.12 – here’s an informative interview with the CBS Law Department’s bigwigs about their corporate pro bono program, which was started in 2006 and has since grown considerably in breadth and depth.  (From the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel.)

• 6.7.12 – the Iowa Supreme Court has made IOLTA fund disbursements, splitting $232,000 among 14 organizations.  (Short story from KCRG.)

• 6.7.12 – here’s an interesting piece that highlights how concerns of budgeting and efficiency affect county criminal justice systems.  A recent report out of Yakima, WA is critical of the county prosecutor’s policy of taking so many cases to trial.  Fully 82% of the county’s general funds have been going to courts and law enforcement.  The report also dismissed the idea of doing away with the county’s public defense program, noting that mix of full-time defenders and assigned counsel seems to work efficiently in Yakima.  (Story from the Yakima Herald-Republic.)
  • The reason you got a picture of Yakima atop this week’s bulletin is because I spent some time there before law school.  Some of my fondest hiking memories involve hiking the Cascade foothills in Eastern Washington. 

• 6.6.12 – “Law firm leaders have made it clear in recent years that they want to hire “practice-ready” associates, but government and public interest lawyers are more likely than associates to take advantage of clinics and other so-called experiential learning while in law school.  A survey of lawyers in a variety of jobs conducted by NALP…reached that conclusion regarding clinics, externships, practical skills courses and pro bono work.  Nearly 56 percent of the responding public-service attorneys said they had participated in a clinic during law school, compared to slightly more than 30 percent of law firm associates.”  Full story from the National Law Journal.

• 6.6.12 – DOJ is promoting AtJ on the international stage.  From the Dep’t. of Justice’s blog: “Recognizing that criminal legal aid – or indigent defense – “is an essential element of a fair, humane and efficient criminal justice system that is based on the rule of law,” the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (the UN Crime Commission) adopted the first international principles and guidelines on indigent defense at its recently concluded 21^st session.  The United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems affirm the importance of legal aid at all stages of the criminal justice system.”  The U.S. was one of the cosponsors pushing this initiative through.  

• 6.6.12 – here’s a thoroughly reported article exploring the up-and-down history of LSC funding, including look at how much of a political football LSC has become in spite of its straightforward mission to advocate for those on society’s margins: “At first glance, it appears that the LSC’s current budget is marginally higher than it was in 1981: a total of $348 million in this fiscal year versus $321 million back then. But this comparison fails to take into account either inflation or the increasing number of people who are eligible for services. Even if the number of those eligible for services had remained constant, Congress would have had to appropriate $812 million this year to account for inflation over the past three decades.  In view of the fact that the number of people eligible for LSC-funded services had, by 2010, grown to more than 60 million from just under 43 million, the inflation-adjusted and eligible-population equivalent to 1981 services would require a budget of at least $1.1 billion (in fact, the LSC estimates, an additional 5 million people have been eligible for services since 2010, which would mean that a 1981-equivalent budget would need to be in excess of $1.2 billion). Thus, that ostensible 8 percent increase over 31 years represents in real terms a cut of between 69 and 71 percent.”  (Full story on the Remapping Debate website.)

• 6.6.12 – some great legal services funding news from the Empire State: “Nonprofit groups that provide free civil legal services to low-income people in New York have received twice the state funding they were awarded last year, state court administrators said.  At the request of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, state lawmakers this year doubled to $25 million total funding for the programs, court administrators announced on Tuesday. The programs have lost millions of dollars in federal and local funding over the last few years.”  (Story from Thomson Reuters.)

• 6.6.12 – great use of DOJ funds by the Oklahoma City School of Law: “The Native American Legal Resource Center (NALRC) housed at Oklahoma City University School of Law, in partnership with the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, is using a $450,000 grant from the Grants to Indian Tribal Governments Program to assist victims of sexual assault in southwest Oklahoma.  The law school received the grant from the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women.  With the grant funds, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) examination equipment has been purchased and placed in hospitals in Caddo, Grady, Jefferson and Stephens counties to assist law enforcement with the collection of evidence in sexual assault cases.  Previously, victims would have to travel hours to be examined by a sexual assault nurse.”  Full announcement from OKC School of Law. 

• 6.6.12 – an attorney license fee increase in Illinois may not rub every member of the bar the right way, but it will generate desperately needed funding for legal services providers: “Attorneys will now have to pay an additional $53 a year to practice law in Illinois…. The state high court this week announced the rule change…. Under the amended rule that took effective Tuesday, the annual attorney registration fee jumped from $289 to $342. The court has earmarked the $53 hike for The Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois (LTF), a nonprofit foundation that awards grants to some of the state’s civil legal aid providers…. The Lawyers Trust Fund has been hit hard in recent years as the tough economy has forced banks to reduce the amount of interest they pay out on pooled trust funds. The court said in its press release that in 2008, LTF received about $17 million in interest from the trust accounts it administers, but expects to get only about $2.7 million this year.”  (Story from the Madison Record.)

• 6.5.12 – some great news for the U. of Minnesota’s Law School’s public interest students: “The University of Minnesota Law School has established a public-interest scholarship program with a $3.5 million donation from the Robina Foundation. The school announced the gift on June 4, saying the program will assist students interested in public-interest law careers from the time they enroll to when they enter the job market. The Robina Public Interest Scholars Program will combine elements of existing programs at other law schools into one, including scholarships; financial support for summer public-interest projects and post-graduate fellowships at public interest organizations; and loan repayment assistance.”  (Story from the National Law Journal.) 

• 6.4.12 – kudos to Illinois Legal Aid Online: “A decade ago a small group of Chicago attorneys mapped out plans on a bar napkin to deliver Internet-based legal services to the poor. Today, 2.5 million people access Illinois Legal Aid Online’s statewide websites, mobile apps and community-based self-help centers when a lawyer is out of reach.”  (Read more via the Skokie Review.)

• 6.2.12 -and how could I go a full week without mentioning the New York 50 pro bono hour rule?  Last week the New York Times solicited reader input on about the rule’s propriety and effectiveness.  Sentiment was most favorable toward the rule, but some interesting points were made on both side.  Check it out here. 

If you’re made it to the bottom of this week’s rather robust – if not meandering – bulletin, you deserve a treat.  Here’s a song from punk rock outfit Bouncing Souls that speaks to me about staying true to my principles as a public interest lawyer.

Public Advocates seeks dynamic and dedicated advocates to apply for project funding with us through the Equal Justice Works and Skadden post-graduate fellowship programs. Fellows would work out of our offices in San Francisco or Sacramento.

We are a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing, and transit equity. We spur change through collaboration with grassroots groups representing low-income communities, people of color and immigrants, combined with strategic policy reform, media advocacy, and litigation, “making rights real” across California since 1971. We currently focus on education equity, affordable housing, transportation justice, climate justice, and regional equity. Find more detailed information at www.publicadvocates.org.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Some good funding news for a change.  According to Thomson-Reuters:

Nonprofit groups that provide free civil legal services to low-income people in New York have received twice the state funding they were awarded last year, state court administrators said.

At the request of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, state lawmakers this year doubled to $25 million total funding for the programs, court administrators announced on Tuesday. The programs have lost millions of dollars in federal and local funding over the last few years.

Judge Lippman has of late been getting a lot of press regarding the new rule which will require 50 hours of pro bono before one can be licensed to practice in New York.  (Here is our super intern Maria Hibbard’s take on that.)  But for a much longer stretch he’s been working tirelessly to support access to justice – and he’s backing it up with funding.  This is great news for legal services providers – and perhaps also for law grads who may see more employment opportunities as a result of this cash infusion.

By: Steve Grumm

No time to comment but here’s some in-depth reporting on LSC’s historical funding struggles from Remapping Debate.

The Director of the AI Justice DC Office provides national advocacy and policy leadership in Washington, DC and elsewhere in collaboration with the Executive Director and Policy Director. This position will strategically advocate immigration-related issues to advance AI Justice’s policy agenda primarily on the federal level. Another goal is to establish AI Justice as a trusted and essential part of governmental/advocacy relationships as well as a key player in advancing important immigration policy improvement at the national level.  This position will be responsible for advocating AI Justice’s policy positions, coordinating and disseminating AI Justice’s statements and reports, and serving as a spokesperson for the agency.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Maria Hibbard

The National Law Journal has released a special report highlighting innovation in the law school classroom—law students and professors looking at the law in new ways, developing practical applications and real-world solutions. Among the programs highlighted:

• Even if mandatory pro bono doesn’t take effect in New York or elsewhere, students at Arizona State will still get valuable practical experience at a low cost to clients—through the creation of a non-profit law firm inside the Arizona State law school, set to run by 2013. The firm would allow recent grads of ASU to rotate through practice areas for a set amount of time.
• Some lawyers may still prefer to research using textbooks and registers, but students in a class at Georgetown University Law Center are making apps that provide practical advice—via smartphone applications—for avoiding copyright infringement, finding out if you have citizenship status, and figuring out the laws concerning same-sex marriage and civil unions.
• Students at University of Pennsylvania Law School are making documentaries and exploring a new method of legal advocacy—in a legal world run by reading and writing, this visual type of advocacy may possibly be a welcome change.
• Two professors—Neil Siegel of Duke Law and Robert D. Cooter of UC Berkeley School of Law—have collaborated to develop the theory of “collective action federalism,” a novel way of interpreting Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution to prove the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Since I’m still recovering from my 4-hour constitutional law final debating this very topic, I was happy to read about their innovation—potentially, their ideas might lead to decisions in Congress.
• Luke Bierman, associate dean for experiential education at Northeastern University, writes about an alliance of educators focused on building the modern law school: “This group of legal educators is committed to educating students to hit the ground running, with experience helping clients, collaborating with colleagues, resolving disputes, facing adversaries, drafting documents and interacting with judges, so that these lawyers are ready to solve legal challenges right away.”

In a day where law schools are frequently criticized for teaching methods and structures that are ineffective and out-of-date, it’s encouraging to read about new methods of research and teaching that will hopefully better equip future lawyers. What about your law school? What could you do?

By: Maria Hibbard

Ever since New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman announced a new 50-hour pro bono service requirement on May 1, opinions have abounded on the subject. Although Lippman stated in his law day speech, “As far back as judges and lawyers have existed, the pursuit of equal justice for all, rich and poor alike, has been the hallmark of our profession” lawyers, reporters, and civil legal aid organizations alike have stated that the requirement will be of little help to organizations, difficult to enforce, and an unnecessary burden on too many debt-laden law students and recent graduates studying for the bar exam. The NY Times invited readers to respond to David Udell’s letter defending the requirement as not overly burdensome; you can read the responses here in The Times’ Sunday Review.

Although this requirement will most likely not affect me (right now, I’m not planning to move to New York!), it will affect thousands of law students set to graduate in 2014 and beyond—and many of my classmates at Case Western who hope to move to New York after graduation. Will this requirement be an undue burden on our class? As Udell states, “50 hours of pro bono work will not mire students into poverty.” Even as I look at my student loan balance—as compared to my checking account balance–I tend to agree. Although 50 hours a week is a little over an average workweek, Judge Lippman explained that it would amount to only a few hours over each semester of law school. Let’s divide those 50 by the 6 semesters of law school; that’s 8.33 hours of pro-bono work per semester over three years. In comparison—in my hometown, I had to complete 40 hours of volunteer work in my senior year in order to graduate from high school.  8.33 hours of work per semester could easily be divided up into two 4-hour work periods helping at, for example, the Brief Advice Clinics offered by Cleveland Legal Aid. Certainly, the 50-hour requirement cannot be construed as unreasonable.

The argument has also been made that the requirement will not significantly advance access to justice nor reduce the burden on civil legal aid because law students and recent law graduates studying for the bar must be supervised, increasing administrative costs for already stressed organizations. Although I admit that even after one year of law school, I don’t know much about the law—I don’t think the administrative costs of supervision would be prohibitive, especially if the program was introduced gradually. It’s no secret that law schools are primary revenue drivers for many universities, and the “sharing the wealth” perspective of this pro-bono requirement might mean that law schools themselves would need to devote more administrative resources to civil legal aid societies to contribute to the cost of supervising law students. The call for law schools to teach law students more “practical skills” is a constant one, and many of my own classmates stated that our “practice counseling” and our “practice negotiation” sessions were some of the most valuable experiences we did at school this year. I know my own school devoted a significant amount of resources to this program—what if these resources were dedicated towards developing pro bono opportunities for law students, allowing students to complete supervised “practice counseling” with a real client—not an actor?

Although I certainly don’t think mandatory pro bono is reasonable for all practicing attorneys, 50 hours of pro bono service cannot be out of the question for aspiring lawyers. To me, the requirement is reminiscent of the 50 hours of supervised driving I had to complete before taking the test to get my Ohio driver’s license. It was just one of the requirements I had to complete to get the license, along with the written test and the eye exam.  At this point in my legal career, I still have a number of requirements to meet to become a licensed attorney—completing the rest of my classes, the MPRE, the bar exam—50 hours of pro bono service along with these already stringent requirements should not be an undue burden, but an opportunity to “test drive” legal skills and hopefully begin a lifetime of serving those who would not otherwise have access to justice. Completing the 50 hours of service might allow a law student to discover an area that he never considered—or simply begin a pattern of service that will help ease the burden on civil legal aid throughout his legal career.

Founded in 1969, BPI is dedicated to addressing compelling issues of social justice and to enhancing the quality of life for all people living in the Chicago region.  Currently, BPI works to increase the availability of affordable housing for working families, transform segregated public housing, improve Chicago’s public schools, and advocate for reforms that will foster more open, honest, and accountable government in Illinois.  BPI’s staff of lawyers and policy specialists uses a variety of approaches, including litigation, policy research and advocacy, community organizing, and collaboration with civic, business, and community organizations.

Find out how to apply at PsLawNet!

By: Maria Hibbard (with snaps to Kristen Pavon!)

So—you’ve finished finals, you’ve got a summer job, and you haven’t read a casebook in weeks. Maybe you even listened in to our Summer Success: Getting the Most from Your Summer Public Interest Experience webinar. Are you set to go? You may be finding that transitioning from the competitive atmosphere of law school and the ultra-focused mode of finals to an office may be harder than you realize. Here’s five tips on communicating in a professional environment to keep in mind:

• Maintain composure. Last month the Wall Street Journal wrote about not crying in the office—regardless of whether something goes your way or not, maintaining composure is as essential to developing a professional identity as a clean resume.
• Don’t get too personal. Avoid gossip, inappropriate conversations about personal matters, and generalizations about polarizing topics. You don’t want an individual who may later serve as a reference to know too much about your weekend antics.
• Talk it through. Resolving a personal conflict with an individual may be best approached by an individual conversation instead of avoiding the issue. The conflict may be just a misunderstanding, or it may be a larger matter that needs to be resolved through a series of conversations.
• Avoid negativity. Although your job might seem wonderful at first, every position has its high points and low points. Avoiding vocal expression of negativity and staying focused on the positive aspects of your job can make the work environment better for both you and your co-workers.
• Respect! Finally, a pearl of wisdom from a 1991 New York Times article on office etiquette (not much has changed!): “Respect someone else’s physical space and property; live by the old golden rule in life to regard others the way you want to be regarded.”– Dr. Abraham Zaleznik, Matsushita professor emeritus of leadership at the Harvard Business School.