It pays to be smart about student loan debt, especially for public interest advocates! Take a look at this message from our friends at Equal Justice Works:

Educational debt has become a crippling burden for far too many, and especially for those who want to pursue careers in public service. Equal Justice Works provides in depth information on loan repayment assistance programs and relief programs like Income-Based Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness to help everyone pursue the career of their dreams.

As part of this continuing work, we’ve created a free manual that details how these programs work and covers the basics of student loans and repayment options. Click here to download your free copy.

This month in our U.S. News blog, the Student Loan Ranger, the topics we covered included the striking rise in six-figure student loan debt,  the impact of student loan debt on the middle class and Pell Grants might fare under Obama and Romney.

Every month, our free, live webinars also provide a comprehensive overview of the debt relief options available for students and graduates – including Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income-Based Repayment – and provide viewers with the opportunity to ask questions. Click here to view a schedule of our webinars and to register for an upcoming session.

Our current sessions include:

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

Thursday, October 11, 3-4 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

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

Wednesday, October 24, 3-4 p.m. EDT

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

Hogar Immigrant Services, a program at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, helps immigrants become self-sufficient and productive members of American society through bilingual outreach programs. Such programs include: naturalization classes; immigration legal services; citizenship classes; English as a Second Language (ESL) classes; and networking opportunities. These services implement the Church’s commitment to social justice, and Hogar’s mission is to offer a wide range of programs at little or no cost to vulnerable immigrant populations without regard to religious or ethnic identity.

Hogar Immigrant Services is currently looking for a full-time staff attorney to join its office in Arlington, VA. From the PSJD listing:

The Staff Attorney will prepare cases for submission to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of State, Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals.  She/he will represent clients before the USCIS Washington District Office, Arlington Asylum Office, ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), including removal proceedings. The Staff Attorney will coordinate all aspects of a client’s case, including client communication, relevant research, drafting personal statements, preparing immigration forms, writing briefs, drafting court motions and orders, and advocacy with law enforcement and other agencies.

For more information on qualifications, duties, and application instructions, view the full listing at PSJD.org (log-in required)!

Scouring the internet for current job openings isn’t the only way to find great opportunities. Check out PSJD’s Public Interest Career Fair Calendar to look for upcoming networking events that will put you face to face with potential employers!

The Michigan State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) recently received a two-year grant from the Department of Justice’s Post-Conviction DNA Testing Assistance Program, allowing the Michigan SADO office to evaluate, from a defense perspective, the 11,000 untested sexual assault kits discovered in the Detroit Police Department storage in 2009. The DNA Project will determine whether any of the untested kits could exonerate an actually innocent individual previously convicted without DNA analysis.

The DNA Project attorney will be located in the Detroit office, and will manage and implement the project from December 1, 2012 – December 1, 2014. In addition to working with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office to identify which sexual assault kits are connected to previously adjudicated cases, the DNA Project Attorney will:

• Consult with previously adjudicated defendants and investigate their cases to select sexual assault kits for DNA testing;
• Work with DNA experts and independent labs to implement the testing process;
• Negotiate with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and litigate post conviction motions on the testing process and the response to results;
•  Work with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and other stakeholders on the response to the discovery of the sexual assault kits; and,
• Train Wayne County criminal defense attorneys on proper use of DNA evidence at trial.

For more information on qualifications, application instructions, and salary, check out the full listing at PSJD.org (log-in required). The deadline to apply is October 26th.

By: Steve Grumm

I WANT YOU…to contemplate the Presidential Management Fellows Program as a viable postgraduate career option. THANK YOU.

My friend Hillary Exter at Fordham Law passed along a PMF article from Federal Computer Week – because that’s where everybody goes for the latest PMF news.  Nice find, Hillary!

The article, “Management fellowship program strives to demystify application process”, provides a heads-up about a new resource for prospective PMFs:

The application process has “traditionally been one of those things out there no one knew about — a black box,” said Bo Kemper, executive director of the Robertson Foundation for Government, a nonprofit that focuses on identifying, educating, and motivating top U.S. graduate students to pursue federal government careers.

 

The foundation set out to shed some light on the nuts and bolts of the application process and create an online resource for candidates. After teaming up with social networking site GovLoop and working for a few months, the organizations launched PathtoPMF.com as an interactive go-to guide for those in the various stages of the PMF process.

 

The website offers various resources for applicants, and considers the many ways media can be consumed, whether it’s a PDF guide, a video or a blog. The Managing the Application Process Guide provides advice based on video and podcast interviews with more than 60 current and past PMFs, nearly a dozen career advisers, and several federal agency program coordinators.

Our weekly #PSJDChat continues with the topic, “Creating a Stand-Out Cover Letter”.

We’ve all been there. After finding the perfect job in the perfect location, you draw a blank when trying to sum up how your experiences and skills are best suited for the position. How do you come up with attention-grabbing ways of selling yourself without coming on too strong? Is it even possible to come on too strong with increased competition for public interest jobs? And what’s up with the format – is it even all that important?

Join us on 10/3/2012 for #PSJDChat, where we’ll discuss this and more. Click here for a recap of last week’s #PSJDChat. See you there!

Start your federal job search with PSJD! Our Resource Center has in-depth guides to help job seekers navigate the application process, from the types of practice for lawyers in the federal government, to information on security clearances and citizenship requirements.

Check out all of PSJD’s federal career resources on the Careers in Federal Government page! Also, here are a few upcoming Government Honors Deadlines for 2Ls and 3Ls:

2L Deadlines:

• California Franchise Tax Board – Legal Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• Department of Energy – Office of General Counsel, Law Student Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline Rolling Basis by 10/15/12)
• Executive Office of the President – Office of Science & Technology Policy OSTP Legal Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• U.S. House of Representatives – Committee on the Judicial Majority Office Intern Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• Office of the City Attorney San Francisco – 2013 Intern Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/19/12)
•  Alabama Office of the  Attorney  General – Summer Law Clerk Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/01/12)
• Colorado Public Defender – Summer Legal Internship Program (Paid & Unpaid, Deadline 10/01/12)
• Department of Homeland Security – Office of General Counsel Law Intern Program (Paid, Deadline 10/01/12)
• Rhode Island Office of the Public Defender – Law Student Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline Rolling Basis Beginning 10/01/12)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – Office of Legal Counsel Legal Intern Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/05/12)
• Department of Health & Human Services – Office of Counsel to the Inspector General Summer Law Clerk Program (Paid, Deadline 10/05/12)
• Department of Defense – Office of General Counsel 2013 OSD Summer Honors Legal Internship Program (Paid, Deadline 10/11/12)
• Environmental Protection Agency – R9 Summer Law Clerk Program (Paid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – Office of General Counsel 2013 Summer Intern Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• Texas Attorney General – Law Clerk Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)

• Calif. Dept. of Justice – 2013-15 Attorney General’s Honors Program & 2013-15 Earl Warren Solicitor General Fellowship (Paid, Deadline 10/03/12)
• Department of Labor – Office of the Solicitor Honors Program (Paid, Deadline 10/12/12)
• Army Corps of Engineers – Chief Counsel’s Civilian Honors Program (Paid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• National Labor Relations Board – Board General Counsel HW & Regional Offices Honors Attorney Program (Paid, Deadline 10/15/12)   
• Administrative Conference of the United States – Legal Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/01/12)
• Smithsonian Institute – Office of General Counsel Honor Law Graduate Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/01/12)
• Department of Transportation – Office of Chief Counsel, Maritime Administration Internship/Externship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/01/12)
• California Franchise Tax Board – Legal Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• Department of Energy – Office of General Counsel Law Student internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• Executive Office of the President – Office of Science & Technology Policy OSTP Legal Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• U.S. House of Representatives – Committee on the Judiciary Majority Office Intern Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/15/12)
• Office of the City Attorney San Francisco – 2013 Intern Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/19/12)
• Securities & Exchange Commission – Law Student Observer Program (Unpaid, Deadline 10/19/12)

Details of these programs are provided in the 2012-13 Government Honors & Internship Handbook, located at https://www.law.arizona.edu/career/honorshandbook.cfm (log-in required).

Earlier today, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) sponsored a forum in North Carolina to address the role of legal aid for the poor in safeguarding the fair administration of justice. Held in conjunction with a LSC board meeting, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Sarah Parker and five other distinguished judges from the Southeast participated in the forum. The panel also emphasized the civil legal needs for military veterans.

In an op-ed to the Raleigh’s News & Observer, LSC Board of Directors chairman John Levi stressed the dire situation facing the nation’s legal community as it struggles to balance funding cuts, increased demands for civil legal services and rising poverty:

The 2 million people aided by lawyers at LSC-funded programs every year are seeking assistance with problems that go to the very heart of their safety and security. They are fighting to avert unlawful foreclosures, or to escape domestic violence. They are veterans returning from overseas and facing legal issues, or grandparents seeking legal guardianship of a grandchild in need of lifesaving surgery. Nearly three of four of them are women, and include Americans of all races, ethnic groups and ages.

LSC, established by Congress during the Nixon administration with a bipartisan board of directors appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, provides federal grants to 134 nonprofit legal aid programs with more than 900 offices in every state. LSC’s grantee in North Carolina, Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC), operates 20 field offices across the state and gets nearly 50 percent of its funding from LSC.

LSC’s programs throughout North Carolina and the rest of the country are increasingly overwhelmed with requests for help. As a result of the recession, nearly one in five Americans – 61 million people – now qualify for LSC-funded civil legal assistance because they live at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline. That is an all-time high.

As demand has been rising, the combined funding for LSC programs from federal, state, local and all other sources has dropped from $960 million in 2010 to $878 million in 2012.

Not surprisingly, the combination of increased demand and diminished funding has reduced LSC’s ability to meet the civil legal assistance needs of low-income Americans. Recent studies have shown, in fact, that the U.S. ranks 21st on access to justice for disadvantaged groups and 52nd in the world in terms of access to legal assistance.

Based in Austin, TX, Disability Rights Texas (DRT) is a legal services organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities understand and exercise their rights under the law, ensuring their full and equal participation in society. With a mixture of attorneys and advocates, DRT provides direct legal assistance for those facing discrimination because of their disabilities; protects the rights of the disabled through court action; advocates for laws and policies that advance the rights of the disabled; and informs the public about disability rights.

From the PSJD job listing:

The Team Attorney is responsible for receiving rights violations complaints, providing legal services and determining eligibility for Disability Rights Texas client services within agency policies and priorities – as it generally relates to the assigned team. This includes interviewing clients, reviewing records, conducting legal research, negotiating outcomes, and representing clients in administrative hearings and in state and federal judicial proceedings. This position provides legal assistance, direction and supervision of the Advocate’s case work, when appropriate. The Issue Team Attorney also provides education and training sessions about the legal rights of people with disabilities for people with disabilities, parents, advocates, and professionals/service providers and the community.

The position requires a Texas law license or a willingness to obtain a Texas law license, at least three years experience working with people with disabilities and a willingness to travel, among other qualifications. DRT prefers applicants who can speak both Spanish and English.

For more information about this position, view the full listing on PSJD.org (log-in required).

By: Steve Grumm

Their robes dry-cleaned, their pencils sharpened, their hatchets (apparently) buried after last term’s contentious healthcare decision, the nine justices begin a new term today.  Here are rundowns of the major cases which the court will tackle between now and next spring:

• “A Term under Construction” from the National Law Journal
• “Supreme Court to Delve into More Contentious Issues” from USA Today
• SCOTUS Blog looks at the cases being heard this week
• An LA Times editorial focuses on two big civil rights cases
• “Supreme Court Begins New Term on Monday with Voting Rights a Top Issue” from Fox News
• “Supreme Court Preview: the Roberts Legacy Term?” from the Atlantic

And on a related note, I’d recently remarked to myself – making remarks to myself is something I do more than I’d care to admit – that there’s very little Supreme Court discussion in the presidential campaign.  The Washington Post looks into this today.