Interviews are arguably one of the most intimidating and important aspects of job hunting. A bad interview could quickly land you in the “No” pile, while a good interview could give you that final push you need to land the job. So what can you do to prepare for a big interview?

For starters, it’s best to research the organization and develop your own sense of why you want the position. The Forbes Career blog recently posted an article stating that most common interview questions stem from “the only 3 true job interview questions:

Acing your response to an interview question requires pivoting off your basic answer to reinforce your strengths, motivation or fit – depending upon the true underlying question. If you don’t answer the question, you get an F. If you simply answer it, you get a C or maybe a B. An A, and ultimately getting the job in most cases, requires more.

As I’ve articulated previously, there are only three true job interview questions:

• Can you do the job?
• Will you love the job?
• Can we tolerate working with you?

(Strengths, motivation, and fit.)

But what happens when you’re responding to questions from someone who hasn’t been trained in interviewing? Take charge in a way that makes them feel good about themselves and what they uncover about you. To do this successfully, follow three simple steps: Think – Answer – Bridge

1. Think before opening your mouth.
2. Answer the question asked.
3. Bridge to answer the true underlying question.

Career blog The Ladders also recently wrote about one of the most-asked questions during interviews: the dreaded “Tell me a little bit about yourself?”:

The Wrong Response

There are many ways to respond to this question correctly and just one wrong way: by asking, “What do you want to know?” That tells me you have not prepared properly for the interview and are likely to be equally unprepared on the job. You need to develop a good answer to this question, practice it and be able to deliver it with poise and confidence.

The Right Response

To help you prepare, I spoke to a number of career coaches on how best to respond when faced with this question. Heed the career advice that follows to ace this opener:

The consensus of the coaches with whom I spoke:

• Focus on what most interests the interviewer
• Highlight your most important accomplishments

Click here to read the entire Forbes Career article, and click here for the article on The Ladders.

If you’re a law student committed to dismantling America’s system of mass incarceration and fighting for prisoner’s rights, the ACLU’s National Prison Project is looking for YOU!

From the PSJD job posting:

Founded in 1972 by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Prison Project (NPP) seeks to ensure constitutional conditions of confinement in prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, and immigration detention facilities. It seeks to promote prisoners’ rights through class action litigation and public education. NPP priorities include reducing prison overcrowding, improving prisoner medical care, eliminating violence and maltreatment, and increasing oversight and accountability in prisons, jails, and other places of detention. The Project also coordinates a nationwide network of litigators, conducts training and public education conferences, and provides expert advice and technical assistance to local community groups and lawyers throughout the country.

The Project also works to challenge the policies of over-incarceration that have led the United States to imprison more people than any other country in the world. This is an opportune moment to reform such policies. There is a growing consensus among criminal justice experts and policymakers that America’s criminal justice system has relied too heavily on incarceration as the first and often only response for non-violent behavior that could better be addressed through other means. The population in American prisons and jails has tripled in the past 15 years and now approaches two and a half million. Facilities are overcrowded; medical systems are overwhelmed; work, education, and treatment programs are inadequate; and prison violence has increased. This failed experiment does not make us safer, it is not affordable, and it exacerbates the racial disparities that have long plagued the criminal justice system.

The Project, with a staff of seven lawyers, has fought and continues to fight unlawful prison conditions and practices through successful litigation on behalf of prisoners in more than 25 states. Since 1991, the Project has represented prisoners in five cases before the United States Supreme Court. It is the only organization litigating prison conditions of confinement nationwide on behalf of men, women, and juveniles. Currently, the Project represents over 50,000 prisoners housed in prisons and jails in 12 states, and the U.S. Virgin Islands

…

The Summer 2013 Legal Internship requires a 10 -16 week commitment and is full-time. Because this is an unpaid internship, students are highly encouraged to seek support for Public Interest Fellowship stipends. Arrangements can also be made with the student’s law school for work/study stipends or course credit. Summer Legal Interns who do not secure funding will be eligible for a stipend provided by the Project.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Interns will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience by working alongside the National Prison Project team. Interns will gain hands on experience in all aspects of litigation work including but not limited to:

• Conducting research on prospects for new litigation, including both factual and legal claims.
• Participating in discovery and motion practice.
• Assisting in the drafting of motions and briefs.
• Assisting with trials and appeals.

The internship is unpaid, but students are encouraged to seek summer funding with the support of public interest fellowships or stipends. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, ladies and gents.  And Happy 2013.  The Bulletin returns after a one-week holiday hiatus.  You are all undoubtedly looking for an authoritative source to tell you which pop culture trends to follow in 2013, and which to leave behind with 2012.  I am not that source.  (I recently had to spend 10 minutes convincing someone that my suggestion to “watch a DVD” was made in earnest.)  However, the Washington Post’s “The List: 2013” provides zeitgeist guidance in convenient “What’s Out?/What’s In?” format.  Tofu is out, in favor of insects.  That’s all well and good but I still classify both as “things that are not food.” 

Before the public interest news, a heads-up for law students that we’re hosting a public interest summer job search webinar series with our good friends at Equal Justice Works.  Dates: 1/15 and 1/22.  Registration info and all other details here.

Also, here’s a “fiscal cliff” dispatch focusing on two angles that may interest this blog’s readership:

• the potential impact on charitable contributions to nonprofits, courtesy of the Chronicle of Philanthropy: “Throughout December nonprofits [had] been lobbying Congress and President Obama not to impose limits on the tax savings wealthy donors get when they make charitable contributions.  The Senate-crafted plan enacts limits that charities have opposed. It reinstates a provision eliminated in 2010 that reduces the value of itemized deductions by 3 percent for household incomes over $300,000. Write-offs grow more limited the more taxable income a person has, and could reduce the value of deductions by up to 80 percent for the highest-income taxpayers, according to the Tax Policy Center.”
• the potential impact on the federal government labor force, courtesy of Government Executive.

On to the week’s public interest and access-to-justice news.  In very, very brief:

• the ongoing dispute over public defender caseload strains in Missouri;
• Oklahoma AG and legal aid collaborate on program to help low-income homeowners facing foreclosure;
• teaching law students about technology’s role in bridging the justice gap;
• Cash-strapped CA courts could see more cuts, closures;
• a CA county’s public defender sued for not providing counsel at defendants’ initial court appearances;
• ideas for how state-level access-to-justice networks should develop;
• law school clinic news potpourri;
• U.S. farmworker advocates take their pleas for farm access to the U.N.;
• no legislative action last year on Michigan indigent defense system reforms;
• a shift in post-Hurricane Sandy pro bono efforts;
• IOLTA funds to lose unlimited FDIC insurance backing(?).
• Music!

The summaries:

• 1.4.12 – this lengthy piece in The Missourian brings readers up to speed on the caseload controversy surrounding the Missouri Public Defender System.  In 2012 the rhetoric between prosecutors, judges, and those speaking for the defender system was at times quite heated. And there is still much disagreement on how strained the indigent defense system is.
  • And on a related note: “The chair of Missouri’s House Judiciary Committee is proposing reductions in the state’s public defender system.  Republican State Representative Stanley Cox of Sedalia says public defenders would still handle the most serious cases for indigent defendants, but the more minor cases would be bid out to private attorneys.”  (Story from St. Louis Public Radio.) 

• 1.2.13 – “The Attorney General’s Office and Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma are providing free legal help to homeowners who are facing mortgage issues or foreclosure.  The program – Resolution Oklahoma – is designed to help Oklahoma residents stay in their homes or seek the best outcome for their situations. The program is provided by a grant from the Attorney General’s Oklahoma Mortgage Settlement Fund.  The fund was created in March, following a settlement by the AG’s Office with five of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers.”  (Story from LoanSafe.org.)

• 1.2.13 – from a press release: “The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI®) will announce at the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Schools in New Orleans on January 6, 2013 that they have reached agreements with faculty members from six law schools to develop course kits as part of the Access to Justice Clinical Course Project (A2J Clinic Project). Participating law schools include Columbia Law School, Concordia University School of Law, CUNY School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, UNC School of Law, and University of Miami School of Law. Each participating faculty member will develop and document a course model that uses A2J Author® to teach law students how technology tools can be used to lower barriers to justice for low-income, self-represented litigants. CALI will use those course models to assist other law schools in establishing A2J Clinical Courses as a permanent part of their law school curriculum.”

• January 2013 – “California’s judicial branch and its allies in the legal community are starting off the New Year under a cloud of uncertainty over further budget cuts…. Courts have been decimated by four years of cuts that have reduced the judicial branch budget by about 30 percent, or $475 million. In addition, the governor revealed to court leaders last month that he’s considering sweeping out local trial court reserves one year earlier than expected, which court leaders say would translate into an additional $200 million cut…. Many counties have already eliminated all non-mandatory spending, shuttered courthouses and reduced services. Litigants in remote reaches of San Bernardino County, for example, will have to travel 175 miles to the nearest courthouse starting in May. Los Angeles County Superior Court is considering a major restructuring that would close 10 courthouses and consolidate all personal injury cases to two judges”  (Story from the California Bar Journal.)

• 12.31.12 – “Contra Costa County’s long-standing practice of assigning defense attorneys to indigent criminal defendants after — and not at — their initial court appearance has resulted in a federal class action lawsuit against Public Defender Robin Lipetzky. Point Richmond attorney Christopher Martin, one of two attorneys who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oakland on Dec. 21, says the illegal practice could cost the county a minimum of $4,000 for each defendant whose civil rights were violated…. The lawsuit alleges that indigent, in-custody defendants are left in County Jail without an attorney for five to 13 days after their first court appearance, in violation of the right to assistance of counsel from the time one first faces a judge.”  (Full story from the Contra Costa Times.)

• 12.30.12 – Richard Zorza blogs on the priorities which should govern development of state-level access-to-justice infrastructures, and offers recommendations about promoting AtJ’s evolution in the states.

• 12.28.12 – law school clinic news potpourri:
  • 12.28.12 – “When students at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law return from winter break, those enrolled in clinics will enjoy new digs in a refurbished former city firehouse.  The law school in December opened the 6,000-square-foot space, which will now house its 10 legal clinics, just steps away from its main building.”  (Story from the National Law Journal.)
  • 12.27.12 – Stanford Law starting a religious liberties clinic, which “administrators say is the first of its kind at a U.S. School. The clinic was established with $1.6 million in seed funding from the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which supports the free expression of religious beliefs regardless of the faith. Unlike many public interest law groups that support religious freedom, Stanford’s clinic will take on clients from any religion, said director James Sonne.  ‘The point of a clinic is to teach professional skills to law students using real cases and live clients,’ said Sonne. ‘We think the religious liberty aspect offers a unique way to do this work, and it’s something the students get excited about. As our culture becomes more diverse, it’s a great way for students to represent clients whose beliefs are different from their own.’  (Story from the National Law Journal.)
  • 12.21.12 – “The University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law has received a $1 million gift that will permanently endow a student-run clinic that provides legal advice to the poor.  The donation from Sue Ellen Ackerson of Louisville and her family was made to honor her late husband, Robert Ackerson, who founded the Ackerson and Yann law firm. The clinic will be renamed The Robert and Sue Ellen Ackerson Law Clinic.”  (Story from the Associated Press.)

• 12.27.12 – Voice of America reports on a group of U.S. farmworker rights advocates that has gone to the United Nations on the issue of being able to get access to workers on farm property. “[A]  coalition of 28 rights groups, including Maryland Legal Aid, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the labor union AFL-CIO, submitted a complaint to the United Nations on December 13. The coalition argued that the lack of meaningful access to migrant labor camps ‘stymies’ farmworkers’ access to justice and, as a result, ‘violates international human rights law.’  It has called on the U.N. Envoy for Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda, to pressure the U.S. government to allow aid workers better access to migrant farm camps.”

• 12.24.12 – “A proposed overhaul to Michigan’s public defense system will have to wait until next year for action by the state Legislature.  State lawmakers passed a flurry of bills in their “lame duck” session. But there were a number of high-profile bills that didn’t move at all.  One of those would change the way the state appoints lawyers to people who can’t afford one.  Michigan’s public defense system is considered one of the worst in the country….  Critics of the [reform] plan say it would burden cash-strapped county governments, and doesn’t lay out specific standards they would have to meet.”  (Story from Michigan Public Radio.) 

• 12.24.12 – “Eight weeks after Hurricane Sandy, New York lawyers who have been assisting storm victims pro bono say they are in the effort for the long haul.  However, their focus is shifting from the most pressing legal needs in the immediate aftermath of the storm to grinding long-term problems.  At first, the lawyers concentrated on securing temporary housing, food stamps and unemployment benefits for storm victims, and later, documenting damages for homeowner and flood insurance and Federal Emergency Management Agency claims.  Now, people are increasingly experiencing difficulties with FEMA officials, landlords, insurance companies and contractors.”  (Full story from the New York Law Journal.)

• 12.20.12 – “Lawyer IOLTA accounts that help fund civil legal aid and other legal programs are likely to lose their unlimited federal insurance coverage on Jan. 1.  The ABA Governmental Affairs Office says it appears unlikely that lawmakers will act this year to extend the unlimited coverage provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., according to an ABA statement.  If Congress does not act, the amount of FDIC insurance available will be $250,000 per client, per financial institution, as long as the account is properly designated as a trust account and there is a proper accounting of each client’s funds.”  (Article in the ABA Journal.)
  • [update from Steve: an IOLTA administrator contacted me to offer some context about this, which I should have thought to include.  To closely paraphrase said administrator: Congress chose not to extend the FDIC’s temporary program that had provided unlimited insurance to certain checking accounts, including IOLTA accounts.  IOLTA accounts remain in the same position as this group of checking accounts — and the insurance picture looks pretty much the same as it did up until the 2008 emergency action that created a temporary unlimited insurance program. The biggest change from the pre-2008 picture?  The insurance cap remains at $250,000 per depositor instead of the pre-2008 cap of $100,000.  There are important details to this, of course, but none that end up treating IOLTA accounts unfavorably.  Here’s the link to the FDIC’s explanation of the change: http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/changes.html.]

 Music!  In 2006, The Long Winters of Seattle, WA released a pop gem with the album Putting the Days to Bed.   Here’s “Fire Island, AK.”

Are you a public interest law enthusiast and a social media pro? Want to learn more about nonprofit administration? Interested in gaining some editing/publishing experience?

If the answers to any (or all) of those questions was yes, then look no further! Today’s Job o’ the Day is for you – and, for obvious reasons, we think it’s the best summer gig around.

Our office is hiring a summer 2013 Public Interest Projects & Publications Coordinator to help us produce public interest guides and other resources. From the PSJD job listing:

The coordinator’s primary responsibilities are threefold:

1. editing and producing the 2013 PSJD Comprehensive Fellowship Guide;
2. developing original content for the PSJD website and blog; and
3. contributing to the 2013-14 PSJD Federal Legal Employment Opportunities Guide’s production.

The employment period is approximately 10 weeks and includes a stipend. The position is ideal for a law or graduate student who has editing/publishing experience and is interested in public interest law and/or nonprofit administration. The coordinator serves as an integral part of the PSJD team, which has two full-time employees.

…

Specific responsibilities associated with the coordinator position include:

• Research and update all PSJD online fellowship listings for use in the hard-copy guide. This is accomplished through email and phone outreach to employer organizations.
• Search for new fellowship listings to be added to the guide.
• Edit content and layout for publication.
• Aggregate resources and produce original content for NALP’s annually published Federal Legal Employment Opportunities Guide.
• Aggregate resources and produce original content for the PSJD website and blog.
• Other tasks as assigned.

This is a full-time, summer position, requiring a 10-week commitment. The coordinator will report to NALP’s Director of Public Service Initiatives, and will also receive guidance from NALP’s PSJD Fellow. The coordinator will work in NALP’s Washington, DC office.

The stipend will be provided at $675/week. The deadline to apply is March 8, 2013. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required)!

If you’re sick of lists, you have our apologies.  Here’s the Washington Post’s annual offering, “The List”, which purports to tells us what’s coming down the pike in pop culture, and what’s being forgotten.  For some of us it’s a lesson in, “Darn! I just learned what that is and now it’s gone!”

Great opportunity for a public-interest minded lawyer who wants to get into law school administration and who believes that practice experience is fundamental for the best legal education:

Georgetown University is currently accepting applications for the position of Assistant Dean, Clinical and Practicum Programs. The Assistant Dean reports to the Associate Dean for Clinical Programs, Practicum Programs, and Public Interest and is responsible for (1) the administrative supervision of the J.D. clinical program, (2) the academic administration of the Law Center?s clinical teaching fellowship program, and (3) the development and administrative supervision of the practicum courses.

Georgetown offers 15 clinical courses to its students. Each clinic has 1-2 clinical teaching fellows who are enrolled in the program for two years.

Qualifications: J.D. degree and 5 years post-J.D. experience; superior writing and organizational skills. Experience in clinical pedagogy, management experience in an academic or legal setting, and experience in professional mentoring or student counseling are a plus. This is an administrative, not a teaching, position.

Duties include: developing and implementing administrative procedures and academic policies governing J.D. students enrolled in the clinics and for the graduate teaching fellowship program; coordinating the clinic enrollment process; monitoring the multiple budgets of the entire clinical program; developing and editing publications describing the clinical and fellowship programs; overseeing and developing content for the clinics? web pages; coordinating the review; coordinating a year-long course on clinical pedagogy for teaching fellows; academic counseling to J.D. students related to clinics.

Georgetown is on the cutting-edge in the development of practicum courses, which combine a substantive seminar class and student field work in a related area. In these courses, all of the students in the class take the same substantive seminar. Each student also is assigned either to a field placement at an external organization or to a project that relates to the seminar topic. During the seminar, students are encouraged to critically reflect on the meaning of their field work experiences and what it means to be a lawyer practicing in this field. Duties include: recruiting faculty members to teach practicum courses; designing training for faculty members teaching practicum courses; evaluating the success of the courses and determining what classes to offer again and what the curricular needs are; providing academic counseling to J.D. students in all areas of the curriculum.

View the full listing here (login required).

[photo credit: Vox Populi blog]

By: Steve Grumm

Want insight from nonprofit and government employers about what they look for in cover letters, resumes, and interviews? We’re thrilled to partner with our friends at Equal Justice Works to present two webinars offering tips and best practices on the public-interest summer job hunt. 

 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. While the webinars will focus on the summer public interest job search, the information is applicable to postgraduate positions.

• Webinar Uno: Cover Letters and Resumes on Tuesday, January 15, noon Eastern. Register here.  Presenters:
  • Paul Chavez, Senior Attorney, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights on the San Francisco Bay Area
  • Steve Grumm, Director of Public Service Initiatives, NALP
  • Ashley Matthews, PSJD Fellow, NALP
  • Jennifer Thomas, Legal Recruiting Director, Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia
• Webinar Dos: Interviewing and Networking on Tuesday, January 22, noon Eastern. Register here.  Presenters:
  • Nita Mazumder, Equal Justice Works
  • Kate Devlin Joyce, Associate Director of Public Interest Programs, Boston College Law School
  • Daniel Goldman – Assistant Capital Defender, Northern Virginia Capital Defender’s Office

We’ll be taking Q&A during the webinars.  So while we’ll record and archive them, we encourage you to join us for the live webcasts.  Contact me at sgrumm@nalp.org if you have questions.