The mission of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is based on the belief that it is too easy for dangerous people to access dangerous weapons in America. To fight against this, the Brady Center works on exposing corrupt gun dealers who participate in the illegal job market and hols them accountable in court. They also help strengthen law enforcement’s efforts to stop the illegal gun market, and educate the public about gun violence through grassroots mobilization and outreach to affected communities.

They are currently hiring a Staff Attorney for their Washington, D.C. office:

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence’s Legal Action Project seeks an attorney to fill a Staff Attorney position with the organization. This is a rare opening in one of the nation’s most effective, cutting-edge public interest law practices.

The Brady Center is the nation’s leading non-profit public interest organization dedicated to preventing gun violence, and its Legal Action Project is the nation’s only public interest law group dedicated to fighting in the courts to reduce gun deaths and injuries. The Legal Action Project reforms the gun industry through high-impact, cutting-edge liability actions; defends gun laws and develops a body of Second Amendment law that respects the rights of Americans to protect their communities from gun violence; challenges laws that restrict sound gun violence prevent efforts; and advocates for strong, effective gun policies in reports, media, and other communications.

The Staff Attorney will serve as a member of the Brady Center’s Legal Action Project staff. S/he can expect a variety of direct, hands-on experiences and challenging, exciting opportunities to affect the law and public policy in the courts, legislatures, and media, while sharpening and using legal skills.
Responsibilities Include:

• Participating in litigation in suits representing gun violence victims and defending gun laws, including discovery, depositions, motions practice, briefs, trials, and appeals in courts throughout the country;

• Drafting amicus briefs in Second Amendment and other gun-related cases;

• Writing policy reports on gun laws, the gun industry, and other gun violence issues;

• Analyzing federal, state, and local gun legislation;

• Coordinating national program of pro bono lawyers;

• Preparing position papers and internet content;

• Working with coalitions of law enforcement, public health, and other groups seeking to prevent gun violence;

• Speaking with media, the public, victims, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill and in state and local governments;

• Performing other legal and factual research and writing and administrative support as needed.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Advancement Project, a progressive civil rights organization dedicated to using innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high impact policy change, has been working on ending the school-to-prison pipeline. This pipeline is used by many school systems to shut off academic opportunities and funnel troubled youth into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Suspensions, expulsions and school-based arrests are being used more and more to deal with disciplinary and behavioral problems, pushing students out of school and into jail.

Advancement Project invites those who are currently engaged in community-based efforts to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline to apply to their 2013 Action Camp 2.o. Groups including youth, people of color, LGBTQ-identifying persons, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. As stated on their website:

ActionCamp 2.0 Goals

There are three goals for ActionCamp 2.0:

1. Achieve a shared understanding of the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
2. Arm participants with strategies and tools for dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline at the local, state, and national levels.
3. Broaden and strengthen the community-led grassroots movement against the unfair discipline and criminalization of students.

What Will be Covered at ActionCamp 2.0?

ActionCamp 2.0 is designed as a deeper dive into the skills and strategies necessary to dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline with a new focus on action planning. The curriculum is designed to both share the best practices as defined by the ActionCamp Training Team and take advantage of the collective experience and knowledge of participants. We will offer a range of workshops including:

1. Base building, Mobilization, & Direct Action – Bringing supporters to your campaign and organizing them to create change
2. Strategic Communications –Using media and communications tools to advance your campaign
3. Alternatives and Solutions to the School-to-Prison Pipeline – Examining the alternative models for school discipline
4. Alliance and Coalition Building – Best Practices for building local, state, and national coalitions
5. Data & Policy Analysis  – How to interpret and use data on school discipline for your campaign and understand current and potential policies
6. Talking to Policy Makers  & Power Analysis – How to identify those with the power to help your cause and strategies for talking with policy makers about school discipline issues
7.  Popular Education: The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Historical Perspective –Tools for educating communities on the School-to-Prison Pipeline with a focus on connecting it with the various historic systems of oppression.
8. Grassroots Fundraising –Strategies for securing the resources to keep your work viable

Make sure you check out the Action Camp Tumblr page for a little more information about the program. The New Orleans Action Camp will take place during the spring, from April 19 – 21, 2013. The Denver Action Camp will take place during the summer, from June 28 -30, 2013. Click here to apply!

Empire State Fellowship is a full-time leadership training program created under the umbrella of the New New York Leaders Initiative, which is designed to prepare the next generation of professionals for careers as New York State policy-makers. Created under the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo, Fellows will fully engage in the work of New York State government, and depending on a performance review, successful Fellows may have the opportunity to serve as state government leaders after completing the program.

From the PSJD job posting:

The incoming class of Empire State Fellows will serve from September 2013 to September 2015, and receive an annual salary commensurate with experience, not to exceed $72,765, plus a generous benefits package. At the end of the fellowship, a performance review process will identify fellows that will be given the opportunity to continue to serve as leaders in New York State government after completing the program.

Governor Cuomo will appoint each Empire Fellow to work directly with a Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, or other high-level policy maker. Work assignments will offer Fellows unparalleled experience collaborating with senior officials and participating in the policy-making process. While taking part in the work of government, Empire Fellows will participate in educational and professional development programs that will help them to serve as effective and ethical government leaders.

The deadline to apply is April 12, 2013. For more information on qualifications and application instructions, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Interested in standing out from crowds of job applicants, but in ways other than a cover letter or resume? Try attending one of the below public interest conferences or career fairs to add a few influential names to your networking circle, or apply for the chance to win a legal writing competition centered around human rights law:

1. 2013 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference

Held at the University of Oregon School of Law, the 31st Annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference claims to be one of the world’s most important environmental legal gatherings. The goal is to inspire renewed commitment to collaboration and outreach among attendees. Spanning four days (February 28 – March 3, 2013), the conference usually brings in more than 3,000 activists, attorneys, students, scientists, politicians, authors, philosophers and concerned citizens. Registration is still open.

2. 2013 Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair

The National LGBT Bar Association’s annual Lavender Law Career Fair was created specifically with LGBT candidates in mind. Conference attendees will speak directly with LGBT-friendly recruiters from law firms, government agencies, LGBT rights groups, and corporate legal departments. The National LGBT Bar Association will host two live, interactive webchat sessions before the Career Fair to answer any questions. The Career Fair will take place in San Francisco from August 22-24, 2013. You can register here.

3. Trinity Law School’s Center for Human Rights Law Writing Competition

The 2nd Annual Center for Human Rights Law Writing Competition invites the submission of scholarly papaers on the topic of “Evolving Tension between the Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Religion, and Hate Speech and Blasphemy Laws”. Specifically, the Center for Human Rights Law would like essays to address this growing tension in a way that best expresses the depth and scope of the continually evolving issue. Prizes range from $500 – $3,000, and include expedited consideration for publication in the 2013/2014 Trinity Law Review. The deadline to submit papers is March 25, 2013.

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Don’t forget to check out our Public Interest Career Fair Calendar, located in PSJD’s Resource Center, for even more career fairs!

OneJustice was founded in 1979 by law students in response to the growing need to support those interested in using their legal skills in the nonprofit and government sectors. Previously called the Public Interest Clearinghouse until 2010, OneJustice has grown to resolve legal problems for millions of low-income Californians by removing barriers to justice.

OneJustice is currently hiring a staff attorney for their office in San Francisco. From the PSJD job posting:

OneJustice is hiring a Staff Attorney to develop and coordinate an exciting new pro bono collaboration in the San Francisco Bay Area aimed at providing vital legal help to communities that currently struggle to access such assistance. OneJustice is a statewide legal services nonprofit that expands legal help for underserved Californians. The Staff Attorney will join OneJustice’s Pro Bono Support Program, which develops, manages, and supports innovative projects that expand legal services available for Californians through the use of volunteers.

The Staff Attorney will be responsible for developing and managing an innovative new pro bono collaboration that will bring housing and immigration assistance to currently-underserved pockets of the Bay Area. Aiming to increase pro bono participation in the region, a community of law firms and legal services nonprofits have committed themselves to participating in the new project. OneJustice has been chosen as the coordinating entity for this program, and the Staff Attorney will be responsible for leading OneJustice’s efforts in mobilizing and preparing pro bono lawyers to help these underserved communities.

This Staff Attorney will work with partner legal services nonprofits and law firms to develop and manage pro bono attorney-staffed clinics delivering free legal assistance to targeted rural or isolated communities in the Bay Area. The clinics will assist low-income clients with housing law issues, applications for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program, and possibly other legal issues (as determined by collaboration partners). This is a full-time, exempt position. The Staff Attorney will report to the Senior Staff Attorney leading OneJustice’s statewide Pro Bono Support Program. The position is located in OneJustice’s San Francisco office. Significant travel by car within the Bay Area is required.

OneJustice is inviting applicants with a passion for using pro bono delivery to expand legal help and a minimum of 3 years experience (or equivalent). Click here to view the full job posting at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Found the perfect summer public interest job opportunity, but no way to fund the work? Check out PSJD’s Resource Center for lots of guides and lists full of fellowships, stipends, and advice! We’re constantly updating these lists, so make sure you check back every week for new links:

1) Summer Funding Resources Available for Work in Any Geographic Location

This guide lists funding resources for public interest work across the United States. From scholarships to fellowships, these programs help law students serve communities in need without going broke.

2) Summer Funding Resources for Work in Specific Geographical Regions

This guide has the same information as the one featured above; however, this guide is limited to programs that only allow applicants who will be working in certain regions.

3) Finding and Funding International Public Interest Opportunities

This guide, produced by NALP members at the University of Arizona, University of Georgia and William & Mary law schools,  provides background information and recommendations for law students and lawyers interested in international public interest careers.

4) BONUS: Financing a Public Interest Career – Background & Resources

While you’re looking for ways to fund your summer public interest work, it couldn’t hurt to do a little research on financial planning and debt management for public interest lawyers! Help yourself become more financially literate by reading our guide, which includes links to additional resources and information on the basics of loan repayment assistance programs.

Riverkeeper is a member-supported watchdog organization dedicated to defending the Hudson River and its tributaries and protecting the drinking water supply of New York City and Hudson Valley residents. Housed 30 minutes from New York City at the Pace Law School Environmental Litigation Clinic in White Plains, NY, Riverkeeper’s Watershed Program focuses on protecting the Croton, Catskill, and Delaware Watersheds that supply clean, unfiltered drinking water to nine million New Yorkers.

From the PSJD job posting:

Riverkeeper’s Watershed Team is seeking legal interns to work directly with the Watershed Program in our office at the Pace Law School Environmental Litigation Clinic in White Plains, New York. Our legal interns are involved in every aspect of our program and gain hands-on experience enforcing environmental laws, investigating pollution complaints, reviewing proposed development projects, and drafting legal documents. Legal interns will participate in weekly staff meetings and case review sessions and may also attend meetings and public hearings with government agencies, elected officials, and local community groups. We are seeking legal interns for summer 2013; specific beginning and end dates are flexible.

Riverkeeper prefers applicants who have completed at least two years of law school, although we will consider applications from exceptional first year students. We seek independent and motivated students with a commitment to environmental protection and an ability to handle a diverse caseload. Applicants should have a working knowledge of environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. A background in planning or science is a plus. Strong research and writing skills, organized work habits, and a sense of humor are a must.

The internship has a rolling deadline. For more information on funding summer public interest opportunities, check out our Summer Funding Resources list. To view the full job posting, click here (log-in required).

Georgetown Law’s Office of Public Interest & Community Service posted info about what prospective NY bar applicants need to know regarding the new 50-hour pro bono requirement.  The post includes links to FAQs and other resources.  (While a little bit of the content is directed specifically at G’town students, most content is of use to everybody.)

While we’re on the topic, here’s an oldie-but-goodie, “How Pro Bono Can Help You as  a Law Student,” which we came across on the Twitters.

Life is good in the Emerald City and Columbia Legal Services is hiring!

Columbia Legal Services seeks an attorney with experience in child welfare, education, or juvenile justice cases.
The position is full-time and will be located in Seattle or time can be split between Seattle and Olympia if residence is in between.
The CYP attorney will help with the Project’s cases and other advocacy, splitting time between litigation and other policy advocacy. The attorney will:

1. Work with a team of attorneys on complex litigation or appeals and policy advocacy;
2. Be available to travel occasionally around the state as well as spend some time in Olympia during the legislative session.

…

Applicants must be members of the Washington State Bar or seek admission as soon as possible after employment.

Read the full posting on PSJD (login required).

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, ladies and gents.  Washington, DC has been touched only by a bit of rain today, but a few hundred miles north of here folks are preparing for a large snowfall.  A winter storm is a bittersweet pill: great for some, terrible for others.  As I wrote after Sandy hit the Northeast, storms of this size remind us that we are as much subject to nature as masters of it.  If you are affected by the storm I hope you get through it just swell.

On to this week’s public interest and access-to-justice news, through which we’ll explore Montana public defender salaries, a faith-based ATJ project, and the relationship – if any – between pro bono work and kittens.  The week in very, very short:

• Montana public defense program looking to shore up salaries and attorney retention;
• NYSBA, focusing on civil and criminal legal aid funding, gets behind New York judiciary’s proposed budget.
• progress(?) in a Pennsylvania lawsuit about the alleged inadequacy of a county public defense program;
• a faith-based ATJ innovation in the Volunteer State;
• could/should compulsory law student pro bono be implemented in the UK?;
• government hiring, which had been growing, grows no longer;
• expanding conversation, and action, on pro bono and ATJ;
• the growth of corporate pro bono;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

• 2.6.13 – “Public attorneys tasked with defending high-profile criminal cases are among the lowest paid in state government, prompting many of them to take jobs as staff attorneys in state agencies and elsewhere, the Office of the Public Defender told lawmakers Wednesday.  Turnover in a year can exceed 40 percent due to pay inequity, agency officials said in arguing that a budget increase is needed to boost pay and add more attorneys to reduce the caseload. Lawyers right out of college are routinely handling 600 cases in their first year….  The public defender’s office is asking for about $5 million in each of the next two years to hire around 37 more staffers, on top of the 209 it has right now, and to increase pay closer to market standards.  A law school graduate…currently receives a starting salary of $43,000, the agency said.”  (Full story from the Billings Gazette.)

• For a little bit of context, according to NALP’s 2012 Public Sector & Public Interest Attorney Salary Report the national median starting salary for defenders was $50,500.  Read the report’s accompanying press release for more data on defender and other public-interest salaries.

• 2.6.13 – “New York State Bar Association President Seymour W. James, Jr. today urged state lawmakers to adequately fund the state Judiciary and provide that ‘all people, including the weak, poor and unpopular as well as those who rely on the courts to resolve their business and commercial disputes,’ have access to the courts.  ‘The effective operation of the court system is crucial to maintaining an orderly society,’ James said in testimony submitted to the fiscal committees of the state Legislature.  James (The Legal Aid Society in New York City) endorsed Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s no-growth budget plan for the Unified Court System.”  (Read the full NYSBA announcement, which includes details on how the proposed budget would handle short- and long-term legal aid funding.)
  • Oh, hey, as I’m putting finishing touches on the Bulletin I see this National Law Journal op-ed from Seymour James (who besides being NYSBA president is also the Legal Aid Society’s head criminal defense lawyer: “Just six weeks ago, Congress took last-minute action to avert automatic across-the-board federal budget cuts that would have significantly harmed the federal court system and legal assistance programs for the poor.  With the new March 1 deadline, the federal judiciary and the Legal Services Corp. (LSC) continue to find themselves in dangerous fiscal waters. Their day-to-day operations are threatened by cuts that will devastate the ability of businesses to resolve their disputes, for the middle class to be heard on civil rights and bankruptcy cases, and for our most vulnerable citizens to secure access to justice.  That is why the New York State Bar Association will be proposing a resolution at the upcoming American Bar Association midyear meeting on Monday, February 11, that urges the ABA, the national voice of the profession, to speak out and condemn these cuts.”

• 2.6.13 – from the Keystone State: “A judge has scheduled a conference next month to discuss the failed attempt to settle a lawsuit alleging gross underfunding of the Luzerne County Public Defender’s Office.”  The ACLU of Pennsylvania filed the suit in state court on behalf of the county defender and other plaintiffs.  (Full story from the Citizens Voice.)

• 2.5.13 – “In an effort to reach more people in need of information about legal services, the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission has formed a faith-based initiative to engage lawyers within their place of worship.  The Tennessee Faith and Justice Alliance (TFJA) is a program developed by the Access to Justice Commission to support and encourage faith-based groups in Tennessee who commit to providing legal resources to their congregations and communities….  It is one of the first programs of its kind in the country created to align needs seen at the local church level with possible legal resources that are nearby, perhaps even within the same congregation.”  (Full story from The Chattanoogan.)

• 2.4.13 – compulsory law-student pro bono, a la New York State, in the UK?  A piece in The Guardian notes that there is presently no momentum to make this change in legal education, and that there is no infrastructure in place that could support such a program.  Nevertheless, with huge legal aid cuts coming down the pike this spring, “…there is a new call for more law students in the UK to attend pro bono clinics and an increase in partnerships between pro bono organisations and law schools.”

• 2.4.13 – Government hiring on all levels, which had been growing in the recent past, grows no more.  “Federal agencies shed 5,000 jobs in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.  On the whole, government, including the state and local sectors, lost 9,000 jobs during the month. Further losses may be on the horizon, with budget sequestration that would cut tens of billions of dollars from agency budgets looming at the end of February. Several federal agencies already have implemented hiring freezes in anticipation the sequester could go into effect.”   (Story from Government Executive.)

• 2.1.13 – Chicago Volunteer Legal Services director Meg Benson chimes in on how to turn pro bono talk into action: “Pro bono, as a concept, is stronger than ever. Pro bono, as a solution, is also stronger than ever. Pro bono, in practice, continues to limp along.  Why this disconnect? No one in the legal community, either local or national, dares to suggest that pro bono is not awesome. That’s like suggesting that kittens are not adorable. The problem is that, while most people agree that kittens are adorable, many would not have one in their home. Pro bono is like an adorable kitten — we love it, but not in our professional homes.”  Benson goes on to explore two possible reasons why there isn’t more pro bono engagement: 1) many attorneys are not personally touched by access-to-justice issues, and 2) “[m]ost attorneys have not been invited to participate in the access to justice crisis discussions…. At a minimum, we need to invite solo practitioners and attorneys from small and midsize firms to help formulate effective pro bono policies and strategies. This also means involving attorneys from diverse practices such as divorce, real estate, commercial and business, probate, etc.”.  (Read the full piece in the Chicago Lawyer.)
  • On a personal note I do not find kittens to be cute.  They grow up to be cats.  Cats are cunning, untrustworthy creatures.  I’ve met Meg a few times and have a lot of respect for her, but this conflation of kittens and pro bono threatens to shatter my entire pro bono worldview.  Very troubling.

• 1.30.13 – a blog post from the Pro Bono Institute reminds us of the growing role that corporate counsel play in delivering pro bono services, and that the Association of Corporate Counsel has been leading the charge to promote more pro bono from in-house counsel.

Music!  This week’s song, from Canadian songwriter A.C. Newman, is called “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer.”  The song’s first lines are “Like a hitman, or like a dancer – all muscle.”  I’ve always thought this a clever, artful way to express the idea of two things having exact likeness of form but unlikeness of purpose.  I also love the line in the refrain, “You’re gonna change sides, but you wanted to wait,” which speaks to me about the moral push and pull we feel when forced to choose between what’s right and what’s popular, and how we sometimes cling to the hope that what’s right will become popular.   Enjoy this nearly note-perfect, in-studio performance of “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer.”