June 29, 2018 at 11:31 am
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives 
Hello there, interested public. Lots of news this week. I’ll let the pieces speak for themselves.
See you around,
Sam
Immigration
- According to Law.com, “[t]he ABA is coordinating volunteers and donations through its South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project.”
- PRNewsWire.com reports that HKM Employment Attorneys “agree[d] to provide pro bono legal assistance to any federal employee who refuses to separate children from their parents at the border.“
- In Texas, the President of the State Bar Association released a statement to members of the bar, urging Texas attorneys to volunteer: “Whenever we have had manmade or natural disasters in this state, Texas lawyers have risen to the occasion to help those who cannot help themselves.“
- In Austin, Texas, the Austin Bar Association held clinics preparing lawyers to assist families through the initial steps of the asylum process.
- Also in Texas, the Texas Tribune published a “list of organizations that are mobilizing to help immigrant children separated from their families.“
- In Oregon, the ACLU “sued the federal government…to open access for attorneys to work with immigration detainees housed in Sheridan’s federal correctional institution.” The District Court has granted a temporary restraining order forcing the Department of Homeland Security to Allow attorneys to visit or communicate with civil immigration detainees.
- In Albany, NY, lawyers from Greenberg Traurig “working pro bono with LegalHealth, New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), helped draft and lobby for legislation [now] signed into law to allow parents who are at risk of detainment or deportation based on immigration status to designate a standby guardian to care for their children in the event the parent is detained or deported.“
- Also in New York, “[a]fter demonstrators began protesting outside a New York City immigration court and temporary detention facility, federal authorities started holding immigration hearings through video conference.“
- Also in New York, “[t]he New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) announced a plan yesterday to bring pro bono leaders from several New York law firms and attorneys throughout the state to help the families that have been separated after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.“
- In Florida, “[several]…law firms have pledged to help reunify separated immigrant families and volunteered to represent asylum seekers on the U.S.-Mexico border.”
- In California, “[i]mmigrant-rights advocates asked a federal judge to order the release of parents separated from their children at the border, as dozens of demonstrators decrying the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown were arrested Tuesday at a rally ahead of a Los Angeles appearance by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.“
- Also in California, the state legislature sent two bills to the governor’s desk “that would boost legal aid for immigrant students by $21 million.“
- The ABA reported that “[t]he Lawyers for Good Government Foundation is organizing an effort to reunite immigrant families separated by the federal government after they were caught crossing the U.S. border…[the project] brings together large law firms and immigration law nonprofits.“
- According to the Huffington Post, “[h]undreds of Georgetown University alumni are calling on Kirstjen Nielsen, a fellow alumna, to resign as homeland security secretary over her role in separating migrant children from their parents at the border.“
Student Loans
Pro Bono
Environmental Law
Legal Technology
- At Amazon.com, “[e]mployees…are calling on chief executive Jeff Bezos to end the sale of facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies and to discontinue partnerships with firms that work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).“
- In a gloss on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Carpenter v. United States, the Director of NYU’s Policing Project wrote in the New York Times that “[t]he growing use of technology by law enforcement agencies to monitor or target people — particularly people and communities of color — is expanding at head-spinning speed, and nothing the courts do is going to stop that…What we need is regulation, and fast, and it is going to have to come from the local, state and federal governments, not the courts. Even Justice Samuel Alito, in his dissent, understood that “legislation is much preferable.” He said that was “for many reasons, including the enormous complexity of the subject, the need to respond to rapidly changing technology, and the Fourth Amendment’s scope.”
- In California, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 became law. “The law, which takes effect in 2020, gives consumers sweeping control over their personal data.“
Public Interest Funding
Criminal Justice Reform
Music Bonus!
Bruce Springsteen, “American Land”
Permalink
June 28, 2018 at 2:30 pm
· Filed under Career Resources, Job Hunting, legal_job, Public Interest Jobs, public_interest_law
Photo: Brenda Gottesman – CC License
Legal Fellowship, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
The Organization
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a public interest law firm that protects and advances the civil rights of adults and children with mental disabilities. For nearly four decades, our lawyers and policy staff have brought impact litigation, participated in Supreme Court cases, lobbied Congress and federal agencies, and worked with state-based legal advocates to ensure the rights of people with mental mental disabilities to self-determination, employment, education, housing, and health care and mental health services. Our cases are primarily brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Medicaid Act. We are active in the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights and other D.C-based coalitions. The Bazelon Center envisions an America where people who have mental disabilities make their own life choices and are supported in participating fully in their communities.
The Position
- The Bazelon Center regularly seeks applicants for Skadden, Equal Justice Works, and other applicable fellowships. Candidates interested in a fellowship project in any of our core areas of advocacy, including criminal justice systems reform or children’s mental health and education systems reform, are encouraged to submit a preliminary proposal for consideration. Please review our website to learn more about our current advocacy efforts.
- Qualifications: Applicants should be rising third-year law students or recent law school graduates with excellent academic credentials and strong research and writing skills. Related experience and/or judicial clerkship experience is a plus.
Do you have a passion for helping others? See the full-post on PSJD.
Permalink
June 21, 2018 at 3:00 pm
· Filed under Career Resources, legal_job, Public Interest Jobs, public_interest_law, Uncategorized
Litigation & Law Fall Intern
The Organization:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is the nation’s leading women’s health care provider, educator, and advocate, serving women, men, teens and families. For over 100 years, PPFA has done more than any other organization in the United States to improve women’s health and safety, prevent unintended pregnancies, and advance the right and ability of individuals and families to make informed and responsible health care decisions.
The Position
The Public Policy Litigation and Law Department of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) seeks second (2L) and third year (3L) law student interns for its New York and Washington, D.C. offices for full-time or part-time internships for academic credit during the Fall Semester of 2018.
Interns can expect to work closely with PPFA attorneys on a wide variety of litigation responsibilities, including, legal research and analysis; drafting memoranda, pleadings, affidavits and briefs; factual development for ongoing or developing litigation; and communicating with clients.
Permalink
June 15, 2018 at 12:12 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! It’s been quite a week, with major developments in Access to Justice, Student Loans, and Immigration. In Colorado and Connecticut, the right-to-counsel-for-eviction-cases movement seems to be gaining ground. Meanwhile, Wisconsin is engaged in some soul-searching about its pay rate for private attorneys assigned indigent defense cases. And in DC, the DoE’s Inspector General accused the Department of slow-walking applications for student debt forgiveness while Senators Warren and Rubio introduced a bill to protect the professional licenses of student loan borrowers in default. Last but far from least, General Sessions issued an immigration ruling with a dramatic impact on asylum seekers.
See you around,
Sam
Immigration
Student Loans
Law & Technology
Access to Justice – Civil
Access to Justice – Criminal
Criminal Justice Reform
Music Bonus!
Barbara Streisand, “Children Will Listen” (Into the Woods)
Permalink
June 14, 2018 at 2:30 pm
· Filed under Career Resources, Job Hunting, legal_job, public_interest_law
Policy Director
The Organization
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kansas is a non-profit and non-partisan organization dedicated to preserving and advancing the civil rights and legal freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The ACLU of Kansas works in the state legislature, the courts, and local communities to protect the rights of all people living in Kansas. The organization’s work includes efforts to strengthen and defend First Amendment rights, voting rights, reproductive rights, racial justice, LGBT rights, immigrants’ rights, stopping government surveillance, and reforming the criminal justice system. The ACLU of Kansas often works in broad-based coalitions made up of individuals and organizations from across the political, partisan, and ideological spectrum. The ACLU of Kansas is an affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union, has an annual budget of approximately $1 million, and has more than 30,000 supporters across the state. The headquarters of the ACLU of Kansas is in Overland Park, Kansas, with a field office located in Wichita, Kansas.
The Position
The ACLU of Kansas seeks a dynamic, creative, self-motivated team player to serve as its Policy Director. The Policy Director will oversee the organization’s broad-based policy program at the state and local levels with a focus on building organizational capacity around our racial justice work, including voting rights, immigrants’ rights, and smart justice reform. Reporting directly to the Executive Director, the position is based in Overland Park. During the Kansas legislative session, this staff person will be expected to be in the state capitol in Topeka on a regular basis (usually Tuesday-Thursday).
Ready to fight for civil rights and liberties? Check out the posting on PSJD.
Permalink
June 8, 2018 at 11:40 am
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! The past week has been an eventful one, particularly concerning Federal agency action (and responses to such action by other government and civil institutions). Additionally, the Movement Advocacy Project (MAP) released a report on the changing dynamic between state legislatures and local authorities. You’ll find these tidbits first, ordinally, below. Along, of course, with other news of interest.
See you around,
Sam
Federal Government
- The Washington Post reported that “Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, fired the agency’s 25-member advisory board Wednesday, days after some of its members criticized his leadership of the watchdog agency.“
- According to Waterworld.com, a broad coalition of interest groups, “including public health, environment, faith-based, farming and ranching, and legal advocacy groups” signed a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services “calling for the immediate release of a suppressed federal study that says perfluorinated chemicals in drinking water are hazardous at much lower levels than the [EPA]’s guidelines state.”
- Courthousenews.com reported that “[a] host of legal advocacy organizations, human trafficking survivors, attorneys and prosecutors called on the Justice Department Wednesday to reinstate funding for post-conviction relief to expunge trafficking survivors’ criminal records.“
State & Local Government – Civil Rights
Legal Employment
Immigration
- The Mayors of Los Angeles, CA; Houston, TX; Tucson, AZ, and Albuquerque, NM sent a letter to Attorney General Sessions condemning the Department of Justice’s policy of separating children from their families at the border as “cruel,” “morally reprehensible,” “not an appropriate use of taxpayer resources,” and “utterly inconsistent with our values of decency and compassion.”
- In New York, NY, Human Rights Watch released a report criticizing New York City’s “criminal carveout” excluding immigrants with certain criminal convictions from city-funded immigrant legal services.
- Haaretz profiled the joint efforts of faith communities across the country to provide sanctuary to immigrants within their spaces of worship.
Access to Justice – Civil
Access to Justice – Criminal
Criminal Justice Reform
Music Bonus!
Mumford & Sons, “Not in Nottingham” (Disney Cover)
Permalink
June 8, 2018 at 9:54 am
· Filed under Career Resources, Job Hunting, Public Interest Jobs
Photo: Brenda Gottesman – CC License
Teleford Taylor Human Rights Clinical Teaching Fellowship
The Organization
The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is a leader in legal education, located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The law school is renowned for its program in intellectual property, which includes the FAME Center for Fashion, Arts, Media and Entertainment Law. Cardozo Law has a long tradition of public advocacy and is the birthplace of the Innocence Project and the home of our Center for Rights and Justice. Cardozo offers a world-class faculty and encourages creative thinking and innovation in the legal profession. Cardozo provides students with a strong foundation in legal theory combined with practical hands-on experience in a variety of areas including criminal law, civil rights law, and business law. The school prides itself on creating a vibrant and warm community for faculty, staff and students.
The Position
The Fellow will work in the Benjamin B. Ferencz Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic and in the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights (CLIHHR). Reporting directly to the Clinic and Institute Director, responsibilities will include co-supervising clinical projects, developing seminar lesson plans, teaching in the clinic seminar, mentoring students, researching and writing, and planning and implementing Clinic and CLIHHR events. The position is ideal for a candidate with a strong interest in clinical teaching and in the substantive areas of international human rights law, international refugee law, and international criminal law.
The Benjamin B. Ferencz Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic is a semester-long clinic in which students represent individuals and institutional clients in international human rights cases and projects selected within a framework of atrocity prevention. The overall objective of the Clinic is to provide students with first-hand experience in the range of activities in which lawyers engage to promote respect for human rights and the diverse ways the law is utilized to prevent atrocity crimes and promote justice and accountability for mass atrocities. In order effectively to bridge theory and practice, the Clinic is divided into several pedagogical components: a weekly seminar, case and project work, and skills training. In the spring semester, the Advanced Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic continues the work of the fall Clinic with a select group of students.
Do you have a passion for human rights? See the full-post on PSJD.
Permalink
