By: Steve Grumm

Hi, folks.  There is much news to cover in the access-to-justice, pro bono, and public interest arenas – including, of course, information about New York State’s newly implemented rule requiring 50 hours of pro bono service before getting licensed to practice.  Before that, a few other items that caught my attention this week: 

• as I mentioned in a previous bulletin edition, new data are out looking at poverty in the U.S.  Here, from the Census Bureau, is Poverty: 2010 and 2011 – American Community Survey Briefs. 
• nonprofit news: the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports on a Forbes study of wealthy charitable donors’ giving habits: “The richer a donor is, the less likely he or she is to make unrestricted gifts, a new study of the world’s wealthiest donors has found. Nearly 70 percent of donors with $1-million to $5-million in investable assets say they prefer to give unrestricted gifts to charity, while among those with assets of $50-million or more, just 45 percent say they prefer to make unrestricted gifts.”
• a report getting much attention this week was this one, from the New York Times, about collaborations between debt collection agencies and prosecutors’ offices through which the former issue notices to debtors on the latter’s letterhead. 

Okay, the public interest news in very brief:

• more legal aid funding from the national mortgage foreclosure fraud class-action settlement (MA and RI):
• Missouri public defenders about to implement new policies to limit caseloads;
• the legal aid community should use more research and data to make progress on the access-to-justice front;
• a new veterans initiative from 2 Florida legal services providers;
• an update on San Fran’s Neighborhood Prosecutor Initiative;
• details on NY’s new 50-hour pro bono requirement for admission to the bar;
• light on lawyers to help the poor in NW Texas;
• Contra Costa County prosecutors headed for the picket lines(?);
• rolling out the Ohio Veterans and Military Legal Assistance Project;
• trouble in Warren County, NY meeting new state indigent defense standards;
• educating nonprofit funders about legal aid’s importance;
• LSC has a new VP for grants management;
• call for proposals for the Equal Justice Conference’s law school pro bono pre-conference;
• more self-help legal centers in Illinois (keeping w/ a national trend);
• NorCal pro bono all-stars;
• public defenders should not post pictures of clients’ underwear (leopard-skin or otherwise) on the Facebooks;
• Harvard, Stanford, NYU, and Yale law schools get Ford Foundation funding to promote student public interest work;
• Super music bonus!

The summaries:

• 9.20.12 – some good legal-aid funding news out of New England, stemming from the national foreclosure fraud class-action settlement:
  • Rhode Island: “To assist low and middle income families facing foreclosure, Attorney General Peter Kilmartin today announced a two-year, $1.57 million grant to Rhode Island Legal Services (RILS) to fund the Foreclosure Prevention Project.  The Foreclosure Prevention Project grant is funded through the National Mortgage Settlement between the five largest mortgage service providers and attorneys general nationwide…. With the grant, RILS expects to help stop, prevent, or delay the foreclosure of approximately 1,800 homes each year.”  (Full article on LoanSafe website.) 
  • Massachusetts: “The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) and the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) are set to launch a two-year effort to give legal help to homeowners facing foreclosure or eviction.  The Borrower Representation Initiative is being funded by a $6 million grant from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.”  (Story from the Boston Business Journal.  And here’s more info from AG’s website.

• 9.20.12 – Missouri public defenders are about to implement new policies regarding caseload restrictions in order to alleviate pressures and increase quality of service to defendants.  Here is an interview with Cat Kelly, head of the statewide indigent defense program.  An excerpt of Ms. Kelly explaining forthcoming changes: “As of October, 17 district public defender offices serving 54 counties will be operating on limited availability — meaning they will be able to take cases during that month only up to their maximum allowable monthly caseload and then their doors will have to close.  Any remaining applications will have to go on a waiting list for defender services unless the judges choose to do something else with them — e.g. dispose of the cases without jail time (since the possibility of jail time is the constitutional trigger that requires appointment of counsel) or appointing private attorneys to handle the cases pro bono (without pay).  Another 10-12 offices are in line to do the same in the next month or two.  All but three public defender trial offices are significantly overloaded and those three (Moberly, Maryville, and Kirksville) are operating right at or just slightly over their capacity.” More coverage: 
  • 9.20.12 – a story from TV station KY3: The Missouri State Public Defenders office is bursting at the seams. It’s a problem that’s been brewing since the early 1990s.  Caseloads keep growing but staffing increases are not keeping up.   In 2008, the Public Defender Commission decided enough was enough.  It limited the number of cases each district could take as a way to deal with the growing overload.   The commission’s ability to impose such caps was tied up in litigation.  That changed in last July.  That’s when the Missouri Supreme Court decided judges cannot appoint public defenders to additional cases after they’ve reached their
  • 9.13.12 – “Boone and Callaway County attorneys who practice civil law found out yesterday they might be assigned criminal defense cases as soon as next month as the result of a new cap local public defenders are placing on their caseloads…. Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Presiding Judge Gary Oxenhandler [went on to say,] ‘Don’t think for a moment that somehow this crisis is the fault of the public defender. It is not. For the past 40 years, the public defender has been the savior of the private bar.”  (Story from the Columbia Tribune.)   

• 9.20.12 – the Pro Bono Institute’s Esther Lardent calls for increased use of statistical- and research-based processes in evaluating access-to-justice needs in the civil legal services community.  “All too often in the civil legal services and pro bono worlds we simply rely on our sense of what works and anecdotal information, rather than rigorous and evidence-based research on what strategies, fora, and approaches work best for which low-income clients. With so many low-income families facing foreclosure, can we identify with any degree of confidence and evidence of outcomes, which approaches – mediation, litigation, negotiation – work best for which types of homeowners? As the number of bankruptcies grows, have we analyzed the outcomes of these cases to identify the most effective steps and protocols? At a time when more and more people come to court without a lawyer, have we examined the different models of pro se/self-representation and their usefulness for various matters such as landlord/tenant versus small claims?  Sadly, the answer is that, with some notable exceptions, we have not.”   Here’s Lardent’s full piece.

• 9.20.12 – in Florida, the Legal Aid Service of Broward County and Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida are collaborating on a goal “to create a veterans’ initiative, expanding upon current services provided to military members and their families. Expanded services include representation in securing veterans’ benefits and Social Security benefits for homeless veterans, and obtaining driver’s licenses and birth certificates. The initiative will assist in eviction and foreclosure prevention; family issues such as child support, custody and divorce, and probate and consumer matters.”  (Full op-ed in the Sun-Sentinel.)

• 9.20.12 – in San Francisco, “District Attorney George Gascón updated reporters Wednesday morning on his office’s 18-month old Neighborhood Prosecutor Initiative and announced his plan for a program for juvenile offenders throughout the city.  The initiative aims at curbing recidivism and keeping non-violent crimes such as infractions out of the criminal court system.  There are currently nine neighborhood courts, each with prosecutor assigned to work with two police districts.”  The initiative uses volunteer “adjudicators” who work with prosecutors to determine criminal punishment and treatment options that will help defendants avoid future criminal activity.  (Story from the MissionLocal website.)

• 9.19.12 – Details of the new 50-hour pro bono requirement for applicants to the New York bar were unveiled yesterday by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman…. The first-in-the-nation requirement will take effect immediately for first- and second-year law students, who will have up to 34 months to fulfill the mandate. Current third-years are exempt.  Starting Jan. 1, 2015, every applicant to the bar will be required to fulfill the requirement….  Approved pro bono work includes legal services for people of “limited means”; not-for-profit organizations; individuals or groups seeking to promote access to justice; and public service in the judiciary and state and local governments….  Participation in law school clinics for which students receive credit would count.   (Here’s a New York Law Journal article.)  Also noteworthy is that New York Law School, where Chief Judge Lippman made the announcement, rode its momentum by announcing a new pro bono program to help its students meet the requirement.  Finally, some additional materials from the state high court: 
  • an FAQ sheet;
  • a press release;
  • a report from the committee tasked with crafting the rule.

• 9.18.12 – despite the efforts of Legal Aid of Northwest Texas and a group of pro bono volunteers, “the demand [for legal aid] is still far greater than the available help”  (Article on the NewsWest 9 website.) 

• 9.18.12 – “Deputy district attorneys in Contra Costa County said that a strike is a distinct possibility given the wave of deep cuts that have swept through their office.  Since 2006, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office has lost more than 30 prosecutors – many to neighboring counties that pay more with lighter workloads…. In July, the county imposed a contract on deputy district attorneys, cutting wages by 5.25 percent while also reducing benefits.”  (Report on the KCBS website.)
  • Here’s more coverage, from the San Jose Mercury News, on how budget cuts are adversely affecting Contra Costa’s criminal justice system.

• 9.18.12 – well, “OVMLAP” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but this is still good news: in Ohio, diversionary courts have helped veterans to avoid getting into criminal trouble.  But many Ohio vets  have unmet civil legal aid needs.  With grants from Walmart Foundation and Ohio State Bar Foundation, the Ohio Veterans and Military Legal Assistance Project is starting now.  “The project will connect low-income veterans to lawyers who are willing to help them with landlords, credit-card companies or some family-law cases.”  (Article in the Columbus Dispatch.)

• 9.17.12 – “Warren County (NY) officials are protesting a change to the way the state funds legal services provided to the indigent [criminal defendants].  The county Board of Supervisors Mandate Relief Committee plans to contact the state Mandate Relief Council about the change.  The new policy requires the county Public Defender’s Office to add or improve services each year or risk losing a quarter of its $213,000 annual state funding.” (Article in the Post-Star.)

• 9.17.12 – educating nonprofit funders about civil legal aid’s importance.  From the Lawscape blog: “The Public Welfare Foundation has been making important grants in the area of access to civil justice.  Mary McClymont, PWF President, has also been making a major effort to talk to her foundation colleagues about the importance of supporting civil legal aid. She was interviewed recently by Tamara Lucas Copeland, president of Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, about the needs of low-income people and what private funders can do to help. This video, aimed at the funder community, is available on the PWF’s website, www.publicwelfare.org . It’s also found on YouTube here.”

• 9.17.12 – a Legal Services Corporation staffing announcement: “Amid continuing tough times for the Legal Services Corp., the group has announced a new vice president.  Lynn Jennings joins the LSC, the largest source of funding nationwide for civil legal aid, as vice president for grants management. Her duties include overseeing programmatic operations, the competitive grant process, and assessment and oversight of grantees.” (Story from the National Law Journal.)

• 9.17.12 – The 2013 Equal Justice Conference Law School Pre-conference planning team invites you to submit program recommendations for this year’s pre-conference.  Please refer to the proposal guidelines and complete the training proposal submission form online.  If you have questions about filling out the online form, please contact Adrienne Packard at adrienne.packard@americanbar.org.  Training proposals are due no later than October 15, 2012.

• 9.14.12 – the continuing rise of self-help centers for litigants who represent themselves in civil matters (in most cases b/c they can’t afford a lawyers and legal aid doesn’t have the resources to handle the case): People in Macoupin County [Illinois] who can’t afford to hire an attorney soon will be getting online help through the efforts of the court system and the Carlinville library.  A free online legal self-help center will be accessible to anyone with a computer connected to the Internet….  The Macoupin legal self-help center is one of 91 throughout Illinois, each in a separate county.  Start-up funding for the legal center is provided by the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation through a state appropriation.” (Story from the State Journal-Register.

• 9.14.12 – The Recorder recognizes the outstanding pro bono efforts of 10 law-firm offices in Northern California.

• 9.14.12 – this news items contains a good lesson for law students about a very, very inappropriate use of social media.  “A Miami-Dade judge declared a mistrial in a murder case Wednesday after a defense lawyer posted a photo of her client’s leopard-print underwear on Facebook.  [Defendant Fermin Recalde’s] family brought him a bag of fresh clothes to wear during trial. When Miami-Dade corrections officers lifted up the pieces for a routine inspection, Recalde’s public defender Anya Cintron Stern snapped a photo of Recalde’s briefs with her cellphone, witnesses said.   While on a break, the 31-year-old lawyer posted the photo on her personal Facebook page with a caption suggesting the client’s family believed the underwear was ‘proper attire for trial.’  Although her Facebook page is private and can only be viewed by her friends, somebody who saw the posting notified Miami-Dade Judge Leon Firtel, who declared a mistrial.  And Cintron Stern was immediately fired, according to Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos Martinez, whose office represents clients who cannot afford a private attorney.”  (Article from the Miami Herald.)

• 9.13.12 – “The Ford Foundation…announced plans to place as many as 100 students from Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, New York University School of Law and Yale Law School in public interest summer jobs in 2013.   Public interest fellowships typically pay stipends just large enough to cover basic costs. By contrast, the Ford fellows will receive $15,000 for summer work at an array of high-profile public interest organizations, including the Brookings Institution, the Environmental Defense Fund and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. The foundation has committed $1.75 million for the inaugural year.”  (Article in the National Law Journal.)

• Music!  A few weeks ago I went to a great concert featuring punk-rock legend Bob Mould.  Mould’s had a fascinating music career trajectory.  He started off as the front-man in legendary punk band Husker Du, moved into indie rock, then electronica, then back to rock.  Now one never knows quite what he’s going to get into.  But he played a great rock show here in DC a couple of weeks back.  So here’s “See A Little Light,” a lighter song from his 1989 s0lo debut. 

 We now have some details on how the 50-hour requirement/rule will be rolled out.  Here’s the New York Law Journal piece.  A couple of important points:

• “The…requirement will take effect immediately for first- and second-year law students, who will have up to 34 months to fulfill the mandate. Current third-years are exempt….  Starting Jan. 1, 2015, every applicant to the bar will be required to fulfill the requirement.
• “Participation in law school clinics for which students receive credit would count [toward satisfying the rule].”

Also, we’ve hosted on PSJD some handouts from the press conference at which the details were announced:

1. an FAQ sheet;
2. a press release;
3. a report from the committee tasked with crafting the rule.

Calling all aspiring Skadden Fellows.  A reminder that the proposal/application deadline is October 1, 2012.   Use PSJD’s fellowship application tools to polish up your proposal now.  Good luck!

The following government programs have 3L deadlines coming up soon:

• Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General – Fellowship Program (Paid, Deadline 09/14/12)
• Oregon Department of Justice – Honors Attorney Program (Paid, Deadline 09/14/12)
• Federal Trade Commission – Bureau of Competition Entry Legal Attorney Program (Paid, Deadline 09/15/12)
• Comptroller of the Currency – Law Department Chief Counsel’s Employment Program (Paid, Deadline 09/17/12)
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – Louis D. Brandeis Attorney Honors Program (Unpaid, Deadline 09/17/12)
• Federal Communications – Office of General Counsel 2013 Attorney Honors Program (Paid, Deadline 09/21/12)
• Department of Energy – Office of General Counsel Attorneys Honors Program (Paid, Deadline not yet established was 09/23/11)
• Office of Personnel Management – Presidential Management Fellows Program (Paid, Deadline not yet established was 09/25/11)
• Housing & Urban Development – Office of General Counsel Legal Honors Program (Paid, Deadline 09/28/12)
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – 2013 Legal Division Honors Program (Paid, Deadline 09/30/12)
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission – Atomic Safety & Licensing Board Panel Judicial Law Clerk Program (Paid, Deadline 09/30/12)

• Health & Human Services – Office of Counsel to the Inspector General Legal Extern Program (Unpaid, Deadline 09/21/12)
• The White House Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 09/23/12)
• Environmental Protection Agency – R8 Office of Regional Counsel Volunteer Intern Program (Unpaid, Deadline 09/30/12)
• Sacramento County CA District Attorney’s Office – Law Student Internship Program (Unpaid, Deadline 09/30/12)

For more information on these listings and more, check out The University of Arizona College of Law’s 2012-2013 Government Honors & Internship Handbook. Please note that the Handbook is available to subscribers only. Don’t worry, though – most law schools are already subscribed.  Just talk to your Career Services counselor for your school’s username and password.

[Ed. Note: Expert Opinion” is a weekly feature which offers insight , opinion, and career advice from attorneys in a broad array of public interest positions.  This week’s post features Q&A with Professor Emily Benfer of the Loyola University School of Law.]

Emily A. Benfer is a Clinical Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Health Justice Project a medical-legal partnership at at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy.  Professor Benfer has dedicated her career to serving the public interest. She was a legal intern for Judge David Hamilton, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the Indiana Protective Order Pro Bono Project, and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. She received an Arnold & Porter Equal Justice Works Fellowship to implement the advocacy and litigation strategy that she designed in order to represent, and improve the District’s response to, homeless families, children and youth. She then represented preschool aged children with disabilities in a successful class action against the District of Columbia. As a Staff Attorney and Teaching Fellow in the Georgetown University Law Center Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, she supervised and mentored law students on an array of legislative advocacy projects.

***

Can you give us a brief outline of how you got to the job you are in today? Was this position what you originally planned on doing, or was your career trajectory part of an evolving process?

After serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, I worked as a paralegal at New Haven Legal Assistance Association, Inc. in Connecticut. In both experiences, I confronted poverty, injustice and inequality and I gained a better understanding of the skills and strategies necessary to cause social change. I determined to develop and employ these skills in an effort to ensure social justice. At the time, I thought this meant working in the trenches and advocating for clients. I quickly learned that there is no one right way to tackle injustice and that, in order to be truly effective, one must become a lifelong learner and gather and hone skills throughout one’s career.

Toward that end, I am drawn to professional opportunities that will challenge me to expand my skillset to become a more effective advocate. During my career, I have represented individual clients, organized, and passed local legislation (as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless). I responded to patterns of injustice by gaining experience in class action litigation (at a public interest firm where I successfully represented a class of students with disabilities). I learned about and contributed to public policy creation and the federal legislative process (as a Supervising Attorney and Teaching Fellow at Georgetown Law Center’s Federal Legislation Clinic). 

As a Teaching Fellow at Georgetown Law Center, I recognized the importance of mentoring and teaching the next generation of public interest lawyers. As a Clinical Professor of Law, I am able to simultaneously respond to social injustice in our communities while encouraging others to join in the effort by supporting and training law students.

What internships or activities did you complete in law school that helped prepare you for this position?

Logging over 800 hours, I took advantage of every pro bono opportunity offered by the law school. These cases gave me hands on experience and better prepared me to represent clients and develop the attorney-client relationship immediately after earning a law degree. I served as a law clerk at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the Protective Order Pro Bono Program, United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana.

In addition, I served in leadership positions in law school organizations and on local and national boards of directors. These experiences provided me with insight about organizational management, coalition building, and perspective on nationwide approaches to injustice.

How did your contacts with previous employers, professors, and colleagues influence your job search, if any?

I have asked and followed the advice of my mentors (previous employers, professors and colleagues) throughout my career trajectory. It is incredibly important to seek out and build relationships with people who have similar goals and greater experience. They need not be lawyers but they should believe in a similar mission. Among the most fulfilling and important relationships in my life are those with my mentors. They have challenged me, inspired me, guided me, shaped my ethics, expanded my ambitions, and provided sage advice. They are exemplary heroes.

Would you change your preparation for this position in any way if you had the chance?

I would have enrolled in a clinic during law school.

Thanks, Emily!

The Emory Public Interest Committee (EPIC, Emory Law School’s public interest student group) is delighted to announce their conference entitled “And Justice for All? Criminal Justice in the South.”  The conference will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2012, at Emory University School of Law, and it will broadly track the core stages a criminal defendant goes through as s/he moves throughout the justice system:  pre-trial, trial, and post-conviction.  The conference seeks to engage participants in a meaningful and balanced dialogue concerning the flaws within the Southern justice system, as well as possibilities for alternatives and reform.

Following a keynote address by Stephen Bright, president and senior counsel for the Southern Center for Human Rights, the conference will feature three sets of panel discussions with topics such as search and seizure, prison conditions, and rehabilitation of released defendants.  All panels will address these issues with a special emphasis on identifying existing inadequacies and possible reform within the South.  The conference will address and examine the existing problems and potential for change from a wide range of perspectives, including legislators, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement officials, and judges.

Information is available at http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/conferences/2012-epic-conference.html, and registration is open now.  There is no fee to attend (small charge for those seeking CLE credits), but registration is requested in order to plan for materials and meals.  Please email conference co-chairs Anam Ismail and Steve Justus at epicconference2012@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Do you know a law student who’s a public interest/pro bono rock star?  NALP is seeking nominations for the 2012 PSLawNet/PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award. 

Download the Nomination Form Here!

Purpose: To recognize the significant contributions that law students make to underserved populations, the public interest community, and legal education by performing pro bono or public service work.

Eligibility: The Pro Bono Publico Award is available to any second- or third-year law student at a PSJD Subscriber School. The recipient will be honored during an Award Luncheon at NALP’s Public Service Mini-Conference on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at the Washington, DC office of Crowell & Moring, LLP. The award recipient will receive transportation to Washington, a one-night stay in an area hotel, a commemorative plaque, and a small monetary award.

Award Criteria: Law students are judged by the extracurricular commitment they have made to law-related public service projects or organizations; the quality of work they performed; and the impact of their work on the community, their fellow students, and the school. Though a student’s involvement in law school-based public interest organizing and fundraising is relevant; actual pro bono and public interest legal work will be the primary consideration. 

Nomination Deadline & Packet Contents: Nominations must be received by Friday, September 14, 2012 at 5pm Eastern Time, by fax, mail, or email (see contact information at bottom). Along with the nomination form and a résumé, nomination packets may include any materials which support a nominee’s candidacy; such as letters of recommendation, statements detailing a nominee’s work, and media articles. 

by Ashley Matthews

Last week, Above the Law ran an article about an Ohio State University grad who decided to postpone her law school education to drive an Oscar Mayer Weinermobile cross-country as a hotdogger. While this may seem like an odd detour, her decision to defer law school admission should not come as a surprise. With the rising costs of tuition, dim job prospects, and the threat of insurmountable student loans, many students are second-guessing their decision to attend law school. And those that are currently in law school want more bang for their buck – including that dream job.

For public interest law students, this may be even harder to attain with increased competition for jobs at legal organizations that are facing major budget cuts and layoffs.

There is, however, a silver lining to the dark cloud of uncertainty that hangs over many recent graduates, especially those focused on public interest. It’s called social entrepreneurship, and chances are you have heard of it before. It’s a constantly evolving field, and social entrepreneurs are known to be passionate risk-takers with undying determination.

Social entrepreneurs see a need and come up with innovative ways to address it. The “need” may actually be a problem or issue, and usually social entrepreneurs create a project or non-profit to fill a gap in services currently being provided to help targeted populations. A law degree increases access to resources that many populations need, so social entrepreneurship is a good example of an alternative career route for those with a great idea.

If you’re interested in using your law degree to trailblaze your own path, check out PSJD’s guide to project-based fellowships or the Yale Guide to Postgraduate Public Interest Fellowships for tips and funding information. Many fellowships specifically require applicants to collaborate with a host organization, but some, like Echoing Green and Ashoka, do not.

By: Steve Grumm

Uncle Sam recently implemented large-scale changes to the federal hiring system.  This directly impacts both law students and attorneys.  Here’s a great article, “The Pathways Program: Clearing the Way to Entry-level Federal Employment”, from PSJD summer 2012 intern extraordinairre Maria Hibbard.

And don’t forget to use PSJD’s detailed federal career resources page.

by Ashley Matthews

Today, social media is a part of almost every law student’s life. With the click of a button, you can see all the information you ever needed to know (and more) about everyone you know (and even those you don’t). Navigating the dense and over-populated world of social networking sites can get tricky as we make the transition from law student to legal professional, so check out FindLaw’s 5 Things Law Students Should Never Do on Social Media (originally reported by Mashable):

1. Illegal Activities

This one is a no-brainer, and most savvy law students don’t actively post pictures on social networks of themselves smoking a bong at a party or joy-riding in a cop car. However, what you may not know is that Facebook’s new Timeline feature makes finding those underage-binge-drinking photos as easy as clicking on the year “2003” on your profile. Thoroughly check all your social networking profiles to make sure no old photos can come back to haunt you in your new career.

2. Bullying

Everyone knows a cyber bully, and we’ve probably all seen a few bitter e-wars waged on Facebook or Twitter. Be wary of engaging in any negative or spiteful banter on social networking sites, as most of everything you post is searchable!

3. Disparagement of Professor

Has your professor ever said something that made you want to throw your casebook out of a window? This happens all the time, but keep it to yourself. If potential employers (or their friends) see or hear about you posting negative comments, they will more than likely think of it as disrespectful. It could actually hurt your chances of getting a job, and could do more to hurt your reputation than the professor you are griping about.

4. Lies

Okay, lying is always bad. But many have been known to slightly bend the truth for the sake of a Twitter bio or Facebook status update. Try not to fall victim to the rat race of competitive posts boasting perfect grade-point-averages or lucrative job offers. As Andrew Lu of FindLaw points out, “Should you ever enter the public sphere either as prosecutor or as an elected official, you should remember that the things you post as a 20-some-year-old may be vetted and could come back to haunt you.”

5. Unprofessional Pictures

Sure, your LinkedIn profile picture is the epitome of professionalism. However, a quick Google search could quickly show employers every profile picture on all your more personal social networking pages – even if your page is private. Find a happy balance between fun and professional, and you can’t go wrong.

Click here to read the full post on FindLaw!