San Francisco! There are certainly worse places to live.  Check out our Job o’ the Day:

The California Criminal Justice Reform Campaign is a new, multi-year criminal justice reform campaign to reduce California’s costly over-reliance on incarceration. The intent of this effort is to engage a broad cross section of the public to question the use of limited public dollars on costly incarceration instead of more effective approaches to public safety, and to create an initiative grounded in strategic partnerships to reduce the number of lower-risk people incarcerated in California prisons and jails and make smarter investments of public dollars.

In order to substantially reduce levels of incarceration and free public dollars for other public expenditures, the campaign will work to promote sentencing reform and advance other systemic policy reform at the state level and in target counties. The Campaign will also work to expand the use of alternatives to incarceration, including community-based supervision, drug treatment, mental health treatment, community service, workforce development, and other evidence-based practices and to reduce the re-incarceration of formerly incarcerated individuals for probation and parole violations.

Housed as a project of Tides Center, the campaign is supported by several local and national donors seeking to support more justice and rational criminal justice policies. The campaign is expected to last at least 3 to 5 years. To our knowledge, this is the first time a sustained criminal justice reform effort of this size, scope and duration has been created in California.

The Policy Associate will be responsible for engaging in extensive policy and data research and analysis, producing reports and briefings, and supporting the outreach and community engagement strategies of the campaign. The Policy Associate will engage with criminal justice experts, Sacramento legislative offices’ staff, allied organizations, and various local and state criminal justice agencies, among others. It is envisioned that the Policy Associate will support overall campaign strategy development and work collaboratively with the campaign team on a daily basis.

…

View the full listing on PSLawNet (login required).

Ever wanted to live in Rome?  Like employment law and the idea of managing the inner workings of a large organization?  Check out this great opportunity:

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. We are currently seeking to fill the position of Legal Officer P2 in the Administration & Employment Law Branch (LEGA) in our headquarters in Rome, Italy.

LEGA is responsible for administrative matters and matters arising in connection with WFP’s personnel.

Within delegated authority, the Legal Officer P2 will be responsible for the following duties:

• Consider the application of Regulations, Rules and procedures relevant to the internal justice system and other relevant aspects of human resources management, including disciplinary matters, privileges and immunities, rights and obligations of staff, legal status of staff and their dependents, financial recovery, taxation and social security benefits

• Provide legal advice and support to the Executive Director, Regional Bureaux, Country Offices and HQ Divisions on the legal and constitutional aspects of their activities, including but not limited to, governance, accountability and risk management issues.

• Provide legal advice and support on administrative issues arising in connection with the Programme’s personnel including but not limited to, handling appeals in the internal justice system.

• Provide legal advice and support to new initiatives, assisting transactions and developing standard model agreements and other operational documentation.

• Handle contractual disputes both at HQ and field level. Negotiating legal documents. Raising awareness of legal issues and providing training/support instruments to other units.

View the full listing on PSLawNet (login req’d.).

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers, from a sweltering, sun-drenched Washington, DC.  There is much public interest news to cover this week.  Before that, two other items of interest:

• Is the U.S. experiencing the highest poverty levels in the last half-century? With new poverty data set for release in several weeks, experts expect that the poverty rate will hit its highest mark since the mid-1960s.  “Poverty is spreading at record levels across many groups, from underemployed workers and suburban families to the poorest poor. More discouraged workers are giving up on the job market, leaving them vulnerable as unemployment aid begins to run out. Suburbs are seeing increases in poverty, including in such political battlegrounds as Colorado, Florida and Nevada, where voters are coping with a new norm of living hand to mouth.”  (Story from Washington Post.)
  • Another trend that augurs poorly for the poor is the potential for a continued rise in food prices as a result of drought conditions throughout most of the U.S. (Again, the Washington Post.)
• From the law-firm world…the National Law Journal has published “The Equity Gap: a Special Report on Women in the Partnership.” The intro: “Virtually every firm claims to be committed to helping women succeed, and they all seem to offer an array of women’s programs — affinity groups, business-development training and work/life balance initiatives. But are large firms committed to promoting women into the equity partnership? Our study of the largest firms in the United States by headcount shows that women represent just 15 percent of equity partners. At just five firms surveyed, women make up more than 25 percent of equity partners.”  (Here’s the multi-part report.)

On to the public interest news.  This week in very short:

• Access to justice a la Canadien;
• Legal Aid Foundation of Colorado raises $1.4m;
• Cal. Western Law’s bridge-to-practice incubator program includes a public service component; 
• This weekend: the Public Defender Advocacy Hiring and Training Conference for law students;
• “So how do we define pro bono, and does clinical work count?,” asks a law professor;
• civil legal services providers across the country benefitting from national mortgage foreclosure settlement funds;
• the funding woes confronting Peach State legal services providers;
• DC’s local court expands limited-scope representation to allow pro bono counsel to serve low-income litigants who would otherwise go pro se;
• The Legal Services Corporation’s board is meeting in Michigan;
• Birmingham, AL is moving from an appointed counsel system to a staffed public defense program;
• Everything’s bigger in Texas, including pro bono;
• A concise overview of successful pro bono models;
• Recent innovations in legal education highlight a move toward experience-based learning.
• Mick Jagger is 69 years old and I don’t know what to make of that.  Happy weekend.

The summaries:

• 7.27.12 – ATJ news from our northern neighbors: “The Canadian Bar Association will take on pro bono family law and poverty law test cases as part of a major push in the coming year to improve the public’s access to justice, says its incoming president.  Robert Brun told The Lawyers Weekly that the CBA will provide representation to litigants pro bono in select cases that could set important precedents on the right to legally aided counsel in areas including prison law, mental health law and refugee law….  The CBA is also announcing a ‘major access to justice initiative’ at its Vancouver annual meeting next month, Brun said. The two-year project will include representations to governments.”  (Story from The Lawyers Weekly.)

• 7.24.12 – “The Legal Aid Foundation [of Colorado] raised nearly $1.4 million in its 2011-12 Campaign for Justice, providing a welcome funding boost to a system strapped for cash.  Donations from law firms accounted for about 68 percent of the total, with many donor firms giving at the foundation’s suggested leadership level of $350 per associate…. The foundation is the fundraising arm of Colorado Legal Services, which has seen its budgets slashed in recent years.”  (Full story from Law Week Colorado.)

• 7.24.12 – “California Western School of Law started the Access to Law Initiative last month. It places eight attorneys who each operate their own practices in an office in downtown San Diego’s Symphony Towers. In exchange, the attorneys pledge to provide at least 100 hours per year of pro bono, public service and ‘sliding scale fee’ legal service.  The new lawyers are mentored by professors and practicing attorneys.  Attorney Eric LaGuardia, a consumer rights lawyer who said he ‘represents the little guy,’ told KPBS the program acts as an incubator for recent law school graduates.  The program was started by California Western professor Robert Seibel and modeled on an initiative at City University of New York. San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law is currently establishing a similar project….” (Full story from KPBS.)

• 7.24.12 – “Hoping to attract law students and young lawyers facing an increasingly dismal job market, representatives from public defender offices across the country are converging in Washington this weekend to make their pitch.  Since 2008, the D.C. Public Defender Service has organized a biennial conference dedicated to raising the profile of indigent criminal defense work. Public defender offices are often represented at general public interest job fairs, but PDS director of legal recruiting and conference organizer Jennifer Thomas said they saw a need for an event focusing on topics unique to public defender recruitment and jobs.  ‘In the civil legal services…everybody assumes you’re on the side of the angels. In criminal defense, the public perception is very different,’ she said.”  (Full story from the Blog of the Legal Times.)

• 7.23.12 – in a blog post, Prof. Stephen Ellmann of New York Law School ruminates on the definitional ambiguity of “pro bono” and argues that clinical work performed by law students, even though credit-bearing, should count as pro bono for purposes of NY State’s to-be-imposed 50-hour pro bono requirement for admission to the bar.  (Here’s the full blog post.)

• 7.23.12 – a look at how the civil legal services community is using funds from the national mortgage foreclosure class action settlement.  Attorneys general across the country are granting some of the settlement funds to legal services providers to bolster housing advocacy for those facing foreclosure and related legal problems.  (Here’s the information from a DOJ Access to Justice Initiative press release.)  

• 7.23.12 – the funding woes of Georgia’s legal services providers: “Funding for the Georgia Legal Services Program, the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation has dropped 13.5 percent since 2008, when their combined total budget was $24.2 million. To weather the losses, they’ve reduced staff, cut programs and dipped into reserve funds, even as the population they serve — people with civil legal problems who can’t afford a lawyer — has increased….  Atlanta Legal Aid, for example, has suspended its retirement plan for employees and for the past three years has dipped into its endowment to avoid layoffs, said its executive director, Steven Gottlieb.  But this year, Gottlieb finally had to lay people off. He said attrition and layoffs have shrunk Atlanta Legal Aid’s staff from 133 employees to 115 since the recession began. Another five to 10 people are also working fewer hours.”  And as is the case in many other jurisdictions, IOLTA revenues have fallen through the floor.  (Full story from the Daily Report.)

• 7.23.12 – “In two high-volume branches of the District of Columbia Superior Court, civil legal services groups hope to prove that when it comes to pro bono representation, a little is a lot better than none. A policy recently adopted by the court gives the green light for pro bono lawyers to enter temporary appearances for low-income litigants in small claims and debt collections cases. Legal services lawyers say the change means they can provide much needed representation using minimal resources…. Under the new policy…lawyers can file a notice with the court that they’ll be representing a client for a single day of proceedings. Once proceedings are over for the day, the attorney-client relationship ends. There is precedent at the court for limited-scope representation. Beginning in 2007, the court began allowing temporary pro bono representation in the landlord and tenant branch. Last June, a similar policy was put in place for the paternity and child support branch.” (Full, but password-protected, story in the National Law Journal.) 

• 7.23.12 – from a press release, details about the Legal Services Corporation board meeting which is taking place in Michigan on the 27^th.

• 7.23.12 – “Jefferson County [Birmingham and vicinity] courts will switch to a public defender system as part of a statewide effort to control the spiraling cost of providing lawyers for criminal defendants unable to afford counsel, officials said. The new public defender’s office will replace the current system of judges appointing lawyers for indigent defendants.  It’s hoped that a new defender will be in place this fall, and s/he will hire staff.  “Officials estimated the Birmingham division public defender’s office will have 40 lawyers and support staff.”  (Here’s the full story from the Birmingham News and here’s more coverage from the Montgomery Advertiser.)

• 7.23.12 – “Despite having fewer average full-time equivalent lawyers in 2011 compared to 2010, the 18 firms sharing pro bono information for their Texas lawyers donated more hours than the previous year.” (It’s password protected, so that’s all I’ve got from this Texas Lawyer article.)

• 7.20.12 – from the “PhilanTopic” blog, a concise overview of the different pro bono models which nonprofits and law firms or corporations use to collaborate. 

• 7.17.12 – the National Jurist looks at innovations in legal education: “Law schools are pushing the boundaries of the traditional law school model and experimenting at a level that legal education has not seen for several years, a new story reveals.  The National Jurist invited every law school in the U.S. to submit a nomination for how it is innovating its curriculum. More than 40 schools responded, showing that schools are experimenting with boot camps, mentoring programs, technology and programs that mirror the medical school model.”  The magazine’s next issue, due out in late August, will highlight some schools’ novel approaches to training tomorrow’s lawyers.

Music!  Yesterday marked the 69^th birthday of Mick Jagger, a rock & roll legend who is nonetheless rightly criticized for wearing tights way past his time (if ever a time there is).  Here’s one of the Rolling Stones’ best.

By: Maria Hibbard and Steve Grumm

Congratulations! You’re done with the bar! Your three years of hard work, countless hours in the library, and thousands of pages of reading have paid off. Now that you can officially set aside BarBri books and study plans, it’s time take a deep breath and focus on your job search in order to find your next step. We have some leads to highlight:

• Job Search Fundamentals: Even though you may think you know how to write an awesome cover letter and focus your resume, it never hurts to review the basics. Besides actually earning your J.D., what has changed on your resume since your last internship? How does your previous work reflect your skills and areas of interest? Visit our Job Search Fundamentals page for advice on cover letters, interviewing, and resume development.  Also, check out this two-part public interest job search webinar, with Part I focusing on cover letter and resume drafting, and Part II focusing on interviewing and networking.  (The webinar was geared toward the summer job search, but the main principles still apply to the postgrad search.)  Oh, and speaking of networking…
• Using your network:Remember to “water the plants!”  Reconnecting with previous employers – even from 1L summer or before law school – could potentially lead to conversations about available positions. If an employer has seen your work before, you immediately have a step ahead in the hunt for permanent employment.
  • Previous employers are not the only people it may be worth getting in touch with again – professors whose classes you’ve enjoyed or did well in or attorneys with whom you may have done volunteering also may be open to talking with you about your job search. Continuing the conversation with people you’ve connected with in the past – and maintaining these relationships – could lead to potential recommendations or referrals in the future.
  • Government Positions:Check out PSLawNet’s Government Careers page for more information on federal, state, and local government positions. With the advent of the Obama administration’s hiring reform, the new Pathways Program promises increased transparency for entry level hiring. Now, you are eligible to apply for the Presidential Management Fellowship Program and for Pathways Recent Graduates positions for up to two years after receiving your degree. Keep checking PSLawNet and USAJobs for opportunities for recent graduates.
  • Fellowships: One way many non-profit and legal aid organizations recruit entry-level is through post-graduate fellowships. You may think it’s too late to apply for fellowships – although many organizations recruit for fellows a year in advance, quite a few others recruit during the summer for positions starting that fall. Check out PSLawNet’s Postgraduate Fellowships page for more information. Although many “Sponsoring” organization deadlines may have already passed, running a “Fellowship – Legal” search on PSLawNet’s job search page can help you find relevant organization – based fellowships. You’re also eligible to apply for Equal Justice Works fellowships even after law school graduation.
  • Equal Justice Corps/Americorps Positions: One fellowship program worth highlighting is the EJW/Americorps program. All of these positions are based at civil legal aid organizations, and these 1-2 year placements recruit annually in the summer for positions starting that fall. Running a search on PSLawNet for “EJW/Americorps” or visiting EJW’s Americorps page will help you learn more about these positions.
  • Read for fun! Amidst all of this job searching, don’t forget – you finally don’t have to read bar review material! Take a look at our Summer Reading List for some suggestions on relevant – and fun! – reading. Who knows – maybe one of your interviewers will have read some of the same books.

By: Steve Grumm

Law students looking for jobs in civil legal aid are probably all too familiar with the litany of bad funding new coming out of that community.  But one practice area has seen a funding boost lately.  Funds from a national settlement over improper home lending practices are being channeled, via state attorneys general, to programs that support struggling homeowners.  Civil legal aid providers who do work in housing and foreclosure defense are benefitting from millions of dollars.  Here’s the latest from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative:

 On February 9, 2012, the Justice Department announced that the federal government and 49 state attorneys general reached a $25 billion agreement with the five largest mortgage servicers in America, to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses.  While the majority of the settlement funds will go to various forms of relief provided directly to borrowers, $2.5 billion may be used by state governments to fund foreclosure prevention services including housing counselors, legal aid and other similar public programs as determined by the state attorneys general.

…

Since the date of the settlement, a number of states have made plans to use a portion of the settlement funds to implement funding initiatives geared toward increasing support for services that assist homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

…

Illinois is dedicating at least $20 million in funding from the settlement to legal counseling programs that help borrowers who are currently underwater or facing foreclosure.  In Michigan, Attorney General Schuette is backing legislation that would direct $20 million in funds from the settlement to foreclosure counseling and legal aid services for homeowners.

These states are not alone. Attorney General Roy Cooper of North Carolina has committed over $30 million to provide housing counselors and legal services to distressed homeowners. Attorney General Dustin McDaniels of Arkansas plans to direct $3 million of the settlement funds to the Arkansas’ Access to Justice Commission, and to two University of Arkansas law school clinics that provide legal aid and assistance to low-income residents.

“Maryland has led the nation in its swift response to the foreclosure crisis,” said Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. In May, Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler and Governor O’Malley announced that $14.8 million from the settlement will be used for both housing counseling and legal aid assistance programs. “This plan sticks to the spirit and the letter of the settlement by using these resources to help the Marylanders most affected by the housing crisis. As a result, all Marylanders will benefit,” said Gansler. And Attorney General Martha Coakley of Massachusetts created a new program, HomeCorps, funded by settlement funds. HomeCorps will provide direct legal representation to distressed borrowers through local civil legal aid attorneys.

Attorney Generals in Alabama, California, Colorado, Indiana, and Tennessee have also announced plans to use settlement dollars to fund programs for low and moderate income residents that include counseling support, legal services, and hotline support referral services.

This isn’t to say that, in one fell swoop, dozens upon dozens of jobs will appear for law grads.  A lot of providers that receive this funding are likely to bolster their programs by avoiding layoffs and creating a new position here and there.  Nonetheless, this funding windfall presents a true opportunity for law grads seeking staff attorney positions, along with those who are interested in creating postgraduate, project-based fellowships.   

Continue to use PSLawNet’s cover letter and resume resources, as well as our fellowship resources.  And speaking of fellowship resources, here’s the recording from our recent “Pathways to Postgraduate Fellowships” program, which included much discussion of Equal Justice Works and Skadden fellowships.  Good luck!

NALP was proud to co-host a panel last week at the Georgetown University Law Center with our friends at the Washington Council of Lawyers; if you missed the Pathways to Postgraduate Fellowships, you can now watch the edited highlights of the panel online! The panel included:

(our very own!) Steve Grumm (Moderator), Director of Public Service Initiatives, NALP

Chinh Le, Legal Director, The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia

Nita Mazumder, Program Manager, Law School Relations, Equal Justice Works

Tim McManus,Vice President, Education and Outreach, Partnership for Public Service

Devi Rao, Skadden Fellow for Educational and Employment Opportunities at the National Women’s Law Center

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ4c2Rq6M7M&w=640&h=480]

You can also access the Postgraduate Fellowships Resource List compiled for the program and see WCL’s live Storify tweets from the event.

As always, remember to check out PSLawNet’s Postgraduate Fellowship Resources for guidance on searching out and applying for fellowships!

Wanna be a legal aid lawyer?  Like Ben & Jerry’s?  This could be the job for you:

Vermont Legal Aid seeks a full-time attorney in its Medicare Advocacy Project through August 31, 2013. The position will be located in either Springfield or Burlington, Vermont. Responsibilities include representation of Medicare beneficiaries in administrative appeals and Medicare reform issues through systemic litigation in the federal courts.

Applicants must have excellent written and oral skills and demonstrated experience in public interest law, civil rights law or legal services. Experience with health care policy or other medical issues is desirable. Applicants must be admitted to practice in Vermont, eligible for admission by waiver, or willing to sit for the next examination.

Here’s the full job description on PSLawNet.

As you study for the bar, work your way through your first or second legal job, or complete your first internship, you may feel like anything but a charismatic leader. Jeff Ogden of Inc. writes about 10 habits of charismatic people; developing these habits is something to think about at any point in your career.

Here are the 10 habits of remarkably charismatic people:

1. They listen way more than they talk.

Ask questions. Maintain eye contact. Smile. Frown. Nod. Respond–not so much verbally, but nonverbally.

That’s all it takes to show the other person they’re important.

Then when you do speak, don’t offer advice unless you’re asked. Listening shows you care a lot more than offering advice, because when you offer advice in most cases you make the conversation about you, not them.

Don’t believe me? Who is “Here’s what I would do…” about: you or the other person?

Only speak when you have something important to say–and always define important as what matters to the other person, not to you.

2. They don’t practice selective hearing.

Some people–I guarantee you know people like this–are incapable of hearing anything said by the people they feel are somehow beneath them.

Sure, you speak to them, but that particular falling tree doesn’t make a sound in the forest, because there’s no one actually listening.

Remarkably charismatic people listen closely to everyone, and they make all of us, regardless of our position or social status or “level,” feel like we have something in common with them.

Because we do: We’re all people.

3. They put their stuff away.

Don’t check your phone. Don’t glance at your monitor. Don’t focus on anything else, even for a moment.

You can never connect with others if you’re busy connecting with your stuff, too.

Give the gift of your full attention. That’s a gift few people give. That gift alone will make others want to be around you and remember you.

4. They give before they receive–and often they never receive.

Never think about what you can get. Focus on what you can provide. Giving is the only way to establish a real connection and relationship.

Focus, even in part and even for a moment, on what you can get out of the other person, and you show that the only person who really matters is you.

5. They don’t act self-important…

The only people who are impressed by your stuffy, pretentious, self-important self are other stuffy, pretentious, self-important people.

The rest of us aren’t impressed. We’re irritated, put off, and uncomfortable.

And we hate when you walk in the room.

6. …Because they realize other people are more important.

You already know what you know. You know your opinions. You know your perspectives and points of view.

That stuff isn’t important, because it’s already yours. You can’t learn anything from yourself.

But you don’t know what other people know, and everyone, no matter who they are, knows things you don’t know.

That makes them a lot more important than you–because they’re people you can learn from.

7. They shine the spotlight on others.

No one receives enough praise. No one. Tell people what they did well.

Wait, you say you don’t know what they did well?

Shame on you–it’s your job to know. It’s your job to find out ahead of time.

Not only will people appreciate your praise, they’ll appreciate the fact you care enough to pay attention to what they’re doing.

Then they’ll feel a little more accomplished and a lot more important.

8. They choose their words.

The words you use impact the attitude of others.

For example, you don’t have to go to a meeting; you get to go meet with other people. You don’t have to create a presentation for a new client; you get to share cool stuff with other people. You don’t have to go to the gym; you get to work out and improve your health and fitness.

You don’t have to interview job candidates; you get to select a great person to join your team.

We all want to associate with happy, enthusiastic, fulfilled people. The words you choose can help other people feel better about themselves–and make you feel better about yourself, too.

9. They don’t discuss the failings of others…

Granted, we all like hearing a little gossip. We all like hearing a little dirt.

The problem is, we don’t necessarily like–and we definitely don’t respect–the people who dish that dirt.

Don’t laugh at other people. When you do, the people around you wonder if you sometimes laugh at them.

10. …But they readily admit their failings.

Incredibly successful people are often assumed to have charisma simply because they’re successful. Their success seems to create a halo effect, almost like a glow.

Keyword is seem.

You don’t have to be incredibly successful to be remarkably charismatic. Scratch the shiny surface, and many successful people have all the charisma of a rock.

But you do have to be incredibly genuine to be remarkably charismatic.

Be humble. Share your screwups. Admit your mistakes. Be the cautionary tale. And laugh at yourself.

While you should never laugh at other people, you should always laugh at yourself.

People won’t laugh at you. People will laugh laugh with you.

They’ll like you better for it–and they’ll want to be around you a lot more.

By: Maria Hibbard

Last year, a law school professor of mine used the phrase “in the weeds” so often that it became his trademark – we all knew that we were “getting into the weeds” whenever we were talking through a difficult or laborious issue to understand. As I look forward to the next few months of job searching for my 2L year and next summer, I’m trying to create a plan to avoid getting overwhelmed – with a tough job market, limited opportunities, and the pressure to figure out what to do with my whole life – I know I need to create a roadmap to navigate through “the weeds.” Here’s a list of some things to think through:

• Dream the ideal. What is your dream job? At what organization? Where? Dreaming up “the ideal” and then pursuing opportunities that show some similarity to that ideal position is not settling – it’s taking steps in the right direction. I’ve become acutely aware of the way in which location plays into the legal job search – if the ultimate goal is to work in Los Angeles, for example, then taking a job in LA that might not be ideal can show interest and commitment to staying there. Harvard has a great self-assessment guide that can help in figuring out what that ideal may look like.
• Think through the deadlines.Like me, you may be at a law school that is starting the beginning of the on-campus recruiting process – and the pressure to find your next summer job or clerkship has begun to mount. If you want to apply broadly to a number of types of employers, it may be best to think about the different stages of applications in chunks based on general recruiting schedules. If you can, front-loading your semester with job searching can get the most time-consuming part out of the way before finals come up in November and December. For example:
  • July-early/mid August: focus on OCI applications as per your school’s deadlines
  • August: research opportunities at large federal and state agencies and organizations, some of which have application deadlines in early September.
  • September: focus on networking with and researching smaller organizations and agencies in your target location
  • October: invest time in following up on applications and networking contacts
  • Think long term. Knowing where you want to be and what you want to do long term can help give direction to your 2L job search – but you don’t have to have it all figured out yet. For example, if you’re committed to a certain issue and thinking about applying for a sponsored fellowship after graduation, you could target your internship applications toward organizations that advocate for that cause. Interning during your second summer could allow a potential sponsoring organization to get to know you and your work, and could give you the opportunity to develop specific fellowship project ideas.
  • Create short term goals. Once the school year starts over again, we’re all going to be balancing new coursework with the job hunt – but it doesn’t mean that you need to be sucked into a vortex of class/schoolwork/job searching/sleep/eat/repeat. If you can create short term goals for yourself, just like school assignments – like “I will write two cover letters tonight after I read the cases for criminal procedure,” you’ll make slow and steady progress on the job hunt without spending days on end aimlessly looking for jobs.

Obviously, I’m a novice at all of this myself, but hopefully planning ahead and thinking intentionally about my 2L job search will help me -and you- avoid “going into the weeds.” As you think through your job search, check out PSLawNet’s Career Central section, as well as the site’s continually updated public service job postings!