So long , 2010.  We close out the year with two week’s worth of public interest news.  We’re also happy that this week’s edition is packed with stories highlighting the extraordinary work of several extraordinary advocates.  Our Inner Scrooge’s heart is warmed.  Featured: a new place to look for new federal jobs; a law intended to help CA foreclosure victims hiccups; a report on whether the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is actually helping clients who seek unemployment benefits; Cooley Law School establishes a new pro bono initiative with the private bar; a successful public interest employment “bridge” program at Florida Coastal Law; the tremendous public interest commitment of an award-winning UConn law student; adios, Federal Career Intern Program; a busy legal services development chief is profiled; $500K going to a clinic and public interest programs at Cardozo Law; the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland’s incoming president knows firsthand what it’s like to be a legal services client; the business case for supporting legal services in Eastern Missouri; a big federal-court win for a Yale Law School clinic; a Cleveland judge and two attorneys dig deep to help out a low-income defendant; here are some phrases to keep off of your resume; a five-part story on Missouri’s beleaguered public defense system; and the New York Times editorial board weighs in on the importance of supporting legal services.

• 12.30.10 – how do you find federal jobs?  Pore through budget  proposals.  Not what you wanted to hear, we know.  But here’s a great bit of job-seeking wisdom, courtesy of the Washington Post: “In each budget justification submitted to Congress, you get to see what an agency says it needs, as well any additional hiring requests to carry out its work … For the Justice Department to strengthen national security and counter the threat of terrorism the 2011 budget requests $300.6 million. The request includes 440 additional positions, including 126 agents and 15 attorneys. To enforce immigration laws the department is requesting an $11 million program increase, including 125 positions – 31 of them attorneys.  You can read an agency’s budget proposal on its Web site.”

• 12.29.10 – Southern California Public Radio reports on an unintended consequence of a California law intended to benefit homeowners facing foreclosure proceedings: “A California state law to protect homeowners is backfiring—foreclosure lawyers can’t legally get any money until the case is done, so lawyers leery of losing or getting sued aren’t taking cases at all. That leaves homeowners facing foreclosure in a tight bind, effectively shutting them out of legal representation when they most need it.”

• 12.28.10 – the New York Times Freakonomics blog highlights what they characterize as a “remarkable randomized experiment (“What Difference Representation?”) with evidence showing that offers for free legal representation from the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) ended up hurting unemployment claimants.”  Well, sort of.  The circumstances are fairly complex, and we haven’t had a chance to read the researchers’ report yet, just the blog post.  Anyway, we wanted to pass this along for those readers who are data dorks.

• 12.28.10 – yet another example of a pro bono collaboration involving a law school and volunteer attorneys.  From the Examiner in Detroit we learn that the “Thomas M. Cooley Law School and the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association (DMBA) have joined forces to create a new program to expand free legal services in Detroit and Wayne County. The Cooley Law School-DMBA Pro Bono Mentorship Program will allow students from Cooley’s Ann Arbor and Auburn Hills campuses to collaborate with a mentoring attorney in providing free legal services to clients.”  Cases will be referred to the new program from local public interest organizations.

Keep reading . . .

A few days ago the ABA Journal picked up on some advice offered by a career-guru type from the LinkedIn website.  She listed 10 words/phrases that may appear empty and trite to an employer reviewing your resume.  Drumroll…

1. Extensive experience
2. Innovative
3. Motivated
4. Results-oriented
5. Dynamic
6. Proven track record
7. Team player
8. Fast-paced
9. Problem solver
10. Entrepreneurial

The PSLawNet Blog sees the wisdom in thinking twice before dropping a line about how you’re a “highly motivated problem solver with experience working in fast-paced environments.”  If you offer nothing to support that statement, it’s basically hogwash.  With that said, we’d offer a caveat: if a job description uses a certain word in characterizing what kind of professional skills an employer wishes to see in job applicants, then it should be fair game (at least in a cover letter if not a resume).  If an employer lists “sense of entrepreneurship” as a qualification sought, then you can use the word “entrepreneur” in your application materials.  But – and this is important – you should be able to support it.  So you don’t write “natural entrepreneur” and leave the phrase to hang there unsupported.  You write, “entrepreneurship as exemplified by X, Y, Z”  In any event, this is easier to do in the cover letter as opposed to the resume.  In the resume you want to be as specific about your skills as possible.  This, we think, is the moral of the story here: Don’t use the above words as meaningless space fillers on a resume.  Tell employers what you’ve actually done: wrote a brief; participated in a service project that helped X number of people in need, etc. 

Next month, The PSLawNet Blog will offer several posts with resume, cover letter, interviewing, and networking tips.  Stay tuned…

NOTE: the PSLawNet Blog will skip next week’s Jobs Report as we will still be on holiday.  Never fear though, a jam-packed issue of the Jobs Report will be back on January 3, 2011.  Happy Holidays!!!

Need a job or internship? During the past week PSLawNet has posted:   65 new attorney positions,   28 new internships, and  10 new law related opportunities.  Additionally, there are currently 1,238 active opportunities in our job database.  To search the database visit PSLawNet. 

Featured New Positions:

The ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties is current accepting applications for a Staff Attorney/Civic Participation Fellow.  The Fellow will be responsible for cultivating and supporting the ability of local nonprofits to engage in political advocacy and policy change, including compliance with applicable c3/c4 rules and lobbying/disclosure requirements.  The Attorney will also be concerned with election protection and voter rights, including efforts to make voting easier for low-income communities, communities of color, immigrants, young voters, first-time voters, and/or limited English speaking communities.  The Attorney will serve as a community legal resource, educating organizations and individuals on their rights to vote and participate in political advocacy, as well as building up capacity for such work in the local legal community.  The Attorney will engage in non-litigation advocacy where appropriate.  The Attorney will also screen and develop impact litigation, including direct representation and amicus curiae briefs, on relevant issues, in conjunction with members of the legal community.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

The Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts (CLCM), with offices in Lynn and Lawrence, is seeking 3-4 law student interns for Summer 2011.  These internships provide students a great opportunity to assist in advocacy on behalf of young clients in critical legal matters.  CLCM provides direct representation to indigent children and youth in child welfare, CHINS, delinquency, mental health, and educational matters.  During the twelve-week summer program, student interns concentrate on one or two of the five substantive practice areas.  Each student is assigned to a specific mentoring attorney who they accompany to court and/or education meetings and hearings and provide case support.  Students have direct client contact and assist in client interviewing, investigation, and preparation of motions and memoranda.  In addition, CLCM provides appellate advocacy in delinquency and child abuse and neglect cases.  If a case is pending during the summer months, a student may be asked to assist in research and writing of appellate briefs.  Check PSLawNet for additional details and application instructions.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Do you think you might be interested in pursuing summer and/or career employment in a local/state prosecutor’s office? Check out Yale’s Guide to Criminal Prosecution.  Visit PSLawNet’s Prosecutors/Public Defenders Career page for links to other resources regarding working in a local/state prosecutor’s offices or as a federal prosecutor.

Learn more about getting a PSLawNet job seeker or employer account . . .

Need a job or internship? During the past week PSLawNet has posted:   69 new attorney positions,   55  new internships, and  27 new law related opportunities.  Additionally, there are currently 1,263 active opportunities in our job database.  To search the database visit PSLawNet.

Featured New Positions:

The U.S. Department of Commerce, Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) is looking for an International Program Specialist to assist with the development and implementation of plans for technical assistance in developing countries in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, but may be called upon to work in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions as well.  Deadline:  December 16.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PAILP) is currently seeking a 2011 Summer Intern.  The PAILP was created and designed to meet the needs of low income residents of PA’s prisons, jails, state hospitals, and state centers with the goal of ensuring equal access to justice for indigent institutionalized persons.  The intern will be responsible for legal research and writing, case development and investigation and other related duties under the supervision of a staff attorney.  Additionally, the intern will be taken to client meetings and court whenever appropriate.  Deadline:  Feb. 1, 2011.  Check PSLawNet for additional details and application instructions.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Attention 2Ls and 1Ls:  Are you interested in a postgraduate fellowship? Get a jump start by visiting our Fellowship Info and Resources page and Application Deadline Calendar.  Postgraduate public interest fellowships enable recent graduates to secure entry level positions with nonprofit organizations, government entities, and educational institutions.  Applications for project-based fellowships are typically due either late in your 2L summer or early in your 3L year.  The work you do during your second summer may be an essential component in a strong fellowship application.  Indeed, while not necessary, it’s ideal if your second summer placement is your would-be fellowship host.

Learn more about getting a PSLawNet job seeker or employer account . . .

Yesterday we shared how to utilize Westlaw to search for jobs with federal agencies.  Today we wanted to highlight another job searching suggestion from the AvidCareerist Blog:  set up Google Alerts to search for jobs as part of your on-line strategy.

My job search clients and I use Google Alerts, in addition to job boards, to find job openings on-line. Alerts pull more openings than the major boards, they pick up openings from Craigslist, and they help my clients find niche job boards for additional feeds.

“What’s a Google Alert and how do I set one up?” you ask.  See here.

The AvidCareerist in her blog uses the job title example of a “contract recruiter” — how can you translate this to looking for public interest legal positions?

Let’s say you are looking for a staff attorney position at a nonprofit, you could set up the following alert:  {“staff attorney”} {litigate AND research} {“staff attorney” AND apply}.   What if you want to restrict this to search for ONLY jobs in California, then:  {“staff attorney”} {litigate AND research} {“staff attorney” AND apply AND california}.

If you are interested in a particular practice area, for example civil rights, you could set up an alert tailored to that preference:  {“attorney”} AND {“attorney” and apply or submit} AND {“civil rights”}.  You can also set up alerts to search for new opportunities at specific organizations, for example:  {“attorney”} AND {“attorney” and apply or submit} AND {“U.S. Department of Education”}.  To set up your personalized google job alerts go here.

A note of caution from the AvidCareerist:

However, put a strict limit on the amount of time you spend using alerts and feeds to find and respond to job openings. Why? First, as mentioned above, you will only find a tiny portion of the available openings using these tactics. Second, these are the easiest openings to find. Thus, you will have a lot of competition from other job seekers. I suggest that you spend no more than 30 minutes a day building feeds and alerts and responding to postings. How do you that? Only respond to postings that you are well qualified for.

Want more job search resources? Visit PSLawNet’s Career Central.

From some rebellious types at Yale Law School, here’s information on a terrific, upcoming event that brings together public-interest minded law students, attorneys, activists, academics, and rodeo clowns (last one’s not true) from parts hither and yon. It’s a great way to make new contacts and explore career options, as well as to gain invaluable knowledge about the challenges and opportunities facing public interest lawyers these days. With no further ado…. it’s RebLaw!!!

Hello Rebel!

You are invited to the 17th Annual Rebellious Lawyering Conference, which will take place on the weekend of February 18-20, 2011. Last year, we brought over 700 practitioners, law students, and community activists to New Haven to discuss progressive strategies for social change within and without the law, and we’re excited to do it again! We will be posting descriptions of panels and workshops on our website and will continue to update with speakers and schedule information as it becomes available. Please visit: http://www.yale.edu/reblaw/

We also invite you to check out our blog, where we’ll be posting information and updates about the conference: http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/reblaw/

Registration is now open on the website. When you register, you’ll be able to sign up receive FREE HOUSING for the weekend in New Haven on the spare beds, couches and floors of local friendly, rebellious law students. Questions? Please contact rebellious.law.questions@gmail.com

Good stuff.  We now conclude this post with some theme-appropriate sonic rebellion, courtesy of Social Distortion.

Elizabeth Peck, Director of Public Service at Cornell Law School brought this great job searching tip to our attention after coming across this resource suggestion in Finding and Funding International Public Service Opportunities (an online guide updated annually by NALP members at the Universities of Arizona and Georgia, and at the William & Mary School of Law).

Westlaw maintains a database of federal agencies’ regional offices across the U.S. and the world.  The database gives you the ability to search by more than 100 practice areas to locate the agencies which need lawyers with particular practice specializations.

To search the database:  login to Westlaw and then go to Home –> Career Focus –> Law Student Jobs Online –> Federal Careers for Attorneys.

Also, don’t forget to utilize the federal career resources available to you for FREE on PSLawNet, including the 2010-2011 NALP Federal Legal Opportunities Guide and more.

Need a job or internship? During the past week PSLawNet has posted:   86 new attorney positions,   22 new internships, and  72 new law related opportunities.  Additionally, there are currently 1,222 active opportunities in our job database.  To search the database visit PSLawNet. 

Featured New Positions:

Catholic Charities Legal Assistance (CCLA) is currently hiring for three positions:  Program Director, Staff Attorney, and Senior Attorney.  CCLA’s mission is to provide access to compassionate and competent legal assistance to the economically disadvantaged in the Chicago area.  Visit the organization’s website to learn more.

The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland is looking for 12-15 dedicated, hard-working, and public interest minded students to work in four Northeast Ohio offices for their 2011 Summer Associate Program.  Summer associates work in different areas of the law but all receive the opportunity to learn how to be excellent poverty lawyers.  Generally, summer associates will interview clients, draft court pleadings, research relevant legal issues, attend and assist with court hearings and trials, and gather and analyze evidence.  In addition, all summer associates will participate in weekly trainings on substantive areas of poverty law and observe oral arguments in the 8th District Court of Appeals, meeting afterward with the judges involved.  Brown bag lunches with current Legal Aid lawyers and community members including judges, politicians, and leaders of local non-profit agencies are also held each week.   Check PSLawNet for additional details and application instructions.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Are you a law student searching for funding opportunities to support your public interest summer experience?  Visit our Summer Funding Resources page for an updated list of funding sources across the country.  We have categorized the summer funding resources into three categories:  (1) funding sources which may be available in various geographic work locations; (2) funding sources available in specific regions; and (3) law firm split summer programs.  Check it out.

Learn more about getting a PSLawNet job seeker or employer account . . .

NALP is pleased to release our first ever Public Interest Employment Market Snapshot Report.  The report is based on an online survey of public interest employers conducted in September.  The survey sought responses concerning:  (1) recent law student and law graduate hiring, (2) hiring expectations for the immediate future, and (3) employer advice for job applicants competing in today’s market.

The report’s quantitative data largely confirm what our own experiences and other forms of anecdotal evidence have shown us:  the economic recession had a serious, negative impact on public interest hiring, particularly in all areas outside of federal employment.  Further, in the wake of the recession, it will take time for many employers to achieve enough financial stability to bolster hiring. While not all of the news is positive, we hope that this modest-but-important first step toward a more data-driven understanding of the public interest employment market will be useful to public interest job seekers and employers.

Some useful data points on law student summer hiring trends and expectations include:

• Of the 128 respondents that did offer paid summer positions before the recession, 57% have reduced the number of paid positions offered.
• In Summer 2011, 72.0% of respondents anticipate offering the same number of unpaid positions and 11.5% expect to increase hiring levels for unpaid positions from Summer 2010 levels.

Key points on post-graduate hiring trends and expectations:

• At the time of the survey, 73.7% of respondents with civil legal services organizations, 78.3% of those with public defender offices, and 87.6% of those with nonprofit legal organizations reported hiring zero Class-of-2010 graduates.  The low hiring rates across low across various public interest employer types suggests continued freezes and reductions in hiring of permanent staff. (Advice for Class-of-2010 grads still seeking legal employment.)
• However, there is some good news on the horizon for Class-of-2011 graduates:  13.0% of respondents with public defenders, 9.7% of those with federal government agencies/offices, 9.5% of those with local prosecutors, and 8.3% of those with local government employers plan to hire more Class-of-2011 graduates than Class-of-2010 graduates.

In addition to the quantitative data, the report contains feedback from various types of public interest employers about what experiences/skills they wish to see from job seekers.  A few key insights include:

• Civil legal services providers look for a demonstrated passion for serving low-income communities and for direct experience interacting and working with low-income clients.  Civil legal service providers also highly value bilingual ability in their attorneys, especially knowledge of Spanish or of an Asian language.  (Check out our earlier post on Spanish immersion programs).
• Public defenders desire candidates with clinical and/or pro bono experience working with incarcerated and low-income clients.  According to one public defender,“previous experience in a PD’s office is always a plus for law students and a must for attorneys.”
• Nonprofit legal organizations look for a demonstrated passion about the organization’s mission and a diverse skill set that may include community outreach and exposure to nonprofit fundraising.

What were employers’ predictions for future “growth areas” in public interest practice?

Nicole Vikan is the Assistant Director for Public Interest and Government Careers at Georgetown Law Center’s Office of Public Interest and Community Service. Before moving to Washington DC, Nicole advised  students seeking employment in the private and public sectors as a member of Fordham Law School’s Career Planning Center and practiced law for five years as a criminal prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.  Nicole’s NALP activities include service for the Public Service Section (Chair), LGBT Section, Newer Professionals Section (Vice Chair), and Bylaws Committee.  She has written numerous articles for the NALP Bulletin and participated on panels at the Annual Education Conferences.  Nicole received her J.D. from New York University and her B.A. from Carleton College.

Job Seekers from the Class of 2010 . . . You graduated in May 2010 and passed the Bar—congrats! But (as we all know) the job market is tight, and you’re still looking for a public interest job. What should you be doing as you look for that first legal position?

Volunteer. Find a pro bono position in a practice area of interest so you can meet professionals in the field, make a great impression for when the organization (or a similar employer) is ready to hire, and develop your legal skills.

Make ends meet. I know—this isn’t completely compatible with my first suggestion. But many organizations will be excited to have part-time volunteers, so you can work part-time in a non-legal position (bartending, holiday sales, LSAT tutoring, etc.) to pay the bills.  I understand that this can be a shot to the ego, and not what you expected when you began law school.  But you will get the job you want soon, and a few months from now you won’t care at all about what you did to stay afloat financially in those first few months out of school.

Handle your student loan debt. Yes, it’s painful to think about sometimes. But do not bury your head in the sand—defaulting on your loans could be a reason for prospective employers to reject your application. If necessary, find out your options for deferment on the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid site. Learn about debt repayment options – including the Income Based Repayment (IBR) program – on the Equal Justice Works Student Debt Relief page and PSLawNet’s own Financing a Public Interest Career site so you know how different jobs will impact you.

Keep in touch. Write polite, friendly email updates to former supervisors, professors, and mentors to share your good news about the Bar Exam—and to tell them you’re looking for a job. Don’t ask them point-blank if they can hire you; instead, let them know what type of work you hope to find, provide an updated resume so they can see what skills you have developed, and ask them to please keep you in mind if they learn of a position that might be appropriate for you. Ask them if they know people in your field of interest who you can contact.

Which brings me to my next point: Meet more people in the field. Yes, that means NETWORK. Using your undergrad and law school connections, suggestions from family, friends, and professors, and online searching, make a list of two dozen people at various career stages in your practice area and location of interest. Write to at least two of those people each week to request informational interviews: Tell them why their background interests you and ask if you can meet for coffee to learn more about their work. Again, do not ask for a job, but do attach your resume.

Make a To Do list, with a timetable, so you make sure to send job applications and do personal outreach (i.e., networking) on a regular basis. Find affordable ways to reward your efforts—a long walk with friends, an item off the dollar menu at your favorite fast food restaurant, or a new library book, for example.

Take care of yourself and remember that you graduated into one of the toughest legal job markets in history. You shouldn’t despair and give up; instead, remind yourself that you are indeed a talented attorney, and in this economy it will take more persistence, patience, and effort to find that first job—but you can do it!

Visit PSLawNet for more job search fundamentals.