We wanted to share with you a new article from this month’s NALP Bulletin on E-Professionalism and social media. The article provides a great 5-step process to ensure that your online presence (pdf) is coherent, professional, and can be actively useful in networking and job searching.  The article is a preview of an exciting new resource that should be unveiled this fall – an online guide called “From Law Student to Lawyer: The E-Guide to E-Professionalism,” which will contain even more useful information!

Equal Justice Works is offering a webinar Monday, Aug. 2 at 10am Eastern for people interested in their post-graduate fellowship program. You can register online for the webinar, which will cover

• Who is eligible to apply for an Equal Justice Works Fellowship (Candidate, Project, Host Organization)
• The benefits of a Fellowship and the Host Organization’s responsibilities
• How the application process works
• Tips in creating a successful application that cover Project Description, Candidate Background, and Host Organization Background.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, now is a great time to go read some of the PSLawNet resources on fellowships. We’ve got a great blog post from a successful sponsored fellowship applicant, an earlier blog post with a lot of advice and resources – including the PSLawNet Fellowship Application Tip Sheet. We also have a good Q&A page with information not just on sponsored fellowships but other types as well. Finally, please remember that you can search for organizational sponsors through PSLawNet itself by selecting “FELLOWSHIP – Sponsor” as the job type in your search.

Today’s Expert Opinion column is full of great advice about how to approach your project-based fellowship applications this summer from David Steib, a 2008 Skadden Fellow. David joined the Legal Aid Society of DC in September 2008 as a Skadden Fellow in the housing unit. His project focuses on bringing legal services to the Spanish-speaking community through direct outreach in the Columbia Heights area and through work with the DC Language Access Coalition. During law school, David interned for several public interest organizations, including the Legal Aid Society of DC. In 2007, he was awarded the John J. Curtin, Jr. Fellowship by the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty to intern for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. David also interned with Bread for the City and the Humane Society of the United States. He was a student of the Georgetown Domestic Violence Clinic. David received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Read David’s Fellowship advice after the jump!

 This week’s Bulletin carries news of law firm pro bono, legal services funding in North Mississippi, an expansion in law school clinical programs at DePaul, criticism of the Legal Services Corporation, indigent defense resource shortages in New York and Nevada, Maryland’s efforts to help pro se litigants, some changes in the Presidential Management Fellows program, and, ending as we began, more law firm pro bono.

• 7.14.10 – American Lawyer Daily – in Florida and elsewhere around the country, law firms are helping to soften the foreclosure crisis’s blow for low-income individuals, even in circumstances where firms traditionally haven’t done pro bono because of potential conflicts with financial institution clients.  For instance, the Florida Attorneys Saving Homes (FASH) program uses the services of pro bono attorneys who help mortgage borrowers by restructuring their loans before a lender forecloses.  The attorney can negotiate, even in some cases with a law firm client or business prospect, without worrying about having to actually litigate against that party.  In other cities, firms are finding other ways to represent borrowers’ interests without fouling relationships with institutional lenders.  Link to piece.

• 7.14.10 – WTVA Television Station Website (NBC Affiliate in Northern Mississippi) – “North Mississippi Rural Legal Services has been awarded a $75,000 grant by the Mississippi Bar Foundation Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts….NMRLS officials say the funds will be used to enhance program operations including operation of our telephone intake system known as the Call Center.”  This year, the Magnolia State’s IOLTA program has channeled over $612,000 in grants to the public interest community.   Link to article.

• 7.14.10 – Chicago Tribune –  DePaul University College of Law has “doubled the number of [law student] clinics in the past four years.”  The school’s nine clinics cover family law, civil rights, death penalty appeals, special education advocacy, and more.  Aside from serving low-income clients, the clinics give students hands-on experiential learning opportunities that do not exist in the classroom.  “[I]n an economy that has seen lawyers laid off from even the most prestigious firms, employers have their pick of attorneys and want graduates who arrive knowing how to interview a witness or negotiate a settlement…”  Link to article.  

• 7.13.10 – U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report on Legal Services Corporation Practices: “Improvements Needed in Controls over Grant Awards and Grantee Program Effectiveness” –  a GAO report, which is dated June 2010 but which appears to have circulated publicly for the first time this week, is critical of LSC’s management/administration policies regarding its financial grants to the 136 independent legal services providers that it funds throughout the U.S.  Link to report.  Link to National Law Journal coverage.  Link to LSC Press Release in response to report.  [Ed. Note: shortly after the GAO report’s release, the Center for Public Integrity published a piece that is highly critical of LSC management practices, and that highlights three instances of former employees at LSC grantee organizations embezzling funds for personal use.  In response to this piece, Jonathan Smith, executive director of the (non-LSC funded) Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, posted a blog entry in which he criticizes the CPI piece as being incomplete and painting an inaccurate picture of the legal services community.   It is noteworthy, and indeed Smith mentions in his blog post, that the criticism directed at LSC comes as the organization’s budget appropriation is being considered on the Hill.]  

• 7.13.10 – Times Herald-Record (New York State) – resource shortages plague indigent defense networks in New York counties, and “[a] number of reports by defense and constitutional advocacy groups have concluded that the public defender system needs better funding and better standards, or there will be no equal justice.”  Link to article.

• 7.12.10 – Baltimore Sun – as Maryland’s courts try “to cope with an onslaught of people representing themselves”, a self-help center for pro se litigants in Anne Arundel County is serving as a test model to ease strains on the court system and help parties who are not represented by counsel.  “Staffed by members of the Legal Aid Bureau, the pilot program is aimed at the meat-and-potatoes civil cases — small claims, landlord-tenant disputes, creditor-debtor issues and protective orders — that can clog the court system and lead to frustration when people try to handle the cases themselves.”  Link to article.

• 7.11.10 – Reno Gazette Journal – “A state commission tasked with determining whether Nevada’s court-appointed lawyers are doing a good job representing poor defendants has stalled amid arguing over…how…cases should be counted.”  Last year, a report commissioned by the Nevada Supreme Court concluded that the indigent defense system was in trouble.  But as public defenders, prosecutors, and other court officials have come together to look for solutions, they are disagreeing over threshold questions about how to define the scale and scope of the problem.  Link to article.  [Ed. note: here is a link to the July 2009 report – Assessment of the Washoe and Clark County, Nevada Public Defender Offices.] 

• 7.9.10 – FedBlog (a blog of the Government Executive news website) – the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is planning to improve some aspects of the Presidential Management Fellows program, including bolstering outreach to schools, shoring up the fellow placement infrastructure, and solidifying alumni networks.  Link to blog post.

• July, 2010 – Pro Bono Institute – “In 2009, 134 of the nation’s largest law firms reported their pro bono statistics to the Pro Bono Institute. Not all respondents provided information on every question. These firms performed a combined 4,867,820 total hours of pro bono work, as compared to 134 firms that performed 4,844,098 hours in 2008, an increase of 0.5% in pro bono time contributed by [participating] firms. While this percentage increase is statistically insignificant, it speaks volumes for the commitment to pro bono made by…firms at a time when law firms and, indeed the world, were experiencing untold changes.”  Link to report.

As we noted in May, the Partnership for Public Service is hosting its 2010 Public Service Career & Internship Fair in downtown Washington DC this Wednesday, July 14.  Registration is still open via the Partnership’s career fair webpage.  From that page:

Don’t miss your opportunity to network with representatives from more than 75 federal agencies across government during the 2010 Public Service Career and Internship Fair, hosted by the Partnership for Public Service. This year’s event will be held on July 14 from 3:00-7:00 p.m. at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Admission is FREE!

Agencies will be recruiting for a variety of internships and entry-level positions including special agents, engineers, program analysts, financial specialists, environmental scientists, IT specialists, economists, contract specialists and more. Check out the list of registered agencies, learn more about what to expect and view our event map ahead of time to maximize your participation in the Career Fair

As the PSLawNet Blog has noted before, the federal Office of Personnel Management has been busy this year, tackling a large-scale federal hiring reform project.  Now, at the behest of OPM director John Berry, the popular and highly competitive Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program will undergo a facelift of sorts.  Initial goals seem centered on improving outreach to schools and shoring up the fellow placement infrastructure.  From a recent Berry memo:

…I am taking steps to reinvigorate the PMF Program.  As we build a 21^st century workforce, the PMF Program will play a vital role in attracting men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs.

…I am creating Power Packs to bring together several small teams of PMFs to work on projects as part of the reinvigoration effort.

…The initial Power Packs will focus on the following projects:  1) increasing outreach to deepen and broaden the PMF applicant pool; 2) revamping future orientation sessions; 3) developing a job-matching process to connect Finalists to jobs; 4) reenergizing the PMF Alumni Program; and 5) planning and executing the assessment center interview that we are restoring for the Class of 2011.  

We have no earthly idea what a “Power Pack” is, although from context we suspect it just means “group of people tasked with achieving a goal”, i.e. a work group.  It smacks of corporate management-speak to us.  Anyway, for aspiring fellows, here is more info about the PMF program.

[Tip of cap to the Government Executive website’s FedBlog, which posted on these developments late last week.]

The application period for DOJ’s Attorney Honors Program will open on July 26 and close on September 7. The program is open to “students graduating from law school in academic year 2010-2011 (i.e., between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011) and from law school graduates who meet specific eligibility criteria.”

Detailed information is available at DOJ’s Attorney General’s Honors Program page.

We’ve blogged in the past about the major federal hiring reforms underway, most importantly getting rid of KSA essays in favor of a more traditional resume and cover letter application format, and accelerating the hiring process. Last week, Government Executive had a really good article explaining a lot of the challenges that are facing agencies and OPM as they all move forward on these reforms.  For example, one reason hiring moves really slowly right now is because the process “can involve as many as 40 steps and 19 signatures,” according to John Berry, Director of OPM. As agencies determine which of these steps are necessary and which can be eliminated, things will move forward, but the article also stresses the need for a focus on quality rather than mere speed.

Another interesting tidbit from the article may come in handy for anybody looking to apply for federal jobs in the near future – you won’t be able to just submit your standard resume:

Agencies also will run up against the challenge of marrying a common-sense resume-based system with current automated processes. “There’s a dirty little secret about this resume business,” Desenberg says. “People at the agencies would tell their friends and family that even if they just ask for a resume, you must redo your resume to echo the position description, literally sometimes word for word. The sense that ‘Oh, I can just hand in my resume,’ that is not at all the reality.”

Desenberg says automated resume screeners are looking for key words from the job announcement and resumes without those words are likely to get thrown out early in the process. “You may have gotten away from some of the mechanical cranking out of essays, but you’re still requiring people to mold whatever they send in around the position description,” he says.

From our friends at Equal Justice Works comes this time-is-of-the-essence news (mentioned here back in May): Five million dollars is now available for distribution to qualified civil legal assistance attorneys.  The online application is accessible here:  http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/CLAARPapp.pdf and applying as soon as possible is critical because the Department of Education will commit these funds to eligible civil legal assistance attorneys on a first-come, first-served basis.Completed and signed applications can be returned to the Department of Education as follows:  

• Fax Number: 1-315-738-6674
• Mail:
  U.S. Department of Education
  Civil Legal Assistance Attorney
  Student Loan Repayment Program
  PO Box 4399
  Utica, NY 13504
• Overnight mail: Call 1-877-699-1834 for courier/overnight addres

Complete and signed applications will be date and time stamped and processed in the order they are received.  Do not submit an incomplete application–  if the application is denied because it is incomplete, the Department of Education will send a letter explaining the reason it was denied, and a resubmitted request will receive a new date and time stamp. 

This new program, the Civil Legal Assistance Attorney Student Loan Repayment Program (CLAAP), repays a portion of eligible federal student loan debt for civil legal assistance attorneys who are employed full-time.  Attorneys are advised to understand the program requirements, and to carefully consider the Ineligibility for Double Benefits provision before determining whether or not to apply for CLAAP.

This comes to us courtesy of Jen Thomas at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (who blogged for us way back in January). It sounds like a great opportunity for any law students who are in the DC area this summer and are considering indigent defense work.

Public Defender Advocacy, Training & Hiring Conference (PATH):  This biennial conference will take place at Georgetown University Law Center on Saturday, July 31, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.  Immediately following the conference, we will have a networking happy hour at a local venue. Students can register for the conference at http://www.pdsdc.org/LegalCommunity/CalendarItem.aspx?TrainingID=75.

PATH is a free conference for law students committed to, or interested in exploring careers in, indigent criminal defense representation – the ‘PD committed’ and the ‘PD curious’.  I conceived of the conference in 2008 as a way to help students navigate the very specific recruitment and hiring processes of public defender offices.  In this vein, students may choose from 12 sessions on the Advocacy, Training or Hiring tracks to self-direct their learning.  Although the conference is PD-specific, there are panels that will be of interest to students who are focusing on civil legal services work with low income, low wealth clients. Those students should feel free to register for PATH. You can check out the schedule for the conference online as well (pdf).