Hello, PSLawNet Blog readers!  NALP is conducting a survey to get a sense of the public interest job market.  We’ll publish a free report with our findings later this Fall.  We hope this will be helpful to law students, lawyers, and other stakeholders in the public service community. Please pass along the below to public interest and government law offices.  Thanks. 

The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) is conducting a brief, anonymous survey of nonprofit and government public-interest law offices throughout the country about 1) recent law student and attorney hiring and 2) hiring expectations for the immediate future. We will use the data to produce a report about what the public interest employment market looks like now and how it may change in the near future. NALP will release the report later this fall. The report will be made freely available online. The report will NOT identify any responding organizations by name. We hope the report will benefit the public interest legal community as well as law students and attorneys who are on public interest career paths. Please participate in the brief, online survey by clicking here. The response deadline is Wednesday, 9/28/11.  Please contact Steve Grumm with any questions: sgrumm@nalp.org.

NALP is accepting nominations for the 2011 PSLawNet Pro Bono Publico Award, which recognizes the extraordinary contributions that law students make to under-served 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 PSLawNet Subscriber School. The recipient will be honored during an Award Luncheon at NALP’s Public Service Mini-Conference on Thursday, October 20, 2011 at the Washington, DC office of Arnold & Porter, 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 that 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.

Nominations must be received by Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 5pm Eastern Time. View/download the nomination form here.

The deadline for the DOJ’s prestigious Attorney General’s Honors Program is approaching.  Apps are due on Sept. 6.  As for eligibility, here are some of the basics:

I WANT YOU to apply on time. Do I look like I'm kidding?

Eligibility is generally limited to graduating law students and recent law school graduates who entered judicial clerkships, graduate law programs, or qualifying legal fellowships within 9 months of law school graduation and who meet additional eligibility requirements.

More eligibility info and further details about the application process are available on the DOJ’s Legal Careers pages. 

Good luck to applicants!

NALP is accepting nominations for the 2011 PSLawNet Pro Bono Publico Award, which recognizes the extraordinary contributions that law students make to under-served 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 PSLawNet Subscriber School. The recipient will be honored during an Award Luncheon at NALP’s Public Service Mini-Conference on Thursday, October 20, 2011 at the Washington, DC office of Arnold & Porter, 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 that 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.

Nominations must be received by Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 5pm Eastern Time. View/download the nomination form here.

By: Steve Grumm

This week: continued concern over drastic state funding cuts to Legal Services of New Jersey; five new appointees to the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, and one of them is named “Gator”; speaking of under-resourced public defenders, there’s a new Justice Policy Institute report on just that topic; the debate over city funding to help Jacksonville Area Legal Aid; Jack McCoy is giving his troops a raise!; the brand-spanking-new Houston public defender’s office (How could a city that big wait so long?); a Florida legal services provider is one of the Sunshine State’s best companies to work for (Were salaries a criterion in this contest?); heavy stuff: legal services as a bridge connecting low-income communities to society; Connecticut public defenders feeling the pinch of strained resources; rockin’ out to benefit Lone Star State legal services providers (But why is my favorite Texan band, Centro-matic, not in the mix?); the Wake County, NC prosecutors pull double duty as receptionists; and an interview Keith Findley, founder of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which has 16 exonerations under its belt.

• 7.28.11 – the Philadelphia Inquirer covers hearings across the Delaware about state funding cuts which will have a serious impact on Legal Services of New Jersey:  “Two-thirds of those who contact Legal Services of New Jersey and qualify for its help are not being assigned lawyers because the agency doesn’t have the money to meet the demand, its president told legislators Wednesday. Melville Miller Jr. told an Assembly Judiciary panel examining state budget cuts that he expects to lay off 100 staff members, close at least three offices, and serve 10,000 fewer clients than last year because Gov. Christie cut the agency’s appropriation by $5 million for the budget year that began July 1. The cut comes atop a $9.7 million reduction last year. The total state appropriation for legal services for the year is $14.9 million, down by about half from two years ago.”

• The Press of Atlantic City’s editorial board chimed in on the funding cuts, and they’re not happy: “Christie didn’t just cut the $5 million for Legal Services that Democrats added to the $5 million in aid Christie had proposed in his own budget. The governor cut it all – $10 million – including the $5 million he was previously willing to give the agency. The only explanation for that, folks, is pure vindictiveness toward the Democrats, who had the gall to propose their own budget….  The deep cuts that Legal Services have endured over the last three years raise the question of what kind of nation we are. Do we want to create a nation where only the wealthy get legal representation?”

• 7.28.11 – Georgia’s Public Defender Standards Council, oft the subject of controversy, is getting five new members.  One of them is named “Gator.”  Yes!  Here’s a blurb from the AP: “Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has appointed five new members to join the board overseeing the state’s public defender system.  Deal announced the appointments to the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council on Wednesday.  The appointees are Donna Avans Seagraves, G.S. “Gator” Hodges, Lamar Paris, Ron Cross and David Sims.  Seagraves is a veteran public defender who lives in Athens.  Hodges is a Butts County commissioner and veteran police officer.  Paris is a Union County commissioner, and Cross chairs the Columbia County Commission.  Sims is a veteran trial lawyer who has worked in Savannah and Atlanta.”  Here’s a bit more background on the five GPDSC appointees, courtesy of The Weekly.

• 7.27.11 – the Justice Policy Institute has released a new report, System Overload: The Costs of Under-Resourcing Public Defense, which looks at the troubled state of indigent defense programs nationwide: “Public defense systems serve millions of people in the United States every year. Yet many systems across the country have been in a state of ‘chronic crisis’ for decades. The defender systems that people must rely on are too often completely overwhelmed; many defenders simply have too many cases, too little time and too few resources to provide quality or even adequate legal representation.  Ensuring that public defense systems have the resources necessary to provide quality representation to their clients can result in a more just system that reduces costs and incarceration and improves public safety and communities.”

• 7.27.11 – a Florida Times-Union editorial weighs in on deliberations by Jacksonville’s City Council about an assessment to fund civil legal services.

• 7.26.11 – the New York Times reports that as the Manhattan District Attorney’s office works through some recent setbacks that have affected staff morale, it has made an announcement that is sure to produce some smiles: salary raises!  The office, led by D.A. Cyrus R. Vance Jr., has recently faced some setbacks in high-profile cases.  Also, since Vance took over for Robert M. Morgenthau, who served as D.A. for over 30 years, the office has experienced funding constrictions and layoffs.  Managers in the office have been working on boosting morale. Well, raises probably aren’t a bad start.

• 7.26.11 – an update on the newly created public defender’s office in Houston.  KUHF reports: “After being one of the last major cities without one, the Harris County Public Defender’s office was created for the purpose of representing mentally ill defendants facing misdemeanor charges, and appeals cases for the indigent….  The county launched the office with a $4 million dollar state grant, but with plans to eventually fund it for about $7 million dollars a year…. The public defender’s office should expand its caseload to include juvenile and felony cases within two years.”

• 7.26.11 – congrats to Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida!  The organization has been named by the Florida Trend magazine as one of the Sunshine State’s best companies to work for. Here’s some coverage from theDaytona Beach News-Journal: “Agency Executive Director Bill Abbuehl, said ‘a committed and dedicated staff, one that will meet the demanding needs of nonprofit legal aid’s challenges, needs to be consistently made aware that they are needed and wanted and valued.’ The firm has 90 employees throughout Central Florida, including about 45 in Daytona Beach.”

• 7.21.11 – Corey Shdaimah, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, has authored Negotiating Justice: Progressive Lawyering, Low-income Clients, and the Quest for Social Change.  On the American Constitution Society’s website, Shdaimah previews Negotiating Justice, in which he interviewed 11 legal services lawyers and 30 clients: “Perhaps as important as [direct representation of clients’ interests] is the need for solidarity at a time when our societal divisions are growing. The interests of an ever-smaller group at the top are set against those who struggle as more people lose their jobs, their homes, and their savings…. Legal services programs sit on that divide; legal services lawyers, most of whom graduated elite law schools, choose to work directly with communities in need. Providing day-to-day legal services requires interactions between lawyers and clients. For clients, this means not feeling entirely abandoned by government agencies and society at large.”

• 7.21.11 – Connecticut public defenders, facing deep cuts, are concerned that they may not be able to meet ethical and constitutional obligations with ever-growing caseloads. Boston.com reports on the growing fears of state public defenders. “If the caseloads are too big, our people cannot spend the time they need to spend on a case and with their clients,’’ said Deputy Chief Public Defender Brian Carlow. “Our biggest initial concern is cases not moving as quickly as they can when people are locked up.’’

• 7.24.11 – Business News reports that legal aid providers in Texas have come up with a loud and fun way to raise funds for legal services. Seven bands, composed exclusively of area judges and lawyers, will rock out on August 20^th in Dallas. Ticket information and more details are available here.

• 7.19.11 – In Raleigh, NC, WRAL reports that attorneys in the Wake County DA’s office are pulling double duty- as lawyers and secretaries- as a result of budget cuts that have forced drastic reductions in staffing. ” ‘I have some of the most skilled lawyers in this county who are answering telephones on a daily basis, because somebody has to answer the phones – and we have to share that duty,’ said Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby. ‘We’re pinched. Each day, it’s robbing Peter to pay Paul’.”

• 7.24.11 – From Madison.com, an interview Keith Findley, founder of the Wisconsin Innocence Project. Since 1998, the initiative has helped free 16 people who were wrongly imprisoned, and today has expanded to issues such as improving compensation for public defenders.

By Jamie Bence

Yesterday, the Justice Policy Institute  released a report which takes a comprehensive look at the economic, social and ethical costs of underfunded public defense systems. From JPI’s press release:

System Overload: The Costs of Under-Resourcing Public Defense found that public defense systems across the country are overburdened, and considers how the busting-at-the-seams systems affect state and county budgets, the lives of those behind bars, the impact on their families, and the challenges of re-entering communities after serving time. The study further looks at why dedicated public defenders do not have enough time to conduct thorough investigations, or meet with and provide quality representation for their clients – many of whom are low-income earners and people of color – contributing to disparities in the criminal justice system.

The report goes on to make several recommendations about how the system can be improved:

• Integrate a holistic and community-based approach to public defense. Community-based and holistic approaches to defense can help address the root causes of justice system involvement and prevent future involvement by treating the whole client. This can improve public safety, save money on corrections and have a positive impact on people and communities.
• Collect better data and conduct more empirical evaluations on the impact of public defense systems on people, communities and criminal justice. Rigorous research and data collection on all justice policies and practices, but especially public defense, can help policymakers make informed decisions on policies that impact public defense.
• Involve public defenders and affected communities in the policymaking process. As people who are directly involved with the laws and policies in a state or locality, defenders are in the unique position of being able to offer insight on the impact these policies have on people, on their law offices, and on the justice system. As such, defenders should be actively engaged in the policymaking process for criminal justice policies as equal partners in the justice system.
• Actively seek out the voices and perspectives of people who have used defender services to gain a better understanding of the realities of various systems and the implications for people. Nobody knows better the impact of criminal justice policies and practices than people who are involved in the justice system. Involving people directly impacted by the justice system will provide crucial information on making better and more effective and just policies.

To read the full report, click here. For a summary fact sheet, click here.

Our good buddy Heather Jarvis is hosting a webinar this Thursday, 7/28, at noon Eastern.  “Public Service Loan Forgiveness in Five Easy Steps,” will offer a step-by-step review of how public interest and government lawyers can take advantage of the College Cost Reduction & Access Act’s Public Service Loan Forgivenes provisions.

Short version: Work in public interest for 10 years, get your loans forgiven.  Yay!

Go to Heather’s webinar page for registration info.

Our friends at Equal Justice Works are putting on a student debt webinar next month.  “Plan Before You Borrow: What You Should Know About Educational Loans BEFORE You Go to Graduate School” will be webcast on August 10th and 24th.  For more detail, including registration info, visit this Equal Justice Works webpage.

Interested in government or public interest work after graduating? This webinar will help you plan ahead and make sure you can take full advantage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the most significant law affecting public service in a generation.

 The webinar will focus in detail on:

• The importance of taking out the right kind of loans
• How to consolidate or reconsolidate your previous student loans
• How the College Cost Reduction and Access Act can free you to pursue a public interest career

By Jamie Bence

Student loans expert Heather Jarvis is hosting a webinar on public service loan forgiveness tomorrow, July 12 at 4pm EST. It will be followed by a second session on July 28th. Check out the details below.

Heather loves Public Service Loan Forgiveness!  But the requirements can be confusing.  Heather knows how to break it down for you step-by-step so it makes sense once and for all.

Bring your toughest questions because the expert is in the house!  A must attend for government and nonprofit employees.

For complete details and to sign up, visit Heather’s Page.

By Jamie Bence

From our friends at Equal Justice Works, a Friday webinar on public interest students who find themselves faced with hefty loans.

Drowning in Debt? Learn How Government and Nonprofit Workers Can Earn Public Service Loan Forgiveness Works

July 8, 2011 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

A must attend for anyone with high educational debt planning to work or currently working for the government or a nonprofit, this webinar explains how you can benefit from the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the most significant law affecting public service in a generation.

From this interactive webinar, you will learn and be able to ask questions about:

• Understanding your Federal loans
• How the Income-Based Repayment plan works
• How to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Register for this webinar here.