Calling All Public Interest Attorneys: please have your office participate in the National Association for Law Placement’s (NALP) 2010 Public Sector & Public Interest Attorney Salary Survey.

What is the Survey?

Every 2 years, NALP conducts this unique survey of public interest and government law offices to gather important data on attorney salaries, benefits packages, and loan repayment assistance programs.  Public interest law offices have relied upon data from past surveys in resetting salary scales; negotiating union contracts; advocating for legislative changes to salaries and expansions of loan repayment programs; and more.

The survey is endorsed by the Legal Services Corporation, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, and others.

Who should participate?

• Civil Legal Services Organizations
• Public Defender’s Offices
• District Attorney/Local Prosecutor’s Offices
• All other nonprofit, public interest law offices (e.g. those organizations that promote civil liberties, human rights, advocate for the homeless, etc.)

How to Participate

It is very easy to do.  The survey is now being mailed by hard copy to public interest law offices throughout the country.  It is also available electronically here: https://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/9c6eg423bc.    (Please complete either the hard-copy or electronic versions, not both.)  All survey participants will receive a free electronic copy of the report when it is released later in the year.

Please contact Steve Grumm, NALP’s Director of Public Service Initiatives, with any questions: sgrumm@nalp.org or 202-296-0057.

Anybody who has looked at or applied for federal jobs knows the USAJobs website all too well. Today, there’s good news! The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) revealed yesterday a brand-new interface for the USAJobs site, featuring more user-friendly ways to sort and search for jobs, refine searches, and most importantly, track the status of your applications. A brief article from Government Executive summarizes the changes and provides some nice quotes from OPM officers explaining the motivation for change. One particularly nice feature to check out is the Students page, which has information on internships, fellowships, and routes into permanent federal service.

The Practising Law Institute is offering a free one-hour audio webcast this Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 1 PM EST on how the legal community can best provide assistance in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake. The briefing will be largely focused on Temporary Protected Status applications, as well as some other ways lawyers can help in the wake of natural disasters. For more information and to register, visit the PLI website.

Technola blogged today about the release of the newest version of A2J Author 3.0, which can be used to create “user-friendly interfaces that help self-represented litigants fill out court forms and other legal documents.” A2J Author is free for non-commercial use and is available for download – check out Technola, the Center for Access to Justice and Technology, and the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction to learn more.

The American University Washington College of Law Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law in conjunction with the WCL Continuing Legal Education program is hosting a one-day symposium next Thursday, Jan. 28 on the impact of the recession on social welfare. The program is called “Framing Problems and Finding Solutions: A Look at the Effects of the Recession on Social Welfare,” and is being offered at no cost, though registration is required. You can read more about the program and register on the WCL website.

The annual Cover Retreat, which provides a forum for public-interest and reform-minded law students, practitioners, and academics to gather, network, and exchange ideas, will take place at Camp Sargent in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

Learn more about the retreat’s rich history and download this year’s registration info.

The Skadden Foundation has announced its incoming class of fellows. This year, the foundation awarded 27 fellowships to students who will graduate from 20 law schools throughout the country.  Comparatively, in 2009, 28 students from 14 different schools were awarded fellowships.  In 2008, 36 fellowships were awarded to students representing 16 schools.

The ABA is seeking nominations for several pro bono awards:

Each year the Pro Bono Committee presents five awards to individual lawyers and institutions in the legal profession that have demonstrated outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services. The Awards will next be presented at the Pro Bono Publico Awards Luncheon on Monday, August 9, 2010 at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA….  Nomination forms and all supporting materials must be submitted via email by 5 p.m. Central time on Monday, March 8, 2010. No extensions will be granted.

The ABA’s Pro Bono Awards webpage provides background info and additional detail on the nominations procedure.

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Co-sponsored by the American Bar Association and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, the Equal Justice Conference “brings together all components of the legal community to discuss equal justice issues as they relate to the delivery of legal services to the poor and low-income individuals in need of legal assistance.”

The conference is a terrific coming-together point for legal services attorneys, judges, pro bono attorneys, and  many other public interest advocates who share an interest in access-to-justice issues.The 2010 EJC takes place in Phoenix, AZ from May 13-15.  Registration is now open.