March 22, 2012 at 2:21 pm
· Filed under Career Resources, Legal Education, News and Developments, Public Interest Jobs
By: Steve Grumm
An announcement from Equal Justice Works:
Summer Corps is now accepting online applications for the 2012 program. Due to numerous requests, we have extended the deadline to Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. All application materials must be submitted by this time. Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted.
More info on the program at EJW’s Summer Corps page.
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March 19, 2012 at 10:58 am
· Filed under Legal Education, News and Developments
From the Daily Progress:
Students at the University of Virginia School of Law volunteered a record number of hours of pro bono work over winter recess. More than 200 students donated their time and legal services, logging about 10,000 hours in less than a month.
“We are absolutely thrilled. This was a record number of participants,” said Kimberly Emery, assistant dean for pro bono and public interest. The previous record was set over the 2010-11 winter break when 177 students logged more than 8,000 pro bono hours. . . .
For students, legal volunteer work is a way to put what they have learned in the classroom into practice. . . .
Emery said that pro bono work is especially beneficial for students just beginning law school.
“For the first-years it’s an opportunity for them to try out for two weeks a type of legal practice before they commit to a whole summer of it,” she said.
Reser agreed, adding that her pro bono provided “extra reassurance” that she made the right decision enrolling in law school.
“I’m definitely more looking forward to actually getting out and starting work,” Reser said. She has plans to work with a law firm this summer. . . .
“Everybody in the community benefits when legal issues can be addressed properly through the court system,” she said. “Especially in today’s economic climate, there are many individuals who can’t access the courts without the aid of a pro bono attorney.”
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March 9, 2012 at 9:20 am
· Filed under Career Resources, Legal Education, News and Developments, Public Interest Jobs, Public Interest Law News Bulletin, The Legal Industry and Economy
By: Steve Grumm
Happy Friday, dear readers. Along with teaching us to embrace and cultivate a sense of searing guilt for the remainder of our earthly days, the nuns in my Catholic elementary school imparted to their pupils much common-sense wisdom. One such bit of wisdom is “fall back, spring forward”, a phrase which reminds me what I’m supposed to do with my clocks twice a year. So, a reminder to spring your clocks forward by one hour tomorrow night.
Speaking of our earthly days, this afternoon I’m joining my family at Arlington National Cemetery to bury a great aunt and uncle, the latter having been a retired Air Force pilot. This will be a solemn, but not a sad, event. Aunt Kay and Uncle Jim, who were married, died late last year after long, happy lives together. Uncle Jim was one unique cat, and his life story offers an object lesson in cherishing every waking moment. I knew him as an older man who sky-dived, scuba-dived, and bungee-jumped into his 70s. My dad knew Uncle Jim as his mom’s gregarious younger brother who, on holiday leave from the military, would sweep into their house like a hurricane – showering gifts on the kids and ribbing my grandfather, a Philadelphia fireman whose German-American roots left him wanting quieter, more sedate family interaction.
Uncle Jim knew what sacrifice in life meant, and he endured hardships. But I can truthfully write that only once did I see him without a smile on his face for any more than a few seconds. That was at his wife’s funeral last October. He died weeks later. Throughout his life Uncle Jim seemed to know better than most that, come what may, our clocks spring forward faster than we may wish. So we must seize every single moment as they try to pass us by.
This week:
- Maryland’s public defender law getting a rewrite, but litigation about the right to counsel still likely to follow;
- Kentucky prosecutors and public defenders might need a stiff bourbon to deal with the next state budget;
- Badger student pro bono gets a boost;
- why mandatory pro bono ain’t the solution;
- in the U.K, proposed legal aid cuts run into a House-of-Lords buzz saw (a phrase that is fun to write and not often written, I’d wager);
- chickens coming home to roost in battle between U. Md. legal clinic & state lawmaker;
- pardon this! A proposed law school clinic on executive pardon power;
- Presidential Management Fellows application snafu draws attention of lawmakers;
- show me more funding! LSC cuts will impact Legal Services of Eastern Missouri;
- juvenile justice developments in the Buckeye State.
The summaries:
- 3.9.12 – “Lawmakers have reached a compromise to rewrite Maryland’s Public Defender Act to accommodate a Court of Appeals decision that found criminal defendants weren’t given proper access to attorneys. The consensus amendments, if passed early next week, would not require judges to work weekends and would dramatically reduce the number of people arrested for crimes with shorter jail terms. Lawmakers are looking at changing the law ahead of a mandate from the Court of Appeals that would require public defenders to be available within 24 hours after an individual is arrested.” (Story from the Gazette.)
- 3.8.12 – in the “just because it could have been worse doesn’t mean it’s now good” department,” Kentucky’s next biennial budget isn’t likely to please local prosecutors or public defenders. From Gannett: “The proposed state budget pending in the General Assembly has local prosecutors…concerned. The House of Representatives in the Kentucky General Assembly passed a proposed budget…that would cut most state agencies by 8.4 percent… The Senate will take up the budget next week and will likely make some changes. The House’s budget opted not to make the further cuts proposed by Gov. Steve Besher to prosecutors and public defenders but also won’t restore their funding cut out of this year’s budget. If this budget passes…it will mean a further backlog of cases and potential reduction in staff, prosecutors said.”
- 3.7.12 – the University of Wisconsin Law School will bolster pro bono programs through two grants from the state bar. One grant will help launch a free, law-school staffed legal clinic for veterans. The second will support the law school’s new Pro Bono Society, which will engage law students and alumni pro bono efforts. Here’s more from the State Bar of Wisconsin.
- 3.7.12 – the Pro Bono Institute’s Esther Lardent makes the “pragmatic and philosophical” case against mandatory pro bono as a solution to our country’s access-to-justice crisis. Here is Lardent’s blog post on the Association of Corporate Counsel website.
- 3.7.12 -House of Lords = Radical Progressive Revolutionaries(?) Civil legal aid advocates in the U.S. are not the only ones facing waves of government funding cuts. The present UK government is trying to push through measures that would considerably slash legal aid funds. But the House of Lords, which hitherto I’d thought was a legislative body preoccupied mainly with things like croquet and ascots, is pushing back. They are dealing blow after legislative blow to the government’s justice bill, as reported by the Independent.
- 3.6.12 – a Maryland lawmaker opposed to the work of the U. of Md.’s law school environmental clinic has thrown down the funding gauntlet. We’ve covered the particulars of this ongoing battle before (see my colleague Kristen’s great summary here, and more here). This is the latest from the Nat’l. Law Journal: “State Sen. Richard Colburn has proposed a budget amendment that would pit the state’s two public law schools against each other, transferring $500,000 from the University of Maryland, which houses an environmental law clinic that has angered some Republican lawmakers, to the University of Baltimore School of Law, to start a law clinic that would represent farmers. Colburn and state leaders including Gov. Martin O’Malley have spoken out against the environmental law clinic for representing plaintiffs in a pollution lawsuit against a local chicken farm that supplies Perdue Farms Inc. They contend that publicly funded law clinics should not file suits that hurt state businesses.” It’s a fascinating story raising questions around academic free expression, use of state education funds, combating pollution, and the power of local business interests large and small.
- 3.5.12 – Pardon this! A novel idea for a law school clinic. From Pro Publica and the Wash. Post: “For years, lawyers, faith-based groups and students have helped file petitions for inmates seeking to cut short lengthy prison sentences. But there have been no comparable resources for felons who sought pardons after serving their time. That may soon change. In response to stories published in December by ProPublica and The Washington Post, former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich (R) plans to launch the nation’s first law school clinic and training program devoted to pardons. Ehrlich’s proposal takes aim at the inequities identified by ProPublica’s investigation into the dispensation of presidential pardons over the past decade.” [The investigation showed disparities in pardons granted based on race and whether a petitioner had congressional support.]
- 3.5.12 – a snafu with the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program application process has raised larger questions for Republican lawmakers. From Government Executive: “The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked Office of Personnel Management officials to explain a recent [PMF] program mishap. In a March 1 letter to OPM Director John Berry, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Dennis Ross, R-Fla….sought more information related to a Jan. 23 incident when OPM mistakenly sent acceptance emails to 300 semifinalists who hadn’t qualified for the [PMF] program. About a quarter of the 1,186 semifinalists received the erroneous letters. Later that day the same applicants received another email informing them there was an error in the system. In the letter, Issa and Ross expressed concern that the notification mistake was ‘indicative of larger IT failures at OPM,’ including the agency’s recent troubles with retirement processing and USAJobs.gov.” A Washington Post commentator wonders if the PMF issue is a mole hill rather than a mountain.
- 3.3.12 – juvenile justice developments in the Buckeye State. From the Dispatch: “Juveniles in Ohio who are arrested for offenses that could land them in a detention center or youth prison can waive their right to legal representation without ever speaking to a lawyer. That will change if a proposal by the Ohio Supreme Court goes into effect. The new rule would require juvenile defendants to meet with a lawyer before choosing not to use one.”
And since we’re closing with Ohio, I leave you with Mark Kozelek’s achingly beautiful Carry Me, Ohio.
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March 7, 2012 at 11:20 am
· Filed under Legal Education
by Kristen Pavón
First, some background — this year, Harvard Law re-established their One Day’s Work fellowship program. Students who enter the private sector after their second year of law school volunteer to donate one day’s worth of their summer salary and the money collected goes to one of their classmates entering the public sector upon graduation.
Some students like the program, others don’t like the way it’s funded… But one student thinks it’s “the best possible way to fund an unworthy cause.”
From The Record at Harvard Law:
Kudos to One Day’s Work for being up-front and honest with their request for charity. The only problem is that the purpose of One Day’s Work is highly suspect.
A brief note on the provision of legal services. Imagine a law student named Ames Greenleaf. He works as a summer associate at a private firm and makes quite a hefty haul. He spends his days that summer writing research papers on civil procedure esoterica to help, say, a can manufacturer get out of a suit. His efforts raise the probability that the can manufacturer survives the suit and can continue employing dozens of workers who would otherwise end up indigent.
Now, imagine a law student named Barry Chosenone. He works at a public interest firm that files copyright paperwork for indigent NEA-grant artists. One such artist gets his copyright and airs to the world his passionate magnum opus “Piss Christ.” Barry loves this work, but he is worried because it does not pay well enough to support an uptown New York lifestyle.
Which of those two students has done more to help the community? Who can honestly claim that Barry deserves Ames’s money? Baldly, public interest work is more emotionally rewarding because it involves directly helping people, a fact which leads many good-hearted people to choose public interest vocations. Private firm work does more ultimate good, however. The clients pay more because they ultimately provide more benefit for their communities than individual down-on-their-luck litigants.
Personally, I don’t want to pay an extra couple hundred dollars to incentivize my fellow students to get a legal job at the Department of Health and Human Services that will be paid for with the tax money I already have to pay to the government anyway. . . .
Anddddd, discuss.
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March 7, 2012 at 9:10 am
· Filed under Career Resources, Legal Education, News and Developments
By: Steve Grumm
The University of Wisconsin Law School’s pro bono progams will be bolstered by two grants from the state bar association’s Legal Assistance Committee. A report from the state bar:
The State Bar Legal Assistance Committee has awarded Pro Bono Initiative grants to Dane County Veterans Legal Clinic to start a free legal clinic and to the U.W. Law School to recruit law students to work on pro bono matters.
The Dane County Veterans Legal Clinic received a grant to start a new free legal clinic for veterans in the Dane County area. The project is administered by the U.W. Law School’s pro bono program and is a collaborative effort with initial support from the Dane County Veterans Service Office, the State Bar of Wisconsin pro bono program, representatives from the Wm. S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, and the U.S. Army Wounded Warrior Program. Volunteer attorneys and law students will staff the clinic at the local veterans service office in Madison. The project is modeled on a similar effort in Milwaukee. The clinic aims to launch by Veterans Day, Nov. 12, 2012.
The U.W. Law School received a grant to help launch its new Pro Bono Society. With the assistance of the law school’s new pro bono coordinator and an Americorps VISTA coordinator, the law school is implementing an ambitious effort to recruit and recognize law student pro bono efforts. The program recruits volunteer attorneys to work with law students on pro bono matters. Additional special events will be organized throughout the school year to engage more law students in pro bono service. Students completing 50 hours of pro bono legal services during law school will be inducted into the Pro Bono Society and receive special recognition at graduation.
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March 6, 2012 at 3:30 pm
· Filed under Legal Education, News and Developments
By: Steve Grumm
From the Washington Post:
For years, lawyers, faith-based groups and students have helped file petitions for inmates seeking to cut short lengthy prison sentences. But there have been no comparable resources for felons who sought pardons after serving their time.That may soon change. In response to stories published in December by ProPublica and The Washington Post, former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich (R) plans to launch the nation’s first law school clinic and training program devoted to pardons.
…
Ehrlich said he intends to contribute to the program and raise funds for it. He is working to find it a home, looking at Georgetown law school and George Washington University, as well as other institutions in the Washington area.
…
Ehrlich’s proposal is modeled in part after the country’s only law school clinic for commutations, started a year ago at the University of St. Thomas law school in Minneapolis. The commutations program is run by Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor who has argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court.
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March 5, 2012 at 3:20 pm
· Filed under Career Resources, Legal Education
From the National Law Journal:
Lawyers finish school prepared to think like lawyers, but are they prepared to develop business and survive in a competitive economy?
Well, no, not usually. To remedy this situation, Fordham University School of Law brought in Silvia Hodges, who earned the first doctorate degree on record in legal services marketing. Last spring, she launched a course on the topic. While a far cry from the usual torts or constitutional law curricula, her class is essential. It aids law students in developing their personal brands.
Hodges encourages students to improve their value by blogging (among other things like taking courses in the area you want to practice in, joining associations and interest groups, etc.).
“Blogging is a great tool to help law students accomplish this [building your brand],” Hodges said. “Great posts show that you are familiar with the topic. You become part of the discussion, become known among those interested in the topic. Having valuable contacts online is part of becoming a thought leader. You get your name out, it gives you visibility and helps you with search engine optimization. Your name and content will pop up when people look for your topic. Hopefully, this will help you get hired.”
I agree that blogging on legal topics you’re interested in can help you land a job. However, because blog writing is not the same as legal brief writing, I would suggest researching blogs and blog writing styles before starting your own.
Do you have a blog? Are you thinking about starting one?
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March 5, 2012 at 9:03 am
· Filed under Career Resources, Legal Education, Public Interest Jobs
By: Steve Grumm
Here’s my modest proposal on how 3Ls can maximize their time while focusing on both bar prep and the career search after graduation:
For those 3Ls who will be studying for the bar and hunting for jobs after graduation, the keys to success may be distilled into one word: planning. Before graduation, 3Ls should work up an action plan to manage their summertime responsibilities. There are (at least) four considerations for an action plan:
- Bar exam prep;
- The job hunt;
- Managing finances; and
- Maintaining sanity….
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March 2, 2012 at 8:43 am
· Filed under Legal Education, News and Developments, Public Interest Jobs, Public Interest Law News Bulletin, The Legal Industry and Economy
By: Steve Grumm
Happy Friday, dear readers. This week:
- Maryland legislation would counteract state high court ruling requiring counsel for defendants at bail hearings;
- AIG’s in-house department launches pro bono program;
- How funding constraints slow the wheels of justice in Washington State;
- the dire funding straits of Tarheel State legal services providers;
- pro bono in Arkansas? There’s an app for that;
- promoting volunteerism by professionals in Corporate America;
- Massachusetts governor Patrick’s plan to revamp public defense program runs into roadblocks;
- SUNY Buffalo law clinic puts the focus on harmful consequences for pets in households with domestic violence;
- what law-firm pro bono can learn from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Here are the summaries:
- 3.1.12 – “the Maryland Senate and the House of Delegates on Thursday passed measures to repeal a Maryland law requiring poor defendants to have a public defender present when they appear before district court commissioners, who decide bail and whether a defendant is detained after arrest…. Lawmakers are working to address a Maryland Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year that defendants must have an attorney present during appearances before court commissioners. Compliance with the ruling could cost tens of millions of dollars, if the law isn’t changed.” The measures also try to cut down on the number of suspects who would be detained by allowing law enforcement officers to issue citations in lieu of arrests for some minor crimes. Still, the issue of the constitutionality of some defendants not having counsel at bail hearings will likely be litigated again. (Story from the Washington Post.)
- 2.29.12 – Multinational insurance company AIG, which has about 500 in-house attorneys, is launching a pro bono program. AIG general counsel Thomas Russo spoke to Corporate Counsel: “ ‘You want to give people the opportunity to contribute to the community, and you want to be supportive of that in a lot of different ways,’ says AIG general counsel Thomas Russo. ‘We wanted to do it right, and that took time.’ With the wholehearted blessing of Russo—who used to defend, pro bono, New York City street musicians accused of violating city ordinances—AIG joins a growing pro-pro bono trend among corporate law departments. But establishing the program is also a big part of how Russo conceives of the company’s comeback, after receiving the largest government bailout in U.S. history during the 2008 financial crisis.”
- 2.29.12 – from the Seattle Times: “Guest columnists Richard McDermott, presiding judge of the King County Superior Court, and Barbara Madsen, chief justice of the Washington Supreme Court, voice concern that at a time of increasing legal needs for low-income residents, legal aid resources are facing cuts.” McDermott and Madsen highlight both the financial woes confronting courts (even as more and more pro se litigants seek help navigating the system) and the legal services community.
- 2.28.12 – the Public News Service looks at the dire financial straits of North Carolina legal services providers: “In the last 10 years, there’s been a 60 percent increase in the number of people eligible for free legal aid…. Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont saw a 25 percent state funding cut, as well as a serious reduction in contributions from lawyers who are also struggling in this economy…. Another free legal nonprofit, Legal Aid of North Carolina, had to close four offices and lay off 30 lawyers after last year’s budget cuts.
- 2.28.12 – pro bono in Arkansas? There’s an app for that. From the Arkansas Business Journal: A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law recently developed a mobile app for Arkansas pro bono attorneys. According to a news release, Stewart Whaley graduated from the law school in 2008. He and his team created the free app, called iProBono, and released it on the iTunes app store…. The program lets licensed Arkansas attorneys view pro bono cases representing low-income Arkansans. Attorneys can sort the cases based on legal topic and county. Cases can be requested through the app.
- 2.27.12 – speaking of the pro bono, Senator Mark Warner (D – VA) writes on the value of volunteerism in Corporate America. From the Huffington Post: In tough times, when reaching for the checkbook isn’t as easy as it once was for individuals or businesses, we need to find more creative ways to help. And for a growing number of American businesses, the answer is clear: many have agreed to partner with their employees to donate pro bono services, leveraging the extraordinary talents of their workforce to help support community needs.”
- 2.26.12 – “The state agency that oversees legal representation for the poor is raising some serious doubts about Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s legislation to overhaul the state’s system of indigent defense. Saying he wants to save costs in a tight budget, the governor submitted legislation last month to hire 240 additional full-time state lawyers at the agency in order to replace some of the work currently done under contract by 3,000 private lawyers for the poor across the state.” In a battle of dueling reports, the executive branch and the Committee for Public Counsel services differ on whether Gov. Patrick’s plan is s money-saver or not. (Story from The Republican.)
- 2.26.12 – an interesting new legal clinic out of SUNY Buffalo. From a news release: “Domestic violence victims often remain in abusive relationships to prevent their partner from harming or killing their pets. The University at Buffalo Law School Women, Children, and Social Justice Clinic’s new project, Animal Shelter Options for Domestic Violence Victims, is designed to remove this barrier to safety for individuals and their pets. With funding from Verizon and collaboration from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), law school faculty and students are working to provide individuals seeking emergency shelter with resources to help protect their pets as well as raise awareness about barriers escaping domestic violence faced by victims who have animals.”
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March 1, 2012 at 12:18 pm
· Filed under Legal Education
by Kristen Pavón
I’m glad that 3Ls’ reputations have been restored.
A study out of St. Louis University School of Law has found that 2Ls spend approximately 42 percent of their time off task in class. In comparison, 3Ls stayed on task 82 percent of the time!
From The National Journal:
Kim Novak Morse, associate director for writing support at Saint Louis University School of Law, has devoted her dissertation to the matter; she’s going for her doctorate in higher education at Saint Louis. She said she hoped to provide empirical data to better inform the debate about classroom laptops bans, since much of the previous research has been based on student surveys rather than classroom observation.
“All the debate between professors and students about laptop use in the classroom and whether to ban them was getting pretty hostile,” she said. ” I thought, ‘Before we ban the laptops, let’s get all the facts.’ ”
Morse and six research assistants spent one semester during 2010 monitoring how students attending five law classes used their computers, and how different teaching styles affected their use. They deployed software to keep tabs on what students did with their computers during class. (The students were informed that they were being observed for classroom participation, but did not know the researchers were focusing on their use of laptops).
It was widely assumed that 3Ls would be the worst offenders, Morse said — that an element of senioritis was at play. In fact, the 2Ls took the crown, spending 42 percent of their time off task. The figure for 1Ls was 35 percent and for 3Ls it was a relatively modest 28 percent. . . .
Morse, who has presented her findings at legal education conferences, suggested a number of ways for professors command attention:
• Offer big-picture summaries.
• Warn that certain material would make a good exam question.
• Present information in shorter increments.
• Break up lectures with questions and discussion.
You can read the full story here.
To me, these results make sense. 1Ls are terrified and use their laptops to ease the stress, 2Ls feel like they have a handle on law school and they can chill, and 3Ls are finally taking classes they are truly interested in.
What do you think about the results? Do they reflect what’s going on at your own law school?
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