By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, folks.   It’s been a light news week, and I’m traveling.  So you’re spared from my typical musings, ramblings and editorializing.  Here’s the access-to-justice and public interest news in very short:

• defense lawyers association backs NM measure to convert public defense program to independent state agency;
• Honoring lawyer pro bono/public interest contributions in NY;
• from UT, a look at the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake;
• new U.S. poverty data;
• in CA, Riverside County’s public defender blasts budget decisions that amount to “amputations”, not just cuts;
• the rotten state of IOLTA funding in FL
• back in CA, a unique new clinic at UC  Davis Law;
• Michigan’s state house considers creating a commission to promote public defender standards;
• public defender reality TV in NY;
• public defender caseload standards to take effect in MO.

The news in less short:

• 9.14.12 – “Criminal defense lawyers are helping to finance a campaign for a ballot proposal to make the New Mexico Public Defender Department an independent state agency.A campaign finance report shows the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers contributed $10,000 last month to a newly formed political committee that’s promoting voter approval of the proposed constitutional amendment.  (Here’s the short AP story.)

• 9.12.12 – the New York Law Journal honors its “Lawyers Who Lead by Example”: We asked the legal community to nominate their colleagues who demonstrate a sustained commitment to improving the lives of poor or nearly poor New Yorkers. We received about 70 nominations, all of them worthy.  Our 14 honorees for 2012 are truly part of the solution, demonstrating the highest level of commitment to their profession and their communities, tapping their training, business acumen, creativity and humanity to solve legal problems for those in need.  This year the Law Journal expanded the range of categories. Our 2012 honorees include one law firm; eight private attorneys; an in-house lawyer; three public interest attorneys who reached beyond the borders of their programs to bring attention and resources to the cause, and a law school clinic.”

• 9.12.12 – a piece in the Salt Lake Tribune looks at the Legal Aid Society’s nine decades of work on behalf of low-income Utahans.

• 9.12.12 – The U.S. Census Bureau released 2011 poverty data this week (press release).  The poverty rate remained essentially unchanged between 2010 and 2011.  Here’s a little more from the Census Bureau.

• 9.11.12 – Riverside County’s new budget is balanced, but hardly fair, in the view of the public defender: “Public Defender Gary Windom protested what he characterized as a draconian cut to his office, which earlier this summer laid off three people. Lawyers in the office represent people accused of crimes who cannot afford their own attorneys.  ‘These cuts are not cuts, they are amputations,’ Windom said. Windom said he was particularly concerned about a $1.5 million reduction for a unit that represents people who face the death penalty, if found guilty. He said that unit handles 20 death penalty cases a year and the cut would cripple the program by gutting 50 percent of its revenue.  Windom also objected to an additional $1 million cut to the public defender’s office budget overall.  And he questioned a projection that a new $50 fee charged to the accused when county lawyers are assigned to them would generate $1 million for the office.” (Article from the Californian.)

• 9.11.12 – the rotten state of legal services funding in Florida.  “[Florida Bar Foundation Executive Director Jane Curran] said that the Foundation’s revenues, generated by short-term interest on trust accounts, shrank from $44 million in 2007, before the recession, to $5.58 million last fiscal year, which ended June 30. ‘Our funding cuts alone … will result in the layoff of 120 legal aid lawyers,’ Curran said.”  (Story from the Daytona Beach News-Journal.)

• 9.11.12 – at UC Davis Law, a clinic focused on the state high court.  “The only course of its kind in the country, the California Supreme Court clinic is designed to train select students in the art of researching and writing briefs for the state’s highest court.  Some law schools in California and other states have similar programs that focus on the U.S. Supreme Court, but none is devoted to a state high court.
  [T]he students will provide pro bono representation to individuals and organizations in both criminal and civil matters pending before court. The class will enter a case either as co-counsel to a party or as an amicus curiae…”  (Article in the Sacramento Bee.) 

• 9.10.12 – a short article on Michigan Public Radio’s website: “Michigan’s public defender system is consistently rated one of the worst in the country. But this week, the House Judiciary Committee will consider creating a commission to establish standards for indigent defense.”

• 9.10.12 – public defender reality TV. “The special, Criminal Defense: And Justice for All, was scheduled to air in two half-hour episodes beginning Tuesday [9/11] at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on the National Geographic Channel. Filmed over a span of three weeks, the shows offer a day-in-the-life look at several lawyers as they defend their clients.  The show’s executive producer…says most television programs focusing on criminal justice are based on the police or prosecution point of view. ‘The idea of having access to the work of public defenders is something that has almost never been shown before to the public,’ he tells the ABA Journal in an interview.  Law-and-order policies get lots of public debate, he points out. Now viewers will get ‘an opportunity to see how the policies that are talked about in the abstract and in the public square affect individual people’s lives’.”  The two episodes were filmed as a pilot and have the potential to become a series.”  (Full story from the ABA Journal.) 

• 9.7.12 – in Missouri, a new public-defender caseload standard to take effect on 10/1: “Boone County public defenders might have to decline immediate representation for some clients under a formula set to take effect Oct. 1 that will cap their monthly caseload.”  (Story from the Columbia Tribune.)

[Ed. Note: Expert Opinion” is a weekly feature which offers insight , opinion, and career advice from attorneys in a broad array of public interest positions.  This week’s post features Q&A with Professor Emily Benfer of the Loyola University School of Law.]

Emily A. Benfer is a Clinical Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Health Justice Project a medical-legal partnership at at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy.  Professor Benfer has dedicated her career to serving the public interest. She was a legal intern for Judge David Hamilton, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the Indiana Protective Order Pro Bono Project, and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. She received an Arnold & Porter Equal Justice Works Fellowship to implement the advocacy and litigation strategy that she designed in order to represent, and improve the District’s response to, homeless families, children and youth. She then represented preschool aged children with disabilities in a successful class action against the District of Columbia. As a Staff Attorney and Teaching Fellow in the Georgetown University Law Center Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, she supervised and mentored law students on an array of legislative advocacy projects.

***

Can you give us a brief outline of how you got to the job you are in today? Was this position what you originally planned on doing, or was your career trajectory part of an evolving process?

After serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, I worked as a paralegal at New Haven Legal Assistance Association, Inc. in Connecticut. In both experiences, I confronted poverty, injustice and inequality and I gained a better understanding of the skills and strategies necessary to cause social change. I determined to develop and employ these skills in an effort to ensure social justice. At the time, I thought this meant working in the trenches and advocating for clients. I quickly learned that there is no one right way to tackle injustice and that, in order to be truly effective, one must become a lifelong learner and gather and hone skills throughout one’s career.

Toward that end, I am drawn to professional opportunities that will challenge me to expand my skillset to become a more effective advocate. During my career, I have represented individual clients, organized, and passed local legislation (as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless). I responded to patterns of injustice by gaining experience in class action litigation (at a public interest firm where I successfully represented a class of students with disabilities). I learned about and contributed to public policy creation and the federal legislative process (as a Supervising Attorney and Teaching Fellow at Georgetown Law Center’s Federal Legislation Clinic). 

As a Teaching Fellow at Georgetown Law Center, I recognized the importance of mentoring and teaching the next generation of public interest lawyers. As a Clinical Professor of Law, I am able to simultaneously respond to social injustice in our communities while encouraging others to join in the effort by supporting and training law students.

What internships or activities did you complete in law school that helped prepare you for this position?

Logging over 800 hours, I took advantage of every pro bono opportunity offered by the law school. These cases gave me hands on experience and better prepared me to represent clients and develop the attorney-client relationship immediately after earning a law degree. I served as a law clerk at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the Protective Order Pro Bono Program, United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana.

In addition, I served in leadership positions in law school organizations and on local and national boards of directors. These experiences provided me with insight about organizational management, coalition building, and perspective on nationwide approaches to injustice.

How did your contacts with previous employers, professors, and colleagues influence your job search, if any?

I have asked and followed the advice of my mentors (previous employers, professors and colleagues) throughout my career trajectory. It is incredibly important to seek out and build relationships with people who have similar goals and greater experience. They need not be lawyers but they should believe in a similar mission. Among the most fulfilling and important relationships in my life are those with my mentors. They have challenged me, inspired me, guided me, shaped my ethics, expanded my ambitions, and provided sage advice. They are exemplary heroes.

Would you change your preparation for this position in any way if you had the chance?

I would have enrolled in a clinic during law school.

Thanks, Emily!

Do you know a law student who’s a public interest/pro bono rock star?  NALP is seeking nominations for the 2012 PSLawNet/PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award. 

Download the Nomination Form Here!

Purpose: To recognize the significant contributions that law students make to underserved 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 PSJD Subscriber School. The recipient will be honored during an Award Luncheon at NALP’s Public Service Mini-Conference on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at the Washington, DC office of Crowell & Moring, 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 their 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. 

Nomination Deadline & Packet Contents: Nominations must be received by Friday, September 14, 2012 at 5pm Eastern Time, by fax, mail, or email (see contact information at bottom). Along with the nomination form and a résumé, nomination packets may include any materials which support a nominee’s candidacy; such as letters of recommendation, statements detailing a nominee’s work, and media articles. 

By: Steve Grumm

Are you participating in public service career fairs this fall, or at least contemplating it?  Here’s some wisdom on making the most of career-fair opportunities from this month’s NALP Bulletin:

Public service job fairs are an excellent opportunity for students to interview and learn about potential employment opportunities. However, given the ease of the job fair application process, many students will submit their materials without much forethought. This large number of applicants increases competition for positions and face time with employers. For example, over 1,200 students from 200 law schools are expected to participate in next month’s Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair. Last year the event attracted approximately 117 employers from 27 states looking to fill about 140 positions—that’s tough competition!

Here are some tips and strategies to aid students in making the most of any public service job fair….

Read the full article, written by career counselors Ginna Galbraith (South Texas College of Law) and Samantha Kasmarek (Syracuse College of Law).

And don’t forget PSJD’s interviewing and networking resourcs, available on our Career Central page.

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, folks.  The Bulletin went on holiday last week while its author observed the Labor Day weekend and hiked around Harper’s Ferry, WV.   Three noteworthy items before moving to the access-to-justice and public interest news:   

• I was initially attracted to this op-ed because it offers data on state/local government job cuts between 2008 and the present.  But more interesting is its exploration of the importance of community engagement in our government fiscal decisions.  When We The People aren’t engaged and informed, fiscal policy decisions become less factually grounded and more “quixotic and arbitrary.”  If nothing else it’s a testament to why it’s our civic duty to, well, actually engage in civics.  (Here’s the New York Times op-ed.)
• What personal/professional traits drive entrepreneurship and creative action in the legal arena?  There are eight of them, it turns out, and the ABA has collected them for us.  They boil down to: “Be a glass-half-full person and welcome new ideas.”  But the list is worth a read.
• With record-level numbers of food stamp recipients these days, here’s some insight, via The Atlantic, as to whom those recipients are: 
  • Some 43 percent of SNAP recipients live at or below half the poverty line. Only 15 percent can say they live above the poverty line.
  • Children under 18 account for 47 percent of all food stamp recipients. Eight percent are seniors.
  • Forty-one percent of beneficiaries lived in households with partially- or fully-employed workers.  

The public interest news in very short:

• $50 for a public defender in Riverside County, CA?;
• what Alabama is to college football, Vermont Law is to environmental law (with due respect to my Oregonian law-school friends);
• a class of 14 new assistant district attorneys in Massachusetts’s most populous county;
• the American Bar Foundation receives federal grant funding to explore access-to-justice issues;
• appointed counsel or staff public defenders for NYC conflicts cases?;
• Baylor Law School starting up veterans legal aid clinics;
• LSC v. CRLA moves to the federal appellate level;
• a new nonprofit law office in Oklahoma serving low- and moderate-income clients;
• Warren County, NY is re-examining its public defender salaries;
• a federally mandated overhaul of Shelby County’s (Memphis) juvenile court system plods along;
• the strain on Legal Aid of the Bluegrass’s resources;
• experimenting with Civil Gideon in San Diego;
• U. of Memphis School of Law goes to a pro bono graduation requirement;
• report highlights the economic benefit that Iowa Legal Aid provides for the Hawkeye State;
• Kansas lawmakers emphasize importance of indigent defense funding;
• more good news re legal aid funding from national foreclosure class-action settlment funds (IL and WA);
• the dire financial straits of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (FL);
• kudos to the San Fran defender’s Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in our Communities (MAGIC) program;
• Ohio prosecutor moonlights as civil legal aid lawyer;
• pro bono developments stemming from Dewey & LeBoeuf’s downfall;
• DOJ funding will provide loan repayment assistance for some prosecutors and defenders in Vermont;
• Super music history music bonus(!) for those who read all the way to the bottom, and for those rulebreakers who just scroll down.

The summaries:

• 9.6.12 – “Criminal defendants in Riverside County [CA] using public defenders may soon have to pay $50 for the service.  The Board of Supervisors will consider establishing the registration fee at its meeting Tuesday, Sept. 11.  County officials suggested the fee to avoid using taxpayer dollars to recoup court costs. As much as $1 million annually could be raised through the fee, according to a county staff report.  The fee would apply to defendants during arraignments who say they can’t afford their own lawyer. Defendants fill out confidential affidavits under penalty of perjury about their finances, which the courts examine to determine their ability to pay toward their defense.  The fee would be waived if the defendants prove they can’t pay it and legal services would not be denied if there’s no payment, the staff report read.”  (Story from the Press-Enterprise.)

• 9.6.12 – Vermont Law School has received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. State Department to support a three-year project designed to improve environmental and public health in China.  The U.S.-China Partnership will work with Southwest Forestry University in Kunming, Yunnan Province, to create a “legal ecosystem” that includes an environmental and biodiversity law clinic to serve nongovernmental organizations, communities and underserved citizens. The school will host workshops to educate environmental leaders, lawyers and citizens on legal avenues to address environmental and public health issues.”  (Story from the VTDigger.com website.)

• 9.6.12 – real, actual, good hiring news on the public interest front – 14 new prosecutors in Middlesex County, MA: “District Attorney Gerry Leone announced today that eighteen new Assistant District Attorneys have been hired as part of the 2012 Fall Class of ADAs. Fourteen of the new ADAs will be assigned to the district courts throughout Middlesex County, located in Ayer, Lowell, Concord, Framingham, Woburn, Cambridge, Malden, Somerville, and Waltham. Additionally, four of the new ADAs will be assigned to the Appeals and Training Bureau.”  Of the fourteen new ADA’s, all but one went to law school in Boston.  (Full announcement on Boston.com.) 

• 9.5.12 – bringing some analytical precision to the quest for equal access to justice.  From Richard Zorza’s blog: “On December 7 and 8, in Chicago, the American Bar Foundation, with [Nat’l. Science Foundation] funding, will be conducting a two day event on research into access to justice. The scheduling is planed [sic] to facilitate attendance by those going to the NLADA Conference.   On Friday December 7, in the afternoon, there will be an open event — a poster session and town hall meeting, bringing together researchers and practitioners to explore issues of research into access to justice.  On Saturday Dec 8, there will be an all day invitational meeting to explore the possibilities further and move the agenda ahead.  Moreover, while the Saturday meeting is by invitation, it is possible to apply to be asked.  The application to attend is here.  The application is due Sept 28, 2012.  Additional information is available from A2JWorkshop(at)abfn.org.”

• 9.5.12 – appointed counsel or staff public defenders?  Indigent defense controversy in NYC:  “New York City’s plan to shift tens of thousands of criminal cases involving indigent defendants from private attorneys to the Legal Aid Society and other groups is illegal and an attempt to usurp judicial authority, attorneys for a group of bar associations told the Court of Appeals on Wednesday.  Six bar groups are challenging the plan, which was adopted in 2010 and would only affect cases in which the initial legal aid group assigned to a defendant cannot provide representation due to a conflict.  Before 2010, cases in which aid groups had a conflict were reassigned to approximately 1,100 private attorneys, known as 18-B lawyers, who were identified by the county bars. But the city decided to solicit contracts from aid groups to handle conflict cases instead of continuing to rely solely on 18-B lawyers.”  (Article from Thomson Reuters.)

• 9.4.12 – “Baylor Law School will host free legal aid clinics each month to help local veterans with a variety of civil issues.  Law Professor Bridget Fuselier, who is coordinating the program, said veterans will meet one-on-one with a local attorney for help with anything from estate planning and help filing for disability benefits to filing for divorce or pursuing a civil suit.  The law school is recruiting local attorneys to provide pro bono legal counsel and case-management services. The attorneys also will be paired with law students who will assist in preparing legal documents or law research.  The initiative is supported by a $22,500 grant the law school received from the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. The funds will help purchase laptops lawyers will use to complete transactions at the clinics, as well as purchase legal forms, and cover filing and administrative costs.”  (Article from the Waco Tribune.)
  • Here’s a little more from a Baylor Law School press release: Baylor Law School is one of 11 Texas nonprofits which are splitting over $400K in Texas Access-to-Justice Foundation grant funding to provide legal services to veterans.  “The Texas Access to Justice Commission – through its Champions of Justice Gala – raised more than $413,000 in 2012. TAJF will use the money raised to provide the grants to the selected nonprofit organizations. Now in its third year, the Champions of Justice Gala has raised more than $1 million for veterans’ legal services since its inception.” 

• 9.3.12 – “For more than six years, federal officials have pressed for client information and internal policy documents from [California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA)].  The inspector general for the Legal Services Corp. (LSC), which funds organizations that offer civil legal services to low-income families and individuals, is investigating whether…CRLA has abused its receipt of grant money — potentially violating federal law.  [CRLA’s] lawyers have resisted complying with an administrative subpoena, pushing the U.S. Justice Department to ask a judge in Washington’s federal trial court to force the organization to obey the demand for documents. CRLA lost at the trial level last year, and now the…dispute is unfolding in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  The case spotlights a clash between government oversight of federally funded legal service groups and state-based professional rules of responsibility that govern attorney[s].  Lawyers for CRLA contend disclosure of the information the government has demanded will violate attorney-client confidentiality and intrude on protected work-product documents.”  (Full story from the National Law Journal.)

• 9.3.12 – a new nonprofit law office in Oklahoma serving low- and moderate-income clients: Oklahoma Attorney Resources (OAR) is a private, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides family law legal assistance for low- to middle-income working public who need help with legal issues, according to a media release. Some of those issues are divorce, child custody, child support, paternity, guardianship and adoptions. The group also assists with Chapter 7 bankruptcies.  The program is designed to meet the need for access to the justice system by low-income residents whose resources are insufficient to pay prevailing rates for private attorneys. The attorneys working with the organization are all licensed in Oklahoma and experienced in family law. They have agreed to work at reduced rates to provide legal services to families in need who would otherwise be without representation. (Article from the Muskegee Phoenix.)

• 9.3.12 – Warren County, NY is looking at its public defender salaries, in part because, well, defender salaries are low, but also because a new state law will have the defenders providing counsel in some divorce matters (in addition to the more traditional criminal docket.) The county “…Public Defender John Wappett told county supervisors last week his two top assistant public defenders are searching for new jobs because of their stagnant salaries and a change in law that has assigned some of them to cases of divorce, in which most of the assistants do not have significant experience. Assigned counsel for the indigent has typically only been available in criminal and Family Court cases.”  (Article from the Post Star.) 

• 9.2.12 – “The federally mandated overhaul of Shelby County Juvenile Court is expected to cost millions — even if the county can avoid a federal lawsuit.  That’s because the proposed changes would create new positions, including full-time juvenile public defenders and a court-based Disproportionate Minority Contact coordinator who would work to reduce the number of black youths brought to court, held in jail and transferred to adult court.” (Article in the Commercial Appeal.)

• 8.31.12 – “Legal Aid of the Bluegrass (LABG) expects to provide legal assistance to nearly 20,000 individuals this year in 33 northern and central Kentucky counties.  LABG will be financing its operations with $1.1 million less than it had to work with the previous year.  Richard Cullison, executive director and program director for Rowan and 11 other area counties, said the Morehead office is working with the fewest number of attorneys it has had since its inception…. The Covington-based LABG said they already turn away 7,063 people annually who are eligible for services.”  (Story from The Morehead News.)

• 8.31.12 – experimenting with Civil Gideon in San Diego: “Courts around the state are in the middle of adjusting to budget cuts that have led to courtroom closures, reduced hours at clerk’s offices and concern the reductions will limit access to the justice system for state residents.  But a groundbreaking program in San Diego that began this year goes against that grain, providing legal representation to a select group of people in cases involving landlord-tenant disputes and child custody matters.  With a $2 million in annual funding from the state under legislation passed in 2010, the San Diego Legal Aid Society and the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program have been providing lawyers for free to indigent people in some civil law cases.”  (Story from the San Diego Union-Tribune.)

• 8.30.12 – the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law has implemented “a new pro bono requirement that will affect students this fall. Students entering the law school at that time will be among the first class that will have to perform…pro bono legal work to graduate.  Students entering this fall and thereafter will be required to complete 40 hours of supervised pro bono work. (Story from the Memphis Daily News.) 

•  Iowa Legal Aid has released a study reviewing the economic impact that its work on behalf of low-income Iowans has on the state economy and Iowans more broadly: “All told, Iowa Legal Aid’s financial impact on the Iowa economy in 2011 totaled $28,729,291.29. This represents a return of $5.71 for every single dollar invested in Iowa Legal Aid by sources within Iowa. Investing in Iowa Legal Aid is important because Iowa Legal Aid works to provide hope, dignity, and justice to Iowa’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens. But clearly, investing in Iowa Legal Aid also makes good economic sense.”  

• 8.29.12 – Here we are in Kansas: “A Senate committee grilled appointees to a board that oversees the state’s public defenders Wednesday, asking repeatedly if they will fight to ensure the program is properly funded.  Sen. Tim Owens, R-Overland Park, said the state could be “in dire trouble” if it doesn’t provide more money for public defenders for defendants who can’t afford them. Owens, a lawyer, suggested that the state could face lawsuits if it fails to do so…. Owens wasn’t the only member [senator] to express concern. Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, said she believed the indigent defense program had been “underserved and underfunded” throughout her 12 years in the Legislature and warned Beck to gird himself for further cuts.  Sen. Jay Emler, R-McPherson, the committee chairman and a lawyer, said his colleagues’ concerns about public defense are valid.”  (Article from the Topeka Capital-Journal.)

• 8.29.12 – a couple of good-news items regarding legal services funding:
  • From Illinois: “A legal aid group in Chicago is getting $4.7 million from a national foreclosure settlement to help homeowners hit by the mortgage crisis.   Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced on August 28 that the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago would receive the money from her state’s portion of the $25 billion settlement reached with five banks in March. Illinois received about $1 billion from the settlement, and Madigan has said that $20 million would go to legal aid.  Illinois joins other states that have committed proceeds from the settlement to legal aid.”  (Article from the National Law Journal.) 
  • Washington State: “Thirteen…non-profit organizations will split the $43.8 million the state received to fund foreclosure relief as part of the landmark $25 billion national settlement with the country’s five largest mortgage servicers….  The Legal Foundation of Washington’s Home Justice project will receive…roughly $13 million to provide legal representation for the more than 30,000 low and moderate income people who are expected to face foreclosure in the coming years or who are among the more than 135,000 households whose homes were foreclosed upon in the last four years.”  (Article from the Seattle Medium)

• 8.28.12 – a Florida Times-Union editorial laments the dire financial straits of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid.

• 8.27.12 -in Michigan, the Jackson County Legal News takes note of the state’s indigent defense woes: “The plight of the public defender in Michigan has come under scrutiny since a state report said the Michigan wasn’t doing enough to represent indigent people.  The Michigan Advisory Commission on Indigent Defense released a report in June that found the state wasn’t meeting minimum standards for indigent defense as set forth by the American Bar Association.  In 2008, the National Legal Aide & Defense Association’s report found Michigan ranked 44th in the nation on per-capita spending on indigent defense.”  

• 8.27.12 – “The San Francisco Public Defender’s MAGIC program will be honored by public school officials Tuesday for its service to tens of thousands of low-income San Francisco children… .Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in our Communities (MAGIC) was initiated by the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office in 2004 in Bayview-Hunters Point and in the Western Addition in 2006. The program convenes more than 100 community organizations and concerned citizens who work to reduce the number of kids who fall through social service gaps by efficiently coordinating opportunities, support and resources.” (View full press release.)

• 8.25.12 – public service times two.  In addition to his day job, an Ohio city prosecutor moonlights by running a civil legal aid clinic through his church.  (Article from the Toledo Blade.) 

• 8.24.12 – some pro bono developments in the wake of law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf’s downfall.
  • First, an American Lawyer article entitled, “Dewey’s Former Pro Bono Clients Feel Strain of Firm’s Closure”: “Although other law firm collapses—including those of Coudert Brothers, Heller Ehrman, Howrey, and Thelen——have left organizations scrambling to reassign pro bono work, Dewey’s disappearance has struck a particularly significant blow given the extent of its contributions. In 2011 The American Lawyer ranked the firm fifth among the nation’s largest law firms for its commitment to pro bono.  That’s not to say all pro bono work died when Dewey did. In fact, many Dewey lawyers took ongoing matters with them to their new professional homes, and several still sit on the boards of the organizations the firm once served.”
  • Second, the firm’s former pro bono director has launched a consultancy, offering support services for law firms that don’t have internal pro bono infrastructure.  I’m surprised that I’ve never heard of such an undertaking before. 

• 8.23.12 – “Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) has received a grant of $51,515 from the U.S. Department of Justice to go toward student loan forgiveness for attorneys who work as state prosecutors or state or federal public defenders in Vermont.  This is the third year VSAC has received the funding, although federal cuts resulted in a grant amount this year that is half that awarded each of the prior two years. VSAC administers the program at no charge so that all of the funding can go to eligible recipients. By law, half the dollars must go to prosecutors and half to public defenders.  VSAC works with the state’s Office of the Defender General, its Department of State’s Attorneys, and the Federal Public Defender for the District of Vermont to identify eligible applicants and award funding.”  (Press release hosted at VTDigger.org.)    

Music!  It’s September.  September used to be one of my favorite months because the summertime humidity would abate.  Now August seems to stretch and stretch, ever defiant.  September may be corrupted beyond salvage.  I accept it.  Nevertheless, it’s worth paying tribute to the ninth month with Big Star’s “September Gurls” (goofy spelling theirs).  Big Star, while not achieving commercial success during their active period in the 1970s, later emerged as a powerful influence on indie-rock bands.  (Here’s NPR’s take on the band’s history.)  Alex Chilton, Big Star’s major creative force, had already felt some 1960s fame as a member of the Box Tops.  Their song “The Letter” was a hit single back when my parents were young and hip.  Then came Big Star.  After Big Star ceased to be, bands from the Replacements (their song “Alex Chilton” is an unapologetic tribute, and the video displays the band’s contempt for MTV culture) to Counting Crows (who aspired to be “big stars” in their mega-hit “Mr. Jones”) praised Chilton loudly and proudly.  Though Chilton continued making music, the influence he had on rock & roll far outsized the little bit of money he made.  Later in life he spent time washing dishes in a New Orleans restaurant.   Chilton died in 2010 without the trappings of (big) stardom.  But not without a legacy.

So we’ve gotten a little far afield from plain old September.  Anyway, enjoy the September weekend.

[Editor’s note: “Expert Opinion” is a weekly feature which offers insight , opinion, and career advice from attorneys in a broad array of public interest positions.  This week’s post is an interview with Alejandro Reyes that was conducted by PSJD’s Summer Publications Coordinator, Maria Hibbard.  In the interest of full disclosure, Alejandro has bought your PSJD blog editor some great Thai lunches over the years.  Next one’s on me.  Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom, Alejandro!] 

An Interview with Alejandro Reyes….

Alejandro Reyes is counsel at the Laywers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C., where as a member of the Legal Mobilization Project he works on civil rights issues related to fair housing, voting, and immigrant rights. After hearing him speak on a panel at the Washington Council of Lawyers’ annual Summer Forum, I sat down to talk with him more about his path to becoming a public interest lawyer.  After graduating from the Howard University School of Law, he went on to complete an Equal Justice Works fellowship with Gulfcoast Legal Services and then worked as an attorney with Florida Legal Services.

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Can you give us a brief outline of how you advanced to the job you are in today? Was this position what you originally planned on doing, or was your career trajectory part of an evolving process?

No career is a straight line–although I started law school wanting to be a public interest lawyer, and specifically an immigration lawyer. I was teaching ESL classes in D.C., and one of the main problems that I saw among the individuals I worked with was that they were paying huge sums of money to firms to solve their immigration issues, even when they didn’t have cases. That’s when I started thinking about going to law school and getting more serious about the process. In law school, I did two summer internships that were immigration related and one civil rights policy internship, and they really solidified my interests. When I was getting close to graduating law school, I was pretty sure I wanted to pursue a fellowship–specifically an Equal Justice Works fellowship–and I started talking to my internship host at the time (Gulfcoast Legal Services) about the possibility of being a fellowship sponsor.

How did your contacts with previous employers, professors, and colleagues influence your job search, if any?

Talking to my supervisor at Gulfcoast Legal Services and others that I met through the organization helped define what my fellowship project would look like. Even though they had just secured another immigration-focused Equal Justice Works fellow and didn’t think they could sponsor another one, I was eventually introduced to the idea of doing a fellowship proposal based on farm worker and migrant rights.  Even though it was not what I was originally focused on, it was related, and it allowed me to do a fellowship at an organization where I wanted to be.

Generally, if you try hard enough, and you care about your work, you will succeed in public interest. The most important part, though, is to have advocates who have seen your work product, who care about you, and want you to succeed. Someone once told me to “walk away with powerful advocates” at every chance you get–so you need to find ways to have meaningful, continuing contact with your previous supervisors, professors or colleagues. Since the public interest law world is so small, you can’t do it alone–you need the support of others.

What experiences or internships did you complete in law school that helped prepare you for your work today?

Although I came to law school knowing what I wanted to do, I was inspired by studying the work of Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston in school. My internships in law school during both the summer and the school year shaped me more than anything else, though–there I was able to really see the work that I wanted to do in action and develop relationships. Going to law school, passing the bar, etc. were just requirements that were part of the path for me. 

Would you change your preparation for this position in any way if you had the chance?

If I had the chance to go back, I wish I would have known how important it is to build quality professional relationships. The advantage of reaching out to someone who works in an area in which you want to work is that they’ve done this before, and they therefore have years of experience in the area, so that they know how things work.

I also wish I would have better understood how legal services funding works. Where the funding is coming from, and how much is there, can really affect your ability to do your job–determine if your job even exists. Because of this funding uncertainty, there really is a lack of job security that is not there in private practice or in the federal government. You have to have very good reasons for going into this type of work–otherwise, there’s too many unknowns.

What advice would you offer to law students seeking a position in your area of practice?

There’s many schools of thought on this: the first says that you should develop a practice-specific resume, focusing intensely on one area so that you are the clearly the best candidate for a job. The second says that you should diversify and gain a wide variety of experiences. I’ve seen that a person who diversifies has to be a lot better at articulating a compelling story as to their motivations and goals, especially in interviews–otherwise, the individual who has focused on one area may come across as the better candidate.

 [Ed. note: Alejandro mentions the importance of professional networking as well as the value that his Equal Justice Works fellowship had in helping him carve out a career path.  Don’t miss PSJD’s resources on professional networking and postgraduate fellowships.  And email us at psjd@nalp.org with suggestions on how we can be most helpful to you.]

Hello, readers.  We know it’s a busy time of year. So we’re extending the nomination deadline for our 2012 PSJD (formerly PSLawNet) Pro Bono Publico Award by one week.  The new deadline is Friday, 9/14.  Take advantage of this opportunity to shine the spotlight on a law student who deserves national recognition for her public interest and pro bono work.  Here’s what you need to know:

Do you know a law student who’s a public interest/pro bono rock star?  NALP is seeking nominations for the 2012 PSLawNet/PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award. 

Download the Nomination Form Here!

Purpose: To recognize the significant contributions that law students make to underserved 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 PSJD Subscriber School. The recipient will be honored during an Award Luncheon at NALP’s Public Service Mini-Conference on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at the Washington, DC office of Crowell & Moring, 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 their 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. 

Nomination Deadline & Packet Contents: Nominations must be received by Friday, September 7, 2012 at 5pm Eastern Time, by fax, mail, or email (see contact information at bottom). Along with the nomination form and a résumé, nomination packets may include any materials which support a nominee’s candidacy; such as letters of recommendation, statements detailing a nominee’s work, and media articles. 

By: Steve Grumm

Two important Department of Justice application deadlines are today:

• The Attorney General’s Honors Program: the Attorney General’s Honors Program is Justice’s competitive, centralized recruitment program that is the only way for new attorneys (i.e., third-year law students and students who enter judicial clerkships, graduate law programs, or qualifying fellowships within 9 months of law school graduation) to enter Justice in an attorney position.
• The Summer Law Intern Program (SLIP) – law students who have completed at least one full semester of legal study by the application deadline are eligible to apply. Most successful applicants intern the summer between their second and third year of law school; however, graduating law students who will enter a judicial clerkship or a full-time graduate law program may intern following graduation.  Part-time law students are also eligible to apply. All applicants should review eligibility rules. 

By: Steve Grumm (with an assist from John Kapoor)

Happy Friday, ladies and gents.  An important housekeeping item: the PSLawnet Blog is becoming the PSJD Blog.  We are relaunching our PSLawNet public interest jobs database as PSJD, effective 8/27.  The blog will move from http://pslawnet.wordpress.com to https://blog.psjd.org (link not active yet).  Those of you who receive from me a weekly email message about this bulletin will continue doing so.  Launching PSJD, which will offer an even better jobs database and career center for the public interest community, represents an exciting transition.  We look forward to all that’s new, but just as much look forward to our continued daily blogging.

Some nonprofit news before the public interest news.  This Nonprofit Quarterly post came to my attention this week.  Entitled “A Too-sad Truth about the Nonprofit Sector,” the post laments the culture of martyrdom which many nonprofits take on.  This can manifest itself in unreasonably low salaries and a shortage of office resources to work efficiently.  Many of the best nonprofit law offices, in my experience, tend to emphasize “law office” over “nonprofit” in terms of how they operate and present themselves to the world.  Of course the recession has made funding scarce, and many organizations are struggling just to keep afloat now.  Nevertheless, some executive directors argue that they will only go so far in keeping staff salaries down and skimping on infrastructure expenses because they will not sacrifice quality of service.  It’s a very difficult balance to strike for nonprofits.  And this debate is always worth having because it brings out some terrific ideas and solutions from organizations with starkly different cultures.

On a lighter note, the annual “Mindset List” for this year’s incoming college class is out.  The list looks at how an 18 year-old would view the world in light of what has, and hasn’t, happened during her lifetime. The list, while a little weak this year compared to its predecessors, succeeds at making me feel old if nothing else.  Funny to think that an incoming college freshman might see Bill Clinton only as a grandfatherly, elder statesman as opposed to, well, any of the many other things Bill Clinton’s been.

Okay, the week’s access-to-justice and public interest news, in very brief:

• Legal Services Corporation board chair on the community’s funding woes and the latest LSC newsletter;
• law school clinic at Santa Clara U. is sued by law firm for, well, operating;
• legal services providers in Nevada receive $1.2m from mortgage foreclosure class-action settlement funds;
• when fiscal woes plague nonprofits in the justice system, local communities suffer;
• prosecutors moonlight to 1) supplement income and 2) perpetuate Irish-American stereotypes;
• maybe prosecution work is for the dogs;
• North Dakota’s economic boom is straining the both the civil and criminal legal-aid camps;
• Think Progress thinks about LSC cuts;
• DOJ petitioned to think about how its crime-fighting spending affects all players in justice system;
• would narrowing the definition of “pro bono” lead to lawyers handling more poverty law cases?
• the rise of, and importance in, pro bono from Chicago-area in-house counsel;
• more needed from pro bono lawyers and the justice system is strained by increased numbers of low-income litigants;
• a Texas County signs on for multi-county capital defense cost-sharing program;
• Michigan goes online to help pro se litigants;
• 10 tips for getting hired into a public defender’s office;
• a NY State county wants to go from paid staff defenders to an assigned-counsel system to save $;
• Deferred Action participants should be wary of those offering legal services.
• Music!

The summaries:

• 8.23.12 – LSC board chair John Levi writes about the legal services funding shortages in Michigan and throughout the U.S.: In Michigan, LSC funds six programs with 29 offices across the state. These offices, both in Michigan and nationwide, are increasingly overwhelmed with requests for help. Nearly one in five Americans — 63 million people — now qualify for LSC-funded civil legal assistance because they live at or below 125% of the federal poverty guideline. That is an all-time high. As demand has been rising, the combined funding for LSC programs from federal, state, local and all other sources has dropped from $960 million in 2010 to $878 million in 2012.  As a result, legal service programs are turning away more and more people who seek help — 50% or more according to recent studies.  More than 21% of the state’s population now qualifies for LSC-funded civil legal assistance. Resources from LSC and other funders, however, have dropped dramatically. Projected overall funding for the six LSC grantees in Michigan for 2012 is $19.6 million — a decrease of nearly 24% from 2010 funding levels.”  (Op-ed in the Detroit Free Press.)
  • On a related note, LSC’s 8/21 edition of “LSC Upates” covers likely job cuts at grantee organizations, a recent board meeting, promoting access to justice through technology, LSC’s receipt of grant funding to improve data collection(!), and other odds/ends

• 8.23.12 – “A Los Angeles law firm claims in court that Santa Clara University’s pro bono law center is practicing law for poor people illegally.  The Brachfeld Law Group sued Santa Clara University and Scott Maurer, supervising attorney for the university’s Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center, in Superior Court.  Brachfeld claims that the Community Law Center improperly uses Maurer’s law license to collect attorneys’ fees, which Maurer shares with the university.  (Story from the Courthouse News Service.)

• 8.23.12 – some of Nevada’s share of national mortgage foreclosure class-action settlement funds will go to legal services.  Legislators approved a one-year, $11 million plan.  (There is more for appropriation in future budget cycles.) Of this $11 million, “…nearly $1.2 million will go to Nevada Legal Services and the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada to provide assistance to homeowners.” (Article from the Nevada News Bureau.)

• 8.22.12 – when fiscal woes plague nonprofits like Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and the Jacksonville Justice Coalition, which offers support services to crime victims, the entire Jacksonville community suffers.  (Story from the Florida Times Union.)

• 8.21.12 – having grown up in northeast Philadelphia, I can say with certainty that there’s nothing unusual about a guy named Colin working behind a local bar. What is unusual is when he’s an assistant district attorney.  The Philadelphia Inquirer looks at the ends local prosecutors go to when they struggle financially on civil-servant salaries.
  • It’s noteworthy that their public defender counterparts have it worse.  From an Inquirer story in June: “An experienced assistant [DA] in Philadelphia, one with seven years on the job, can make $65,000 yearly.  A public defender with exactly the same experience makes a lot less: $51,500.”

• 8.21.12 – I’m a sucker for a story about a pooch in a law office.  “A new four legged volunteer is working at the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office. It’s part of an innovative pilot program, to provide emotional support to crime victims and witnesses.
  Malvern is a two-year-old, highly trained service dog.  District Attorney, Joyce Dudley, has been working to get a dog…into her office as…to provide a calming presence and create a more compassionate environment for victims and witnesses of crimes within Santa Barbara.  Over the next few months he will work in the D.A.’s office.”   (Story from KEYT.)
• 8.21.12 – unforeseen consequences. North Dakota’s economic boom is straining both the civil and criminal legal aid camps. On the civil side, stakeholders are dealing with “an increase in demand for Legal Services lawyers— …requests for help have shot up at least 50 percent in the last year—that coincides with a series of budget cuts. Federal funding, which accounts for about 60 percent of the organization’s annual spending plan, shrank by 5 percent in 2011 and 14 percent in 2012, leaving the agency with a budget of about $1.6 million this year.”  On the criminal side, a state bar task force’s “final report, which the bar association’s board of governors adopted on August 16, draws the bleak conclusion that the widening gap between the indigent defense commission’s resources and the demand for its services has put the agency on the verge of a ‘constitutional crisis’.”   (Story from the American Lawyer.  Ho-hum; the PSJD Blog noted this back in July.)

• 8.20.12 – a short post on the Think Progress blog highlights the financial straits of LSC grantee organizations.

• 8.20.12 – Two national defense attorney groups are asking the Department of Justice to better analyze how proposed criminal laws and crime-fighting strategies might add additional costs to the rest of the justice system [including indigent defense].  The Nat’l. Assoc. of Criminal Defense Lawyers joined the…National Legal Aid and Defender Association in passing a resolution this month that calls for the DOJ to conduct “justice system impact statements” statements on future policy changes. The resolution suggests the DOJ could fund the studies through its criminal justice grant programs.  The American Bar Association adopted a similar resolution more than 20 years ago, but the NACDL and NLADA resolution also asks DOJ for impact statements for the grants it distributes to local police and prosecutors.”  (Story from the Blog of the Legal Times.)

• 8.20.12 – would narrowing the definition of “pro bono” lead to more volunteer lawyers handling poverty law cases and providing direct representation to low-income clients?  The Pro Bono Institute’s Esther Lardent doesn’t think so: “The reality is that choosing pro bono work is often a matter of blending personal interest with client need. Restricting personal choices will not increase poverty law pro bono. It is, rather, far more likely to reduce the total amount of pro bono and the percentage of lawyers who undertake it.  Our goal should be to educate lawyers about the unparalleled need for legal services to the poor. We should put, as our Pro Bono Challenge and American Bar Association Model Rule 6.1 do, a special emphasis on poverty law pro bono (which led to 58 percent of total Challenge law firm hours devoted to pro bono focused on poverty), and review and revamp the processes for referring, accepting and handling pro bono matters for the poor to make them more appealing and more efficiently undertaken.”  (Full piece in the National Law Journal.)

• 8.20.12 – the rise in, and importance of, in-house pro bono in Chicago: “As more people have turned to them for help, Cabrini Green, like an increasing number of Chicago nonprofits offering legal services to low-income people, has sought help from new allies. Though legal nonprofits traditionally have recruited volunteers from the hallways of Chicago’s big law firms, they have begun courting lawyers who work in the legal departments of the region’s corporate giants, including McDonald’s Corp., Exelon Corp., Abbott Laboratories, Caterpillar Inc. and Allstate Corp.”  (Full story from Crain’s Chicago Business.)
• 8.19.12 – with the number and needs of pro se litigants rising, and with the civil legal services community weathering a severe funding storm, much is needed of pro bono advocates throughout the U.S.  (Full story from Associated Press.)

• 8.19.12 – in Texas, Angelina County is set to participate in the Regional Capital Defender Program.  Participation in the “shared-cost, multi-county” program is expected to save money on providing indigent defense services to those facing capital chartges.  (Story from the Lufkin Daily News.)

• 8.19.12 – as many other jurisdictions have done, Michigan goes online to help pro se litigants: “A new legal  Website, www.michiganlegalhelp.0rg offers information and many resources for Michigan residents who need to represent themselves in simple civil legal matters.”  (Story from the Ionia Sentinel-Standard.)
  •  Friend of the PSLawNet Blog Richard Zorza offers thoughts on the site’s look and functionality in this short blog post.

• 8.17.12 – for the aspiring public defenders, here’s a UVA law student’s 10 tips on PD hiring, which she learned while attending the Public Defender Advocacy, Training, and Hiring (PATH) conference run by the Public Defender Service here in DC.  I moderated a PATHY program on PD hiring, and I agree with the blog author that applicants must convey their passion for indigent defense work in their application materials and interviewing.  Public defenders want to know that their employees have a deeply-rooted commitment to defending the constitutional rights of all of their clients, who are not all angels, and who are not all innocent.  Also, applicants must be prepared for hypotheticals during interviews.

• 8.17.12 – Warren County is seeking to request permission from the New York State Mandate Relief Council to contract with lawyers to perform legal services for the indigent rather than having the work handled by its own county office in which the attorneys are county employees. The county estimates this change, if authorized, will save $200,000 annually.  (Story from the Post Star.)

• 8.16.12 – After implementation of the Obama Administration’s “Deferred Action” program for unauthorized immigrants who arrived in this country as youth, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., is renewing warnings to those immigrants to guard themselves against scam artists posing as immigration attorneys. He suggests asking questions about the attorney’s background and qualifications and calling the New York State Unified Court System’s Attorney Registration Unit to see if the individual is accredited before hiring them to ensure that they are in fact qualified to perform that kind of work. Many scam artists will take thousands of dollars from immigrants while offering little if anything in return.  (Here’s Mr. Vance’s press release.)

Music!  That Beloit Mindset List has me thinking about the college years.  So let’s travel to the 1990s for Boulder, CO’s own Big Head Todd and the Monsters.  (The man does in fact have a physically big head.  Not sure about his ego.)  “In the Morning” is one of my favorite songs -and it’s a pretty love song, tempo notwithstanding – from the under-appreciated album Stratagem.