Archive for News and Developments

The Pursuit of Social Justice: A Look at Derrick Bell

March 9, 2012 at 4:24 pm · Filed under News and Developments

This Friday, I’ll leave you all with a motivating piece. CNN writer Tom Cohen published a great profile on President Obama’s Harvard law professor and social justice “maverick,” Derrick Bell.

Here are a few highlights :

. . . [M]any who knew Bell [he passed away last October] through his legal and teaching career express admiration for his life’s achievements and his academic prowess.

“Bell’s pursuit of racial and social justice and his dogged critique of liberal incrementalism in universities and elsewhere was like a persistent wind that changed the landscape of law schools and influenced the larger academic world as well,” wrote Harvard law professor Lani Guinier and Texas School of Law professor Gerald Torres in a remembrance of Bell published in the “Chronicle of Higher Education.”

“He worked in so many ways: a mentor to many of today’s leading academics, a master teacher whose commitment to his law students was unquestioned and unmatched, and a provocative scholar and critic,” Guinier and Torres continued. “He was a celebrated maverick before that word lost its luster.”

Guinier had particular reason to honor Bell. In 1998, she became the first black women granted tenure as a Harvard Law School professor, six years after Bell’s departure over that issue.

Bell was a founder of critical race theory, which examined the intersection of race, power and law in a harsh portrayal of American society as one dominated by class and racial conflict. . . .

“He [Bell] wrote and spoke with powerful authenticity about race in ways that alienated not only many an adversary but also many a friend, some who even begged for his silence,” Sexton said. “But he knew that the cost of silence to his soul could exceed the sacrifice of good opinion and material goods to himself.”

To Sexton, Bell “knew that he was meant to strive, to struggle, and to push — there would be no short cuts.”

“Yes, Derrick rocked the boat,” he continued. “He also shook the tree, yielding fruits of exceptional scholarship that nourished the discipline of law and thousands of colleagues, students and friends, whom he inspired to teach each other the law and to stand up, speak out, and find joy and satisfaction in stretching the boundaries of justice.”

You can read the rest here. You can also read the NY Times’ obituary for Mr. Bell here.

Have a great weekend!

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PSLawNet Public Interest News Bulletin – March 9, 2012

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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Would You Hand Over Your Facebook Password to Prospective Employers?

March 8, 2012 at 3:59 pm · Filed under Career Resources, News and Developments

by Kristen Pavón

Yesterday, Forbes staff writer Kashmir Hill posted an interesting article on schools and prospective employers requiring students/prospective employees to fork over their Facebook passwords.

Here’s a snippet:

. . . The ACLU announced that it is helping a Minnesota high school student sue Minnewaska Area Schools after school officials forced her to hand over her Facebook password so that they could search her private messages for an alleged conversation with another student about S-E-X. Because the school is a public institution, the ACLU alleges this violated the student’s constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches. Meanwhile, MSNBC reports on prospective prison guards in Maryland being forced to hand over their Facebook passwords during job interviews and college athletes who are forced to friend their coaches on the social network. The Maryland Department of Corrections wanted to check applicants’ pages for any signs that they’re affiliated with a gang, while coaches want to make sure athletes are behaving (and not violating any NCAA rules).

I asked our Twitter followers if they’d be willing to give their Facebook passwords to prospective employers. My guess is that no, you guys are not willing to give prospective employers that kind of behind-the-scenes action.

Well, read on, readers.

Those of you offended by the idea of a prospective employer simply looking at your public-facing Facebook page must now be curled up in the fetal position, rocking back and forth, and crying at the horror of it all. In fact, says privacy attorney Behnam Dayanim of Axinn Veltrop Harkrider, there is no legal protection for you, at this point, if an employer asks for your Facebook password during a job interview. You can (and you should!) say no, but private employers have the right to ask for it and can choose not to hire you if you refuse.

“Legally, the employer has a strong position. You can say no, but there’s no element of duress there. If you don’t get the job, you’re no worse off than you were before,” says Dayanim. “That said, as a policy matter for the employers, I think it’s a bad idea.”

You can read Hill’s article in its entirety here.

Anyone else oh-em-gee-ing over this? So, what are your thoughts? Would you comply with an employer’s request for your password?

Luckily, I don’t have a personal Facebook page. I am a reformed Facebook obsessionista — I quit the social networking site back in 2009 because the level of over-sharing became intolerable and more than ever, I’m glad I did.

How many of you have thought about dropping off the Facebook grid?

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Women's Reproductive Rights: The Confusion Over Contraceptives

March 8, 2012 at 10:56 am · Filed under News and Developments

 

by Kristen Pavón

Happy International Women’s Day!

This year’s UN theme for International Women’s Day is Empower Women – End Hunger and Poverty, but really, it should be Empower Women…to Talk About Our Reproductive Health & Policy here in the U.S.

Yesterday, Virginia’s Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a law requiring abdominal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions, which will become mandatory starting on July 1.

Last week, conservative talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh attacked a Georgetown law student for her opinions on women’s reproductive rights expressed at a congressional hearing. Limbaugh singled out another “overeducated” woman on his show yesterday (seriously, he called her overeducated).

What’s going on???

And today, Huffington Post contributor Doug Bandow had this to add:

Law school is typically a time of financial stringency. I know, since I also attended law school (though many years ago). I drove a 1966 Corvair, rented a room in a private home, and worked part-time. I don’t remember the cost of contraception being a major issue then, but if it had been I wouldn’t have expected “society” to pay for it.

Obviously Sandra Fluke lives in a different world. As, unfortunately, does President Barack Obama.

It should be obvious that, as Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman was fond of observing, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Whether the pill, IUDs, condoms, or other, contraceptives must be developed, manufactured, and distributed. Someone has to cover that cost. Since contraceptives make sex easier for those who don’t want babies, one normally would expect that those who want to have sex to pay for them. After all, you get the personal pleasure of the act. Your wallet — and that of your partner — should get stuck with the corresponding financial pain.

Nor does calling contraception “preventive care” make it so. Sex is a great thing. But even 20- and 30-somethings, like Ms. Fluke, can survive without it. (Shock, horror, disbelief, I know, but still true!) What is more “essential” — getting a mammogram, colonoscopy, or chemotherapy, having bypass surgery or trauma care, or … making sure you can have a good time essentially without risk (at least of an unwanted pregnancy)? If you answered the latter on my final exam, you would earn an “F.”

Contraception also isn’t what is normally thought of as an insurable “event.” The purpose of insurance is to guard against the small chance of a big loss. You get insurance to cover the cost of treating a deadly disease or responding to a life-threatening accident, not to pay for bandages to cover a small cut or aspirin to ameliorate a headache. It especially makes no sense to insure against an event which you control — like how often you have sex, and therefore how often you use contraception. Imagine auto “insurance” which covered the cost of every gas fill-up. . . .

Sandra Fluke apparently wants to have sex freely and without risk. That’s hardly a surprise, and she’s certainly not alone in that desire. But it is still no reason to conscript the rest of us to pay.

You can read the rest of his diatribe here.

…..andddd discuss.

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Maryland Senator Takes New Approach against Maryland Law's Environmental Law Clinic

March 7, 2012 at 3:15 pm · Filed under News and Developments

From the National Law Journal:

The political wrangling over a University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law clinic’s involvement in environmental litigation against a local chicken farm does not appear to be settling down.

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.

The agricultural law clinic at Baltimore would be “dedicated to assisting farmers in the state with estates and trusts issues, compliance with environmental laws and other matters necessary to preserve family farms,” the proposed amendment reads.

If the University of Baltimore chose not to establish the clinic, the $500,000 would not revert to the University of Maryland. Instead, it would go to the state’s general fund.

Read more here.

Thoughts?

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U. of Wisconsin Law School to Ramp Up Pro Bono Programs with New Funding

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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Pardon This! Idea for Unique Law School Clinic to Focus on Executive Pardon Power

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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Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program Under Scrutiny for Application Mishap

March 6, 2012 at 9:10 am · Filed under Career Resources, News and Developments, Public Interest Jobs

By: Steve Grumm

A PMF mishap we noted earlier, which resulted in 300 applicants being given (temporary) false hope, has caught lawmakers’ attention.  From Government Executive:

he House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked Office of Personnel Management officials to explain a recent Presidential Management Fellows program mishap.

In a March 1 letter to OPM Director John Berry, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Dennis Ross, R-Fla., chairmen of the committee and its Federal Workforce Subcommittee, respectively, sought more information related to a Jan. 23 incident when OPM mistakenly sent acceptance emails to 300 semifinalists who hadn’t qualified for the prestigious fellows 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.

Issa and Ross’ request included a description of “all issues that may have adversely affected a candidate’s ability to apply for the program,” as well as a timeline of changes that have been made to the fellows program, the retention rate for fellows and a list of formal complaints filed with OPM regarding the program. The agency has until April 13 to provide the information.

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PSLawNet Public Interest News Bulletin – March 2, 2012

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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Indiana's "Right-To-Work" Law Set for Hearing Next Week

February 28, 2012 at 3:52 pm · Filed under News and Developments

From the Chicago Tribune:

The federal judge who has been asked to block implementation of Indiana’s new “right-to-work” law said on Tuesday he will hold a formal hearing on the request early next week. . . .

Opponents of the “right-to-work” measure claim the law violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by requiring dues-paying members to furnish free representation to people who refuse to join the union or pay dues, among other things.

Indiana became the 23rd state to pass “right-to-work” legislation on February 1 – and the first in the nation’s manufacturing heartland to do so.

Republican supporters of the law, which bars union contracts from requiring non-union members to pay fees for representation, said it was needed to attract and keep businesses in the state.

Opponents say the measure is designed to hobble organized labor, a key financial supporter of the Democratic Party, and to lower the wages and benefits of Indiana workers.

Read more here. Thoughts?

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