Andrew Ardinger, whose start date at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe was deferred, is spending a year with the Public Interest Law Project (PILP), a civil legal services support and resource organization that works with partners throughout California.  Ardinger has occasionally blogged for the American Lawyer about his public-interest experience.  His latest AmLaw post suggests that he’s had some valuable experiences, in terms of both professional and personal development, at PILP. 

…it was the first case that I got to see all the way through from start to finish that was the highlight of my first six months here. Through a task force that focuses on public benefits issues, PILP learned that a local county had created a rule that appeared unsupported on a legal level and grossly unfair on a gut level. As a result of the rule, poor people were being forced from stable homes to the streets because of a sharp reduction in their welfare benefits. I was involved in the preliminary investigation, researching the legal issues and talking with recipients to determine how and when this rule had been applied, and to what effect. When the decision was made to file, my bosses had me develop the complaint (at least the first draft or so), and I traveled out to our clients’ homes to meet with them and discuss the suit in detail. A while after we filed, the county agreed to discuss a settlement, and my bosses encouraged me to attend and participate in the negotiation sessions. PILP and the county reached an agreement that rescinded the rule and paid recipients across the county benefits that had been previously withheld.

It was my happy duty to discuss the terms of the settlement with our clients…

We’ve been closely following the phenomenon of deferred associates taking temporary public interest placements.  (We did some writing on the issue last December.  And a number of media articles focused on the phenomenon are collected here, on ProBono.net.)  There are many variables to consider when it comes to assessing how well things are playing out.  Two of the most important variables deal with whether the associates have opportunities to 1) interact with clients so that they can see first-hand the challenges those clients face, and 2) cultivate practice-related skills that will aid in their professional development.  It’s good to see that Mr. Ardinger’s experience has allowed him to do both.

 This week’s edition is fairly abbreviated, with stories touching upon the challenges that increased pro se litigation create for public interest advocates and for court administrators, continued coverage of the debate about the autonomy of public-interest clinical programs at state-run law schools, and more.

• 4.15.10 – Detroit Free Press (running an AP article) – delivering a State of the Judiciary speech to the state’s legislature, Michigan Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly highlighted the fact that the number of Michiganders who can not afford an attorney to help with their legal problems is rising.  Kelly noted that “her plans to address the problem include creating a task force to promote ways to help people who can’t afford an attorney, and a Web site for non-lawyers who represent themselves in legal proceedings.”  Link to article.

• 4.13.10 – Texas Tribune – as more Texans struggle to navigate the legal system on a pro se basis because they are unable to afford counsel, “[t]he problem of decreasing legal services for the poor is getting worse in Texas — ranked 43rd nationally — and fast.  The primary source of funds for civil legal aid in Texas — interest from trust accounts, client money that Texas attorneys are required to pool — dropped from $20 million in 2007 to $5.5 million in 2009 due to falling interest rates.”  A group of lawyers, judges, courthouse administrators, and others met last week at the “Texas Forum on Self-Represented Litigants and the Courts” to brainstorm about how to better assist pro se litigants.  Link to article.  [Ed. note: last week, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram ran an op-ed by the state’s chief justice and chair of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, arguing that while the longer-term solution to this problem is to adequately fund civil legal services programs, in the short term courts, public interest organizations, and other stakeholders should implement programs and resources to help pro se litigants navigate the justice system.] 

• 4.13.10 – Maryland Daily Record – the Maryland legislature has considerably expanded the size of the board that oversees the state’s Office of the Public Defender – from three to 13 individuals.  “The new law, which takes effect June 1, follows the controversial firing last August of former Public Defender Nancy S. Forster on a 2-1 vote by the current three-member panel that oversees the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.  Supporters of the change in the board’s composition had expressed frustration that the state’s chief defender of indigent criminal defendants could be removed by just two individuals. Under the new law, Senate Bill 97, the public defender can still be removed by a majority vote. But that majority will consist of seven votes.”  Link to article.  [Ed. Note: Ms. Forster’s firing, which was driven in part by philosophical differences over how the office approached its mission, received extensive local coverage last August.  Forster favored the continued use of funds on social services resources for clients, while at least one trustee favored a greater concentration of funds on courtroom work.  See Washington Post coverage, an 8.26.09 Baltimore Sun op-ed, by a Univ. of Maryland School of Law faculty member questioning Forster’s dismissal, as well as coverage from the Daily Record.]

• 4.13.10 – WCCO Television Station Website (CBS Affiliate in Minneapolis) – the fact that a “one-time millionaire” has gotten a federal public defender in Minnesota raises questions about who is entitled to a free public defense and how the system works.  John Stuart, the state’s top public defender explains that while the particular case in question is a federal matter, the framework for making the decision about indigent defense is the same on the federal and state levels.  The court looks at whether a defendant is in jeopardy of facing jail time, and whether they have the assets to hire a lawyer to defend them.  Stuart goes on to note that most public defense clients are very poor – “Almost all the public defender clients were really, really poor. So if [WCCO’s] viewers are worried about their tax money going to provide free lawyers to a bunch of people situated like a used car dealer or whatever, that doesn’t happen” – and that his state office, which pays its starting lawyers an annual salary equal to a sum that highly paid criminal defense attorneys could earn in one case, is hemorrhaging lawyers as a result of budget cuts.  Link to story.

• 4.11.10 – The Record (New Jersey) – the Rutgers University School of Law’s Environmental Law Clinic tried this week to fend off an open-records request regarding its representation of a local group of citizens who are trying to stop the building of  strip mall in Sussex County, New Jersey.  Since the school is a state institution, an attorney for the land developer has sued the clinic seeking records regarding its involvement in the litigation.  The case, which comes on the heels of a similar controversy at the University of Maryland, raises questions about the degree of school clinical programs’ autonomy as they seek to train students and serve public interest causes.  “Academic associations and law schools filed papers supporting Rutgers. The developer’s request, if granted, would hamper the school’s ability to educate its students and ‘interfere with the availability of pro bono services provided by law clinics to needy citizens of New Jersey,’ they argued.  The case also raises concerns about academic freedom at public universities, they said.”  Link to article.  [Ed. note: late last week, the New York Times ran a piece that touches on the University of Maryland controversy and zooms out more broadly to look at the proliferation of law school environmental clinic programs in recent decades, their relationships with the environmental movement, and the dust-ups that have occurred throughout the country as clinical programs have gotten involved in litigation against business interests.    Also, a 4/11/10 New York Times editorial came down on the side of clinical programs (noting yet another, recent controversy in Louisiana), arguing that business interests prompting legislative scrutiny of clinic activities interfere “with law schools’ freedom to decide how to educate students” and that “extracting information from clinics about the people they serve … also threatens the clinics’ relationships with their clients.”

We blogged earlier about the oft-rumored demise of the essay-style Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) questions that are a prominent part of many federal employment applications. Most people have greeted this news with much rejoicing, but we ran across this opinion piece at GovermentExecutive.com that has some contrary opinions. Brian Friel argues that KSAs serve a purpose similar to cover letters – requiring applicants to articulate specific reasons that they are the best person suited for the job. Friel goes further, and claims that if a person is not willing to spend the time answering KSAs, perhaps they aren’t suited for government employment at all:

But if the “best and brightest” are so turned off by the need to submit lengthy documentation supporting their claims that they are indeed the best and brightest, then perhaps they really aren’t well-suited for jobs in a paperwork-intensive environment such as the federal government.

What do you think? Is a resume and cover letter enough to prove you’ve got the chops to make it in federal government, or is there a compelling reason to have applicants address the specific skills the job requires in this unique form?

The National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration released a white paper urging the federal government to overhaul hiring practices to allow more non-competitive hiring of graduate students (including law students for programs other than Legal Honors Programs). Government Executive had the story, and does a good job summarizing the recommendations. Two suggestions were expanding the Presidential Management Fellows program, or supplementing other internship programs such as the Federal Career Intern Program, but in a coordinated way across agencies.

It would be interesting to see how these changes would affect law school grads, since attorneys are already exempt from the competitive hiring process. However, many law school grads are working in the federal government in non-attorney positions working on public policy and enforcement issues. As always, to learn more about federal employment, check out the PSLawNet Federal Government Resources page.

• 4.8.10 – Casper Star-Tribune (Wyoming) – the Wyoming legislature just passed a bill to create a statewide legal services program.   Before this became a reality, though, Legal Aid of Wyoming had been leveraging its limited resources to provide access to justice for low-income Wyomingites.  The organization can help only about 10% of those who apply for services.  Link to article.

• 4.8.10 – The Town Talk (Central Louisiana) – Louisiana State Bar Association members are advocating that the legislature restore state funding to civil legal services programs that operate throughout the state.  Attorneys in the legal services community point out that while demand for services is rising, resource cuts are limiting the amount of help they can offer.  Link to article.

• 4.7.10 – Legal Services Corporation Press Release – “Six presidential appointees to the Legal Services Corporation’s Board of Directors were sworn in to office this morning and at their inaugural Board meeting elected John G. Levi, a partner in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin, as Board chairman and Martha Minow, dean of the Harvard Law School, as vice chair.”  Link to press release.

• 4.7.10 – Baltimore Sun – “Annapolis lawmakers will not withhold any funds from the University of Maryland’s law clinic for pursuing an unpopular environmental lawsuit, quieting a debate about academic freedom that raged in the state legislature last week.  The decision reverses an earlier position taken by senators and House Appropriations members who initially were outraged that the law students named a small Eastern Shore farmer in an environmental lawsuit that targeted poultry giant Perdue.”  Lawmakers, who must reconcile the final language in the state’s budget bill, are still requesting that the clinical program turn over some information about its activities, but this disclosure will likely no longer be tied to a threat to withhold funding.  The PSLawNet Blog has covered this story extensively, with links to additional media coverage from the Sun and other outlets.

• 4.7.10 – University of Virginia School of Law Website – “Law School graduates who choose careers in public service will soon be able to take advantage of a more generous loan forgiveness program, the Law School announced Wednesday.  Under the new Virginia Loan Forgiveness Program (VLFP II), graduates who take public service jobs that pay less than $75,000 per year will be eligible for loan assistance. The new program will cover the entire annual loan payments for graduates who make $55,000 or less.”    Link to announcement on website.  [Ed. Note: the loan forgiveness program has essentially been redesigned so that it works in tandem with the Income Based Repayment provision of the federal College Cost Reduction and Access Act.  The University of Virginia joins the Georgetown University Law Center and the University of California Berkeley School of Law in “dovetailing” their loan repayment/forgiveness program with the CCRAA.]

• 4.5.10 – San Jose Mercury News (California) – in Santa Clara County, public defenders have just begun staffing misdemeanor arraignment proceedings to “help defendants deal with…potentially serious criminal charges.”  Up until now, “neither public defenders [n]or prosecutors have regularly staffed misdemeanor arraignments, a defendant’s first court appearance. Defendants charged with misdemeanors were arraigned before a judge who often offered a plea deal to quickly resolve the case. Many legal experts consider that a potential violation of the defendants’ constitutional right to counsel. Some believe that defendants plead guilty simply to get out of jail.”    Link to article.   

• 4.5.10 – New Jersey Law Journal – The Seton Hall University School of Law’s loan repayment assistance program (LRAP) is not currently available to prosecutors.  Two alumni, both of whom work as county prosecutors in New Jersey, are spearheading an initiative to change that.  They have garnered support from other alumni and attorneys via an online petition and a Facebook group page.  The law school is “not unreceptive” to the idea of expanding the program to include prosecutors.  One school official noted that, at the time the LRAP was created in 2002, there was a sense that low salaries were not as much an impediment to law grads choosing careers as prosecutors relative to some other, low-paying public service jobs.  Link to article.

• 4.4.10 – Chicago Tribune – about 60 Class-of-2009 law graduates whose start dates were deferred by big law firms have joined Chicago’s  legal services community during their deferral periods.  Despite some initial skepticism about how effective these temporary placements would be, they have worked out remarkably well so far, with the deferred associates getting valuable hands-on practice experience while helping organizations to maintain service capacity.  Link to PSLawNet Blog post and Tribune article. 

• 4.4.10 – Toledo Blade (Ohio) – in Lucas County, Ohio, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) is among a group of nonprofit organizations administering the “Mobile Benefit Bank,” which seeks to engage clients who need help applying for government benefits by making house-calls and attending community events rather than requiring clients to come to the organizations’ offices or to navigate government application processes on their own.  Five AmeriCorps volunteers, armed with laptops and portable printers, staff the project by meeting clients at locales throughout the county.  Link to article. 

• 4.2.10 – National Law Journal – on the heels of a huge staff layoff at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the court’s presiding judge is locking horns with the Administrative Office of the Courts, which funds state courts, about how severe the Superior Court’s financial problems are.  “A recent report playing down the fiscal crisis at Los Angeles County, Calif., Superior Court was based on ‘unfounded optimism’ and ‘erroneous’ calculations, Presiding Judge Charles ‘Tim’ McCoy wrote in a March 31 letter to the Judicial Council of California, which oversees the state’s courts.  The letter came two days after the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), the Judicial Council funding arm for the state’s courts, released a report contending that an anticipated layoff of 500 employees later this year at the Los Angeles Superior Court was based on ‘overly pessimistic’ assumptions about the court’s budget scenario.”  Link to article.

• 4.1.10 – Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Op-Ed) – more and more low-income Texans are representing themselves in civil matters for which they can not afford counsel, which runs the risk of clogging up the court system.  While the longer-term solution to this problem is to adequately fund civil legal services programs, in the short term courts, public interest organizations, and other stakeholders should implement programs and resources to help pro se litigants navigate the justice system.   Link to op-ed. 

Law Students: Save the date!  On Wednesday, April 14^th at 3:00pm EDT, NALP and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) are presenting “Top Ten Tips for a Successful Summer Internship in a Public Interest Office…and What to Avoid.”  This free webinar will help law students make the most of their summer experiences in civil legal services organizations and public defenders’ offices by offering concrete tips from both public interest attorneys with extensive experience in supervising law students and law school public interest advisors who counsel students on maximizing professional development opportunities.  The webinar will be led by Jennifer Thomas, Director of Legal Recruiting for the D.C. Public Defender Service, and Phyllis Holmen, Executive Director of the Georgia Legal Services Program.   

The webinar will be offered live on April 14th and archived for later viewing.  All students and law school career professionals who are interested in participating on April 14th should e-mail Kevin Mills, Director of Membership at NLADA at membership@nlada.org, and provide your full name, e-mail address, and a phone number.  Please type “Student Webinar” in the email’s subject line.

The end of the semester is approaching, but we know that many law students are in the thick of the job search – for both summer and postgraduate positions.  Needless to say, strong interviewing is a key to landing a job.  We figured now is a good time to remind our readers about two resources which offer concrete public-interest interviewing tips:

1. PSLawNet’s “Interviewing Tips for Postgraduate Public Interest Jobs” offers a list of 9 concise tips to ensure that you become the best job candidate that you can be at the all-important time when you meet a prospective employer face to face.  We can not emphasize enough the value of doing mock interviews, which your career services office should be able to arrange.  Even for those of you who consider yourselves to be strong interviewers, there is simply no downside to doing mock interviews.  You work out the kinks, and you’re likely to be asked a question in a mock interview that will come up again in a real interview.  Having to think that question through in the mock interview will allow you to hit a home run when it actually matters.
2. Harvard Law School’s Office of Public Interest Advising offers some terrific advice on interviewing on this web page, including suggestions about questions for you to ask interviewers.  This is much more important than you may think.  Most interviewers want to have a conversation, not to conduct an interrogation.  And conversations, of course, are two-way streets.  So you have to be prepared to engage.

Yesterday, the Tribune ran a piece on the ~60 deferred associates who have taken placements of varying lengths in the Chicago public-interest community.  This phenomenon has played out in Chicago quite the same way that it’s played out in other large legal markets throughout the country.  Biglaw was “sitting with an oversupply and were forced to lay off hundreds and postpone the starting dates of law school graduates they had hired to begin in the fall of 2009.”  At the same time, the nonprofit, public-interest law offices were weathering their own financial storms, with caseloads swelling as funding depleted.

The opposite ends of Chicago’s legal profession found a way to come together out of economic necessity to partially consume the supply of highly educated young lawyers looking for work. Despite several challenges, the unusual experiment has paid dividends. It also has sparked discussions of whether a more permanent model of apprenticeships can be developed that would train law-school graduates at a lower cost and benefit public-interest legal organizations that are suffering from funding constraints while attending to a greater need because of the recession.

The piece, which looks specifically at how the placements have played out at Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, and Equip for Equality, notes that there was initial skepticism in the public interest community about how effective these placements would be.  Nonetheless, they have worked out remarkably well so far, with the deferred associates getting valuable hands-on practice experience while helping organizations to maintain service capacity. 

Sarah Song, an associate whose start date was deferred by Latham and Watkins, has made the most of her experience:

Song is working in the housing law division, which helps tenants, many of whom live in public housing or receive government subsidies, who are being evicted. She sent her resume to several groups and was hired by CGLA because she had prior experience in housing through summer internships and clinical work in law school, Acton said.

When asked what she has learned, Song said, “Where do I start? I’ve learned about courtroom etiquette and professionalism. I’m also working with clients on a daily basis. You learn to navigate relationships with different personalities and needs. I’ve also learned a lot about housing law.”

Most first-year associates never see the inside of a courtroom, let alone have daily client interaction.

Song added: “The experience has prepared me for my future.”

***

The situation as reported in this story is in keeping with the picture painted during a focus-group meeting of Chicago-based deferred associates that NALP had convened in late January, in partnership with the Chicago Bar Foundation and the Public Interest Law Initiative.  The tone of that discussion was quite positive, with several focus-group participants highlighting the opportunities they had to immediately use their advocacy skills in court, to cultivate problem-solving skills, and to interact with clients.  And in conversations with directors at public interest host organizations which were hosting the associates, we learned that their contributions to serving clients during a lean fiscal time were invaluable.

It is good to see that this very strange set of circumstances, which would have been inconceivable two years ago, has resulted in more clients being served and in a bond forming between the deferred associates and their public-interest host organizations which may lead to continued collaborations for years to come.  The PSLawNet Blog still has some concerns about how the deferral phenomenon may affect students who are pursuing careers in public interest work.  These students are emerging from law school at a time when many of the employers they’d like to work for don’t have funding to hire them.  And in some sense, it seems unfair that they are now also competing with deferred associates who do not need salaries from their public interest host organizations.  Notwithstanding, having extra advocates to serve low-income clients – who have been hit harder than anybody during the recession – is, in the short term, a very positive development for the public interest community as a whole.

Law Students: Save the date!  On Wednesday, April 14^th at 3:00pm EDT, NALP and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) are presenting “Top Ten Tips for a Successful Summer Internship in a Public Interest Office…and What to Avoid.”  This free webinar will help law students make the most of their summer experiences in civil legal services organizations and public defenders’ offices by offering concrete tips from both public interest attorneys with extensive experience in supervising law students and law school public interest advisors who counsel students on maximizing professional development opportunities.  The webinar will be led by Jennifer Thomas, Director of Legal Recruiting for the D.C. Public Defender Service, and Phyllis Holmen, Executive Director of the Georgia Legal Services Program.   

The webinar will be offered live on April 14th and archived for later viewing.  All students and law school career professionals who are interested in participating on April 14th should e-mail Kevin Mills, Director of Membership at NLADA at membership@nlada.org, and provide your full name, e-mail address, and a phone number.  Please type “Student Webinar” in the email’s subject line.

Medical-legal partnerships seek to “improve the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals, children and families by integrating legal assistance into the medical setting,” according to the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership. These innovative programs have been around since the early 1990’s and are on the rise. Recently, the New York Times featured a story on a successful partnership in Cinncinnati and the Los Angeles Times ran a story on a clinic in South LA.  These programs can be crucial for connecting low-income individuals with the legal help needed to fix dangerous and unhealthy housing issues, connect special needs students with the legally required programs at their schools, and other problems that may not get resolved without legal assistance.

If you want to learn more about medical-legal partnerships, the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership has an extensive website, including information on how to start a partnership, and the opportunities for post-graduate legal fellowships in partnerships across the country.