By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, ladies and gents.  Washington, DC has been touched only by a bit of rain today, but a few hundred miles north of here folks are preparing for a large snowfall.  A winter storm is a bittersweet pill: great for some, terrible for others.  As I wrote after Sandy hit the Northeast, storms of this size remind us that we are as much subject to nature as masters of it.  If you are affected by the storm I hope you get through it just swell.

On to this week’s public interest and access-to-justice news, through which we’ll explore Montana public defender salaries, a faith-based ATJ project, and the relationship – if any – between pro bono work and kittens.  The week in very, very short:

• Montana public defense program looking to shore up salaries and attorney retention;
• NYSBA, focusing on civil and criminal legal aid funding, gets behind New York judiciary’s proposed budget.
• progress(?) in a Pennsylvania lawsuit about the alleged inadequacy of a county public defense program;
• a faith-based ATJ innovation in the Volunteer State;
• could/should compulsory law student pro bono be implemented in the UK?;
• government hiring, which had been growing, grows no longer;
• expanding conversation, and action, on pro bono and ATJ;
• the growth of corporate pro bono;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

• 2.6.13 – “Public attorneys tasked with defending high-profile criminal cases are among the lowest paid in state government, prompting many of them to take jobs as staff attorneys in state agencies and elsewhere, the Office of the Public Defender told lawmakers Wednesday.  Turnover in a year can exceed 40 percent due to pay inequity, agency officials said in arguing that a budget increase is needed to boost pay and add more attorneys to reduce the caseload. Lawyers right out of college are routinely handling 600 cases in their first year….  The public defender’s office is asking for about $5 million in each of the next two years to hire around 37 more staffers, on top of the 209 it has right now, and to increase pay closer to market standards.  A law school graduate…currently receives a starting salary of $43,000, the agency said.”  (Full story from the Billings Gazette.)

• For a little bit of context, according to NALP’s 2012 Public Sector & Public Interest Attorney Salary Report the national median starting salary for defenders was $50,500.  Read the report’s accompanying press release for more data on defender and other public-interest salaries.

• 2.6.13 – “New York State Bar Association President Seymour W. James, Jr. today urged state lawmakers to adequately fund the state Judiciary and provide that ‘all people, including the weak, poor and unpopular as well as those who rely on the courts to resolve their business and commercial disputes,’ have access to the courts.  ‘The effective operation of the court system is crucial to maintaining an orderly society,’ James said in testimony submitted to the fiscal committees of the state Legislature.  James (The Legal Aid Society in New York City) endorsed Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s no-growth budget plan for the Unified Court System.”  (Read the full NYSBA announcement, which includes details on how the proposed budget would handle short- and long-term legal aid funding.)
  • Oh, hey, as I’m putting finishing touches on the Bulletin I see this National Law Journal op-ed from Seymour James (who besides being NYSBA president is also the Legal Aid Society’s head criminal defense lawyer: “Just six weeks ago, Congress took last-minute action to avert automatic across-the-board federal budget cuts that would have significantly harmed the federal court system and legal assistance programs for the poor.  With the new March 1 deadline, the federal judiciary and the Legal Services Corp. (LSC) continue to find themselves in dangerous fiscal waters. Their day-to-day operations are threatened by cuts that will devastate the ability of businesses to resolve their disputes, for the middle class to be heard on civil rights and bankruptcy cases, and for our most vulnerable citizens to secure access to justice.  That is why the New York State Bar Association will be proposing a resolution at the upcoming American Bar Association midyear meeting on Monday, February 11, that urges the ABA, the national voice of the profession, to speak out and condemn these cuts.”

• 2.6.13 – from the Keystone State: “A judge has scheduled a conference next month to discuss the failed attempt to settle a lawsuit alleging gross underfunding of the Luzerne County Public Defender’s Office.”  The ACLU of Pennsylvania filed the suit in state court on behalf of the county defender and other plaintiffs.  (Full story from the Citizens Voice.)

• 2.5.13 – “In an effort to reach more people in need of information about legal services, the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission has formed a faith-based initiative to engage lawyers within their place of worship.  The Tennessee Faith and Justice Alliance (TFJA) is a program developed by the Access to Justice Commission to support and encourage faith-based groups in Tennessee who commit to providing legal resources to their congregations and communities….  It is one of the first programs of its kind in the country created to align needs seen at the local church level with possible legal resources that are nearby, perhaps even within the same congregation.”  (Full story from The Chattanoogan.)

• 2.4.13 – compulsory law-student pro bono, a la New York State, in the UK?  A piece in The Guardian notes that there is presently no momentum to make this change in legal education, and that there is no infrastructure in place that could support such a program.  Nevertheless, with huge legal aid cuts coming down the pike this spring, “…there is a new call for more law students in the UK to attend pro bono clinics and an increase in partnerships between pro bono organisations and law schools.”

• 2.4.13 – Government hiring on all levels, which had been growing in the recent past, grows no more.  “Federal agencies shed 5,000 jobs in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.  On the whole, government, including the state and local sectors, lost 9,000 jobs during the month. Further losses may be on the horizon, with budget sequestration that would cut tens of billions of dollars from agency budgets looming at the end of February. Several federal agencies already have implemented hiring freezes in anticipation the sequester could go into effect.”   (Story from Government Executive.)

• 2.1.13 – Chicago Volunteer Legal Services director Meg Benson chimes in on how to turn pro bono talk into action: “Pro bono, as a concept, is stronger than ever. Pro bono, as a solution, is also stronger than ever. Pro bono, in practice, continues to limp along.  Why this disconnect? No one in the legal community, either local or national, dares to suggest that pro bono is not awesome. That’s like suggesting that kittens are not adorable. The problem is that, while most people agree that kittens are adorable, many would not have one in their home. Pro bono is like an adorable kitten — we love it, but not in our professional homes.”  Benson goes on to explore two possible reasons why there isn’t more pro bono engagement: 1) many attorneys are not personally touched by access-to-justice issues, and 2) “[m]ost attorneys have not been invited to participate in the access to justice crisis discussions…. At a minimum, we need to invite solo practitioners and attorneys from small and midsize firms to help formulate effective pro bono policies and strategies. This also means involving attorneys from diverse practices such as divorce, real estate, commercial and business, probate, etc.”.  (Read the full piece in the Chicago Lawyer.)
  • On a personal note I do not find kittens to be cute.  They grow up to be cats.  Cats are cunning, untrustworthy creatures.  I’ve met Meg a few times and have a lot of respect for her, but this conflation of kittens and pro bono threatens to shatter my entire pro bono worldview.  Very troubling.

• 1.30.13 – a blog post from the Pro Bono Institute reminds us of the growing role that corporate counsel play in delivering pro bono services, and that the Association of Corporate Counsel has been leading the charge to promote more pro bono from in-house counsel.

Music!  This week’s song, from Canadian songwriter A.C. Newman, is called “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer.”  The song’s first lines are “Like a hitman, or like a dancer – all muscle.”  I’ve always thought this a clever, artful way to express the idea of two things having exact likeness of form but unlikeness of purpose.  I also love the line in the refrain, “You’re gonna change sides, but you wanted to wait,” which speaks to me about the moral push and pull we feel when forced to choose between what’s right and what’s popular, and how we sometimes cling to the hope that what’s right will become popular.   Enjoy this nearly note-perfect, in-studio performance of “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer.”

NALP, the Association for Legal Career Professionals, is a Washington, DC based non-profit legal education association dedicated to continuously improving career counseling and planning, recruitment and retention and the professional development of law students and lawyers. Besides housing PSJD, NALP is also the leading provider of public service career information for its members.

NALP is currently seeking applicants for the Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships position. Here’s a snippet from the PSJD job posting:

The Director of Public Service Initiatives and Fellowships provides leadership for, manages, and oversees all of NALP’s public service initiatives, including the PSJD website (www.psjd.org). The Director is the primary staff liaison to NALP’s Public Service Section. The Director also cultivates relationships between NALP and other public service-oriented organizations and will represent NALP at relevant programs and events.

Public Service Initiatives

The Director is responsible for coordinating all aspects of NALP’s public service programming, including the planning and implementation of the annual PSJD Public Service Mini-Conference, as well as public service programming at NALP’s annual education conference. In conjunction with NALP’s Public Service Section, the Director is responsible for designing and implementing new initiatives that will fulfill the public service goals established by NALP’s Long Range Strategic Plan and NALP’s annual business plan.

PSJD (www.psjd.org)

The Director directs all facets of the operation, enhancement, and promotion of NALP’s PSJD project, including, but not limited to:

• evaluating evolving PSJD subscriber needs and leading development and enhancement efforts to meet such needs;
• producing public relations materials and directing outreach efforts to increase participation in and use of PSJD among law schools, public service employers, law students, and attorneys;
• developing and leading career search workshops, and producing related materials for law school career professionals and students;
• editing and producing content for the PSJD Blog, and overseeing PSJD’s other social media platforms;
• leading PSJD subscriber renewal and retention efforts;
• designing and leading outreach to prospective subscribing schools;
• responding to current and prospective PSJD subscriber inquiries;
• directing annual production of the PSJD Comprehensive Fellowship Guide;
• guiding hiring process of administrative staff for PSJD;
• training and supervising administrative staff for PSJD;
• managing PSJD’s annual budget, in coordination with other NALP staff;
• exploring and identifying potential opportunities for additional funding and/or revenue for PSJD.

NALP Educational Programming, Publications, Research, Technology, and Membership Services

Working in close collaboration with other NALP staff directors, the Director of Public Service Initiatives will assist in the enhancement of existing and the development of new NALP educational programming, publications, research, technology services, and membership services as they relate to the public service-related needs of NALP members, law students, attorneys, and the public service community in general.

NALP/Street Law Legal Diversity Pipeline Program

The Director supervises NALP’s Pipeline Program Fellow, and works with the Fellow to plan programming, develop substantive curricula, create promotional materials, track and report Program developments, and build the program by engaging prospective participants.

The application deadline is February 15, 2013. For more information on job responsibilities, qualifications and salary, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Public Justice is a national public interest law firm dedicated to pursuing justice for the victims of corporate and government abuses. Their lawsuits usually fight for consumers’ and victims’ rights, the environment, civil rights and civil liberties, public health and safety, workers’ rights, government and corporate accountability, and the protection of the poor and powerless.

Public Justice is currently hiring for their Public Interest Fellowship. From the PSJD job listing:

Public Justice … seeks to hire a recent law school graduate to serve as a Fellow for two years in either its Washington, D.C. headquarters or its Oakland, California office.  The Fellow will help develop and litigate Public Justice’s cases.  The two-year position will be open beginning in the Summer or Fall of 2013.  Please note in your cover letter when you would be available to start.

[Public Justice’s] Access to Justice Campaign works to keep the courthouse doors open for all – by battling federal preemption, unnecessary court secrecy, class action bans and abuses, unfair mandatory arbitration, and other efforts to deprive people of their day in court.The Fellow will work collaboratively with Public Justice’s staff attorneys, outside lawyers who support Public Justice’s work, and other public interest groups to develop and bring precedent-setting and socially significant litigation.  He or she may also help to develop materials designed to educate members of the public and the bar about Public Justice’s cases and the issues they address. 

The salary is $60,000 per year with benefits, and the deadline is February 15, 2013. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is a $10 billion global health non-profit enterprise headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With over 20 hospitals, more than 400 clinical locations, and a growing international and commercial segment, UPMC is the perfect place for a law student interested in public health.

From the PSJD job listing:

The Legal Summer Associates Program is part of UPMC’s formal Corporate Services Summer Associates Program. This is an 11 week internship program, starting in late May and ending in early August, that combines real work experience with networking opportunities.

The legal department will provide a venue for a student to obtain relevant legal experience, particularly in various aspects of health law, as well as with other legal issues presented to the legal department of an extensive health care system. Legal Summer Associates are responsible for assisting attorneys with projects including research, writing, drafting agreements, organizing information, and participating in creation/delivery of presentations.

A bachelor’s degree is required. In addition, this program is limited to first year law students (students who will have completed only their first year of law school by the end of the 2012/2013 academic year). Excellent academic credentials along with strong communication, writing, research, and multi-tasking skills are required.

The Legal Summer Associate position pays $20/hr, and the application deadline is March 1, 2013. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required)!

The Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI), founded in 1977, works with 57 participating agencies in Illinois to help cultivate a lifelong commitment to public interest law through the creation of opportunities for law students and lawyers to provide public interest and pro bono work throughout the state. In addition to operating a state-wide internship and fellowship program, PILI reaches out to new associates, seasoned lawyers, and senior attorneys working in every sector of the legal community – private, academic, government and nonprofit.

PILI is currently accepting applications for its Summer Law Student Internship Program. From the PSJD job listing:

PILI’s Law Student Internship Program connects first and second-year law students with legal service agencies in Illinois. Interns work 400 hours during the summer or 200 hours during the school year, with PILI ensuring quality supervision by experienced attorneys and providing supplemental educational, networking and mentoring opportunities. The result is an increase in the capacity of these legal service agencies to meet the needs of their low-income clients and an increase in the number of emerging lawyers connected and committed to public interest law.

PILI administers an online application system at www.illinoisprobono.org, through which you will be able to upload your resume and cover letter(s), along with requested applicant demographic information. After receiving your application through PILI’s online application system, the individual agencies make their own hiring decisions. For information and listing of the various agencies participating in the PILI Internship Program visit http://www.pili-law.org.

Many PILI Interns provide low-income and disenfranchised clients with critically needed direct legal assistance. Other PILI Interns conduct advocacy, policy-based work or impact litigation that enhances the health, safety and welfare of the disenfranchised. All PILI Interns gain valuable work experience that distinguishes their education and ultimately their careers.

PILI raises the funds necessary for each agency to pay its PILI Interns. PILI also ensures quality supervision by experienced agency attorneys, and provides supplemental educational, networking and mentoring opportunities. View our upcoming summer schedule.

Through PILI Internships, law students work at and learn about public interest law, and begin what PILI hopes is a lifelong commitment to public interest law and pro bono work.

The stipend for summer work is $5,000. The application deadline is March 31, 2013. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Happy Friday, ladies and gents.  This week’s bulletin brings you two weeks of news (read: your author dropped the ball last week).  A legal education update before that.  This New York Times story suggests that law schools will face smaller student bodies and decreased revenue in the near future.  A National Law Journal piece focuses on the recent enrollment decline.

On to the public interest and access to justice news.  In very, very brief:

• the poor job market in civil legal aid;
• profiles of pro bono champions;
• $1 million in Sandy relief funding to LSC;
• Massachusetts lawyers march for more legal aid funding;
• family law pro bono in the Bay Area;
• controversy over Nebraska’s indigent defense system;
• ditto, Washington State;
• pro bono’s growth in Charm City;
• indigent defense hits the silver screen;
• a recap of two events promoting technology as an ATJ tool;
• the work of Iowa Legal Aid
• MN practice rule change could result in more in-house pro bono;
• New York’s top jurist is intrigued by proposal to allow bar exam after 2 years of law school.

The summaries:

• I just wrote about recently collected data on the civil legal aid job market:  “As has been well documented, the Great Recession led to a great diminution in the funding that supports the civil legal aid community. Federal funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has been slashed. Interest on lawyers trust account (IOLTA) funding, which supports LSC-funded providers and legal aid providers that don’t receive LSC funds, has bottomed out.  Foremost on the minds of all legal aid stakeholders is the impact that this funding shortage will have on clients, of whom there are recently many more— also a consequence of the recession. One facet of the legal aid funding crisis is the limitation that providers suffer in hiring and retaining attorneys to serve clients. Data compiled separately by LSC and NALP in 2012 shows that strains on funding are drastically limiting the legal aid community’s hiring capacity.”  Here’s the full piece, which reviews the new data,  in the February edition of NALP’s Bulletin.

• Speaking of February editions, the cover story of this month’s ABA Journal is entitled “Working for free: Lawyers incorporating pro bono into their lives talk about its rewards, challenges.”  The piece notes the increasing sophistication of pro bono programs in law firms, and profiles a handful of lawyers who maintain pro bono practices.  “Once perceived and defined as ‘charity work’ governed solely by personal conscience, pro bono has evolved into a professional responsibility and a powerful force inside the practice of law.”

• 1.29.13 – an announcement from LSC: “The Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Bill (H.R. 152), which passed the U.S. Senate last night on a 62-36 vote, includes $1 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to provide assistance to low-income people in areas significantly affected by the super storm.  The House passed an identical version of the bill on January 15^th.  President Obama is expected to sign the bill this week.”

• 1.28.13 – “Lawyers are planning an event to urge Massachusetts lawmakers to increase state funding for civil legal aid for children and adults living in poverty.  ‘Walk to the Hill,’ scheduled for Wednesday, is sponsored by the Equal Justice Coalition, the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association and other bar associations throughout the state.”  (Short report from the AP.)

• 1.27.12 – from the Bay Area, an Oakland Press story looks at the work of the Family Law Assistance Project, a pro bono clearinghouse through which “more than 150 volunteer attorneys offering their services to low-income Oakland County residents.”

• 1.25.13 – a battle over how county-generated funds are used by Nebraska’s state indigent defense program.  “Omaha Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh has renewed his quest to let Douglas County quit contributing to a state commission that defends indigent people in criminal matters.  That’s because Douglas County rarely uses the commission, most often opting instead for private, court-appointed lawyers to augment its county public defender’s office….  ‘We (in Douglas County) have our own defense bar we retain for indigent defense when our public defender has conflicts,’ Lautenbaugh said. ‘We don’t need the commission, and shouldn’t have to fund such a large portion of it.’  The commission, which has six lawyers and two administrative staffers, has an annual budget of some $1.1 million — all paid for by a $3 surcharge on all state court cases. Douglas County sends some $385,000 to the commission each year, or 35 percent of the commission’s budget.”  (Story from the Lincoln Journal Star.)

• 1.25.13 – from Washington State: “The state Attorney General’s office is trying to put the brakes on a legal settlement that would give public defenders access to the same state pension benefits as prosecutors and other court employees. In a letter earlier this month to attorneys for the plaintiff and King County, AG senior counsel Anne Hall said the settlement appears to violate state law and could be “catastrophic” for the pension plan’s financial health.  Meanwhile, public disclosure documents recently obtained offer new–and some say, troubling–information about a related plan to make public defenders county employees.”  (Story from a Seattle Weekly blog.)

• 1.25.13 – a password-protected Baltimore Business Journal story looks at the growth and sophistication of law firm pro bono programs.

• 1.23.12 – the director/producer of “Gideon’s Army”, a new documentary focusing on public defenders and the country’s indigent defense framework, talks about her film in a New York Times video piece.

• 1.22.13 – LSC’s newly appointed Chief Information Office, Peter Campbell, recounts his experience at two LSC-sponsored events which focused on technology’s role in promoting access to justice.

• 1.20.13 – a local paper highlights the work of Iowa Legal Aid, which has staff of 50 attorneys and coordinates the work of 2,500 volunteer attorneys [who provide] more than $2 million worth of pro bono service each year.”   (Story from the Times-Republican.)

• 1.18.13 – a practice rule amendment in Minnesota makes it easier for in-house counsel to do pro bono work.  (Short story from the Minnesota Lawyer.)

• 1.18.13 – “A proposal to allow students to take the New York Bar Exam after two years of law school has piqued the interest of the state’s top judge.  Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman stopped short of formally endorsing the idea when it was taken out for a public airing on January 18 at New York University School of Law. But he told the more than 100 gathered legal educators, practitioners and judges that the concept deserves serious study.”  (Story from the National Law Journal.)

• Super Music Bonus: let’s hear a new song from Benjamin Gibbard, with an assist from Aimee Mann.  Here’s a live version of “Bigger Than Love.“

MALDEF – otherwise known as the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund – is one of the leading nonprofit Latino litigation, advocacy and educational outreach institutions in the United States. Their mission is the foster sound public policies, laws, and programs to safeguard the civil rights of 35 million Latinos living in America, and to empower the Latino community to fully participate in American society. MALDEF focuses on employment, education, immigration, political access, language, and public resource equity issues.

Sounds awesome, right? Wanna join them in fighting for Latino civil rights? Check out the job description below for a vacancy in San Antonio:

We currently seek a Staff Attorney to serve as lead counsel or co-counsel in state and federal court litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrants rights and/or voting rights.

In consultation with co-counsel inside and outside of MALDEF, [the staff attorney] devises and executes strategic plans in complex litigation through the following activities: conducts depositions and discovery, negotiates and monitors settlement agreements, and pursues attorney fee awards in civil rights litigation; conducts legal research and drafts pleadings, briefs, and administrative complaints; devises investigation plans and investigates potential legal claims; prepares memoranda on budget and legal theory for approval of litigation by MALDEF management; responds to media inquiries, makes public presentations, and prepares community education materials regarding Latino rights; participates in the development of long-term strategic goals and objectives for the assigned program areas and also for the regional office; supervises volunteer and professional support staff assigned to assist litigation programs.

Successful applicants must be eligible to take the Texas bar and a background in public policy is desired. Experience with federal and state court litigation is preferred, along with the ability to write and speak Spanish. The deadline is TODAY, so hurry and apply now before it’s too late (all that is required is a cover letter, resume, and writing sample).

For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

If you’re inspired by the film Gideon’s Promise (which recently won the Sundance award for Documentary Editing – congrats!) or you have a demonstrated passion for indigent defense, today’s Job o’ the Day could just what you’re looking for.

The Maryland Office of the Public Defender, located in Baltimore, has been providing counsel to those unable to afford an attorney since 1972. Their mission is to provide superior legal representation to indigent defendants in the State of Maryland by safeguarding fundamental individual rights and ensuring access to the guaranteed protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Maryland Constitution and Declaration of Rights, and the laws of Maryland.

They currently have a vacancy for an Appellate Attorney. From the PSJD job listing:

An attorney in the Appellate Division provides representation for indigent clients during the appellate process before both the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. An Assistant Public Defender combines his/her demonstrated dedication to the representation of indigent clients with his/her strong research, writing, and litigation skills to provide exceptional representation. This position will commence September 1, 2013 and will be located at 6 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated commitment to zealous and comprehensive public defense
• No prior litigation experience required, but prior judicial clerkship strongly preferred.
• Strong issue spotting, research, and writing skills.
• Ability to work independently, and efficiently manage an active caseload.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.
• Effective communication and advocacy skills.
• Active membership in good standing with the Maryland Bar or the Bar of another state.

The application deadline is February 28, 2013. For more information on how to apply, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Hey, recent grads: did you graduate within the last 3 years with a proven commitment to public service in the area of environmental law? Are you interested in pursuing an academic career in the future? If this sounds like you, check out today’s Job o’ the Day:

The Turner Environmental Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law offers a one-year post-graduate fellowship to provide a recent law school graduate the opportunity to learn to be an effective environmental advocate while working with the Clinic to address some of the most difficult and cutting-edge environmental issues of the day, including: sustainable energy and climate change, urban agriculture and farming, water resource protection, conservation and land use, and citizen enforcement and participation in regulatory and judicial proceedings. The fellowship focuses on building the next generation of influential attorneys, judges, and academics specializing in public interest environmental law. The fellowship also provides intensive opportunities to develop clinical education skills. The next Turner Environmental Law Clinic Fellowship will begin mid-August 2013 and continue through August 2014.

The Turner Environmental Law Clinic fellow will work under the supervision of Clinic faculty on a variety of projects that will include, at a minimum, the following:

• Supervise students in the Turner Environmental Law Clinic and assist with teaching in the Clinic’s seminar class.
• Represent the Clinic’s clients in complex civil litigation and transactional matters, while working closely with co-counsel, expert witnesses, and municipal leaders.
• Collaborate with Clinic faculty on environmental law and research projects.

The fellow may also choose to research and write at least one article, policy paper, or other approved project of publishable quality on a topic relating to environmental law.

The application deadline is February 28, 2013. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required)!

With nine offices throughout the state, Legal Services Alabama (LSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to justice and free quality civil legal assistance to educate and empower Alabama’s low-income communities. LSA handles civil cases only, and issues span family law, public benefits, elder law, disaster relief, and more.

The Birmingham office currently has a vacancy available for a staff attorney to help provide legal representation to low-income citizens in judicial and administrative proceedings. Qualifications include admission to the Alabama State Bar, computer proficiency and experience working with low-income populations. Bilingual applicants are encouraged.

For more information on salary and application instructions, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).