By: Maria Hibbard

Since it’s intern season here in Washington, D.C., many bright-eyed and bushy tailed students with hopes of potentially working for the federal government are streaming into the city.  I may or may not be one of them!  My name is Maria Hibbard, and I’m the resident PSLawNet Intern and Publications Coordinator for the summer. I’m a rising second year law student at Case Western Reserve University. Since I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and am now in Cleveland for law school, D.C.’s vast system of public transportation and plethora of free summer activities (see the Having Fun on the Cheap page!) definitely has a big-city allure for me as well. I’ll be blogging throughout the summer here while avoiding the D.C. heat in the air conditioned office, of course.

Until recently, the path to employment at a federal agency or department has been a mystical jumble of various opportunities only found through a great degree of research: volunteer internships, compensated internships, fellowships, short-term and long-term programs. Hopefully, this jumble will soon become clearer–when President Obama’s Executive Order 13562 takes effect on July 10, 2012, current students and recent graduates will have three clear paths to federal employment via The Pathways Program. To break it down, everyone loves a list:

• Some aspiring federal employees may have heard of the Student Career Experience program (SCEP) and the Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP); both of these programs are being replaced by the all-encompassing Internship Program. While the program is still administered primarily by the hiring agency, students can possibly earn conversion into a permanent position after the completion of 640 hours of work experience.
• The Recent Grads program is a new opportunity for recent graduates within two years of obtaining any degree. Like the internship program, it is administered individually by the federal agencies, but the one year program provides structured mentorship opportunities, 40 hours of formal training, and the creation of an individual development plan. After 1 year, the graduates of the program can be eligible for conversion to permanent employment at the selected agency.

Starting in July, agencies will have to provide information about both of these programs, their specific opportunities, and application procedures on www.usajobs.gov/studentsandgrads/.

• Finally, the Presidential Management Program, while obviously not new, has been reworked to provide for a more seamless application process and administration (especially after last year’s acceptance snafu). This prestigious program, for professionals of all disciplines, places fellows at the center of federal policy making, provides at least 80 hours of formal training, and encourages the development of a performance plan.

We’ll remind you in July to start looking for opportunities on the reworked federal website; hopefully, the Pathways Program will lead more aspiring students and recent grads down the yellow-brick-“pathway” to federal employment.

Brazilian Alliance – a non-profit organization providing legal, educational, and advocacy services to Portuguese-speaking communities in the San Francisco Bay Area – seeks legal interns for the Spring, Summer, and/or Fall. 

Brazilian Alliance wants to give their interns significant work responsibility. Interns will interview and perform legal tasks under attorney supervision, and draft written work products.

Brazilian Alliance’s mission is to provide Social Services to the Brazilians and Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) communities living in the Bay Area by building alliances with local, state, federal, and international community organizations.

To learn more, visit PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Earlier this week I participated in a one-day conference focused on the role of New York State’s 15 law schools in addressing the civil justice gap.  Much discussion centered on the recent announcement by NY Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman that 50 hours of pro bono service will be required for admission to practice law in New York.  Most of this blog’s readers will have been aware of how much buzz this announcement has generated.  Ink has been spilled.  Articles and opinion pieces have run in legal and mainstream media.  The old debate about making volunteer service mandatory has been revived. 

Letting alone the “mandatory v. voluntary” policy debate, I think this requirement will prove fairly easy to satisfy.  Pro bono performed in law school satisfies the requirement.  Fifty hours of pro bono over three years is just less than 17 hours per year.  Frankly, that’s easy for any law student.  That said, there are two noteworthy considerations:

1. There will be some burden on law schools (both inside and outside of NY State) to make sure worthwhile pro bono opportunities exist for their students.  Two of the law school deans who attended this week’s program made the point over and over that pro bono also has to mesh with law school’s larger mission of training tomorrow’s lawyers.  So pro bono programs should be efficiently administered, and should offer skill-development chances for students.
2. The pro bono work itself must effectively serve client communities.  And public interest law offices should not be overly burdened in offering pro bono opportunities for students.              

But given that so many schools already have some infrastructure in place for student pro bono, I think the 50-hour requirement will not be too much of a burden on students, schools, or the public interest community.

This week:

• more on NY State’s 50-hour pro bono requirement;
• $300K in grant funding divided among NV legal services providers (and my thoughts on the Las Vegas bachelor party);
• mandatory pro bono in the Caymans;
• addressing legal needs long after Hurricane Irene struck NC;
• fewer death sentences in Ohio, tracking a national trend;
• tracking wrongful convictions nationally;
• for reasons of efficiency and expediency, an early intervention court program for nonviolent offenders in one county courthouse;
• the justice gap, and legal services funding shortages, in Cleveland;
• a 2012 law grad on why he’s chosen a career in indigent defense (hint: it’s not the money);
• a special master appointed in the PA lawsuit over an underfunded indigent defense program;
• one Maryland prosecutor, under the weight of an overwhelming caseload, is pushing hard for $ to hire new attorneys.

The summaries:

• 5.24.12 – more on the recent announcement in NY State about requiring 50 pro bono hours from all bar license applicants.  While the larger policy debate about mandatory vs. voluntary pro bono will continue both in the context of this announcement and more broadly, New York’s top jurist is moving into the implementation stage: “Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman yesterday announced the creation of an advisory committee that will make recommendations on how to implement a new pro bono service requirement set to become a prerequisite in 2013 for admission to the New York bar.”  (Story from Corporate Counsel.)  And here’s more coverage from the New York Law Journal and the Lower Hudson Blog. 

• 5.23.12 – in Nevada, the state bar is divvying up about $300K in grant money among legal services providers.  (Story from KLAS in Las Vegas.)  As a personal aside, I have never told you about the bachelor party I attended in Las Vegas last year.  There are many good reasons for this.  Suffice to say I am still angry with the erstwhile bachelor for deciding that, at 35 years of age, we’d be able to contend with Las Vegas’s many attractions and excitements.  We were not.  The Vegas bachelor/ette party is a young person’s game.  What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas if “soul-crushing physical exhaustion” can be said to happen in Vegas.  Rather, soul-crushing physical exhaustion flies home on the plane with you and stays in your place for a week.  Never again.

• 5.22.12 – more mandatory pro bono, this time with a tropical-tax-shelter theme.  “All practicing attorneys in the Cayman Islands would be forced to work a certain number of hours for free or pay an annual fee of $2,500, according to a draft of the Legal Aid and Pro Bono Legal Services Bill, 2012.  The draft bill was made public by the attorney general’s office
last week.  According to a summary of the proposal, every attorney-at-law in the Islands to whom a practicing certificate has been issued “shall render pro bono legal services to persons in accordance with this legislation”, or face discipline under the territory’s Legal Practitioners Law.”  (Story from the Cay Compass.)

• 5.21.12 – legal woes caused by a natural disaster can exist long after the disaster itself has dissipated: “A Raleigh law firm is working with Legal Aid of North Carolina to find what problems people still have from Hurricane Irene.  [Irene struck North Carolina in August, 2011.]   The Daily Reflector of Greenville reported that Womble Carlyle and Legal Aid are asking individuals who may be struggling with recovery problems from last August’s storm to call a toll-free hotline. Such issues could include insurance claims, construction scams and mortgage-related problems.”  (Story from the Associated Press.)  

• 5.21.12 – a trend in Ohio which basically tracks national developments: far fewer death sentences as lawmakers, prosecutors, and court officials contend with the high cost of administering capital punishment programs along with changing sentiment about the death penalty’s effectiveness and propriety.  (Here’s the article from the Columbus Dispatch.)  And here’s some related follow-up…   

• 5.21.12 – ….of course one of the long-running criticisms of capital punishment stems from the risk of executing an innocent person.  Here’s an AP report on wrongful convictions: “More than 2,000 people who were falsely convicted of serious crimes have been exonerated in the United States in the past 23 years, according to a new archive compiled at two universities.  There is no official record-keeping system for exonerations of convicted criminals in the country, so academics set one up. The new national registry, or database, painstakingly assembled by the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, is the most complete list of exonerations ever compiled.  The database compiled and analyzed by the researchers contains information on 873 exonerations for which they have the most detailed evidence. The researchers are aware of nearly 1,200 other exonerations, for which they have less data.” 

• 5.20.12 – “One of the initiatives that Bibb County commissioners are considering for next year’s spending plan is a $600,000 request designed to expedite the legal process in local courts.  The request, made jointly by the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office and the Macon Circuit Public Defender’s Office, would allow each office to hire two additional attorneys as part of an Early Intervention Program. The program, officials say, would reduce the number of cases in the court system by allowing for a quicker disposition of nonviolent crimes.”  (Full story in the Macon Telegraph, a newspaper with an oddly Tolkienesque tagline: “Middle Georgia’s News Source.”)
   
• 5.20.12 – in Cleveland, the local bar president and board president of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland make it clear just how much the organization’s funding situation has worsened, and explains how vital a service legal aid is in preserving justice.  (Op-ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.)   

• 5.20.12 – more Cleveland!  Jeffrey Stein, a 2012 NYU Law grad, explains his decision to pursue a career in indigent defense in the pages of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  “It’s hiring season for public defender offices, which means it’s also the time when law students pursuing jobs in indigent defense enjoy the privilege of justifying their chosen career to skeptical — and, inevitably, disappointed — relatives (“You’re sure you wouldn’t rather make $160,000 as a first-year associate at a firm?”), friends (“But what if you know they’re guilty?”) and professors (“Ah, that’s . . . great.”).  Like the populations we serve, we who devote our professional lives to defending poor people are not a monolithic group. But, to answer your questions, here are some of the reasons I have chosen to commit my life to public defense….”  

• 5.19.12 – in the Pennsylvania lawsuit about alleged underfunding of indigent defense, a special master has been appointed to help sort things through.  (Story from the Citizens Voice of Luzerne County.) 

• 5.18.12 – in Charles County Maryland, the state’s attorney is pressing hard for funding to hire new attorneys.  “…[P]rosecutors are so overworked that they soon will have to pick and choose which cases to pursue in court, State’s Attorney Anthony B. Covington warned the Charles County commissioners Tuesday.  He asked the commissioners to give his office a $989,000 budget increase, or 41 percent, which would include enough to hire five new prosecutors in fiscal 2013, which begins July 1. Over three years, his office will require a $1.7 million increase, enough to hire a total of eight new attorneys and at least one researcher, he said. (Story from Southern Maryland News Online.)

Prairie State Legal Services, Inc., a 65-lawyer legal services organization, serving 36 counties in northern and central ILLINOIS outside of Cook County,

is seeking applicants for a STAFF ATTORNEY position in our community legal services office located in BLOOMINGTON.  The successful applicant will participate in a full range of legal activities, including the preparation and
Prairie State Legal Services offers free legal services for low income persons and those over 60 who have serious civil legal problems and need legal help to solve them.conduct of administrative hearings and trials of cases for elderly and low-income persons.

Learn more at PSLawNet!

National Skills Coalition (NSC) is seeking applications to fill a full-time Senior Policy Analyst position in our Washington, DC office. The successful candidate will work with NSC’s Federal Policy Director to help maintain the organization’s expertise in a number of policy areas, and to assist with our efforts to improve those policies within federal legislation, agency regulation and related funding initiatives. The Senior Policy Analyst will also work with Field staff to involve NSC members in those advocacy efforts, and to support their advancement of similar policy goals at the state and local level.

National Skills Coalition is a broad-based coalition working toward a vision of an America that grows its economy by investing in its people so that every worker and every industry has the skills to compete and prosper. We engage in organizing, advocacy, and communications to advance state and federal policies that support these goals – policies that are based on the on-the-ground expertise of our members.

Learn more at PSLawNet!

The New Haven Veterans’ VISTA PROJECT is a multi-site collaboration of organizations in the New Haven area that work with Veterans experiencing homelessness and serious mental illness.

The partner organizations will hire three AmeriCorps VISTA members to work on inter-related projects to help end homelessness amongst veterans. One partner organization, the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, provides free legal services to help veterans overcome barriers to housing, healthcare and income. The CVLC’s model is to leverage relationships with client’s mental health practitioners and volunteer attorneys to help veterans identify and resolve legal problems. The CVLC’s staff and volunteer attorneys provide services on-site at a VA community mental health facility to reduce transportation and scheduling issues for indigent veterans. The CVLC also participates in legislative and law reform efforts to shape public policies to serve veterans in need.

The focus for this VISTA is to create a Public Engagement program to increase participation, ownership and awareness of the CVLC’s mission among the public, volunteers, funders, and other legal services providers. The VISTA will develop a media strategy to increase volunteerism and giving which will include social and traditional media. The VISTA will organize events to recognize volunteers and a mini-conference to bring together legal services organizations serving veterans to identify best practices and high priority issues.

The VISTA will improve the volunteer management system to maximize volunteer satisfaction and participation by creating materials and administrative procedures for continuous volunteer engagement throughout a pro bono assignment. The VISTA will survey veteran interest and create educational opportunities for veterans around common legal issues, for example debt collections and child support modifications. The VISTA will report directly to the CVLC’s Executive Director and will also receive supervision from the CVLC’s staff attorneys and supervising attorney.

Interested? See the listing at PSLawNet!

Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1967, the Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) is a law firm that empowers low-income people by providing legal information, advice, and other services free of charge.  MLSA works both on individual cases and under a systemic approach to help low-income people escape domestic violence, keep their housing, preserve their public benefits, protect their finances, and much more.

The Staff Attorney will provide legal services to clients throughout the state of Montana in the area of foreclosure assistance and loss mitigation, including housing, consumer, bankruptcy, and related civil legal issues. Services provided will range from brief counsel and advice, to more extended assistance, including representation. Requires travel within and outside Montana.

This position will handle all aspects of legal representation including client contact, pleading preparation, research, file maintenance, and hearing and trial work. The staff attorney will also participate in MLSA’s statewide initiatives, implement grant and contract requirements through casework and foster pro bono involvement with the private bar.

Interested? Check out the full listing at PSLawNet!

Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP), a private, non-profit law firm that provides vigorous and high quality civil legal services to low-income residents of the District of Columbia, seeks a Staff Attorney to provide civil legal services to clients in its community-based law office.

NLSP has a long tradition of fighting for justice for the poor, combining direct representation to protect essential rights and opportunities for low-income individuals and families with efforts to achieve broad-based change. The successful applicant will be passionate about achieving justice and overcoming barriers facing low-income people, a creative and zealous lawyer and a team-player, committed to achieving lasting results for clients and low-income communities.

The Staff Attorney will be located in NLSP’s Far Northeast neighborhood office. The Staff Attorney will report to the Managing Attorney of NLSP’s Far Northeast and Southeast offices.

Interested? Learn how to apply at PSLawNet!

Tired of working on cases you don’t believe in?  Long to do something meaningful with your law degree?  Love our Constitution and its founding principles?  The Institute for Justice (www.IJ.org), the nation’s leading libertarian public interest law firm, is seeking an experienced litigator for its Florida Chapter located in downtown Miami.  With a 20-year track record of accomplishments, including five cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, IJ is the premier law firm working to vindicate the liberties of all Floridians.

The constitutional litigator’s primary responsibility will be litigating cases in the areas of economic liberty, free speech, private property rights and school choice in both state and federal courts in Florida.

Learn how to apply at PSLawNet!

Founded in 1956, Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) provides high quality civil legal assistance to the poor, elderly, and people with disabilities in 23 northern California counties.  The Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act project addresses the enormous imbalance of representation in judicial evictions by providing representation to tenant litigants. LSNC will operate one of seven pilot projects funded through the Act.  Attorneys working with the Sacramento project will provide direct representation to defendants  in eviction proceedings in Sacramento County courts.

Under supervision of the Supervising Attorney, will participate in all aspects of litigation including, but not limited to: client interviews, factual investigation, legal research, discovery, preparation of legal documents, negotiations, trials, and appellate work in both State and Federal Courts; provide legal advice to individual clients, and general legal information to eligible community groups as well as to the public in general.

Interested? Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!