AARP Services (ASI), a wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary of AARP, seeks a law student for a paid internship for approximately 15 hours per week during this semester. 

The intern will work under the guidance of the attorneys and support staff of the ASI Office of General Counsel (OGC) on a variety of special projects primarily related to ASI’s legal contracts with the third-party entities that provide benefits to AARP members.

Learn more at PSLawNet!

by Kristen Pavón

You may have heard about the debate brewing over unpaid internships (mainly in the for-profit world). What’s that? No,  you haven’t? Ok, I’ll fill you in.

Because of the economy, the numbers of unpaid internships are on the rise and more and more people are stepping up and a) suing their former employers, b) calling unpaid internships at for-profit organizations illegal, unfair and exploitative, or c) fighting the push back and are lauding these opportunities as a win-win for all parties involved.

The distinction between for-profit and non-profit/government is made because Department of Labor standards for unpaid internships only applies to for-profit companies. Employers must meet the following criteria in order to have an unpaid intern (from employment attorney Camille Olson’s Room for Debate post):

• the training is comparable to that given at a vocational school;
• the training must primarily be for the benefit of the student;
• the student must not replace a regular employee;
• the employer cannot immediately benefit from the student’s activities (for example, the intern cannot deliver mail, sort files, conduct market research, write reports, schedule interviews, or perform any other work that assists the employer in running its business unless the benefit received by the employer is outweighed by the training time that is provided to the intern);
• there can be no promise of a job following the training;
• and both the employer and the student understand that no wages will be paid.

This week, contributors gave their opinion for the New York Times’s Room for Debate . Among the five contributors was David Lat, founder of Above the Law. He was the only contributor who had experience in an unpaid public service law opportunity and because of that, I was interested in hearing his thoughts on the subject.

Lat interned with the federal prosecutors office in New Jersey and while he didn’t get a paid position with the office immediately, he did work there later on (I know this because he and researcher and author of Intern Nation Ross Perlin were guests on Minnesota Public Radio on Tuesday).

Lat is in the answer “c” group — he believes unpaid internships are win-win. His only caveats are contract-based — the unpaid internship needs to be mutually beneficial and entered into freely by both parties.

I’m inclined to agree — in the public service/non-profit realm. While I do feel the unpaid interns’ pain on the cash-flow front, the experience I came away with was worth it. All of the orgs I worked for had structured or semi-structured intern/clerk programs and the attorneys were willing and able to teach me — this makes a huge difference when deciding whether or not to take an unpaid position.

Aside from practical legal skills, I also left organizations having made strong connections with public interest attorneys, which to this day I’ve found to be completely invaluable.

I know that if a position were to open up at any of the organizations I interned with, I would be a top (if not the) candidate for the job because they are familiar with me, my work ethic and the quality of my work product.

My advice is this: do your homework when looking at unpaid positions. You want to make sure it will compensate you in ways other than monetarily — ask questions about the internship structure, work space, supervising attorneys, mentoring, etc.

Where do you land on this issue? A, B or C?

The Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Inc. seeks a dynamic staff attorney with experience or interest in family law to work in our Binghamton, New York office. LASMNY program area covers thirteen counties: Broome, Chenango, Cayuga, Cortland, Delaware, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego and Otsego. In addition, LASMNY operates a statewide Farmworker Law Project from its New Paltz office.

The staff attorney will provide direct and comprehensive legal services to eligible clients including advice, negotiation, motion practice and litigation. Additionally, the staff attorney will represent clients primarily in family law cases, including custody/visitation, paternity, support violations, family offenses and abuse/ neglect matters.

Sound like a good fit for you? Check the listing at PSLawNet!

The Just Health Foundation (Just Health) is searching for a group of summer volunteer associates to conduct research, write articles, and conduct community outreach. We need legal support in many areas of the law including employment, immigration, human rights, disability, estate planning, transgender rights, health policy, and family law.

The Just Health Foundation is a new non-profit organization with a mission to improve health by building an online medical-legal partnership. Lawyers in traditional medical-legal partnerships improve health by advocating for patients' health care rights. With the support of a legal advocate these patients are more likely to gain access to care and can increase the effectiveness of care received.

Selected applicants will be placed with legal specialists who will provide mentorship, training and guidance. By using this collaborative research platform, students will have the opportunity to network with our panel of experts and receive extensive training in the assigned area of law.

Find out more at PSLawNet!

The Assistant General Counsel reports administratively to the General Counsel of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). The Assistant General Counsel litigates on behalf of the university in consultation with the General Counsel and assists the General Counsel in planning, organizing, and guiding the university’s legal activities. The Assistant General Counsel assists in providing advice and counsel to senior academic and administrative officers of the University concerning UNR’s legal rights and obligations. Scope of the role includes litigation, administrative and regulatory matters, whether in the courts of the State of Nevada or the United States and in all federal and state administrative agencies.

The Assistant General Counsel conducts legal research and advises University officers on matters pertaining to compliance with the Nevada System of Higher Education code, state and federal laws affecting the University with particular emphasis on litigation, contracts, business and tort law, employment law and dispute resolution, student rights, and public/private partnerships. The position is also responsible for other such legal or administrative duties as may be assigned by the General Counsel. Concurrent private practice is precluded.

Interested? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers. We should take our wisdom where, and as, we find it.  This thought has reoccurred to me several times this week.  The reason: an astoundingly well-timed bit of wisdom emerged from unexpected quarters a few days ago.  It reminded me that when I am actively seeking wisdom, I tend to pursue the high-minded – hunting among the works of philosophers and poets for the perfect collection of words, constructed in perfect syntax.  But I wonder how much wisdom I miss in the everyday course – messages that evade me because I’m not listening, or too casually dismiss the messenger.

I should be more careful about judging messengers.  After all, I frequently must convince friends – and they tend to be highly sophisticated female friends in this particular case – of Yoda’s sublime brilliance.  (Yes, that’s a “d” and not a “g”.)  “His words are recitations of timeless wisdom,” is typically what I lead with.  Their counterpunch always goes, “How adolescent are you to invest anything at all in bumper-sticker distillations of Eastern philosophy as rendered through a muppet?  A muppet!!”  Well, stand by Yoda I do.

So I’ll remember the Yoda example, and I’ll remember what happened to me earlier this week.  The high-minded are not the only keepers of wisdom.  So whether from Epictetus (“Wealth consists not of having many possessions, but of having few wants”), or Anjelou (“Life loves the liver of it”), or Yoda (“Always in motion the future is”), or Yogi (“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours”), I will take my wisdom where, and as, a I find it.

***      

Oh, and as for the news: this week we’ve got several items about funding woes plaguing indigent defense programs.  Note too that NALP released our public interest employment market snapshot report, based on findings from a Fall 2011 survey of employers’ expectations about hiring law students and attorneys.  Here’s the rundown:

• new ruling requiring public defenders at bail hearings has Maryland PD’s office looking for $;
• layoffs at the NOLA defender’s office;
• keeping with a theme, the Delaware indigent defense program needs $ to pay appointed counsel;
• foreclosure prevention program in NY State may not be re-funded;
• just released: NALP’s public service employment market snapshot report (a fair amount of bad news, but also advice from employers about what they look for in job candidates); 
• Univ. of Detroit-Mercy Law clinical offices have new digs, and I really hope they kept the pole intact;
• Texas showdown over creating pro se forms for low-income people;
• continued uncertainty over indigent defense funding in the Bay State;
• scarce indigent defense resources again…this time…Nebraska;
• DC-based civil rights lawyers find work in nonprofits, government, and for-profit practices;
• disturbing numbers on veterans and homelessness;
• the impact of LSC cuts on Legal Services of South Central Michigan;
• ditto, this time Mid-Missouri Legal Services Corporation;
• Depressed yet by all this funding news?  Try this to lift your spirits;
• Mandatory pro bono in Minnesota?
• new graduate bridge program at Pace Law School.

Here are the summaries:

• 2.2.12 – downside: not enough public defenders in Maryland.  Upside: maybe they’ll hire more public defenders in Maryland.  From the Baltimore Sun: “The state would have to hire 284 new public defenders to comply with a recent Court of Appeals ruling requiring lawyers for indigent defendants at thousands of annual bail hearings, according to an affidavit filed Thursday by Maryland Public Defender Paul DeWolfe. ‘I have determined that the Office is unable to comply with the court’s mandate at this time in light of its current resource constraints,’ DeWolfe wrote in the eight-page, sworn document, filed in the state’s highest court. It accompanied a motion asking that the new requirement, outlined in a Jan. 4 opinion, be stayed for at least six months, until Aug. 1.  The Maryland Court of Appeals refused an earlier request to suspend the order, however, noting that judges ‘cannot declare that [defendants] have a statutory right to counsel at bail hearings and, in the same breath, permit delay in the implementation of that important right’.”

• 2.2.11 – bad news out of NOLA.  From the Times-Picayune: “Pleading poverty, the Orleans Parish public defender’s office has laid off about 10 percent of its staff of lawyers along with other employees in the latest move to trim a shortfall in the office’s $9.5 million budget The layoffs, accompanied by salary cuts for managers and supervisors, follow an earlier decision by Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton to cut off payments to private attorneys who work death penalty cases and conflict cases where the public defender’s office can’t represent a client, often because it already represents a co-defendant.

• 2.2.12 – cash needed from the Delaware legislature to pay appointed counsel.  From The News Journal: “The state’s public defender warned lawmakers Wednesday of an impending shortfall of funds to pay for private lawyers who represent defendants in cases where the public defender’s office has a legal conflict of interest.  At a hearing on his division’s budget request before the Joint Finance Committee, Public Defender Brendan O’Neill said the Office of Conflict Counsel will almost certainly require between $450,000 and $650,000 in additional funding this fiscal year, on top of the $3 million budgeted.” 
  • Historical Fun Fact: the word “Delaware,” which is the name of a state, river and bay, is mistakenly thought to be of Native American origin.  “Delaware” actually refers to this English aristocrat.  In addition to the state/river/bay, early European settlers even decided to (re)name the Lenape Indians as “Delaware Indians.”  How thoughtful. 

• 2.1.12 – New York State may discontinue funding a foreclosure prevention program that provides housing counseling and legal services to help homeowners in need.  From a Gannett story: “Non-profit groups that provide counseling and legal services to homeowners at risk of foreclosure and some lawmakers are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include $25 million in the state budget to continue the state Foreclosure Prevention Services Program…. Cuomo did not include money for the program in his proposed budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, which begins April 1. Without funding, the Foreclosure Prevention Services Program will shut down, lawmakers and the non-profit organizations said.” 

• 2.1.12 – NALP (hey, that’s us!) releases 2011-12 Public Service Legal Employment Snapshot report.  The report offers data-driven insight into the law student and attorney hiring climate in the public service arena. In September, 2011 NALP surveyed government and nonprofit law offices to gather data on summer 2012 law-student hiring expectations; attorney hiring forecasts in 2012; and information on recent and anticipated layoffs. NALP also gathered employers’ insights on how job candidates can stand out in a tight market and on practice areas that may grow in the near future. The Snapshot Report is available here.

• 2.1.12 – the law school clinics at the University of Detroit Mercy will have a cool new home.  From Crain’s Detroit Business: The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law will repurpose the historic Engine No. 2 firehouse downtown to accommodate the school’s 10 legal aid-clinics…. In the UDM clinics, law students and faculty provide about 1,500 Detroiters annually with immigration, foreclosure and veterans affairs legal assistance. ‘Our new facility is going to be much more accessible – right out there, visible to the entire Detroit community,’ Dean Lloyd Semple said. “We expect this will increase the demand for our services’.”

• 2.1.12 – a couple of weeks ago we noted a skirmish between the Texas Supreme Court and the state bar over the creation of pro se forms for use in family court.  Here’s the latest from the Courthouse News Service: “The Texas Supreme Court rejected a request by the Texas State Bar to stop work on uniform divorce forms for use by pro se litigants.”  The forms are intended to help low-income Texans who couldn’t get help from legal aid because of resources shortages.  But as noted in a Texas Lawyer article some private-bar family law lawyers had concerns along these lines: “[They] oppose the forms and claim their use: could hurt the interests of people who use them to file for divorce; will not be limited to low-income Texans; could harm the livelihoods of solos and small-firm family lawyers; and may expand into other practice areas besides family law.”

• 2.1.12 – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports on continued tension and funding uncertainty surrounding the Bay State’s indigent defense system, which employs both public defenders and appointed private counsel.  It’s noteworthy that Gov. Deval Patrick is pushing to raise the percentage of cases handled by public defenders, which would likely require hiring a large number of new attorneys.  But to some degree this is tied up on legislative wrangling as well. 

• 1.31.12 – another story driven by scarce indigent defense resources, but in this instance we’re also dealing with the “longtime rivalry between Omaha and Lincoln.”  These two quaint Nebraskan cities as the Jets and Sharks.  Who knew?  From the Omaha World-Herald: “A major spat is brewing at the State Capitol over how best to provide lawyers for indigent people charged with felony crimes.  On one side is the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy.  It is a state-financed shop of six defense attorneys charged with taking on felony cases for counties that don’t have their own public defenders or face conflicts of interest in using their own county-paid defenders.  On the other side is Douglas County, which argues that the commission was set up to help cash-strapped rural counties without attorneys and that it isn’t necessary in populous Omaha, which has plenty of private attorneys willing to work as contracted defense attorneys.”

• 1.29.12 – a short Washington Post article profiles the work of civil rights attorneys in the District, noting that a good number practice in boutique law firms rather than in government or nonprofit law offices. 

• 1.27.12 – Some disturbing numbers on veteran homelessness, which illustrate why it will continue to be critical for the legal services community to engage veterans as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs (sometimes adversarially). From Government Executive online: “Veterans are significantly more likely to be homeless than civilian adults, and these homeless vets are getting steadily older and sicker, researchers reported on Friday.  The new study predicts that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ health care system could be deluged with at least some of these sick and homeless vets…. ‘Male veterans were almost 50 percent as likely and female veterans were almost twice as likely to be homeless as nonveterans in the general population,’ [Prof. Jamison] Fargo’s team wrote in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ‘Among the population in poverty, male veterans were more than twice as likely and female veterans were more than three times as likely to be homeless as nonveterans’.”

• 1.27.12 – last November’s Legal Services Corporation funding slash will impact Legal Services of South Central Michigan to the tune of about 8% of their budget, From the Battle Creek Enquirer: “Last year the agency, which employs 55 lawyers and has a budget of $5.9 million, represented 27,619 people in 11,000 cases involving domestic violence, landlord-tenant disputes and obtaining access to health care and government programs.  But a 15 percent cut from the federal government and a decrease in money from the state will trim the Legal Services budget by $440,000.”  Legal Services’ Battle Creek office will likely run a budget deficit in 2012 and is trying to avoid staff cuts.

• 1.27.12 – the Columbia Missourian picks up on the Legal Services Corporation’s announcement last week about budget and staff cuts at programs throughout the country, and hones in on the Show Me State: “Mid-Missouri Legal Services Corporation…faced a $135,000 deficit in November when it prepared its budget for 2012. The 14-member staff reduced a full-time attorney to half-time and laid off a half-time attorney”.  Despite this and an almost 50% cut in IOLTA proceeds, caseloads at Mid-Missouri have risen 60% since 2008.

• 1.27.12 – Judith Sandalow, executive director of the Children’s Law Center here in DC, pens a touching piece about why legal services lawyers never give up.  Sandalow, writing in the Huffington Post, recounts the work of a CLC attorney who, after being appointed as the guardian at litem of a girl who was abandoned at birth and again later by an adoptive parent, refused to give up on the girl even after she gave up on herself.  Today, “Charline,” once a homeless dropout, is a high school graduate and moving forward with her life.  She is “one less statistic and one more success story,” thanks in large part to her tireless GaL. 

• 1.XX.12 – “Mandatory pro bono gets another look” is the title of this Minnesota Lawyer article which begins thusly: “Dwindling financial aid for free legal services has prompted a return to the argument that time, rather than money, is the best solution…”  The article’s password protected and I don’t have access, but FYI.

• November, 2011 – our friends at Pace Law School called our attention to their launch of a “school-supported law firm geared toward guiding students in their first years of practice.”  From the New York Law Journal: “The Pace Community Law Practice is set to open in September 2012…and will employ between five and seven recent Pace graduates. The new lawyers will offer low-cost legal assistance in areas including immigration, family and housing law while attending seminars on obtaining and billing clients, malpractice insurance and setting up a law office.  Jennifer Friedman, director of the Public Interest Law Center at Pace, who has been spearheading the project, called the initiative a “legal residency program,” similar to a medical residency, “providing intensive supervision and support” for the new attorneys.  Ms. Friedman said the economy, and the poor market for legal services jobs, played a role in the decision to start the project.”

By: Steve Grumm

Equal Justice Works and two co-conspirators just wrapped up the second part of our webinar series on the summer public interest job search.  Today’s focus was on interviewing and networking.  Lots of wisdom shared.  I jotted down the points that resonated most with me and added my thoughts:

Interviewing

• “Law Student: Google thyself!” – employers are savvy to the Internets and the Googles these days.  Not all employers run Google searches on job candidates.  But some do.  You should know what pops up when you run a Google search for your name.  If one of the first hits is your college buddy’s blog post with pics of that epic kegger back on Groundhog Day of ’07, you may want to reach out to your buddy.  (You may also want to ask your buddy how the heck her blog gets so much search-engine-optimization love from Google, but I digress.)
• If interviewing on Skype:
  • At a minimum, the top half of you should be in business attire;
  • Don’t look down at notes too much.  You’re not in the room with the employer, so it’s going to be awkward if you spend large chunks of time looking away from the camera.
• Be prepared for the “Tell us about a professional weakness” question, and turn your weakness into a strength.  We all have weaknesses.  So when an employer asks you to talk about a weakness, the answer is never, “I have none. So hire me.”  Employers are doing two things when asking this question.  They are trying to gauge your self-awareness, i.e. your knowledge of yourself.  And they are probing to see how you address your weakness so that it doesn’t affect your work product.  Here’s how I’ve addressed the question in past interviews:
  • One weakness I have is an instinct to take on more and more work when it presents itself.  This is not necessarily a bad instinct, but if I don’t manage it then it can lead to my getting overwhelmed and bogged down with an unrealistic workload.  That risks becoming unproductive.  So, I have learned to be thoughtful about prioritizing work and keeping lines of communication open with colleagues and supervisors so that the team around me is on the same page.  Either daily or weekly, I will step back and list the tasks that are currently in my portfolio in order to prioritize work and to ensure that I’m working efficiently.  I try never to inappropriately pass off my work to colleagues, but I do ask for help when needed.  Put more succinctly: the key to managing my weakness is to be mindful of my workload and to communicate with colleagues.
• Thank-you note is not optional.  Doesn’t matter if you walked out of the interview with no interest in the job.  Send a note or email expressing your thanks for the interviewer’s time and consideration of your candidacy.  It simply never hurts and takes a matter of moments.

 Networking

• Networking ≠ Schmoozing.  This one is near and dear to my heart b/c when I started law school I fancied myself a sort of rogue public interest student who didn’t need anything from anybody.  In fact I refused to use the word “network” as a verb.  Thank goodness, though, I realized fairly early on that networking is not glad-handing for the sake of self-advancement.  It’s about connecting with like-minded people who can help you get things done, for your professional development and ultimately for your clients or the mission you’re striving to achieve. So I approach networking as building a foundation of contacts which I can look to for guidance, knowledge and so forth…and yes, occasionally for job leads.  I recommend thinking of networking as a professional tool, not as empty schmoozing.
• You Never Know Whom…  What does this mean?  Well, a lot of your networking actually takes place in your absence.  That is to say, a person you’ve had a conversation with may pass your name on to another person, and so on and so on.  This “passive networking” works both for good and for ill.  Please know that while the public interest community is, in some ways, diverse and diffuse, you’d be amazed at how many people know each other.  And if you say something disparaging about an experience you’ve had, an organization, or an individual, that comment may find its way back to its object.  So when networking, keep it positive because you never know whom the person you happen to be speaking with now will be speaking to when you’re gone.

If you missed either of the webinars (part one, last week, reviewed cover letter and resume tips), we’ll make both webinars freely available this Friday at http://www.nalp.org/webinars.  I’m sure Equal Justice Works will be posting the webinars on www.equaljusticeworks.org, too.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that runs Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects, is looking fo legal interns for the Summer of 2012! The Office of the General Counsel runs a legal internship program to educate and train promising law students or in the areas of internet law and free knowledge organizations. The interns would work 40 hours per week at the Wikimedia Foundation’s downtown San Francisco office. The Wikimedia Foundation faces a myriad of legal issues ranging from complex copyright questions to international freedom of speech issues to mobile development to internal corporate compliance.

Because of the wide array of legal issues, the interns will be assigned challenging projects based on their particular interests and strengths. These projects could range from researching a particular legal question to drafting licensing agreements to developing internal and external policies. Each intern will receive individualized projects that they will be expected to spearhead under the supervision and guidance of an attorney from the Office of the General Counsel. Interns will work closely with their supervising attorney — attending and participating in internal and external meetings, collaborating on projects, receiving feedback and support, and generally learning about the practical dimensions of practicing law in-house at a web-based company. The Wikimedia Foundation values and promotes diversity. We invite applications from candidates regardless of race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, age, or disability.

Interested? Check the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

From our peoples at Equal Justice Works:

The Department of Education has released an Employment Certification for Public Service Loan Forgiveness form to assist borrowers in tracking their qualifying employment and qualifying payments as they work toward earning loan forgiveness.

After borrowers submit the form, they will be notified whether their employment qualifies, the total number of qualifying payments they have made and how many payments still need to be made before they qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This will be a tremendous help for borrowers in documenting the 120 qualifying monthly payments (at least ten years worth) they need to earn forgiveness. It also will provide them with some certainty that their employment qualifies.

Details of the interim certification process set up by the Department of Education, a copy of the form, instructions and a “dear borrower” letter have been posted to the Department’s Student Aid on the Web site at www.studentaid.ed.gov/publicservice. The Department will also be posting some updated PSLF questions and answers to the site soon. You can also direct questions to the Equal Justice Works at debtrelief@equaljusticeworks.org

The inimitable Heather Jarvis approves of this development, offering a resounding “Woot!” and her insight:

The Department of Education today released the long awaited Employment Certification for Public Service Loan Forgiveness form!  Woot!

Folks in government and 501(c)(3) nonprofit service* can finally get that warm and fuzzy feeling that will come from the government saying “yes” your employment qualifies and “yes” you made x number of payments that count towards forgiveness.

Why This Is Important 
Student loan borrowers can earn Public Service Loan Forgiveness by making 120 of the right kind of payments, on the right kind of loans, while working in the right kind of job*.  But you also have to PROVE that you met all the requirements of the program.  That’s where the paperwork comes in.  

Nothing about Public Service Loan Forgiveness is automatic.  Not one thing.  Student loan borrowers will need to jump through a whole lot of hoops to establish that they have earned the forgiveness.  Flaming hoops probably.  But student loan borrowers aren’t afraid of a little paperwork, right?  We say Bring. It. On.

If you think you are working for a qualifying public service employer and you’re working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness, YOU NEED THIS FORM.  You love this form.  This form is your BFF. 

The National Abortion Federation (NAF), the leading pro-choice organization representing abortion providers and their patients, has an immediate full-time opening for the position of Staff Counsel.

NAF is a 501(c)(3) organization, dedicated to ensuring that abortion is safe, legal, and accessible. Our members include 400 clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices in the United States, Canada and Mexico City. Our dynamic and innovative programs span a wide range of services designed to meet the unique needs of abortion providers and the patients they serve. NAF’s programs include: accredited continuing medical education; quality assurance and improvement; clinic security and law enforcement education; clinical, legal, and consumer publications; public education; public policy advocacy; group purchasing and a national toll-free hotline.

To learn more, check out the listing at PSLawNet!