Why post one Job ‘o the Day when we can post two?  NYC’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – “mental hygiene”? seems a bit archaic, no?  anyway… – is seeking a law intern for the spring 2012 semester, with a possible extension through the summer.  What will the intern be working on?  Tobacco control policy.  A blurb from the job description:

The Bureau of Tobacco Control (BTC) has been a flagship program of the DOHMH since 2002. By implementing a comprehensive five-point plan that includes taxation, legal action, education, cessation and evaluation, BTC has overseen one of the fastest declines in smoking prevalence ever recorded – a 35% decrease in adult smoking since 2002. The NYC youth smoking rate has also decreased by more than half since 2001. BTC continues to implement cutting-edge, evidence-based interventions that make it harder to smoke and easier to quit. Program strategies include city-wide giveaways of quit smoking medications and aggressive, targeted media campaigns to increase awareness of the dangers of smoking and benefits of quitting.

The Bureau of Tobacco Control is currently seeking a legal intern to assist with creating new policy initiatives, including legal research and analysis of current city laws and tobacco control laws from other jurisdictions. This position will work closely with the Bureau’s Policy Unit, including the Director of Policy and Senior Legal Counsel for Policy, Tobacco Control; the Health Department’s General Counsel; and other city and state officials in the public health field. This position will provide excellent experience working on policy development for the right candidate.

We are looking for candidates interested in joining us for the spring semester. An extension through the summer is possible.

View the full listing on PSLawNet here.

Are you a fan of unruly sports fans and cheesesteaks?  Good.  Here’s a great postgraduate position (don’t let “law clerk” fool you) in the World’s Most Glorious City….

The Pro-Se Law Clerk provides legal advice and assistance to the Court in connection with petitions and complaints filed by prisoners. The position’s duties and responsibilities include: (1) the substantive screening, after filing, of all prisoner and inmate petitions and motions, including state habeas corpus petitions, federal habeas corpus petitions, motions to vacate sentence, and civil rights complaints; drafts appropriate recommendations and orders for the Court’s signature. (2) reviews all complaints, petitions, and pleadings that have been filed by prisoners so as to determine the issues involved and the alleged basis for relief; (3) performs research, as required, to assist the Court in preparing opinions; (4) evaluates present procedures to determine new innovations for increasing the effectiveness in handling complaints, petitions, and pleadings; reviews the docket of pending prisoner and inmate litigation to assure the proper progress of such cases and advises the Court of those cases where action by the Court is appropriate….

To continue reading the job description, view the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Even before the government-wide hiring freeze which now curtails – but it’s important to remember has not fully stopped – federal recruiting, Uncle Sam had long been criticized for protracted application processes which could leave qualified job candidates in limbo for months.  The Obama Administration’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has undertaken reforms to, among other things, cut down on application processing time.  How have recent reform efforts been going? The Government Executive takes a look, and they include responses from some of the bigger agencies like the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

EPIC is currently accepting applications for the 2012 EPIC Fellowship. The one-year fellowship is designed for a highly-qualified law graduate specializing in privacy law.

The Fellowship will begin in September 2012. EPIC seeks applicants who have demonstrated an aptitude for legal research, writing, and advocacy. The EPIC Fellow will function as an integral part of EPIC’s Washington, D.C. office. The EPIC Fellow will develop expertise in one of the following substantive areas: Appellate Advocacy, Consumer Privacy, Domestic Surveillance, FOIA Litigation, International Privacy, or Voting Privacy.

Typical projects include: drafting legal briefs, submitting administrative filings, researching issues for Congressional testimony, creating web pages, and editing publications. EPIC encourages applications from interested third-year law students, judicial clerks, and recent graduates.

Interested? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  From my perch here in Washington I’m looking at a freakishly warm December morning, a disappointingly cold cup of coffee, a newspaper headline about Newt Gingrich (what year is this?) and a stack of unwritten holiday cards (a phenomenon that recurs every year, Newt or no Newt).  This week’s Bulletin contains a little bit of everything.  Here’s what we’ve got: 

• a new Connecticut provider to serve DV and human trafficking victims;
• ACLU of Montana critical of state’s public defense program;
• speaking of, a class-action over Georgia’s long-criticized public defense system may settle;
• young lawyers in “The OC” lend aid to the county’s legal services program;
• more public defense funding woes, this time addressed by Missouri’s high court;
• an unexpected glut of federal employee retirements;
• too many strings attached to law student summer public interest funding?;
• “A call for prosecutorial accountability”;
• Expanding New York State’s appellate pro bono program;
• A veterans diversionary court program in Oklahoma;
• LSC funding cuts hit hard in Mississippi;
• A formerly deferred associate recounts a formative experience representing DV victims;
• more medical-legal partnerships needed in the Lone Star State?
• cash-strapped government law offices leveraging private bar resources.

Here are the summaries:

• 12.15.11 – a new nonprofit law office in Connecticut will serve a highly vulnerable population.  From the New Canaan Observer: The Rights, Advocacy and Empowerment (RAE) Law Group has been formed to “promote, enforce and advocate for the rights of victims and survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual exploitation. The group will serve clients in Fairfield, New Haven and Middlesex counties.”  RAE apparently takes referrals from other service providers and provides representation for a “modest fee.”

• 12.15.11 – indigent defense trouble in the Treasure State.  From TV station KXLH: “The ACLU of Montana asserts there are many problems with the state’s public defender system and it’s asking the Montana Legislature to do its part in ensuring the agency operates smoothly.  If you can’t afford an attorney one will be appointed for you, and it’s likely the public defender could also be managing about 200 other cases….  The report also states attorneys aren’t getting the feedback and training they need to be successful in the courtroom.”  A lack of funding is seen as the main culprit.  Here’s a link to the ACLU’s report, which is being published 5 years after the Montana moved from a county-by-county to a statewide system.  The news isn’t all bad, but funding still is lacking.

• 12.14.11 – a class action regarding Georgia’s embattled indigent defense system may be settling.  The AP reports (and this is the whole article so no need to click through): “The Southern Center for Human Rights says a potential settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit that claims the state of Georgia must provide attorneys to handle the appeals of dozens of convicted criminals.  The case had been scheduled for a hearing before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter on Thursday. Kathryn Hamoudah of [SCHR], which brought the case, said Wednesday the settlement was not yet final and she did not know the details.  Plaintiffs want the state to make changes to make sure hundreds of indigent defendants have lawyers to represent them in their appeals. They claim cuts to the statewide public defender system has robbed them of their constitutional right to make their case.  The lawsuit was filed in 2009.”
   
• 12.14.11 – as a native Philadelphian I have little use for Orange County, CA.  From afar it seems so La-la Land-ish.  The OC did produce punk rock juggernaut Social Distortion, but otherwise it’s not my bag.  Nevertheless, here’s some good news about young lawyers pitching in to aid an overburdened legal services provider.  The Orange County Register reports that the Legal Aid Society of Orange County’s evictions unit is staring down LSC funding cuts and swelling caseloads.  The county bar’s young lawyers division heeded a call for help.  The YLD’s chair hoped “for maybe 10 volunteers [to handle pro bono eviction cases], but more than 40 responded to the call. Two weeks ago, about 35 went through training in wrongful-detainer law, and another session will be held in a few weeks. Then they’ll start taking cases.” 

• 12.14.11 – Show Me Oral Arguments!  A long-simmering controversy concerning the overburdened Missouri public defense program made it to the state’s high court.  Last year a defender refused new cases because the office’s caseload was overwhelming its ability to represent clients.  From the Springfield News-Leader: “The question is simple on its face: Does the Missouri Public Defender Commission have the authority to turn away defendants?  But the issue, taken up in oral arguments Tuesday in the state Supreme Court, splintered off into discussions ranging from constitutional rights to ethical burdens, from separation of powers to rule-making authority. No clear solution was offered.  The judges…also didn’t give an indication of how they are leaning. [E]ach stated conflicting concerns — forcing public defenders to represent clients regardless of caseload concerns or leaving the decision to local judges to find representation for poor defendants.”

• 12.12.11 – Uncle Sam is losing workers left and right to retirement.  From the Federal Times: “Retirement applications for the first 10 months of 2011 soared 24 percent from the same time last year, topping 92,000, according to statistics from the Office of Personnel Management….”  OPM Director John Berry told Congress last month…” that the rising retirement rate “…was likely caused by cash-strapped agencies offering buyouts and taking other steps to cut their workforces.”  What does this mean for aspiring civil servants?  The good news is obvious: open positions.  The bad news, of course, is the government-wide hiring freeze.  But the freeze has some cracks in it.  (That’s metaphor torture, for those scoring at home).  Agencies can still hire to fill “mission-critical” positions, so it’s not as though federal recruiting has stopped altogether.  This could bode well for law grads looking for a way in.

• 12.12.11 – is it becoming too burdensome for law students to get summer public interest funding from their schools?  From every law school dean’s fav periodical, U.S. News and World Report: “It’s fellowship application season for first and second year law students who want to work in public service law next summer. Many law schools offer…summer fellowships, which provide a stipend ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars, to students who pursue service-oriented roles rather than positions at big firms…. Many law students and J.D.’s report that their public service internships were fulfilling…. But some say that the internship applications come with too many requirements, warning aspiring public servants to carefully consider whether to participate.  Many law schools…require students to do between 5 and 10 hours of volunteer work on campus, and some also insist that students volunteer at fundraising auctions. ”  Oh, the horror!  I’m okay with requiring someone to do 5 hours of service to qualify for funding.  If nothing else it may separate the truly public-interest oriented students from those who would rather be at a firm but wish to hedge their bets.

• 12.12.11 – “A Call for Prosecutorial Accountability” appears as an op-ed in the National Law Journal: “Last term, the Supreme Court…limited municipal civil liability for prosecutors in Connick [v. Thompson]. In justifying this holding in part by stating that prosecutors are ‘personally subject to an ethics regime designed to reinforce the profession’s standards,’ the Court pointed to the existence of the [ABA] and state grievance mechanisms that set ethical standards for prosecutors and discipline them when they break the rules.  [Yet] new research analyzing the policies and procedures for disciplining attorneys in each state…shows that prosecutors are rarely held accountable when misconduct occurs….  Inspired by the Connick decision, students from the Liman Prosecutorial Mis­con­duct Research Project at Yale Law School examined the basis of the reliance on current attorney-sanctioning mechanisms. The resulting investigation of the disciplinary procedures in various states found that the process and results are largely inadequate for investigating claims of misconduct and holding prosecutors accountable.”

• 12.12.11 – “One year after establishing an experimental pro bono civil appellate program to handle family law appeals for people who cannot afford counsel, the New York State Bar Association is expanding the initiative to several other areas of law,” according to the New York Law Journal.   “Two upstate nonprofit organizations, the Legal Project in Albany and the Rural Center of New York in Plattsburgh, are providing staff support. The program is supported by a grant from the New York Bar Foundation.  During the first year, volunteer attorneys handled six appeals before the 3rd Department, one of them precedent-setting.  According to the American Bar Association, the State Bar’s pro bono appellate project is one of only 10 such programs in the country.”

• 12.11.11 – The Oklahoman looks at a diversionary judicial program for veterans in the Oklahoma City area.  “Veterans who get into legal trouble in Oklahoma County can apply to the program. Those who qualify have to go before a board that includes prosecutors, public defenders, counselors and veterans advocates. If they are selected for the program, they sign a contract agreeing to participate.  If they fail the program, charges can be refiled. Part of the contract includes waiving the statute of limitations on their case. They are not required, however, to plead guilty to a judge.”  The county prosecutor’s and public defender’s offices joined forces to create/administer the program.

• 12.10.11 – the LSC cuts are hitting hard in Mississippi.  From the Clarion-Ledger: “[T]wo Legal Services programs in Mississippi that provide civil legal help for the poor will see federal funding reduced by more than $821,000 in 2012.  The cuts in funding for the Mississippi Center for Legal Services, which serves 43 counties in the central and southern part of the state, and the North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, which serves 39 counties in the northern part of the state, were the result of a 14.85 percent reduction nationally in federal spending for Legal Services programs…. About 600,000 poor people in Mississippi are eligible for services, and about 30 attorneys are available in Mississippi for Legal Services.  The number of Legal Services attorneys is about one per 20,000 low-income residents.”

• 12.9.11 – a formerly-deferred DLA Piper associate recounts the positive experience he had spending his deferral period with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation’s domestic violence project.  After recounting two of his emotionally charged case experiences, he closes the piece: “Now, I am a second-year associate…working mainly in construction law. I am constantly aware of how much there is to learn about this area of law, and about practicing law, period. But learning the ropes in a court…with real live clients whose safety may be at stake, and in an often intense courtroom setting, forced me to understand how to respond swiftly and how to think outside of the box…. [T]hose experiences are easing my path from naïve, wide-eyed associate to useful lawyer…. I am very grateful to my firm and to AVLF for allowing me to start my practice with this experience. Serving as a Deferred Fellow turned out to be both incredibly useful and a great luxury: it gave me confidence, and it gave me the time and the support to learn skills I will always be able to use throughout my career.”

• 12.9.11 – more MLPs needed in the Lone-Star State?  From the Public News Service: “When a health problem persists despite medical treatment, the real issue could be a legal matter. There’s a growing national trend toward medical-legal partnerships (MLPs), which help people figure out whether they might benefit from lawyers in addition to doctors.  A weak economy and state budget cuts have been magnifying the need for such assistance, according to Priscilla Noriega, who directs an MLP in the Brownsville office of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.”

• December, 2011 – The December ABA Journal reports on how cash-strapped government law offices are leveraging private-bar resources to help stay afloat.  The Chicago Law Department is benefiting from the services of four local firms. And it turns out this isn’t a new trend.  “Since 2002, New York has saved approximately $84 million in legal fees” while benefiting from pro bono or “loaned associate” programs from law firms.  The article also looks at the L.A. City Attorney’s practice of recruiting law grads for six-month volunteer stints prosecuting misdemeanors, and the U.S. DOJ’s practice of recruiting unpaid Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys. (A few months ago I also wrote about the SAUSA trend.)

Northwest Defenders Association is a non-profit public defender agency representing clients in Seattle, Washington.  Agency attorneys and staff represent adult and juvenile clients charged with criminal offenses, parents and children in dependency actions and respondents in contempt of court proceedings.

Northwest Defenders Association is offering three internship positions with stipends of $1500 each for law students who have completed their second year of school.  They are offered in honor of Kimiko Nagaoka Mukai, mother of former Board Treasurer Don Mukai.  Ms. Mukai was in her second year of college when President Theodore Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, requiring Japanese Americans to report to internment camps.  Ms. Mukai and her family were held at Camp Minidoka in Idaho.  She was never able to complete college but received an honorary degree in 2002 at the age of 90.

If you’re interested, see the listing at PSLawNet!

Positive Resource Center is looking for a staff attorney to join its team. Positive Resource Center is a community-based organization that provides Benefits Counseling and Employment Services to people living with HIV/AIDS and/or mental health conditions.

The Staff Attorney will provide legal representation to low-income clients with HIV and/or mental health issues in order to guarantee disability income and health insurance benefits.

Interested? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

Human Rights Initiative is a non-profit located in Dallas, TX that is committed to providing high-quality legal services free of charge to people who have suffered from human rights abuses. HRI is currently seeking full-time legal interns for its Summer internship program.
HRI strives to provide every legal intern with invaluable experience in immigration and nationality law and international human rights issues. Interns will provide support to either the Asylum, Advocacy, or Women and Children’s programs.

Interested? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is seeking qualified applicants for the position of Assistant or Associate General Counsel in the Office of Senior Vice President and General Counsel. The level of this position will be determined based upon the experience of the selected candidate.

The practice areas in which this attorney may work include commercial transactions, contracting and procurement, regulatory and compliance, and litigation. Experience in a higher education or health care environment is desirable.

Chartered in 1766, Rutgers is New Jersey’s flagship public research and land-grant University with a budget of approximately $1.9 billion and in 1989 was invited to join the Association of American Universities (AAU), an association of the nation’s leading research universities.

Interested? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

The Skadden Foundation has listed its Class-of-2012 fellows.  Twenty-eight fellows, hailing from 16 law schools, will begin their projects next year.  Seven schools had multiple fellowship awardees: Berkeley (2); Columbia (2); Harvard (6); NYU (2); Penn (2); Stanford (3); and Yale (2).  Other schools from which fellows come include CUNY, Georgetown, Michigan, and Rutgers-Camden.

For comparison’s sake, prior Skadden Fellowship classes shaped up as follows:

• 2011:  29 fellows from 21 law schools;
• 2010: 27 fellows from 20 law schools;
• 2009: 28 fellows from 14 law schools;
• 2008: 36 fellows from 16 law schools.  

Congrats to the Class-of-2012 fellows!  The fellowship award is an extraordinary achievement.