The National Low Income Housing Coalition is looking for students for their Spring 2012 Policy Internship position. The policy intern tracks new legislation, attends and summarizes Congressional hearings for Memo to Members, participates in visits to Congressional offices, and develops materials for use in lobbying the House and Senate to accomplish NLIHC’s mission. 

The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to ending America’s affordable housing crisis.

Sound interesting to you? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

The Legal Intelligencer, based in the Glorious City of Philadelphia, has a piece reviewing the phenomenon of associates whose law-firm start dates were deferred taking short-term public interest placements.  This mostly affected the law school graduating class of 2009, but also some subsequent grads. 

According the article, while deferrals certainly marked a rocky patch on a law-school-to-law-firm employment path that was typically smooth, some deferred associates enjoyed rich experiences that have impacted their careers, and lives, for the better.

The bulk of the piece focuses on Ballard Spahr’s deferral class:

When the “bottom fell out of the legal market” in 2009, [Ballard’s pro bono counsel] Mary Gay Scanlon said, [the firm] found itself unable to provide work to several dozen recent graduates who had accepted positions in the firm.

“We quickly said: ‘Wait a minute, maybe we can salvage something for everyone here. We can make sure that these young lawyers — some of the best and the brightest — have good work to do for this year,'” Scanlon said.

The firm offered stipends to first-years to develop their skills elsewhere.

Not all deferred associates practiced law in the interim. Ballard Spahr made the temporary job location dependent on individual interest. Thus, the young lawyers worked in corporations, government agencies and public interest firms, with one deferred associate going to graduate school.

When deferred associates started at Ballard Spahr in 2010, Scanlon said their experiences developing new abilities in areas of personal interest to them were a plus to clients.

A major post-deferral benefit to the firm was the associates’ commitment to pro bono programs. Deferrals created “in-house experts and in-house advocates for a variety of different pro bono opportunities,” said Scanlon, bringing “strength in new areas” to the firm.

Scanlon noted that big firms appreciate this kind of specialized knowledge.

“Poverty law is not a part of our daily practice,” she said, and it’s highly beneficial to have “someone who’s an expert in U visas or a whiz with asylum or SSI disability cases” in-house

The piece goes on to look at the public-interest work of deferred associates from various firms, whose placements included stints in civil legal services, immigration and civil rights advocacy, and even an academic placement in Kenya, which last year implemented a new constitution.

I am most intrigued by the thoughts of one Ballard associate who practiced family law with Philly’s Community Legal Services:

As a trial attorney at Community Legal Services, [Lisa] Swaminathan handled cases from start to finish — mainly child welfare cases.

“That was the experience that I was looking for … [to get] to court … to know the people who I was representing, to learn how to work for a client,” Swaminathan said.

At the end of her deferral year, Swaminathan chose to stay on at CLS for an additional year, taking a temporary position the shop funded through stimulus money.

With two years of public interest work under her belt, Swaminathan finally joined Ballard Spahr this September.

Scanlon called Swaminathan a “star.”

She brings to the firm a client-focused philosophy of work from her two years at CLS.

“I learned … that [my clients were] the driving force behind everything I was doing, and it can be harder to learn that when you’re just starting out,” Swaminathan said.

Working with colleagues in the public interest community, I played a small role in facilitating deferral placements in 2009.  (In 2010 I wrote a status report of sorts about how deferrals played out.)  I was hopeful that the experiences would give the associates an understanding of the opportunities and challenges of public interest practice.  I further hoped the associates would come away with positive feelings so that they would become tomorrow’s pro bono advocates and financial supporters.  But I also hoped that the associates would develop skills and expertise that would be useful in their law firm practices.  I’m sure this trifecta did not come to fruition in every case.  But this article is welcome news.

The Miami and Krome Immigration Court is looking for a law student to fill their internship position for the summer of 2012. This position offers an excellent opportunity to develop research, writing, and analytical skills. Students will work under the direct supervision of Judicial Law Clerks and perform research and writing assignments for Immigration Judges. 

The Miami and Krome Immigration Courts are part of the Executive Office for Immigration Review in the US Department of Justice.

Sound interesting to you? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

Legal Momentum is looking for a law student to fill their Legal Intern position. 

Legal Momentum is the nation’s oldest legal defense and education fund dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights of all women and girls (it was formerly known as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund).  Legal Momentum uses litigation, public policy advocacy and education to address systemic issues facing women and girls throughout the United States.  Legal Momentum has offices in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Legal interns assist in developing litigation with legal research, prospective client interviews, drafting pleadings, memoranda and other aspects of litigation, as well as in developing education and policy advocacy materials on a range of women’s rights issues.  Issues covered include poverty and welfare reform, immigrant women, violence against women, childcare, non-traditional employment for women, and employment discrimination.

Sound interesting to you? Check out the listing at PSLawNet!

An opinion piece in Government Executive argues that the General Schedule’s demise is past due. 

Outside of the U.S. government, no other employer in the world — in any sector — has relied on the same salary system for six decades. The armies of clerks who were prevalent in 1949 have been replaced by technical “knowledge workers.” Management practices that were dominant then were rejected by most employers long ago. Pay programs are decidedly different today.

With the exception of locality differentials, the General Schedule has been static. With salaries frozen, this is the best time to make the tough decisions about pay. Then a new program could be in place when agencies are allowed to grant salary increases. Agreement now on replacing the GS system could avert unnecessary wrangling in next year’s political debate.

Here are 10 reasons why a new system is needed:

• A prominent trend in other countries is increased emphasis on accountability and results. A corollary trend is the delegation of workforce planning to front-line supervisors. Several countries hand off salary management to local offices. The GS system precludes giving that responsibility to managers.
• The General Schedule differs from salary systems in other sectors on two key issues — pay for performance and market alignment. Outside of government, employers rely on separate systems for professionals, office support and technician jobs, as well as for engineers and technology specialists. This helps employers respond to hiring and salary trends. Government has several separate systems, but it needs more.

 Read on for the other reasons…

U.S. Magistrate Judge McGiverin is looking for a law student for an internship in his chambers in the Summer of 2012 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Judge McGiverin’s docket includes a wide range of civil and criminal cases.

The intern would work alongside the judge and law clerk, assisting with research and drafting opinions and orders on civil and criminal law topics. In addition, knowledge of Spanish is preferred.

If interested, check out the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday Wednesday, dear readers, from a dreary Washington, DC.  I did quite a bit of grumbling before arriving at the office this morning.  A car running through a puddle splashed me but good while I was jogging.  And at 8am I still didn’t manage to beat the last-minute food rush at the super market.  But now, here I sit with coffee, a bagel, and some quiet.  “Hell is breakfast with other people” is a humorous variation on a quote from John Paul Sartre.  And this morning, a quiet breakfast is perfect.  But as Thanksgiving approaches, I eagerly look forward to sharing a table and a meal with others.  Between the people who inhabit my life, the comforts I enjoy, and the work I do, I have much to be thankful for.  And I will try hard amidst the food and the football (yay!) and the minor holiday stresses to keep feelings of gratitude at the fore.  I hope that you will do the same.  Happy Thanksgiving.   

But you’re not here for sappy rumination.  This is what we’ve got:

• a restrictive cy pres decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals;
• troubles plaguing Michigan’s indigent defense system;
• public defender’s office in Sonoma County, CA feeling $ strains;
• Defense Department to kick a little funding toward pro bono programs for service-members;
• speaking of service-members, this veteran who joined a DA’s office isn’t, well, human;
• LSC cut to hit the Pennsylvania Legal Action Network hard;
• ditto for the two Wisconsin LSC grantees;
• ditto ditto in Virginia;
• A law graduate work program in Utah will have students offering “low bono” services.

This week:

• 11.21.11 – cy pres news from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, coming down against an award that would have gone (in part) to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA).  From the Recorder: “The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Monday rejected a class action settlement that called for AOL Inc. to give $110,000 to random charities, sending a message that courts should be more careful in doling out money under the cy pres doctrine.  A unanimous panel said the charities had nothing to do with the plaintiffs’ email privacy claims and that too much money was being funneled to Los Angeles groups, despite a class spread out across the country. And the court expressed skepticism about whether judges or mediators should make recommendations on how large sums of money get paid out when the money doesn’t go to the class members.”  

• 11.21.11 – Michigan’s indigent defense system has been foundering.  This is the gist of a Michigan Public Radio story looking at the much-maligned, county-by-county public defense framework in the Great Lake State.  A 2008 report from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association found that the quality of indigent representation varies greatly from county to county, and that overall the state ranks 44th in total indigent defense funding.  In the report’s wake, the ACLU of Michigan has filed a lawsuit to improve the system, and the governor formed a commission to find solutions.

• 11.21.11 – public defense funding woes in Sonoma County, CA.  From the Press-Democrat: “The recession has increased demand in Sonoma County for court-appointed lawyers at a time when the public defender’s office is short-handed.  Retirements and a round of layoffs have reduced the number of lawyers available to serve indigent clients to the lowest level in years. The office is down to 27 lawyers and 18 support staff representing clients in criminal, civil and juvenile courtrooms.  At the same time, caseloads have spiked. Attorneys made 115,000 court appearances in fiscal 2009-2010 compared to about 71,000 appearances a decade earlier.  This month’s loss of two attorney positions through budget cuts forced Public Defender John Abrahams to suspend misdemeanor court coverage and focus on more serious felony cases.” 

• 11.21.11 – good news for service-members who need legal services.  From the National Law Journal: “The U.S. Senate this week is expected to vote on a measure that would help fund programs that provide pro bono legal services to active military personnel. The amendment was introduced by sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)… The amendment would allow the Defense Department to designate up to $500,000 of its $184 billion fiscal year 2011 operation and maintenance budget for programs similar to those set up by the ABA and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan.”  $500,000 isn’t exactly a huge chunk of change in the larger appropriations scheme, but it’s signifies a recognition that service-members can be hamstrung when confronted with legal problems on the home-front.

• 11.20.11 – speaking of service-mmebers, a veteran of operations in Afghanistan has recently returned to the U.S. and taken up a post in a local D.A.’s office.  Nothing terribly newsworthy about this, right?  Well the veteran, Andy, isn’t a person.  Andy’s a pooch.  When Assistant District Attorney Jason Beato – who is human -joined the DeKalb County (Georgia) prosecutor’s office after service in the Army, he brought with him Andy, a bomb detection dog whom Beato had adopted when Andy’s primary handler was injured.  Of Andy’s service abroad, Beato says, “For all practical purposes he [was] a team member—he just can’t talk and that’s about it—and he sheds a lot more.”  Andy will likely go to work in the D.A.’s office doing courthouse security work – and probably boosting morale along the way.  good story. Read more in the blog post from the Champion Newspaper.  

• 11.20.11 – “Legal aid: The need is there, so should the funding” is the verb-deficient title of an otherwise well-intentioned editorial from the Patriot-News in the Glorious Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The editorial laments the recent LSC cut coming on top of legal services funding cuts on the state level: “The Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network expects a $2 million cut in federal funding plus frozen allocations, and funding cuts on the state level during past years have put the organization close to what the appropriation was in 1976…. Legal Aid predicts the funding imbalance means another 10 percent staffing cut, and this is after the service already is at bare bones. It also could mean closing at least two offices statewide.”

• 11.19.11 –  the circumstances are similar in Wisconsin. Both Badger State LSC grantees (Wisconsin Judicare and Legal Action of Wisconsin) are bracing for LSC funding cut’s impact.  This will come on top of a complete loss of state funding.  From the Capital Times in Madison: “The 2011-13 state budget cuts, which took effect this year, stripped Judicare of $350,000 per year in funding, about 17.5 percent of last year’s budget, and cut about $1.3 million a year in revenue for Legal Action. The federal cuts will strip $176,000 more from Judicare’s budget, and $540,000 from Legal Action’s.”

• 11.18.11 – the LSC cut will impact the Virginia Legal Aid Society to the tune of about 7% of its budget, or $180,000.  According the VLAS executive director David Neumeyer (as quoted in the Suffolk News Herald), “Keeping up with the demand for our services is already a huge challenge, and now with this cut I’m afraid we’ll have to turn away even more people who have nowhere else to turn…. This loss of funding will mean we cannot increase capacity and will need to start reducing staff size in 2012 if we do not bring in significant new income,” he said. “Private giving, like donations, foundations and United Ways, are the only hope we have of making up part of the loss, because government funding will not increase for the foreseeable future.”

• 11.18.11 – the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law is launching a program through which recent grads will provide legal services to moderate-income clients.  From the Salt Lake City Tribune:  “The…new University Law Group is intended to expand the availability of legal services and service-learning opportunities, according to law dean Hiram Chodosh.”  This is a variation of the law school “bridge” programs which provide work-experience opportunities for recent grads who face a tough employment market.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is looking for a staff attorney with a strong commitment to social justice to work collaboratively with FYI’s directors and staff in Miami, Florida.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) works to improve educational outcomes and reduce the imprisonment of children by advocating for educational and juvenile justice reform.  SPLC works to limit policies and practices that push children into the juvenile justice system; end school disciplinary practices that exclude students from public schools; stop the abuse and neglect of children in the juvenile justice system; and ensure that all child-serving systems are humane.

The staff attorney will develop and execute campaigns to reform school discipline practices that push children into the juvenile justice system. The responsibilities of the staff attorney will include litigating education cases, including class actions, and taking other legal action to protect children’s right to a quality education. In addition, the staff attorney will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with stakeholders, parents, elected officials, the faith-based community, and other advocacy organizations to reform Florida’s juvenile justice and educational systems.

If you’re interested, check out the listing at PSLawNet

Friends of Farmworkers, Inc., is looking for a two law students with strong commitments to social justice for internships during the summer of 2012. The interns will advocate for migrant workers in Pennsylvania.

Friends of Farmworkers (FOF) aims to improve the living and working conditions of indigent farmworkers, mushroom workers, food processing workers, and other workers from immigrant and migrant communities by providing direct legal services for claims arising out of employment to workers throughout PA and to organizations whose members are client-eligible workers and their families.

The summer advocate is responsible for drafting complaints, pleadings, or briefs for filing with administrative bodies (OSHA, NLRB, EEOC, and state equivalents) and state and federal courts. The interns are able to observe and participate in meetings with clients, advocacy organizations, governmental agencies. In addition, Friends of Farmworkers prefers the intern to be fluent in Spanish, Chin, Burmese, or Dzongkha.

A stipend can only be offered to one of the interns, but Friends of Farmworkers will work with the other candidate to help secure funding through their law schools or other sources.

If interested, check out the listing at PSLawNet!

Vera Institute is looking for a graduate-level intern to work with the Center on Sentencing and Corrections staff in Vera’s Washington DC office to begin in January and work until June 2012.

Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections (CSC) provides non-partisan support to judges, corrections administrators, state legislators, and other officials who are seeking to improve their systems and outcomes. CSC provides an integrated mix of research, technical assistance, and planning services to advance criminal justice policies that promote fairness, protect public safety, and ensure that resources are used efficiently.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for a motivated student to join a dynamic and innovative staff on a cutting edge project. The intern will work closely with Vera’ Segregation Reduction Project (SRP) staff.

The SRP partners with state’s departments of corrections to reduce their reliance on segregation, transfer prisoners in segregation to other levels of security safely, and improve conditions of confinement for prisoners who remain in segregation.

The position may include conducting literature reviews and best practices searches, doing legal research, tracking litigation filed in partner states, drafting findings and recommendation memos, and performing basic tasks to assist with quantitative analysis of large administrative data sets.

If you’re interested, check out the listing at PSLawNet!