By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  I offer abject apologies to regular readers (all four of you) for my skipping last week’s installment of the News Bulletin.  But it was nice to see so many folks at the NALP and Equal Justice Works events.  Today the Bulletin returns with a double issue.  There is much to catch up on, including:

• ABA’s Celebrate Pro Bono Week and related events;
• budget cuts take a toll on the nation’s DA’s, defenders, and court systems;
• an American Bar Foundation report looks state by state at access-to-justice frameworks;
• proposed DOJ antitrust field office closures cause a stir;
• a recap: the Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair;
• bad legal services funding news from the Treasure State;
• legal services volunteer programs for retiring Baby Boomer lawyers;
• ACLU of Montana takes to task the state’s indigent defense program;
• Michigan’s indigent defense program is under the microscope, too;
• the NLG lawyers looking out for the Occupy Wall Street…occupiers;
• ACLU of Pennsylvania takes to task Allegheny County’s (Pittsburgh) indigent defense program;
• a pro-se assistance center in Maryland goes statewide with a hotline;
• a novel, international-sustainable-development clinical program at Penn St.-Dickinson Law;
• progress in launching a new legal services program in Wyoming;
• the Shriver Center absorbs the Center for Legal Aid Education (CLEA). 

This week(s):

• 10.28.11 – the ABA’s Celebrate Pro Bono Week is coming to a close tomorrow.  We at PSLawNet were deluged with news stories about lawyers and law students throughout the country participating in clinics and other client outreach efforts.  Kudos to the thousands who’ve gotten involved.  We couldn’t begin to recap all the news we read, but here’s a link to the official Celebrate Pro Bono site.  Also, I was fortunate to participate in the ABA’s Pro Bono Summit, which convened here in DC on Monday and Tuesday.  119 very smart people exchanged thoughtful ideas (I was attendee number 120, and I held up my end with un-thoughtful ideas) about where pro bono fits into the larger access-to-justice scheme during hard economic times. I’m looking forward to seeing what the ABA produces as a result of the work done at the Summit.  Here are remarks delivered at the Summit by Attorney General Eric Holder, and here’s NLJ coverage of ABA President Bill Robinson’s Summit remarks.

• 10.26.11 – a well-reported AP piece looks at the toll taken by cuts to prosecutor, public defender, and court-system budgets throughout the country.  “Prosecutors are forced to ignore misdemeanor violations to pursue more serious crimes. Judges are delaying trials to cope with layoffs and strained staffing levels. And in some cases, those charged with violent crimes, even murder, are set free because caseloads are too heavy to ensure they receive a speedy trial.  Deep budget cuts to courts, public defenders, district attorney’s and attorney general offices are testing the criminal justice system across the country. In the most extreme cases, public defenders are questioning whether their clients are getting a fair shake.”  The piece looks specifically at goings-on in AL, CA, IA, NY, and elsewhere.  (The postal abbreviations may pose a challenge for our Millenial Generation readers who have never mailed a letter.  JKLOL!!)

• 10.25.11 – I just got word of an American Bar Foundation report, Access Across America, which reviews the access-to-justice infrastructure in each state and Puerto Rico.  Here’s a link to a summary on ABF’s website, here’s a link to the report, and here’s some language from the report’s executive summary: “Access Across America is the first-ever state-by-state portrait of the services available to assist the U.S. public in accessing civil justice. The report documents, for the nation as a whole and individually for the 50 states and the District of Columbia:
• Who is eligible for free civil legal information, advice or representation (civil legal assistance services);
• How civil legal assistance services are produced and delivered;
• How eligible people may connect with services;
• How civil legal assistance is funded;
• How civil legal assistance is coordinated
• How both no-fee and fee-generating limited-scope civil legal services are regulated.”

• 10.24.11 –some DOJ antitrust attorneys don’t trust DOJ’s decision to close four field offices.  From Government Executive: “Three weeks after the Justice Department proposed closing four of its antitrust division field offices, affected employees are calling for congressional hearings on the matter.  The closings, along with the department’s other budget-trimming proposals, are contingent on Congress, which must approve or fail to respond in order for the plans to move forward, according to attorneys who would be affected by the shuttering of the field offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland and Philadelphia.”  Incidentally, if you’re a law student or law school career counselor wishing to keep up with similar developments in federal government, I recommend joining Government Executive’s email distribution list.

• 10.24.11 – the Blog of the Legal Times covered last week’s Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair: “Resumes in hand, more than 1,300 law students from across the United States attended this year’s Equal Justice Works annual conference, and more than 1,100 met with employers at the conference’s career fair. [It] brought in 117 employers from 27 states to meet with students on Friday and Saturday. Law students waiting on line for a chance to speak with employers all said they held no illusions about their job prospects right now. Although some students were lucky enough to get formal interviews, many more were taking their chances at the informal ‘Table Talk’ sessions, where students waited on line to get a few minutes alone with employers.”  I feel for public interest law students these days.  It’s perhaps trite advice, but persistence and fortitude in carrying forward with the job search are essential.  (This is true even in better economic times, because there are always more grads interested in public interest than there are job openings.)  Keep using PSLawNet, including the cover letter, resume, and interview tips on our Job Search Fundamentals page.  And email us at pslawnet@nalp.org if you’d have ideas about how we can help more. 

• 10.24.11 – rotten legal services funding news from the Treasure State.  The Missoulian reports: “Poor people seeking divorces in Missoula County will no longer be able to get free legal advice. Likewise for low-income renters who get crosswise with their landlords. The Montana Legal Services Association has laid off attorneys, paralegals and support staff statewide as part of an anticipated $500,000 budget cut in 2012. That’s 15 percent of its total budget.   ‘We are cutting into bone at this point,’ said Alison Paul, executive director of the agency that provides legal assistance in civil cases to low-income people.” 
   
• 10.24.11 – The civil legal services community cannot keep up with swelling demand for services.  Meanwhile, the Baby Boomer exodus from law practice has begun, as the oldest Boomers are at retirement age.  This being the case, what about providing public interest volunteer opportunities to  those lawyers who wish to leave fee-generating practice but also want to remain in practice?  The National Law Journal looks at D.C.’s Senior Attorneys Initiative for Legal Services (SAILS), a program which matches attorneys in or near retirement with pro bono cases (password-protected). SAILS isn’t the only program harnessing the experience and expertise of the profession’s elder statespeople.  In New York State, the Attorney Emeritus Program does something similar.  On the national level, the Pro Bono Institute’s Second Acts project facilitates the movement of retiring attorneys into volunteer work.

• 10.21.11 – more bad Montana news.  The Billings Gazette covers an ACLU report critical of the state’s public defense system:  “The…five-year-old…system is still plagued by mismanagement, with overworked and undertrained attorneys sometimes failing to provide the most basic help to their indigent clients, a new report by the ACLU of Montana says. The report, released this week by the rights organization whose lawsuit led to creation of the new system, said the system has ‘greatly improved’ public defense in some areas of the state. But overall, the system ‘continues to fall short of achieving its full potential’ because of ongoing management problems….”  The Gazette has an accompanying article about poor public defender pay compared to other state lawyers.

• 10.21.11 – Michigan’s embattled public defense system is going under the microscope.  From Interlochen Public Radio (great name!): “A state commission began work this week to ensure that everyone who is accused of a crime in Michigan gets an adequate legal defense. Michigan allows every county to handle its own public defender system. The system is frequently cited as one of the worst in the country. That’s because some counties do a good job of ensuring even people who cannot pay get a good lawyer. Other counties are more haphazard. There are also no training standards for public defenders.”  Here’s additional coverage from the Battle Creek Enquirer.

• 10.18.11 – The American Lawyer looks in on the “about 200 National Lawyers Guild members volunteering as legal observers on the scene at Occupy Wall Street.”

• 10.18.11 –  the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on criticism of the local public defense program: “Poor management and lack of training for new lawyers in the Allegheny County [where Pittsburgh sits] public defender’s office are violating the constitutional rights of those accused of crimes and costing the county millions of dollars in extra jail costs, an ACLU report has concluded…. The ACLU report, entitled ‘A Job Left Undone,’ relies heavily on the research done in a 2008 study for the county by a team led by investigator Alan Kalmanoff of the California-based Institute for Law and Policy Planning, a nonprofit policy and research organization.”  Here’s a link to “A Job Left Undone.”

• 10.17.11 – The Baltimore Sun reports that a pro-se assistance center in one Maryland county has opened a phone line that will allow its lawyers to connect with Marylanders statewide: “The center has helped more than 10,000 people since it opened. However, a lack of space and tight budgets made adding walk-in centers in other District Courts out of the question.  But those in need of advice can now chat online with the center’s four lawyers. Users can remain anonymous and there are no income restrictions….In its first month of hosting live chats, 850 people have used the service. In comparison, the self-help center assisted a record 626 people in August. Officials said chats have been initiated by people in every county except Kent and Somerset.”
   
• 10.17.11 – the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on a new Penn State Dickinson School of Law sustainable development operating in cahoots with engineering and business students:  “Designed as an interdisciplinary collaboration between Penn State’s law school, its College of Engineering and Smeal College of Business, the clinic promises experiential learning through work with real humanitarian projects as part of a team for law students seeking international experience, said Jeff Erickson, professor at Penn State and the clinic’s director…. Mr. Erickson said that, to his knowledge, no other schools are using interdisciplinary project teams to launch international humanitarian efforts in the same manner. What makes the Penn State clinic the first of its kind is the clinic’s humanitarian mission — that its projects are internationally and not locally focused — and that students will design and develop projects themselves.” 

• 10.16.11 – an Asbury Park Press editorial bemoans sharp state funding cuts to legal services in New Jersey: “Under [Governor Chris] Christie, state funding for Legal Aid has dropped from $29.6 million in 2010 to $19.9 million in 2011 to $14.9 million in 2012. That is unconscionable. Decency and fairness demand a restoration of most of those funds and the institution of a formalized program in which lawyers volunteer hours of service to Legal Aid or make a donation….  By next June, there will be only half as many staff attorneys as there were in 2008 to give free help to qualifying low-income New Jerseyans with civil cases.”

• 10.15.11 – K2 Radio reports on the development of Wyoming’s new legal services program: “Officials say the new Wyoming Center For Legal Aid should be up and running in a year or two.  The program was established a year ago after the Wyoming legislature passed the Indigent Civil Legal Services Act during the 2010 budget session.   The center’s goal is to provide legal services for Wyoming residents who fall below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. The center was officially established in April, and the Wyoming Center For Legal Aid Board of Commissioners recently hired a new law school graduate as its first employee.” 

• 10.14.11 – from the Chicago Tribune, news of a merger in the legal services community: “Legal-aid charities have felt the impact of the economic downturn with declining funding and increasing demand. After revenues fell by 50 percent, the Boston-based Center for Legal Aid Education began considering a merger as a way to cut costs, reduce duplication of services and expand its reach. Its search has culminated in an acquisition by the larger Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, based in Chicago…. One of the gaps in [the Shriver Center’s] offerings was providing training to public-interest lawyers who want to work on complex litigation… The Center for Legal Education has been providing legal training in the New England region for years. When the economy crashed in 2009, the center lost about half of its revenues because many clients that provide legal services lost some of their funding.”  So this makes sense on both ends.  And the piece raises the question of whether more legal services mergers may/should follow.

The Legal Department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (“AFL-CIO”) is offering a one-year fellowship beginning in September 2012. The fellowship offers an excellent opportunity for recent law school graduates to work with experienced union-side lawyers on a wide variety of issues.

The AFL-CIO is a voluntary federation of 55 national and international unions which represent 12.2 million working women and men in the United States. The AFL-CIO works on a variety of fronts to improve the lives of working families, to secure social and economic justice in the United States, and to protect the interests of working people in the global economy.

The Legal Department works on a wide range of litigation, policy, regulatory and legislative matters, and assists with organizing campaigns, corporate governance issues, and other AFL-CIO initiatives. The Legal Department also administers the Lawyers Coordinating Committee, a national organization of union-side attorneys, which issues various publications and holds educational conferences on a regular basis.

The AFL-CIO Fellow will work with lawyers in the AFL-CIO Legal Department and with other union lawyers around the country on a wide range of activities. The Fellow will assist experienced lawyers working on cases and regulatory matters that affect the labor movement and the rights of workers.

The AFL-CIO’s litigation caseload includes cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the NLRB and a small number of state appellate suits. In addition, the AFL-CIO Legal Department frequently presents the views of the labor movement on federal regulatory initiatives affecting workers. The AFL-CIO Fellow will also participate in Lawyers Coordinating Committee activities, including preparation for attorney conferences, outreach to new labor lawyers and law students, and regular opportunities to attend LCC meetings and conferences.

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

By: Steve Grumm

The Blog of the Legal Times was on hand at last week’s event:

“Resumes in hand, more than 1,300 law students from across the United States attended this year’s Equal Justice Works annual conference, and more than 1,100 met with employers at the conference’s career fair. [It] brought in 117 employers from 27 states to meet with students on Friday and Saturday. Law students waiting on line for a chance to speak with employers all said they held no illusions about their job prospects right now. Although some students were lucky enough to get formal interviews, many more were taking their chances at the informal “Table Talk” sessions, where students waited on line to get a few minutes alone with employers.”

Let’s not mince words: the public interest job market is tight, and times are tough for law students.  It’s perhaps trite to offer this advice, but persistence and fortitude in carrying on the job search are essential.  (This is true even in better economic times, because there are always more grads interested in public interest than there are job openings.)  Keep using PSLawNet, including the cover letter, resume, and interview tips on our Job Search Fundamentals page.  And while I know this piece of advice can seem trite, there is simply no better job search tool than professional networking.  Every good job I’ve gotten has come, to some degree or other, as a result of deliberate efforts I made to get to know public interest lawyers/law students/etc.  Here’s guidance on networking from Harvard’s Office of Public Interest Advising.  Finally, email us at pslawnet@nalp.org if you have ideas about how we can help more.

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, founded in 1976, is firmly established as an international and national leader in legal education. Within the school, the Office of Career Services (OCS) is dedicated to helping law students and alumni develop their individual interests, explore the range of career options and access opportunities that will further their professional goals.  

The OCS is currently seeking an Assistant Dean. The Assistant Dean will be responsible for long term strategic planning, monitoring and anticipating employment trends, assessing needs of students and alumni, setting goals for OCS, and devising innovative programming to maximize success of students and alumni.

The Assistant Dean will conduct outreach to potential employers, engage professional organizations, and work with alumni groups. Furthermore, the Assistant Dean will work closely with JD and LLM students along with other departments and student groups to purport job search strategies and career development.

Not sure what your days may look like as Assistant Dean of Cardozo Law’s career services office? Check out A Day in the Life of a Law School Career Counselor!

Interested? See the listing at PSLawnet!

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), New England’s lgbt and HIV public interest legal organization, is looking for a full-time Attorney for its work in the six New England states.

GLAD is particularly interested in expanding its ability to address the needs of lgbtq youth in a variety of settings. Therefore, along with litigation, this attorney will be also be responsible for community, coalition, policy, education and legislative work devoted to lgbtq youth.

If you have litigation and legal research and writing experience along with a commitment to working with and on behalf of lgbtq youth, and knowledge of issues that particularly affect lgbtq youth of color, APPLY!

To read more about this position or to apply, see the listing at PSLawNet!

The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) has an immediate opening at its headquarters in Washington, DC for an immigration attorney to provide legal services to Roman Catholic Dioceses and religious institutes bringing foreign-born religious workers to the United States. 

Applicants must be admitted to the bar and licensed to practice law and will be responsible for carrying a substantial caseload. The attorney must have immigration law experience and a strong commitment to public interest law. Experience in religious immigration work and fluency in a foreign language are helpful.

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

By: Steve Grumm

It makes perfect sense.  The civil legal services community can not keep up with swelling demand for services.  Meanwhile, the Baby Boomer exodus from the practice of law has begun, as the oldest Boomers are at retirement age.  This being the case, what about providing opportunities to represent the poor for those lawyers who wish to leave fee-generating practice but also want to remain in practice?

The National Law Journal looks at D.C.’s Senior Attorneys Initiative for Legal Services (SAILS), a program which matches attorneys in or near retirement with pro bono cases (password-protected).

Last October, the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program created a program to better engage firms with pro bono work called SAILS — Senior Attorneys Initiative for Legal Services. The program included 11 founding D.C.-based law offices.

“The point of SAILS was to institutionalize pro bono work among partner and senior lawyers,” said Marc Fleischaker, Arent Fox partner and chair of the SAILS working group.

Maureen Syracuse, outgoing executive director of the D.C. Bar’s Pro Bono Program, also is working to have senior attorneys spend their last several years as devoted to pro bono work as possible. “We are trying to tap all the resources of the firms,” Syracuse said. Funding for legal service providers has always been scant, and the prolonged harsh economic times have compounded the issue. It has also made some lawyers more leery of hanging up their hat, even as more approach retirement age.

But she argues that, in their last years at their firms, some senior attorneys have an increasing desire to give back. “These are the people that went to law school to change the world,” Syracuse said. “When they hit the last stage of their career, there will be a sizable number that want to do something more. We think we will find a number of lawyers with that mindset.”

SAILS isn’t the only program harnessing the experience and expertise of the gray-hairs profession’s elder statespeople.  In New York State, the Attorney Emeritus Program does something similar.  On the national level, the Pro Bono Institute’s Second Acts project facilitates the movement of retiring attorneys into volunteer work.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in DC is looking for two bright and creative attorneys with organizing skills to serve as an Associate Counsels for the Voting Rights Project.

The attorneys will work with the Voting Rights and Legal Mobilization Projects in implementing the Election Protection Program – the nation’s largest, non-partisan voter protection program which works year round to address barriers to the ballot box for traditionally disenfranchised voters. The ideal candidates must be able to balance traditional legal with some organizing responsibilities.
Ideal candidates will be licensed attorneys in their first 4 years of practice. The positions requires candidates who can work well under the pressure of a campaign-type environment, handle significant responsibility and make thoughtful decisions in short time periods. Candidates will become proficient in identifying and addressing obstacles to the ballot box and work with pro bono legal networks in to identify legal issues and develop and implement solutions. Additionally the positions will assist in legislative advocacy efforts on the state and federal level.

Fluency in Spanish is a plus and extensive travel will be required. The positions are temporary and will last from January 2012 to December 2012 with a possibility of continued employment based on performance and available funding.

I WANT YOU...to look at the sleek new website I put on the Internets.

By: Steve Grumm

FYI, the newest version of the USAJobs website is now up and running.  We haven’t poked around on it yet.  In concept the redesign seemed promising.  The Government Executive news site reports as follows:

According to the Office of Personnel Management, the new USAJobs was designed to make the employment search process easier for potential hires and federal recruiters alike. One official even compared the revised system to Amazon and other major retail sites that allow users to “window shop” and find the products they are seeking with ease.

But as with any overhaul, glitches and confusion are bound to occur. We’ve had a hard time connecting to the site, and the USAJobs Facebook page has been flooded with complaints that the system isn’t functional or user-friendly.

It’s not surprising that there might be a glitch or two, but let’s hope all of that gets taken care of soon.  Good luck, federal job seekers!  (And don’t forget to take advantage of our free 2011-12 Federal Legal Employment Opportunities Guide.)

By: Steve Grumm

Every summer we update the postgraduate fellowship listings in PSLawNet.  There are hundreds in there now, many of them for fellowships beginning in 2012.  We encourage you to log in to PSLawNet and search.

Also, though, we pull as many application deadlines from those listings as we can.  We put them together in this application deadline calendar, which is a handy tool for law students/grads who are applying for many fellowships.

Good luck!