The County Prosecutors Association is offering four scholarships to law school students who want careers as prosecutors and police officers hoping to attend college to advance their law enforcement careers.  Three of the scholarships are for applicants who are accepted to law school.

The scholarships, each amounting to a one-year grant of $2,500, will be paid directly to recipients who will be selected by the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey Scholarship Foundation’s board of trustees, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.

To be eligible for the Oscar W. Rittenhouse Memorial Scholarship, an applicant must be accepted for admission to a law school and must have an interest in becoming a prosecutor.

The Harris Y. Cotton Memorial Scholarship is also for applicants accepted for admission to law school who want to be prosecutors with an emphasis on domestic violence or hate crime prosecutions.

Applicants for the Andrew K. Ruotolo Jr. Memorial Scholarship must be accepted to law school or graduate school and exhibit an interest, and commitment to, enhancing the rights and well-being of children through child advocacy programs.

Prairie State Legal Services (PSLS), a 65-lawyer legal services organization, serving 36 counties in northern and central Illinois outside of Cook County, is seeking applicants to direct its Low-Income Tax Clinic.  The Clinic provides free legal advice and representation in tax controversies to low-income individuals.  The Clinic serves all 36 counties in PSLS’ service area.  The Clinic Director would be responsible for all Clinic activities, including client representation, supervision of interns and volunteers, community outreach, staff training, and grant reporting and preparation.  Prefer candidates with a tax or legal aid background.

Tax issues are of crucial importance to many low-income individuals – and to low-wage workers, single parents, and immigrants in particular.  Critical issues our clients face include denial of anti-poverty credits (such as the Earned Income Tax Credit), wage and benefit garnishments, tax problems stemming from identity theft, tax problems related to domestic abuse, worker misclassification, and deceptive tax schemes.  The Clinic assists clients through litigation (primarily in the United States Tax Court), administrative and agency advocacy, and, where appropriate and permitted, systemic advocacy outside the legal process.

PSLS has 12 offices across its service area, and will consider placing the director in the location which best meets the needs of the program and the interests of the director.  For further information about PSLS and its office locations, see www.pslegal.org

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

Are you a lawyer interested in dealing with emerging legal issues related to law, journalism, and new media on the Internet? Would you like to help online journalism and new media ventures meet their legal needs? Do you want a stimulating yet laid back work environment?

The Citizen Media Law Project (soon to be renamed the Digital Media LawProject) at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society is looking to hire an Employee Fellow / Staff Attorney commencing in June 2011 to assist with the project’s work.  Candidates should be energetic and passionate about working on journalism, online speech, intellectual property, and cyberlaw issues. The offices are located at the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School, so the Employee Fellow / Staff Attorneymust be willing to work in Cambridge, MA.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

The Louisiana Public Defender Board is hiring a Deputy Public Defender – Director of Juvenile Defender Services.  This is a full-time, executive-level staff position with the State of Louisiana. Responsibilities include:

• Work with representatives of all three branches of state government and other criminal justice stakeholders, including judges, district attorneys, sheriffs, probation officers, and law enforcement officials to promote sound juvenile justice policies in relation to fair adjudication processes, and placement and treatment of juveniles charged in delinquency proceedings that focus on rehabilitation of the offender.
• Promote positive changes (state-wide) in educational opportunities, mental health services and other treatment services for juveniles in the court system.
• Conduct a community outreach/education campaign for all stakeholders (including the client community) to raise public appreciation of the cognitive, emotional, decision-making, and/or behavioral capacities of children and young adults and, as such, raise public support for programs/resources that give special attention to the uniform and competent representation of juveniles.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

The National Consumer Law Center is seeking an attorney to specialize in consumer issues affecting low-income Americans. As a member of NCLC’s advocacy staff, the attorney will develop and implement strategies that help combat exploitive practices in the marketplace. The attorney will concentrate primarily on policy and systemic advocacy, research and writing, training, and special reports and projects, including work on the Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project for at least the first one to two years. The position is located in NCLC’s main office in Boston. Some travel is required.

Founded in 1969, NCLC is a non-profit advocacy organization that challenges predatory and destructive business practices that drain income and wealth from low-income families and their communities.  NCLC is the leading source of legal and public policy expertise on consumer issues for lawyers, federal and state policymakers, consumer advocates, journalists, and social services providers.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

This week’s Bulletin, cats and kittens, is shorter than normal.  But it’s packed with legal services funding news, including: how LSC $ cuts will affect New York programs; Equal Justice Works’s CEO David Stern talks public interest careers; a look at the fiscal challenges confronting Western Massachusetts Legal Services; coverage of the FY2011 federal budget agreement which pared down LSC funding by about 4%; a law school/legal services partnership provides pro bono services to those who serve in uniform; Wisconsin may cut all state funding for civil legal services. 

• 4.14.11 – a New York Law Journal piece looks at the impact the Legal Services Corporation funding cuts will have on Empire State legal services providers.  (Note: the LSC funding cuts are covered in item 4 below.)  From the NYLJ: “Even though a $15.8 million funding cut for the Legal Services Corp. included in a federal budget agreement is smaller than legal aid advocates had feared, the reduced funds will be acutely felt by New York groups already struggling with state funding cuts…. New York City-based Legal Services NYC will suffer the biggest cut in LSC funding, losing $701,411. That will probably mean having to let go of six or seven lawyers or paralegals, according to Raun J. Rasmussen, the chief of litigation and advocacy for the 220-lawyer group.”  The piece goes on to detail how cuts will affect other LSC grantees in New York.

• 4.12.11 – our friend David Stern of Equal Justice Works is profiled in the Washingtonian’s “Capitol Comment” blog.  David explains how his career path took him to Equal Justice Works’s helm, and offers a criticism of legal education’s emphasis on cold, analytical thinking: “Unfortunately, yes, law school strips [the desire to practice in public interest] away in many respects. It tries to teach lawyers to think in sterile, analytical ways without a lot of heart. There’s also a lot of competition in law schools for those coveted six-figure-salary jobs, and so people are malleable, they’re generally young, and all of these activities—the sterile thinking, the going after the coveted job, the very large educational debt—often strips away those public-service aspirations. Our job is to keep those embers burning.”  Bonus trivia: quite aside from being one of the nation’s most vocal advocates for the value of public interest work, David’s a pretty solid softball player.  Good glove, surprising power, and he can pitch.

• 4.12.11 – the Business Journal of Western Massachusetts looks at the fiscal challenges confronting Western Massachusetts Legal Services – “its current budget of $2.5 million is roughly half of what it was just a few years ago” – and the organization’s recent fundraising efforts.

• 4.12.11 – the Blog of the Legal Times reports on the federal budget compromise’s impact on Legal Services Corporation funding (which we also blogged about earlier this week).  From the BLT: “The bipartisan deal on the federal budget includes a $15.8 million midyear cut for the Legal Services Corp., according to new details released on Tuesday. The cut is smaller than the $70 million that House Republicans proposed to take in February from the Legal Services Corp., which is the nation’s largest funding source for civil legal aid to the poor. Still, program officials had hoped to avoid any cut because demand for legal aid has increased during the economic downturn. Legal Services Corp. received $420 million from Congress last year, so the cut represents a 3.8% reduction in its full-year budget. But because the federal government’s fiscal year began Oct. 1, officials will need to find the money with more than half the year already passed.”  Also, here’s LSC’s press release about the funding cut.

• 4.11.11 – the Jacksonville Daily Record looks at a terrific pro bono project that serves Army reservists with legal needs.  In particular, volunteer law students and attorney help reservists, who can be called up to active duty on very short notice, with “the creation of advance directive documents: Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Surrogate Designation, Designation of Preneed Guardian, a Living Will and a Simple Will.”  The model for this program, set up by Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and Florida Coastal School of Law, is simple and easily replicable.  The “legal teams” consisted of a volunteer attorney and a law student, and they worked off of laptops that had the necessary form templates loaded on to them.

• 4.11.11 – a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog notes that Wisconsin legal services providers face sharp cuts in state funding: “Among the big losers in Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget are groups who provide legal services to the indigent in civil cases — all $2.6 million that used to help finance such representation would be cut.”

The Equal Rights Center seeks a Manager for its Immigrant Rights Program to lead all aspects of the Program’s activities.

The Equal Rights Center (ERC) is a national non-profit civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C. With members located in 42 states and the District of Columbia, the ERC works nationally to promote equal opportunity in housing, employment, disability rights, immigrant rights, and access to public accommodations and government services.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of B.S. or B.A. in a related field (included liberal arts, social science, law, psychology, or urban studies) is preferred, a J.D. a plus.
• Minimum of three years experience with issues affecting the immigrant community is required.
• Excellent verbal, written communication, analytical, and presentation skills.
• Bi-lingual (fluent) in English and Spanish, strongly preferred, fluency in another language considered.
• Familiarity with relevant civil rights laws, test coordination, investigation methodologies, and primary and secondary research sources.
• Attention to detail, imagination, organization, reason, timeliness, dynamism and empathy. It is essential the manager be a solid decision-maker who is also a team player.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law’s public service community has reached new heights, and it is very excited to have the opportunity to expand our staff to meet the needs of our students and alumni who pursue public service opportunities.

The Assistant Director will:

• Counsel JD and LLM students and alumni on public service job search strategies and career development
• Conduct workshops and individual sessions on resume writing, interviewing and networking, etc.
• Organize and present panel discussions and informational programs on public service topics;
• Assist in the administration of various programs including the Summer Funding Programs, Post-Graduate Public Service Fellowship Program, Loan Repayment Assistance Program, and Post-Graduate Judicial Clerkship Program;
• Assist in developing and managing pro bono and community service projects for students; and conducting outreach to public service employers.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

Americans United for Separation of Church and State seeks an Assistant Legislative Director. This is a management-level position in the organization. The Assistant Director will aid the Legislative Director in planning and implementing Americans United’s entire legislative program; and will represent the organization on Capitol Hill, in coalitions, and in external speaking engagements.

Who’s eligible? Here is what is sought: 5+ years legislative experience, ideally involving church-state separation or other civil rights issues. J.D. preferred but not required. Experience working with coalitions and elected officials necessary.

To view the full job listing, go to PSLawNet (login required).

The good folks at the National Legal Aid & Defender Association put out a short piece this morning explaining how LSC’s FY2011 funding was affected by the shutdown-averting agreement on the Hill last week.  All in all, it could have been a lot worse for LSC; they’ll see a cut of less than 4% between FY2010 and FY2011 funding levels.  From NLADA:

The House and Senate leadership have agreed on an overall spending package for FY 2011 that includes cuts in LSC basic field funding of $15 million plus an additional recision of .2%, bringing the total cut to basic field funding to $15.81 million.  The final FY 2011 overall appropriation for LSC is $404.19 million.  The final appropriation for basic field programs is $378.19 million.  This amounts to a basic field cut of 3.77% for FY 2011.H.R. 1473, the FY 2011 appropriations bill, was released late last night.  The measure contains $38 billion of spending cuts, more than half of which hit programs in education, labor and health.  The LSC cut is significantly less than other cuts in the Justice Department and other functions within LSC appropriations subcommittee. 

The bill is expected to be taken up in both the House and Senate by the end of this week.  The current Continuing Resolution expires Friday, April 15.

LSC also issued a press release today, including a quote from its board chair:

“Every dollar provided for civil legal assistance helps low-income individuals gain access to our justice system. We are grateful that funding cuts will not be as deep as initially proposed, and we look forward to working with the Congress on Fiscal Year 2012 funding to provide even greater access to justice for the growing number of low-income Americans in need of civil legal assistance,” LSC Board Chairman John G. Levi said.

Assuming that Congress finalizes this compromise and avoids a (ridiculously unneccessary and useless-for-spending-reduction-purposes, but we digress) shutdown, the real battle for LSC will begin when lawmakers get to the FY2012 budget.  A House appropriations subcommittee held an LSC funding hearing last week; we aggregated some hearing coverage in item 3 of last week’s Public Interest Law News Bulletin.