The Detroit Free Press ran a very nice profile last week of Aisa Villarosa, a 3L at Wayne State University Law School, who’s lined up a Skadden Fellowship to work on juvenile justice issues in Detroit.

Villarosa has been a true force for change during her time at Wayne State, balancing her studies, student government, and law review with very successful initiatives to mobilize fellow students on public interest projects…not to mention her own public interest work in the Lincoln Hall of Juvenile Justice.

 Over the past three years, she has cofounded an organization that has cleaned up a neighborhood, bought Christmas presents for the needy and raised money to support human rights. She is helping teach youngsters to read and is collecting donations for Special Olympics by promising to jump into the frigid Detroit River.

…

She doesn’t want a six-figure job at a big law firm. She wants to stay…at the epicenter of the juvenile justice system in Detroit. Those dreams became possible after she won the Skadden Public Interest Fellowship. It will pay for Villarosa’s salary and benefits so she can focus on delinquency proceedings while trying to develop mentoring programs to stop repeat offenders.

Good stuff.  And as we noted in a prior blog post, we’re really happy to see that Skadden Fellowships are being awarded to students from a broader scope of law schools in the recent past.

[As for the fellowship class of 2011,] 29 fellowships were awarded to students hailing from 21 schools…

For a little bit of context, the Class of 2010 (last year’s class) consisted of 27 fellows from 20 law schools.  The 2009 class consisted of 28 fellows from 14 schools.  And 36 fellows from 16 schools comprised the Class of 2008.  We don’t have time to look back further…but based upon the past 4 years we’re seeing more diversity and breadth with respect to the schools from which fellows graduate. 

Just a quick follow-up on our post last week about threats to LSC funding on the Hill.  LSC released a statement on Saturday, which reads in part:

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a $70 million cut in Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funding from the current level, reducing grants to 136 local legal aid nonprofit programs by an average of 18 percent.The proposed $70 million cut is from the Fiscal Year 2010 funding of $394.4 million provided to LSC programs. An effort to eliminate all funding for LSC programs was defeated on a bipartisan vote, 259 to 171, on February 16.

Under the House proposal, about 160,000 fewer low-income people would receive civil legal assistance and 80,000 fewer cases would be handled by the LSC-funded programs. The proposed funding cut would force layoffs of about 370 staff attorneys and shut down some offices in rural areas.

This cut is a part of a continuing resolution to fund federal programs through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011.  So a battle about FY 2012 is still to come, but it suggests that LSC’s opponents will be active in pushing for funding cuts.  In light of the fact that LSC has long had enemies – and, we should note, many friends – on Capitol Hill, it’s noteworthy that conservative budget hawks are not just targeting programs to which they are ideologically opposed.  Here’s a good Washington Post article highlighting the fact that even programs which traditionally received conservative support find themselves threatened as some on the Hill are determined to cut spending at all costs.  All of this suggests that stakeholders in the equal justice community must take an all-hands-on-deck approach in supporting legal services funding in the coming weeks.

We return after a week’s absence with a robust edition of the News Bulletin.  Below, please read our coverage of:

• Layoffs at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund (AppalReD);
• Legal services funding crisis in Texas – and proposed solutions;
• in Georgia, even a small cut to DV legal services funding will have a big impact;
• Maine indigent defense program still struggling with funding;
• Ditto, and it’s even worse, in Missouri;
• A profile of L.A. County’s public defender;
• Right to counsel in New York foreclosure proceedings;
• How an LSC funding slash could impact Florida’s legal services community;
• DOJ’s budget proposal calls for a modest increase in attorney positions, sheds light on agency priorities;
• Lots of coverage of FY 2012 LSC funding proposals;
• A 1,000-lawyer public defense agency in Massachusetts?;
• President Ronald Reagan’s legacy in spurring the growth of conservative public interest organizations;
• Cuts in Florida court funding will strain defenders and prosecutors;
• New academic work on exonerations via DNA evidence;
• Some props for the Tennessee Justice Center;
• Lawyers ensuring Florida farmworkers are paid for their labor;
• In Arizona, the Justice Bus rides again!;
• A political fight in Chicago (surprise!) – dispute about 10% cuts to the state’s attorney’s and defender’s budgets;
• Continued wrangling about the administration of Georgia’s indigent defense program;
• A solution to lowering criminal justice costs in Seattle: fewer capital-case prosecutions;
• Rhode Island U.S. Attorney not invited to party as DEA, state trooper make big drug bust;
• The importance of pro bono in Eastern Pennsylvania;
• Tennessee’s “attorney emeritus” pro bono program has launched.

 *******

• 2.17.11 – as a follow-up to previous coverage of financial troubles at the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund (AppalReD) – an LSC-funded legal services provider in Eastern Kentucky – a piece in the Richmond Register provides some detail about layoffs: “Layoffs are expected in Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky (AppalRed) offices around the state. A total of nine employees will be cut, according to a press release from Interim Executive Director Jonathan Picklesimer.”

• 2.16.11 – The Dallas Morning News reports on the efforts of stakeholders in Texas’s legal services community to counter an extraordinary decline in IOLTA revenue – nearly 75% since 2007.  “Representatives from the state Supreme Court, the Texas Access to Justice Commission and Foundation, and legal aid services said that low interest rates, an economic downturn and an increase in the need for legal aid services have created a crisis.”  As a result, they are advocating for state legislators to create new court filing fees that would generate funding to serve low-income Texans with legal needs.  Here are some specifics on the legal services funding crisis and proposed legislative solutions, from a joint Texas Access to Justice Commission/Foundation press release.  Finding creative solutions makes sense in light of the fact that the state appropriations picture doesn’t look pretty for legal services: the Houston Chronicle reports that a current proposal contemplates a cut of $23 million in legal services funding.

• 2.16.11 – in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Legal Services Program’s Vicky O. Kimbrell writes that the small amount which may be cut from the state judiciary’s fund for domestic violence legal services could have large impact.  “In this weary season of budget slashing, the latest of many, the Georgia Legislature is considering a cut — about $80,000 — to funding for free legal representation of folks, women and children mostly, who are victims of domestic violence … Amid the millions of dollars of cuts, this may seem like small potatoes. In theory, yes.”  But in fact, the proposed cut represents “enough to fund representation of 64 clients in domestic violence cases.”

• 2.16.11 – Maine’s Kennebec Journal provides the latest on funding challenges confronting the Pine Tree State’s indigent defense administration: “Leaders of the new state commission that oversees legal defense for the poor say a recent budget compromise should enable them to keep paying court-appointed lawyers into early June, the last month of the fiscal year.  However, the added $200,000 for the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services’ budget is only enough to keep the commission running, they say. It does not address long-term financial concerns and an ongoing $600,000 budget shortfall that was inherited from the prior administration.”  The article goes on to provide background on the Commission’s formation and the rocky financial road it has driven since.

• 2.16.11 – the long-simmering controversy about an overworked, under-funded indigent program in Missouri is coming to head.  As reported in the Springfield News-Leader, the state’s high court is expected to decide soon on the question of whether public defenders’ offices may essentially shut down when caseload limits become too high.  In the meantime, the Supreme Court had appointed retired Missouri judge Miles Sweeney as a special master.  The court asked Sweeney to look into the controversy.  (A scanned-in version of Sweeney’s report, filed with the Supreme Court on 2.9.11, is available on the KOMU TV station website.)  Judge Sweeney’s report was not expected to offer any silver bullets to the problem, but it did make some noteworthy suggestions, including reworking the state’s criminal code so that some crimes are treated as misdemeanors, which require fewer resources to prosecute and defend.  Sweeney also determined that  public defenders need more funding, as reported on the KSPR TV website.  It’s important to remember, too, amidst this more abstract debate about how to fund and administer an effective indigent defense system, that strains on the system can have profound effects on people’s lives.  One defendant sat in jail from July, 2010 until early this month, even though his plea deal would have put him in drug treatment (not jail), and only through January (as reported by the Belleville News-Democrat).   

• 2.16.11 – the L.A. Times runs an enjoyable, and inspiring, piece on Ron Brown, who grew up in an L.A. housing project and faced down personal and professional adversity while rising quickly through the ranks to become Los Angeles County’s public defender.  Brown appears to be naturally gifted as a litigator, but has also invested great amounts of time and energy in honing his lawyering and management skills.  The story serves as an ample lesson for law students that, at all stages of their lives, many successful lawyers work through unexpected challenges – from bumps in the road to more tragic events.

• 2.15.11 – Civil Gideon!  Kind of!  The New York Times reports on civil-right-to-counsel program being unveiled in New York State foreclosure proceedings: “New York court officials outlined procedures Tuesday aimed at assuring that all homeowners facing foreclosure were represented by a lawyer, a shift that could give tens of thousands of families a better chance at saving their homes.  Criminal defendants are guaranteed a lawyer, but New York will be the first state to try to extend that pledge to foreclosures, which are civil matters. There are about 80,000 active foreclosure cases in New York courts. In more than half of them, only the banks have lawyers.”  The program is going to launch in Queens and Orange Counties in the immediate future.  By the end of the year it should be rolled out throughout the state.

Read the rest of this entry »

[EDIT: we had some math wrong in our initial blog post, so we wish to clarify that the House Appropriations Committee had proposed a global budget cut of $75 billion, within which there was a proposed $75 million cut to the LSC.  Subsequent to that proposal, the Appropriations Committee raised its global budget cut to $100 billion, which risks raising the LSC cut even more.  (Depending on how you read the numbers, we understand that the new proposal may include an LSC budget cut that is slightly higher than $75 million.)  Sorry if our confusion caused any on your end.]

LSC took a blow last week.  First, the House Appropriations Committee proposed slashing $75 million from LSC’s budget in a larger $75 billion federal budget-cutting measure.   Then, as reported by the National Law Journal: (article may be password-protected)

The Legal Services Corp. has survived any number of near-death experiences in its 34-year history. But the agency that funds civil legal services for the poor may be facing its biggest challenge yet at the hands of congressional budget cutters.

On Feb. 9, the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee included a $75 million cut for the LSC in its plan for eliminating $74 billion from the federal budget. The next day, after demands for more cuts from Tea Party adherents, the committee upped its goal to $100 billion in cuts.

[Emphasis by PSLawNet Blog].  The $75 billion proposed cut would have been bad enough.  We wonder how much more may come out of LSC’s appropriation with the committee’s new proposal.    When the proposal was announced last week, LSC got quickly into gear spreading word about the damage it could do to legal services providers and the client communities they serve:

A congressional proposal to cut $75 million from the Legal Services Corporation’s (LSC) budget would decimate civil legal aid to low-income Americans at a time when it is most needed by the tens of millions suffering economic hardship.The proposed $75 million funding cut would represent a 17 percent reduction from the White House’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget request of $435 million for LSC and a 14 percent decline from LSC’s current funding level, $420 million.

And in a separate statement, LSC’s Board Chair and immediate past chair expressed what’s at stake in terms of a budget cut:

At a time when more Americans are eligible for civil legal assistance than ever before in the Corporation’s history, the House Appropriations Committee unfortunately has proposed an extraordinary and immediate cut of $75 million – or 17 percent – from the White House’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget request for LSC.

As Chairman and immediate past Chairman of the Board of an organization charged with being one of the keepers of the flame of equal justice in this country, it is our responsibility to let the country know when that flame is flickering far too low. We do not know how a budget cut of this magnitude allows us to keep faith with the founding values of our great country. Regardless of fiscal pressures, we must never lose sight of our primary responsibility – to support the values of our Constitution and to provide equal access to justice for all Americans.

LSC has its budget-battle work cut out for it.  According to the NLJ piece, the ABA is already coming to the aid of the equal justice community:

Stephen Zack, president of the American Bar Association, which is a longtime supporter of the LSC, said in a written statement, “Hard choices loom as to priorities for federal spending, but let’s be smart about where reductions are made.…Slashing funds that keep working class and poor people from falling into a legal and financial tailspin is not the right decision in this economy.”

If they go through, budget cuts are bound to hit LSC grantee organizations, which serve low-income individuals and families throughout the U.S., very hard.  And grantees are already struggling.  As the PSLawNet Blog noted a few days ago, more and more news is surfacing about staff layoffs and office closures:

• Rhode Island Legal Services was contemplating a layoff of 13 paralegals. (Providence Journal)
• New Mexico Legal Aid shut down a branch office. (El Defensor Chieftain)
• Officials in Arizona were scrambling to reverse an office closure at Southern Arizona Legal Aid. (Nogales International)

UPDATE: this is what happens when we queue up a blog post the night before to publish the next morning.  The Blog of the Legal Times reports on the Obama Administration’s budget proposal, formally released yesterday, which call for an increase in LSC’s budget, by $30 million.  If nothing else, this will buck up some support for LSC when budget negotiators on Capitol Hill get down to brass tacks.

Looking for a job or internship on this St. Valentine’s Day?  PSLawNet hearts jobs.  In the past week 70 job listings were posted on PSLawNet, including 35 postgraduate positions and 23 internships.  There are presently 1009 job listings in total on PSLawNet. 

Featured Opportunities:

Summer in Hotlanta!  The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Office of General Counsel is seeking two summer law interns.  From their listing: “The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) branch of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) welcomes applications for its summer law student internship program. Interns serve at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.  OGC is the legal team for HHS, providing representation and legal advice on a wide range of national issues. OGC supports the development and implementation of HHS’s programs by providing legal services to the Secretary of HHS and the organization’s various agencies and divisions. With a team of over 400 attorneys and a comprehensive support staff, OGC is one of the largest and most diverse law offices in the country. We strive to advance HHS’s goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves.”  Learn more about this position on PSLawNet.  (Application deadline: 3/1/11)

The Council on American-Islamic Relations’s (CAIR) Chicago office is seeking a Civil Rights Director: “This person will lead the Civil Rights Department which counsels, mediates and advocates on behalf of Muslims and others who have experienced religious discrimination, defamation, or hate crimes. The department works to protect and defend the constitutional rights of Muslims in the area, thereby supporting the rights of all Americans.”  Learn more about this position on PSLawNet.

In Texas, Lone Star Legal Aid is hiring a staff attorney: “The successful applicant must be able to gather evidence, conduct civil lawsuits, draft legal documents and advise client about their legal rights. This attorney must also be able to interview clients and witnesses as well as handle other details in preparation for client legal representation. LSLA attorneys represent clients in court and before quasi-judicial or administrative agencies of government. They interpret laws, ruling and regulations for clients and the client community. They are involved with outreach and community education and work with the community to further the missions of LSLA. The successful applicant may supervise and coordinate activities of subordinate legal, clerical, volunteer or student workers. The successful applicant will be expected to handle a service case load, major litigation, attend evening clinics and participate in community education.”  Learn more about this position on PSLawNet.

Featured Resource: Looking for a Summer Job Abroad?

One of our friends at NYU’s Public Interest Law Center is a former human rights lawyer with extensive experience traveling and practicing abroad.  She was kind enough to produce a tips sheet for students looking for summer, public-interest work abroad.  Download TIPS FOR STUDENTS APPLYING FOR INTERNSHIPS ABROAD.

Need a job or internship? During the last week PSLawNet has posted: 54 new attorney positions, 33 new internships, and 28 new law related opportunities. Additionally, there are currently 1,028 active opportunities in our job database. To search the database visit PSLawNet.

Featured Opportunities

Poverty Law Advocacy Internships: Connecticut Legal Services is filling summer internship positions in five service offices: Bridgeport, New Britain, Stamford, Waterbury, and Willimantic.  We seek applicants who want to use their creativity, initiative, and other talents and skills to improve the lives of low-income people.  CLS encourages cross-cutting client-centered work which goes beyond specific legal specialties. CLS lawyers represent families and individuals in administrative hearings, and in state and federal courts. CLS encourages lawyers addressing major client issues to work in teams, which may include other legal services lawyers and or other local community agencies.  Connecticut Legal Services provides legal representation and advice to over 9,000 low-income households each year.  Interns at CLS receive training in client interview skills, assist with an active caseload of representation and advice cases, may have the opportunity to represent clients in administrative hearings or under the student practice rule if qualified.  To learn more, view the full job listing on PSLawNet…

An Attorney position is available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of the General Counsel (NOAA GC). NOAA GC employs approximately 114 attorneys at headquarters offices in the Washington D.C. area and at six regional offices. NOAA GC provides legal advice to the Department of Commerce Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere (NOAA Administrator) and NOAA program offices on a wide variety of issues including U.S. and international fisheries, marine mammals, endangered or threatened marine species, preservation of coastal areas, marine sanctuaries, and licensing of commercial satellites. NOAA is a premiere environmental agency, located within the Department of Commerce, and employs over 12,000 individuals nationwide. The agency’s mission is to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources and to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment to meet the Nation’s economic, social and environmental needs.  To learn more, view the full job listing on PSLawNet…

Featured Resources for Summer Job Seekers

1. Living out of town while completing an internship this summer?  Use NALP’s Apartment Exchange to sublet your place and to look for housing.
2. Are you aware that many organizations offer funding to students with summer public service jobs to help pay the bills?  Check out PSLawNet’s Summer Funding Page for more details.  Some, but not all, application deadlines have passed, so visit the page today.

In summary…there’s a lot of public interest news this week.  Unfortunately, a lot of it’s not good.  Funding shortages are affecting public interest programs literally from the Mexican to the Canadian borders.  Featured: the “Last Resort Exoneration Project” is released at Seton Hall Law; a young lawyer weighs the virtues of Model Rule 6.1; apparent financial trouble at AppalReD leads to the ED’s firing; farewell to a titan among federal defenders; the North Carolina State Bar is trying to ramp up pro bono efforts; cuts in local funding for a Louisiana legal services provider; unbundling legal services to serve more low-income Mississippians; fighting against food stamp terminations in Washington State; potential staff layoffs at Rhode Island Legal Services ruffle union feathers; the Colorado criminal defense bar is fighting for easier access to public defenders; loan repayment for Illinois prosecutors and public defenders; an office closure by New Mexico Legal Aid; discontinuing the Homeless Rights Project in San Francisco; arguments for permitting easier public access to juvenile court records and proceedings; the fight continues over an indigent defense attorney assignment overhaul in the Big Apple (or in French: le Big Apple); will the planned closure of a Southern Arizona Legal Aid office be avoided?; the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services is running out of funds; financial support for legal services for artists; New York’s top jurist calls upon the bar to support pro bono and legal services funding; legal services funding woes in Texas; Washington State high court arguments about a foster child’s right to counsel.   

• 2.3.11 – a New Jersey Star-Ledger blog highlights the launch of the “Last Resort Exoneration Project” at Seton Hall Law School.  The project will work to free innocent convicts, but unlike the high-profile Innocence Project, the Exoneration Project will focus on cases where DNA evidence is not in play – no meager feat.  The new initiative is something of a family affair.  Exoneration Project director Lesley Risinger first worked to free an innocent convict before attending law school; she enlisted the help of her mother, an attorney.  Now a lawyer herself, Risinger will co-direct the project with her husband, a Seton Hall Law professor.

• 2.3.11 – on the Minnesota Lawyer’s JDs Rising Blog, a newly admitted attorney explores Model Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1 – the pro bono rule – wondering whether it’s ultimately beneficial or too restrictive that lawyers are called upon to provide legal services and to support legal services for the poor rather than being able to provide service/contributions outside of the legal arena.

• 2.2.11 – from the Lexington Herald-Leader: “The main provider of civil legal help for poor people in Eastern Kentucky has fired its director and cut several other staff positions after an internal investigation.  The board of Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, a publicly funded legal aid agency, fired Cynthia Elliott on Saturday after finishing the internal review … AppalReD has total annual funding of $4.3 million, interim director Jonathan Picklesimer said Wednesday, and during the past four years it might have overspent its budget by nearly $1 million.”  The story later notes that the “other staff positions” which were cut were done so for financial reasons, according to AppalReD’s board chairman, not reasons related directly to the investigation.

• 2.2.11 – the New York Times has a nice write-up on the retirement of New York City’s chief federal defender, who has earned the respect of judges and legal adversaries and whose office has handled myriad high- and low-profile matters in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  “Leonard F. Joy, the lawyer who has led New York’s influential federal public defender’s office for the last two decades, is retiring this month, ending a tenure during which his office represented some of the most infamous defendants being prosecuted by the United States attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn.”

• 2.2.11 – a piece in the Raleigh News Observer highlights the North Carolina State Bar’s efforts to promote increased pro bono by 1) recommending in a new rule of conduct that attorneys complete 50 hours of pro bono annually, and 2) strengthening its ties with Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC).  The piece further notes that LANC is facing possible funding cuts out of the $5 million it presently receives from the state.  Even with things as they are now, LANC “can only take up [to] two cases for every 10 received.”    

• 2.2.11 – the Louisiana-based Tri-Parish Times reports on local funding cuts to legal services: “Low-income individuals and families that have depended upon or might need legal assistance when dealing with civil matters in Louisiana could be left without representation as parishes cut back on their budgets in 2011.  Capital Area Legal Services Corp., which has been funded by contributions from 12 parishes…is faced with a loss of financial support that could range from $24,530 to $47,330 this year. In turn, the legal aid agency could soon be faced with cutting some of its services.”   

• 2.2.11 – the AP reports that, at the proposal of Mississippi’s Access to Justice Commission, the state’s high court has adopted a rule permitting limited scope representation so that attorneys may provide unbundled services to clients who can not afford full-scope representation.  “Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said the limited scope representation rule is to encourage lawyers to provide some services to clients who are limited in what they can afford. He said the revised rules also encourage lawyers to provide volunteer services to legal hotlines and clinics without fear of creating conflicts of interest.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Need a job or internship? During the last week PSLawNet has posted: 37 new attorney positions, 15 new internships, and 12 new law related opportunities. Additionally, there are currently 1,057 active opportunities in our job database. To search the database visit PSLawNet.

Featured New Jobs

The ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office is seeking a legislative counsel/lobbyist.  The Legislative Counsel/Lobbyist will be working under the supervision of the Chief of Staff/First Amendment Counsel. He/She will be responsible for a wide range of civil liberties issues but will focus particular attention on a portfolio of issues to be assigned, as priorities require.  For more information on this position, visit PSLawNet.

Also in Washington, DC, the National Disability Rights Network is seeking two summer law interns.  NDRN is the nonprofit membership organization for the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Systems and Client Assistance Programs (CAP) for individuals with disabilities. Collectively, the P&A/CAP network is the largest provider of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States. NDRN provides training and technical assistance, legal support, and legislative advocacy, NDRN works to create a society in which people with disabilities are afforded equality of opportunity and are able to fully participate by exercising choice and self-determination.  NDRN is accepting applications for two summer law internships in disability rights law. Legal interns will develop their legal skills working directly with a highly experienced staff of 9 attorneys on cutting edge projects related to a wide range of disability rights issues. Typical law intern projects include research and writing on issues concerning abuse and neglect in institutions, disability discrimination, special education, employment and vocational services, and the use of restraint and seclusion in schools. Other projects may include monitoring federal legislation and regulations and analyzing policy proposals.  Application deadline: 2/18/11.  For more information on these positions, visit PSLawNet.

Good luck!

This week: cultivating the next generation of public service lawyers at UCLA; speaking of L.A., funding for law and order isn’t great; $125K for foreclosure prevention in the Windy City; aspiring public defenders may want to look into getting barred in Massachusetts; Equal Justice Works hits the Big 2-5!; legal services for Gulf Coast oil spill victims; a wrongful imprisonment emphasizes the need for the Florida Innocence Commission’s work; let’s all celebrate the Greater Dayton Volunteer Lawyers Project; tough times and a leadership transition at the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council; the good work of the University of Louisville Law Clinic; a public-interest lawsuit targets allegedly excessive truancy fines; will Gideon finally be civil in California?; maybe he should be civil elsewhere, too.

• 1.28.11 – UCLA’s Daily Bruin features a short piece capturing the thoughts of Catherine Mayorkas, executive director of Public Interest Programs for the UCLA School of Law, on how the law school supports students exploring public-service career tracks – via an LRAP program, a Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program, etc. – while allowing those students to decide for themselves about whether public service is a long-term career destination. 

• 1.26.11 – in an indicator of the recession’s impact on state budgets, the Los Angeles County Superior Court system is bracing for continued fiscal strife.  From the National Law Journal (article may be password-protected): “Last year, the Superior Court, which employs 5,000 people and has 11 locations, laid off 329 employees and lost another 150 to attrition due to budget cuts, [Presiding Judge Lee] Edmon said. The cuts have resulted in long lines at filing windows and frustration among lawyers, she acknowledged. ‘Unfortunately, this pressure on the system will continue for some time.’ For the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on June 30, the system appears safe from any drastic measures due to last year’s efforts, which generated new sources of revenue from civil filing fees and funds redirected from new construction and computer projects.”  But looming on the horizon is Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal, which “would eliminate more than $100 million from the Los Angeles Superior Court — about 10% of its annual budget, Edmon said.”  The article touches on the fact that 9th Circuit federal courts are strained as well, with a judicial emergency having been declared in the District of Arizona in the Tuscon shooting’s wake (link to more detailed coverage by the Arizona Republic).  

• 1.26.11 – funding for foreclosure prevention in Chicago.  Here’s a press release about a $125K joint donation made to the Chicago Bar Foundation, the funds from which will be divvied out to the Center for Conflict Resolution, the Chicago Legal Clinic, Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, and the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago to support local foreclosure prevention initiatives.  Good stuff.   The PSLawNet Blog is inclined to use this opportunity to poke some fun at our friend Bob Glaves, executive director of the Chicago Bar Foundation, on account of what we’re sure was the positively profound disappointment felt by Bob and all Bears fans upon their team’s utterly deflating playoff loss.  But the PSLawNet Blog is above such cheapshots.

• 1.25.11 – here comes the unusual scenario wherein the recession could create a whole bunch of public interest lawyer jobs.  The Boston Globe reports on Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal calling for “the hiring of 1,000 lawyers under a new Department of Public Counsel Services within the executive branch, with up to 500 more support staff. The administration estimates its plan will save $45 million by eliminating the Committee for Public Counsel Services in the judicial branch and wiping out hourly legal wages paid out to roughly 3,000 lawyers who work on contracts.”  The proposal has caused a stir, particularly among those private counsel who are presently appointed, under the auspices of the judicial branch, to handle indigent defense matters. They argue that the program will result in cost increases.  How would Massachusetts stack up with other jurisdictions?: “According to the administration, 28 states have public counsel systems similar to the one Patrick outlined yesterday, and Massachusetts is one of six states whose public defenders fall within the judiciary.”   Beantown-based public radio station WBUR ran a piece on the controversy: “Although the findings show that public defenders are more effective in representing indigent defendants, the issue of cost is not as simple.”

• 1.25.11 – Congratulations, Equal Justice Works!  The organization which is responsible for launching so many public interest careers celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.  The 25th is a win-win for Equal Justice Works: a year of revelry and their car insurance is gonna go down.  (And if you thought that was bad, we were going to work in a “fellowSHIP is far from sinking” joke.)   

• 1.25.11 – the Mobile, Alabama-based Press-Register reports on legal services available to those affected by the Gulf Coast oil spill: “The Gulf Coast Claims Facility is funding 17 attorneys, one working part time, to offer free legal service to low-income claimants trying to recover losses caused by last year’s oil spill.  The Mississippi Center for Justice is spearheading the program, which involves a dozen legal aid groups from the affected Gulf Coast states, according to center spokeswoman Sharon Garrison.”  And while we hold Mobile in the highest regard, we just can’t help thinking about this song. 

• 1.24.11 – in the Orlando Sentinel, columnist Mike Thomas takes to task State Attorney Lawson Lamar, whom Thomas accuses of ignoring the role played by the prosecutor’s office in the imprisonment of a woman wrongfully convicted of vandalism.  The column notes that the prosecutor’s office was not alone in failing, and that other actors in the criminal justice system bear some responsibility as well.  Consequently, “[w]hat happened to [the wrongfully convicted Haitian woman, Malenne Joseph, who was indigent and could not afford her own counsel] is a perfect case study for the Innocence Commission.”  The Florida Innocence Commission is a government entity “established to provide a mechanism to recommend to the Supreme Court of Florida solutions to eliminate or significantly reduce the causes for wrongful or erroneous convictions.”

• 1.23.11 – the Dayton Daily News profiles the Greater Dayton Volunteer Lawyers Project, “a local program that helps people who are financially strained find lawyers who are willing to offer ‘pro bono’ work, or free services … Since 1988, the GDVLP has provided lawyers in more than 21,000 cases, providing more than $10 million in donated services to the poor … The GDVLP is located at the Dayton Bar Association and is supported by Legal Aid of Western Ohio. The program has 1,000 lawyers from various specialties who donate services.”

• 1.23.11 – the long-running funding woes afflicting Georgia’s indigent defense program persist.  The Associated Press reports that the incoming chief of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, who appeared to some a remarkable choice because of his background as a prosecutor, is inheriting a program that is short on funding, slated for additional budget cuts, and thin on staff as well.  Outside organizations have taken note of the GPDSC’s sorry state: “The specter of more legal challenges looms, as civil rights groups have filed one lawsuit after another that claimed the council failed its mission to provide adequate legal defense for Georgia’s poor defendants.”  Here’s information on a lawsuit filed last month from the Southern Center for Human Rights.   And here’s an additional blurb about discontent within the Peach State criminal defense community over th GPDSC’s present condition (from WALB, a Georgia-based NBC affiliate).  GPDSC’s new chief, Travis Sakrison, certainly does have his work cut out for him, and we wish him the best of luck. 

• 1.23.11 – the Louisville Courier Journal has a nice profile of the University of Louisville Law Clinic, through which law students represent low-income clients on a variety of matters, aiding, for instance domestic-violence victims and those facing evictions.  The piece emphasizes the hands-on experience that students acquire while making a difference in the local community.

• 1.20.11 – the Associated Press reports on a lawsuit initiated by the Philly-based Public Interest Law Center: “A federal lawsuit accuses a Pennsylvania school district of imposing excessive and illegal fines on truant children or their families, including one parent ordered to pay $27,000 and a 17-year-old student fined more than $12,000.   The suit against the Lebanon School District, filed Thursday in Harrisburg by the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia on behalf of four parents and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, targets the court-imposed fines it says were above the state’s limit of $300 per violation.

• Is Gideon coming to California?  ProBono.net’s January newsletter include a piece from our friend Tiela Chalmers, executive director of the San Francisco-based Volunteer Legal Services Program, who comments on common, public misperceptions about when poor people are entitled to a lawyer, and progress in California toward securing a right to counsel in cases that gravely affect family integrity and economic security.  “You’d be surprised how many well-educated adults – journalists, politicians – even judges – believe that poor people have a right to an attorney in civil cases.  Our belief in the fundamental fairness of our justice system leads us to assume that there is a right to counsel, at least when someone is faced with eviction, or a challenge to the custody of their children … But no, Virginia – there is no right to counsel in civil cases … One of the most remarkable legacies of our outgoing Chief Justice, Ronald George, is his hard work to gain passage of the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act …  This Act uses a small court fee to fund the creation of pilot projects in California, to explore what the right to counsel might look like in civil cases where important rights are at stake.” 

• More Civil Gideon.  The winter edition of the Phildelphia Lawyer contains a terrific piece, by Community Legal Services’ Michael Carroll and Penn Law professor and clinical programs director Louis Rulli, entitled “Filling Gideon’s Empty Chair.”  The article reviews the history of efforts to secure a constitutionally-rooted right to counsel for the poor in non-criminal matters, which began in some ways with the Supreme Court’s rejection of that right in the Lassiter case.  It then reviews more recent initiatives designed to ensure that the poor have access to counsel in civil matters that threaten health, welfare, and family security, all the while noting how our adversarial justice system – designed with lawyers in mind – so poorly serves those who can not afford legal help. The article is a particularly good read for law students and attorneys who are acquainting themselves with the “Civil Gideon” movement.  For more information we recommend exploring the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel’s website.

Last week we reviewed best practices in drafting cover letters and resumes for summer public interest jobs.  Today we offer interviewing tips.  Cover letters and resumes get your foot in the door.  Interviews get you jobs.  So, even if you tend to shine in interview settings, you should do as much as possible to prepare before meeting a prospective employer.

Five Tips for Summer Public Interest Job Interviews

1. Do mock interviews.  There is simply no downside to this, and no reason not to practice interviewing in a consequence-free environment before you have to do the real thing.  Mock interviews are the surest way to a) identify questions that could trip you up, and b) get useful feedback from someone who has experience on the other side of the interviewing table.  You will likely be able to arrange mock interviews through your career services office.  If not, use your classmates, friends, and contacts in the legal community to set them up.
2. Enthusiasm and confidence are palpable.  These characteristics are perceived immediately by an interviewer, and they set the stage for more fluid conversation during the interview.  It’s hard sometimes not to appear nervous, overly serious, or both during an interview.  Remember to make eye contact and to smile (at least occasionally) while answering questions.  (Smiling while talking also is enormously helpful on phone interviews because, believe it or not, smiling will change the tone of your voice so that you’ll seem more engaging and confident to the interviewer on the other end of the phone.  You’ll probably look like a weirdo, but no one will be around to see you anyway.) 
3. Be prepared for “Why do you want to work here?” or “Why are you choosing this kind of work?” questions.  Everyone knows these questions are coming – often at the beginning of an interview.  A lot of law students will begin answering with “I’ve always wanted to do this work; it’s why I came to law school.”  If that’s the truth for you, then fine, you should say it.  But let’s tease this out a little further.  We think that employers are really asking two questions:  1) Why do you want to be a lawyer?, and 2)  Why are you interested in being this kind of lawyer?  You should be prepared to answer both and to connect those answers.  For example, if you just say that you think your abilities and skills make you well suited to be a lawyer, you still need to explain why public interest is a draw for you.  On the other side of the coin, if you say you are interested in working with victims of domestic violence, a good interviewer may come back with, “Well, there are a lot ways to do that, so why do you want to help DV victims as a lawyer?”  Think ahead about what experiences and influences directed you to law school, and why you are interested in exploring public interest law.  This “why are you here?” question is one that almost all law students can hit a double on, so you should think about how to hit a home run.
4. Ask some questions of your own.  For example:
   • What does your interviewer find to be the most enjoyable and challenging aspects of their job?
   • What are the main characteristics they wish to see in summer interns?  (This is a tricky way to sell yourself even further by explaining how you possess those qualities after the employer names them.)
   • How many practice groups or other departments within the organization will you be exposed to during an internship?
   • How did your interviewer’s career path lead them to their current job?
5. Send a thank-you note or email within 48 hours of the interview.  Strike while the iron is hot, i.e. while the interviewer will still remember you.  And while the thank-you note should be brief, it could include a line that will remind the interviewer about a highlight of your meeting.  

Harvard Law School’s Office of Public Interest Advising has some terrific, detailed guidance on interviewing, which we recommend you review. 

Good luck, and feel free to offer your own tips in the comments section!