Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) is seeking an Executive Director to lead this nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide high quality legal assistance to low income and other special needs groups and to stimulate and empower groups of poor people to accomplish energetic and affirmative advocacy, all to alleviate the circumstances, incidents and causes of poverty.

JALA’s next Executive Director will arrive at a time of both challenge and opportunity.  JALA’s strengths include its reputation for effective litigation and diversity of legal practice, its experienced, nationally recognized staff, its history of delivering quality legal services, and its diverse funding streams.  Its challenges include the current economic crisis, delivering services in the face of increasing demand and decreasing resources, and increasing its funding base.

The deadline to apply is July 6 – find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

ChangeLab Solutions (formerly Public Health Law & Policy or PHLP) is hiring a full-time, temporary law clerk to work on tobacco control and childhood obesity prevention legal and policy issues. The position is available for 4 – 6 months.

ChangeLab Solutions focuses on improving the public’s health by drawing on the expertise of an inter-disciplinary team of lawyers, urban planners, and public health professionals.

ChangeLab Solutions works with community-based organizations, local public health and planning departments, schools, elected officials, government attorneys, and private counsel to create groundbreaking policy solutions to critical public health challenges. ChangeLab Solutions staff provide comprehensive training, technical assistance, and legal and policy tools to advance public health policy. Working closely with law professors, private attorneys, and other experts, ChangeLab Solutions staff craft policies that reflect the most creative and innovative thinking on a given public health issue.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

The City of Chicago Law Department is seeking an attorney for the position of Assistant Corporation Counsel in the RE Division to represent the City in transactional matters. The Assistant Corporation Counsel will work under the general supervision of the Deputy Corporation Counsel of the RE Division, and will be given a high level of responsibility for handling transactional matters, including: drafting ordinances, redevelopment agreements, purchase and sale agreements, intergovernmental agreements, leases, easement agreements,  rights of entry, and other transactional documents; investigating ownership and title matters; reviewing environmental reports and appraisals; preparing ancillary closing documents; advising City departments on zoning, landmarks and procedural matters relating to the sale and development of land, and City requirements applicable thereto, including MBE/WBE and City resident hiring, prevailing wage requirements, executive orders and other generally applicable municipal laws.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

The Abe Fellowship is designed to encourage international multidisciplinary research on topics of pressing global concern. The program seeks to foster the development of a new generation of researchers who are interested in policy-relevant topics of long-range importance and who are willing to become key members of a bilateral and global research network built around such topics. Applications are welcome from scholars and non-academic research professionals. Funding for the program is provided by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.

Applicants are invited to submit proposals for research in the social sciences or related disciplines relevant to any one or combination of the following three themes: 1) traditional and non-traditional approaches to security and diplomacy, 2) global and regional economic issues, and 3) the role of civil society.

Rather than seeking to promote greater understanding of a single country, the Abe Fellowship Program encourages research on the experiences and future challenges of the US and Japan in a comparative or global perspective. The Abe Fellowship Program Committee seeks applications for research focusing explicitly on policy-relevant and contemporary issues that have a comparative or transnational perspective and that draw the study of the US and Japan into wider disciplinary or theoretical debates.

Fellowship tenure may begin between April 1 and December 31 of a given year. Fellowship tenure need not be continuous, but must be concluded within 24 months of activation of the Fellowship. Candidates should propose to spend at least one-third of the Fellowship tenure in residence abroad in Japan or the United States. Proposals may also include periods of research in other countries.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

The National Education Association (NEA) is America’s oldest and largest organization committed to advancing the cause of public education. Headquartered in Washington, DC, NEA proudly claims more than 3 million members devoted to the following mission: to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education by preparing every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world. Our vision is a great public school for every student. We strive to improve the quality of teaching, to increase student achievement, and to make schools safer and better places to learn.

NEA seeks an experienced attorney to join the team in the NEA Office of General Counsel. The NEA Office of General Counsel works on a diverse array of legal matters to advance NEA’s overall mission including litigation, regulatory and advocacy matters. The NEA Office of General Counsel’s caseload includes cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and a small number of state appellate courts and administrative forums. In addition, the NEA Office of General Counsel frequently presents the views of NEA on federal regulatory initiatives affecting NEA, NEA affiliates and their members and leaders. The NEA Office of General Counsel also administers the National Organization of Lawyers for Educational Associations (“NOLEA”), which is a national network of lawyers representing school employees and their associations. To that end, the NEA Office of General Counsel maintains a NOLEA groupsite, regularly circulates an E-Letter update of legal developments to NOLEA members, and holds an annual education conference.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

The Massachusetts Land Court is seeking second and third year law students to be Fall & Spring Judicial Interns at the Land Court in Boston. The Judicial Internships provide an unparalleled opportunity to work closely with one or two Justices, have significant research and writing experience, and observe courtroom practice.

The Land Court is a trial court of special jurisdiction; land use cases involving zoning and subdivision law comprise a substantial portion of the Land Court’s docket, and the remainder of the Court’s docket is comprised of cases involving title or boundary disputes as well as other aspects of real property law. The Land Court’s jurisdiction extends to the entire Commonwealth, and although the Justices of the Land Court sit primarily in Boston, they also sit elsewhere in Massachusetts to conduct (non-jury) trials and motion sessions.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

The Center for Economic Progress (CEP) is seeking an outgoing and highly motivated individual to lead our Tax Clinic that has provided free legal counsel and representational services to low-income families for 12 years. CEP’s tax expertise and years of experience enables us to provide services that simplify the complicated federal tax code for our clients and resolve IRS controversies and disputes with the Illinois Department of Revenue related to collections, audits, innocent spouse relief and employee v. independent contractor disputes.

CEP provides free tax preparation, college financial aid assistance, tax-related legal assistance and financial coaching services that assist low-income clients in accessing significant financial resources, improving their credit status and building savings. Annually, CEP staff and 1,200 volunteers provide high-quality tax preparation and tax-related legal and financial services to over 20,000 clients in Chicago and surrounding communities.

The Director will lead CEP staff, interns and volunteers to deliver high quality tax representation for our low income clients. Primary responsibilities include:

• Planning and managing all operations for the Clinic, including intake, tracking, assignment of cases, case review, and client representation
• Recruiting, managing and training pro bono attorneys to handle tax representation cases
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with local and national partners, including the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service and SPEC, other tax clinics, law and accounting firms
• Developing marketing and outreach plans to provide workshops and presentations to community-based organizations, law firms and other entities related to tax law
• Developing curriculum and delivering training programs to VITA site managers and volunteers, as well as the Clinic staff, interns and volunteers
• Supporting CEP fundraising by identifying and pursuing new funding opportunities, contributing to grant applications and reports, and meeting with funders
• Representing the agency before the media to enhance awareness of CEP programs and broaden awareness of tax issues among various constituents
• Supervise a full-time attorney, student interns, and support staff

The deadline to apply is 6/22–find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

The United States Attorney’s Office prosecutes federal criminal offenses and defends the interests of the United States in civil and appellate matters in the district. The Eastern District of Texas is a large district consisting of 6 staffed offices that cover 43 counties in the eastern part of the state, spanning more than 50,000 square miles from the Oklahoma border to the Gulf of Mexico. Offices are located in Beaumont, Lufkin, Plano, Sherman, Texarkana and Tyler. Our district works closely with federal agencies and law enforcement personnel located throughout the district and in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas has a vacancy in the Criminal Division in our Beaumont office. This position will be responsible for investigating and prosecuting a variety of federal crimes, with a primary emphasis on drug trafficking and capital crimes litigation. Employment with the U.S. Attorney’s Office offers a unique and challenging experience for the highly motivated and talented attorney who is committed to serving justice.

The deadline to apply is 6/15–find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Maria Hibbard

As I read Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow (a book off our PSLawNet summer reading list!) on the metro and bus this past week or so, I was acutely aware of passers-by glancing at the provocative title. The new Jim Crow? The old Jim Crow laws are known as sad and embarrassing time in our nation’s history; who would dare suggest that the same kind of discrimination exists today?

In her book, Alexander addresses head-on the proposition that instead of the direct “Jim Crow laws” that have long been eradicated, the war on drugs and mass incarceration of African American males throughout the 1980s and beyond has in effect created a similar type of “caste” system and had the effect of creating continuing the cycle of discrimination. Like the fellow commuters who glanced at my book, I too approached this hypothesis with skepticism; throughout the narrative, however, Alexander systematically lays down the history of Jim Crow laws and the effect mass incarceration has had in creating similar effects.

Because I was still in diapers at the beginning of the “War on Drugs,” I was initially startled by Alexander’s analysis of the way in which federal funding and incentive motivated local police officers to severely ramp up drug arrests. These searches targeted ghettos deemed likely to have more possible offenders and resulted in searches that may have stretched the limits of the Fourth Amendment. Most African American males incarcerated during this time period were not arrested for violent crimes, but for possession of drugs that were found at a traffic stop. Alexander next moves on to an analysis of the effect of this incarceration on felons once released. Convicted felons are not eligible for housing assistance or food stamps, and the effect of having to check the “felony box” on a job application can be detrimental to a recently released individual trying to support himself. Sooner or later, Alexander predicts, this same individual ends up back in jail. Alexander admits that Jim Crow laws and mass incarceration are not exactly alike, though, stating, “we have witnessed an evolution in the United States from a racial caste system based entirely on exploitation (slavery), to one based largely on subordination (Jim Crow), to one defined by marginalization (mass incarceration).”

Through shedding new light on the ways in which the War on Drugs has resulted in “legalized discrimination,” Alexander faces a topic that may be too often brushed aside in our “colorblind” society. Although somewhat repetitive and generalized, Alexander’s book is worth reading for the very reason that it addresses an important idea about access to justice not often taught law school. Alexander prefaces her book by saying “This book is not for everyone”–I can disagree. Even if you think it isn’t for you, The New Jim Crow is worth a read just to be able to think through its challenging propositions.

The Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law at the University of Texas School of Law seeks a talented, versatile and energetic recent graduate of law to serve as an Environmental Law Fellow for one year beginning in September 2012.

Founded in 2009, the Center is a focal point for interdisciplinary analysis, debate, and discussion of the legal and policy issues relevant to energy, arbitration, and the environment.  It connects students, practitioners, and academics with the mission of advancing policy and legal ideas that promote effective and efficient environmental protection, sound energy development, and effective dispute resolution.  The Fellow will work under the supervision of the Center’s director, and collaborate with the director, other faculty, and students in the day-to-day operations and academic programs of the Center; help design and facilitate academic, curricular and research and advocacy projects with the Center’s affiliated faculty and students; and co-teach a course with a tenured professor at the Law School.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!