Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public. Welcome to a new academic year. As readers affiliated with schools that subscribe to PSJD.org may be aware, we are beginning a new cycle for our public service platform. The past eighteen months have been hard for us all, and that hardship has worn on each of us differently. For me, this digest has been harder to produce. But as we begin our new cycle here I plan to begin releasing regular updates again, as I had been prior to the pandemic.

We’re diving back in with a jam-packed week of news. The US Supreme Court allowed a federal moratorium on evictions to remain in place, but at least one local court has ruled that this decision does not create a nationwide precedent. The debate over student loan debt forgiveness continues, with forgiveness advocates marshalling evidence that loan forgiveness will have a significant impact on the racial wealth gap. Meanwhile, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported on debt servicers’ deceptive efforts to prevent borrowers from taking advantage of public service loan forgiveness and researchers revealed that the Department of Education seems more interested in collecting on debts owed by individual student borrowers than by educational institutions. The Biden Administration also made big news concerning government management and hiring with a new Executive Order concerning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the federal workforce.

As was our custom, these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Free & Fair Elections

• In Washington DC, “[a] divided U.S. Supreme Court, narrowing the scope of the Voting Rights Act, on Thursday upheld two Arizona voting laws challenged as racially discriminatory.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In New Jersey, the state government “is poised to become the second state in the nation after California to fund a statewide legal support program for unaccompanied minors. State lawmakers earmarked $3 million for legal representation and case management for immigrant youth in their $46 billion plan passed last week.”
• Also in New Jersey, “[t]he American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration[], seeking to block the transfer of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees at a New Jersey jail. The suit is the first legal challenge against a Biden administration immigration policy.”
• In the United States, “[a]ttorneys are still trying to reach the parents of 368 migrant children who had been separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration, down from 391 last month, according to a federal court filing[.]”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “Elizabeth Warren and John Kennedy said a student-loan servicer CEO may have given false testimony in April.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[m]ore than 60 Democratic lawmakers — led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — called on President Joe Biden to extend a pause on student loan payments and interest so as not to ‘drag down the pace’ of the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in a letter Wednesday.”
• Also again also in Washington DC, a resolution “unanimously approved by the [city] council [] call[ed] on President Biden to cancel student loan debt. Cities like Boston and Philadelphia have done the same.”
• Also also again also in Washington DC, “[t]he U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case seeking to overturn a ruling establishing a presumption that private student loans cannot be eliminated in bankruptcy. The June 28 decision comes on the heels of the justices’ denial of another request to weigh in on student loans in bankruptcy.”
• Again also also again also in Washington DC, “[t]he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today issued a report highlighting legal violations identified by the Bureau’s examinations in 2020.” Among other issues, “CFPB examiners uncovered significant problems in how student loan servicers informed consumers about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program…CFPB examiners found a number of ways that student loan servicers gave incorrect information to borrowers, resulting in missteps that could cost consumers thousands of dollars. For example, examiners found servicers misled consumers to believe they could not access PSLF if they had older loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), even though they could access PSLF by consolidating FFELP loans into Direct Loans.”
• NewsNation reported that “[j]ust around 5% of student loan borrowers who’ve applied for [public service loan forgiveness] as of April 30 have qualified, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.”
• The National Student Legal Defense Network released a report detailing its “extensive investigation into whether the Department [of Education] has employed collections—comparable to those employed against individual borrowers or otherwise—against institutions with debt owed to the government.” The group asserts that “[w]While the Department aggressively attempts to collect from [individual] borrowers, institutions and their owners and executives walked away from more than a billion dollars owed to taxpayers.”
• At a panel discussion held by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, “[p]anelists discussed the disproportionate burden of student debt on low-income, minority, and Black student families,” asserting that “there is a direct relationship between student debt cancellation and minimizing the racial wealth gap.”
• In an opinion piece, the Times Higher Education argued that “while student loan forgiveness might be sexy, it’s not a sustainable solution [because a] one-time fix via executive order – which, theoretically, could be overturned by the next administration – fails both future students and taxpayers.”
• Forbes reported that “[a] new survey of 23,845 federal student loan borrowers shows that 90% aren’t prepared to pay student loans when Covid-19 pandemic student loan relief ends on September 30, 2021. Student Debt Crisis, the nation’s largest student loan debt advocacy organization, conducted the survey and is advocating for President Joe Biden to extend student loan relief in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In California, “[t]wo dueling visions of remote proceedings in California’s courts are playing out in the state Capitol this summer. And so far, the biggest critics of keeping video technology in courtrooms post-pandemic are winning.”
• In Maryland, “Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) urged lawyers in the state to offer free or low-cost legal services during the pandemic recovery, as many residents head to the courts to deal with battles over housing, consumer debt, public benefits and family-law issues such as domestic violence.”
• In Kentucky, “the number of [legal aid] clients shot up by 2,750% [when the pandemic hit] and [] their caseload remains high.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, the Biden Administration released an “Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce.”
  • For context, GovExec reported that “[t]he order builds on a series of edicts undertaken during the Obama administration, as well as Biden’s own efforts to restore diversity training at federal agencies and crack down on discrimination since he took office in January. But it also charts new territory in how it tries to improve recruitment, retention and professional development of underserved communities, including providing more comprehensive health coverage to LGBTQ+ federal workers, boosting protections for feds with disabilities and pushing agencies to transition from unpaid to paid internships.”
• Also in Washington DC, “White House internships could finally become paid, making them accessible to lower-income applicants[.]”
• Again also in Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court has struck down a lower court’s ruling and held that two California charities need not disclose the names of their top donors to the state.”
• In Oklahoma, “[a] lawsuit claiming the Oklahoma Bar Association’s mandatory bar dues violate attorneys’ First Amendment rights to freedom of association was revived after the Tenth Circuit found Tuesday the group might engage in ideological activities unrelated to its core purpose.”
• In a Letter to the Editor, the Chronicle of Philanthrophy published a rebuttal to a recent op-ed in part of an ongoing debate over whether nonprofit salaries should be disclosed in job ads.
• In Portland ME, “[a] federal appeals court has ruled that the Council on International Educational Exchange does not have to refund the costs of study abroad programs cut short by the global pandemic. Court documents show the Portland-based nonprofit sent about 4,000 students home last spring when COVID-19 began to spread around the world…Only those students who could not finish their classes virtually were considered for refunds[.]”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court [] allowed a federal moratorium on evictions imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic to remain in place.”
  • Meanwhile, in Washington State, “[i]n the[ir] 2021 session, state lawmakers passed a measure guaranteeing tenants have a right to legal counsel in eviction cases. It was the first state in the nation to pass such a bill.”
  • Meanwhile in Toledo OH, “on the day the Supreme Court left a federal eviction moratorium intact in Washington…Toledo followed an earlier ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that lifted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium…[The judge in that case wrote] in his decision that the Supreme Court was acting in its capacity to assist the District of Columima Circuit appeals court, not establishing a nationwide ruling.”
  • Meanwhile, in Iowa “[n]early 41,000 Iowans fear they face eviction or foreclosure once a federal moratorium is lifted, according to federal census survey data.”
  • Meanwhile, in Illinois “[e]victions have resumed[], and while some tenants are still protected others are now getting notices.”
  • Meanwhile, Cleveland OH, the city’s right-to-counsel in evictions program “is showing early signs of success. According to an interim report on the program[], about 93 percent of the RTC clients who faced an eviction or involuntary move were able to avoid being displaced because of the legal representation they received.”
  • Meanwhile, in Milwaukee WI “a new pilot program…promis[ing] free legal representation for those facing eviction [began this week].”
  • Meanwhile, in Los Angeles CA “[a]s the 2021-22 fiscal year begins in Los Angeles today, so does the city’s new COVID-19 eviction defense program to offer free legal representation, counseling and education workshops for city renters who make 80% or less of the area median income and have been impacted by the pandemic.”
  • Meanwhile, in Wayne County MI “[t]he Neighborhood Defender Service of Detroit announced the launch of its Eviction Defense Practice slated to begin this fall, as housing assistance in the COVID-19 pandemic remains a top need.”
  • Meanwhile, in Maine “a new bill signed by Gov. Mills [requires] landlords who serve an eviction notice [] to provide a list of resources about rental assistance, legal aid, and court procedures.”
• In Boise ID, “the Idaho Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion…agreed…that the Magistrate Court’s issuing arrest warrants for failure to pay court debt—without first conducting an ability-to-pay hearing—violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution pursuant to the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Bearden v. Georgia , 461 U.S. 660 (1983), as well as the Idaho Constitution.”
• In Indiana, “[a] state judge has ruled that Indiana must continue to pay pandemic unemployment benefits to roughly 230,000 Hoosiers until a lawsuit challenging the early termination of the compensation is decided.”
• In Texas, “Texas RioGrande Legal Aid recently submitted an official request — a potential precursor to litigation — to the Texas Workforce Commission asking that it correct ‘systemic issues’ that the legal aid group says have resulted in ‘repeated failure to deliver unemployment benefits (since the pandemic began) in the manner required by state and federal law.’”
• In Florida, “[a] ruling from the Florida Supreme Court puts limits on how legal aid clinics can use their funds, potentially restricting the aid available to low-income Floridians who need representation in civil court.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Arizona, a defendant’s “previously denied petition challenging his death sentence due to inadequate counsel, was reversed and approved by the Ninth Circuit Court[.]…The court stated that the counsel’s request for a mental health expert was not requested ‘in a more timely manner.’ [and] gathered that ‘there is at least a reasonable probability that development and presentation of mental health expert testimony would have changed the result of the sentencing proceeding.’ “
• In Fort Lee County FL, “felony case defendants who were part of a class action suit claiming a violation of civil rights caused by a malware attack at the public defender’s office in April have been trimmed to one.”
• In Brooklyn NY, “[s]ome 400 attorneys, civil advocates, social workers, investigators, support staff and other workers at the Brooklyn, New York, public defender’s office are seeking to unionize with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Minnesota, “Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is increasingly being asked to lead police prosecutions, is again meeting legislative resistance in his bid to build up his office’s criminal division.”
• In Bexar County, TX, “Bexar County Public Defender Michael Young argued in a court filing that ‘Governor Abbott’s executive order GA-13 violates the separation of powers doctrine[.]’” GA-13 prevents sherrifs from releasing anyone arrested for or convicted of a crime of physical violence, and has prevented Texas counties from reducing jail populations during the pandemic. Texas Public Radio reported that “Harris County judges sued Abbott over the order in April 2020, but the Texas Supreme Court found they lacked standing.”

The summer is the best time to begin searching for project-based fellowship opportunities. Project-based fellowships provide recent graduates with the chance to design a program to address an unmet legal need. Using funding from an external source, fellows partner with a host organization to implement their program. Because there is both a funding organization and a host organization, the process for securing a project-based fellowship requires separate applications to the host and funding organizations.

Skadden and Equal Justice Works are two of the largest national funding sources for project-based fellowships. And both are accepting project proposals!

Because both of these organizations have early fall deadlines, host organizations are seeking fellowship candidates now! This gives the host organizations time to find the right candidates and help you design a project proposal to submit for funding.

To look for organizations that are seeking to host and fund fellows for project-based fellowships, use this filtered search.

(NOTE: There are funding sources other than Equal Justice Works and Skadden, so be on the lookout for those as well!)

In the Resource Center, you can also use the Fellowship Calendar to browse project-based fellowship opportunities in a calendar view, sorted by either post date or application deadline. Click here for a filtered view of the calendar.

We’re back and advertising an upcoming opportunity with NALP! The PSJD Fellowship offers a recent law school grad the chance to gain familiarity with the legal job market and make connections with public interest practitioners, law school career advisors, and NALP staff and members.

The Organization

The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) is an association of over 2,500 legal career professionals who advise law students, lawyers, law offices, and law schools in North America and beyond. NALP believes in fairness, facts and the power of a diverse community. NALP staff work every day to be the best career services, recruitment, and professional development organization in the world because they want the lawyers and law students they serve to have an ethical recruiting system, employment data they can trust, and expert advisers to guide and support them in every stage of their careers.  

A NALP initiative, PSJD is a unique online clearinghouse for law students and lawyers to connect with public interest job listings and career-building resources. As a collaborative project among over 200 American and Canadian law schools, PSJD is a free resource for law students and alumni of our subscriber schools to search among thousands of public interest job opportunities and employer profiles. Public service employer organizations may also post job opportunities for free. In addition to its database, PSJD offers an online library of educational and career-building resources for those interested in pursuing a career in public service. These resources are publicly available to all website visitors.

The Position

The PSJD Fellowship is a one-year commitment to help promote and grow PSJD.org. The Fellow is responsible for engaging with jobseekers, law school subscribers, and employers; recruitment, training, and managing the PSJD data entry team; and supporting the Director of Public Service Initiatives, the PSJD Advisory Group, and the NALP Public Service Section. Because NALP takes professional development so seriously, the PSJD Fellow will have time (and be encouraged) to build relationships with public service employers through daily tasks, public appearances, and pro bono work.

The ideal candidate will graduate by August 2021 and have a demonstrated commitment to public interest work. The candidate will also be proficient in oral and written communication for a variety of audiences, be familiar with social media conventions, and be adept at independent and focused work that often involves juggling multiple tasks at once.

Read the full post on PSJD: https://www.psjd.org/job?oppid=90561&

We are pleased to announce that the 2020-2021 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award will go, jointly, to Delaney Heigert and Ellen Bertels, both 3Ls at University of Kansas School of Law. NALP confers this honor each year to a law student whose extraordinary commitment to law-related public service work contributes to the overall growth of pro bono culture within their law school and their broader community. This year NALP has chosen to honor two award winners to recognize their joint achievements and outstanding work.

Last winter, after much deliberation, we selected selected six finalists from among the students nominated for this award. In addition to our winners, we have also selected one student to honor as a Merit Distinction finalist.

Our winners, Merit Distinction finalist, and other finalists are highlighted below. Thank you to our impressive pool of nominees for the valuable work each of you do for your communities!

WINNERS: Ellen Bertels and Delaney Heigert | University of Kansas School of Law

Ellen Bertels and Delaney Heigert were selected as this year’s Pro Bono Public Award winners because of the outstanding achievements they made together toward the advancement and protection of transgender and nonbinary people’s rights. The impact of their pro bono work extends not only to their law school and their peers, but also to the LGBTQ+ community in Kansas, a state deep within the “Bible Belt.”

In the words of the Liz Hamor, Chapter Director of GLSEN Kansas:

Ellen and Delaney’s pro bono work to help transgender youth change their legal names and gender markers is life-saving work.

Statement of Support for the Nomination of Ellen Bertels and Delaney Heigert; 2020-2021 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award

Further attesting to the profound impact of the clinic, Associate Professor Kyle Velte commented:

The unmet need for this work became immediately apparent: dozens of potential clients called the clinic within hours of its opening.

Statement of Support for the Nomination of Ellen Bertels and Delaney Heigert; 2020-2021 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award

Ellen and Delaney’s efforts to create change within their school and community did not stop with the clinic. They have each written legal scholarship on topics involving LGBTQ+ rights. They see the intersectionality of their work and the promotion of the rights and safety of other historically marginalized communities. As 3Ls, they successfully petitioned their school to convert two gendered restrooms to accessible gender-neutral restrooms knowing that this was as much a fight for trans and nonbinary dignity as it was for the dignity of disabled persons. Last summer, Delaney joined the fight for racial justice by working with community organizers to protest the incarceration of Rontarus Washington, Jr., a Black man held in jail for five years without a trial. This coming fall, Ellen will serve as a Skadden fellow to expand the work of the clinic and to promote the needs of BIPOC trans Kansans.

Congratulations Delaney and Ellen!

Merit Distinction Finalist: Delaney Keefe | Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

Delaney Keefe was selected as the Merit Distinction finalist because of the outstanding impact she has made in her community. In protest against the lack of adequate resources for homeless Philadelphians at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the homeless community created three encampments in large areas of the city, with the support of local organizing groups. When the encampments first appeared, Delaney frequently brought donations to the residents and her presence in the community became noticeable and welcomed. She was a friend, a supporter, an organizer, and a service provider. Not only did she help the community survive by creating a clothing drive, constructing tents, and providing basic necessities to residents, she also defended the community using her access to legal services help and with her body when police harassed encampment residents.

In August, the City planned to evict the residents from the encampments. To prevent the disbanding of the community, Delaney drafted the documents needed to file a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order against the City of Philadelphia, which were eventually filed with the help of Villanova law professors and a local criminal law attorney. But Delaney’s work did not end here. She gathered witnesses to appear in court and drove all attendees to the courthouse.

Although the injunction and restraining order were not granted, Delaney, her colleagues, and her friends were able to rally approximately one thousand Philadelphians in support of the encampments, which prevented the police from destroying the encampments. From there, Delaney negotiated a solution with the City and the Philadelphia Housing Authority to transfer fifty City-owned houses to encampment residents.

Delaney’s tireless work and commitment is a prime example of social movement lawyering, and the Award Committee is honored to recognize her as this year’s Merit Distinction Finalist.

Congratulations Delaney!

Other Finalists

Finally, the Award Committee wants to recognize the achievement of the other finalists for the 2020-2021 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award:

• Tanya Burke | St. Mary’s University School of Law
  Committed to helping others however she can and providing encouragement to coworkers, peers, and fellow volunteers
• Nneka Ewolunu | University of Georgia School of Law
  Committed to creating space for historically marginalized communities
• Sarah Kahn | University of California, Irvine School of Law
  Dedicated to improving quality of life for incarcerated people and ultimately decreasing our country’s reliance on the carceral system

This week we’re taking a look at attorney positions that involve litigation against the government and policy work to create big change in the laws meant to protect us. The opportunities featured span different legal areas to demonstrate the breadth of work being done by public interest groups in our country.

Campaign Legal Center (Washington, DC)

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is a national nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of Americans’ right to participate in the democratic process. At its core, CLC believes democracy should be transparent, accountable, and inclusive. To achieve its goals, CLC litigates, advocates politically, and communicates to help create a government that is responsive to the people.

CLC seeks to hire Senior Legal Counsel to contribute to its litigation team. The litigation department fights to enforce federal and state campaign finance laws, to protect the fundamental right to vote, to challenge discriminatory redistricting plans, and to ensure compliance with government ethics laws. The ideal candidate will have experience litigating in state and federal courts and have a demonstrated commitment to CLC’s mission and values.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work may be available.

Democracy Forward (Washington, DC)

Democracy Forward works to expose corruption in the Executive Branch and to empower the people to fight back. Combining litigation, research, and policy advocacy, Democracy Forward challenges government action and educates the public about improper government activity.

Democracy Forward seeks a Litigator to join the fight. The Litigator will help identify strategic cases and be expected to engage in all stages of the litigation process. The ideal candidate will have experience litigating on behalf of or against the federal government, particularly the Executive Branch.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work may be available.

Everytown for Gun Safety (New York, NY)

Everytown for Gun Safety (Everytown) is the nation’s largest organization advocating for the prevention of gun violence. They work tirelessly to push for stronger gun laws at the federal, state, and local levels. Everytown achieves its goals by partnering with like-minded politicians, representing survivors of gun violence in court, educating the public, empowering survivors, and of course, advocating for policy change.

Everytown seeks Policy Counsel to join its legal team working to reduce gun violence by improving gun-related laws and regulations. Policy Counsel will be expected to contribute to the development of a multi-state policy strategy. The ideal candidate will have a strong work ethic, be an excellent team-player, and be deeply committed to reducing and preventing gun violence.

Follow this link to learn more.

Southern Environmental Law Center (Washington, DC)

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is a regional nonprofit dedicated to informing, implementing, and enforcing environmental laws and policies. With nine offices throughout the Southeast region, SELC works to protect the region’s natural resources as well as the health and well-being of its people. Although the organization’s focus is the Southeast region, SELC’s work often has a national impact.

SELC seeks a Federal Regulatory Director to join its Government Relations team in D.C. The team collaborates with Congress and federal agencies to advocate for laws and policies that enhance environmental protection. The Director will be expected to contribute their expertise and professional connections to promote SELC’s voice among environmental advocates. The ideal candidate will have experience with federal regulatory decision-making and an existing network of contacts with federal agencies.

Follow this link to learn more.

Texas Fair Defense Project (Austin, TX)

Texas Fair Defense Project works collaboratively with Texans, community organizations, and public officials to improve the fairness of Texas criminal justice system. Rather than contribute to modern-day debtors’ prisons, Texas Fair Defense Project promotes community care and longevity.

Texas Fair Defense Project seeks a Managing Attorney of Litigation to develop and implement a strategic vision for the organization’s litigation program. The ideal candidate will be innovative and have a deep understanding of the intersecting ways the criminal legal system targets people based on race, income, and ability. Moreover, the ideal candidate will be eager to find creative ways to challenge and disrupt that system.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work may be available.

This week we’re featuring school administrator positions to honor our subscribing schools and those who work tirelessly to help law students and alumni achiever their career goals. PSJD relies on the support and contributions of our subscribing schools and school administrators to provide our users with a robust and meaningful service.

The featured positions do not include professors or clinical instructors who are equally as important to the development of successful lawyers. If you are interested in discovering more academic positions available on PSJD, use this filtered search link.

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (Indianapolis, IN)

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law seeks an Assistant Dean for Professional Development and Pro Bono Program. The Assistant Dean will act as the school’s Employer Relations Leader responsible for implementing employer and alumni outreach programs to bolster the office’s employers network for its students and alumni. The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years’ of legal career services experience as well as excellent communication and organization skills.

Follow this link to learn more.

Northwestern University School of Law (Chicago, IL)

Northwestern University School of Law seeks an Assistant Director of Legal Careers to help support and counsel the next generation of attorneys. The Assistant Director will counsel students, foster relationships with legal employers, and develop programs and resources to prepare students for their legal job search. The ideal candidate will be creative and have experience with legal recruitment or professional development.

Follow this link to learn more.

St. John’s University School of Law (Jamaica, NY)

St. John’s University School of Law seeks a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to lead the Law School’s anti-racism initiatives. The Director will be responsible for ensuring an inclusive learning environment and an atmosphere of equitable treatment for all students. The ideal candidate will have a commitment to and experience with developing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Follow this link to learn more.

University of California, Irvine School of Law (Irvine, CA)

The University of California, Irvine School of Law seeks an Assistant Director of Career Development to provide students with counseling and career education on public interest careers. The Assistant Director will be responsible for coordinating employment opportunities for students with public interest organizations and government offices. The ideal candidate will have knowledge of career development strategies and experience in legal hiring and education.

Follow this link to learn more.

After a long hiatus, we’re back with exciting summer internship opportunities! Some of these of positions are remote and others are in-person, so be sure to read all ads carefully before applying.

This week we’ll be highlighting paid internship opportunities. For a full list of paid internships opportunities, check out this filtered search of the database. (This list also includes full-time paralegal positions.)

However, if you secure an unpaid opportunity and our looking for a way to fund your summer, be sure to explore our Summer Funding resource. This resource was recently updated, but always do your due diligence before applying.

Governing for Impact (Washington, D.C.)

Governing for Impact works to prepare the U.S. Administration for transformative governance through the development of state and federal policy proposals that focus on weakening corporate interests and promoting the political and economic power of working Americans.

Governing for Impact seeks summer policy interns to help development progressive regulatory proposals. Interns will conduct research and outreach to prepare their proposals. Ideal candidates will have excellent research skills and be interested in legislative drafting.

Follow this link to learn more. **This position will be conducted remotely.

Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)

Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) is a nonprofit law firm dedicated to advancing the rights of the most underserved. With more than 150 employees, LAFLA provides free civil legal aid services, domestic violence clinics, and courthouse self-help centers, and engages in impact litigation to improve the Greater Los Angeles community.

LAFLA’s Summer Law Clerk Program is a full-time internship program providing law students with hands-on civil legal aid experience. For the 2021 Program, LAFLA has graciously initiated two funding programs for its law clerks: the LAGLA Equity and Inclusion Fellowship Program and the 2021 Summer Law Clerk Stipend. These funding programs are meant to empower students law students and recognize the invaluable contributions of LAFLA law clerks.

Follow this link to learn more.

Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation (Tulsa, OK)

The Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation works to increase access to the civil justice system. The Foundation achieves its goals by increasing pro bono among Oklahoma attorneys, creating resource for self-represented litigants, and equipping legal services providers with resources.

The Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation seeks a Civil Justice Policy Intern to collaborate with the Executive Director on research, strategy and outreach projects related to right-counsel efforts, rural legal access, and best practices for pro bono. Ideal candidates will be willing and able to work remotely.

Follow this link to learn more. **This position will be conducted remotely.

Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (Harrisburg, PA)

Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) is a system of organizations providing civil legal aid to Pennsylvania residents. To its member organizations, PLAN provides leadership, funding, and support to improve the availability and quality of civil legal aid.

PLAN’s Martin Luther King Jr. Internship Program is a paid 10-week program that connects law students with organizations in the PLAN network. Ideal candidates are dedicated to social justice and providing services to low income communities.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work may be available.

Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (Austin, TX)

Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (TRLA) is the nation’s third largest legal aid organization providing free civil legal services to residents in 68 Southwest Texas counties. With more than 185 attorneys, TRLA serves about 23,000 clients each year.

TRLA seeks law students to staff their Telephone Access to Justice Project, an intake phone line for TRLA applicants. Ideal candidates will have completed 1L year and speak Spanish.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work may be available.

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public. There is much news this week, but my thoughts begin and end with Atlanta as I attempt to write.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In the United States, NPR reported that “Asian Americans and their allies are calling for solidarity and a push against discrimination and racist violence after a gunman killed eight people at three Atlanta-area spas Tuesday. Most of the victims were women of Asian descent. Authorities said it’s too early to declare the attacks a hate crime – prompting a debate over when that label should be used and how to present the gunman’s explanation.”
  • Meanwhile, in South Korea, Chosun Ilbo reported that “the Hankook Ilbo, Atlanta, quoted an employee A, a member of the ‘Gold Massage Spa’, a massage parlor where the shooting took place, and said that the suspect at the time of the crime said that he would ‘kill all Asians’.” [Translated from Korean by Google Translate]

Free & Fair Elections

• In Georgia, “advocates scored a win when the Georgia Chamber of Commerce issued a statement expressing ‘concern and opposition’ to the measures under consideration in the legislature, which would end no-excuse absentee voting, limit early voting hours, restrict drop-boxes for mail ballots, and curtail early voting on Sundays.”

Racial Justice

• In Carlisle PA, “Penn State Dickinson Law, one of the oldest U.S. law schools, and other campuses are revamping their curriculums with the goal of teaching aspiring lawyers how to fight racism. Spurred on by events, including the killing of George Floyd, the Carlisle, Pa.-based school created a year-long required course called “Race and Equal Protection of the Laws.” It teaches students the relationship between race and law in areas such as housing, health care, criminal justice, democracy, and capitalism.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Arizona, “[t]hree nonprofit organizations have sued Arizona’s attorney general in federal court seeking the cancellation of an agreement requiring the state’s input in federal immigration policies, saying the Trump administration official who made the arrangement lacked the authority to do so.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Democratic-led House voted on Thursday to create a path to citizenship for an estimated four million undocumented immigrants…[i]n a near party-line vote of 228 to 197[.]”
• The BBC reported that “[a]s of 14 March, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents were holding more than 13,000 unaccompanied children in custody, according to US media…At least 3,000 children have been kept for over 72 hours, the legal limit after which they are meant to be transferred to the custody of health officials in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In an Issue Brief, the National Consumer Law Center reported that “of the millions of borrowers eligible for IDR, new data obtained by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) shows that the total number of borrowers who have ever received cancellation is 32.”
• In Washington DC, “[p]art of the new stimulus bill could have big implications if President Joe Biden pushes ahead with plans to forgive some student loan debt. The American Rescue Plan does not include student loan forgiveness, but makes any income from forgiveness of student loans tax-free through 2025. Forgiven debt is normally considered taxable income.”
• In Cambridge MA, “[t]he city council…called on President Biden to formulate a plan within his first 100 days in office to cancel all student loan debt using executive authority, a call that comes as demands for action have increased among congressional Democrats.”

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In Connecticut, as the state “gears up for jury trials to kick off no earlier than May 3 in federal and state court, there’s a question on whether jury pools will be representative of the populations of each community. Some attorneys are raising the question because research has shown communities of color aren’t getting vaccinated at nearly the rate of their white counterparts. And some attorneys wonder how this might play out come time to pick a jury.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Manitoba, “[a] human rights organization is calling out what it feels is a discriminatory practice acting as a barrier to keep Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) from entering legal professions in Manitoba. The practice in question is called ‘the good character process.’”
• In New York, “State Assembly Democrats have retained attorneys from a high-profile Manhattan-based law firm to lead the chamber’s impeachment investigation into sexual harassment claims against Gov. Cuomo.”
• In Washington DC, “[n]onprofits and their advocates are lining up behind a bill that would provide $50 billion to help nonprofits boost hiring and weather increased demand for services as the nation continues to grapple with the Covid health and economic crises.”
• In Maryland, the president of Maryland Defenders Union Local 423 wrote in favor of “MDU’s key legislation — SB757/HB1277 — which will recategorize attorneys within the Office of the Public Defender as professional service employees with merit status rather than at-will appointees with no job protections.”
• In Queens NY, “[a]ttorneys and social workers at a Queens public defender agency have voted to unionize, according to election results certified by the National Labor Relations Board[.]”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Ontario, the “Ministry of the Attorney General announced a new multi-year plan aimed at enhancing access to the justice system, which includes a $28.5-million investment in a new digital case-management and dispute resolution system for Ontario’s tribunals. [The strategy] is a “formalization” of the government’s efforts in “breaking down barriers and speeding up services,” [and] also includes enhancing the capacity for remote court hearings to northern, rural and Indigenous communities, expanding provincewide the digital document sharing platform Caselines and widening online filing services for civil and family claims.”
• In Maryland, “[a] proposal to guarantee low-income tenants the right to counsel against retaliatory evictions passed out of the Maryland House of Delegates [] after fierce objections from Republicans.”
• In Massachusetts, “[t]he state’s largest funder of civil legal aid services is asking lawmakers to increase state funding by 20 percent in the fiscal 2022 budget to help fund services for low-income residents facing legal issues in areas like housing, employment, education, and government benefits.”
• In Connecticut, “[a] local push to guarantee legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction notched a victory, as state legislators advanced a ‘Right to Counsel’ bill out of committee and toward the General Assembly floor for further debate and a potential future vote.”
• In New Jersey, “[eviction cases] are occurring throughout New Jersey, despite the protections Murphy put in place. Housing experts have urged state leaders to condemn landlords who flout the executive order and the law that requires a warrant for removal.”
• In the United States, “[t]he U.S. Labor Department’s inspector general identified $5.4 billion in potentially fraudulent claims paid out by state agencies last year and suggested better state-federal coordination to prevent future fraud…Now, with President Joe Biden enacting a $1.9 trillion relief package,…those agencies remain under pressure to manage the workload while avoiding those pitfalls. The U.S. Labor Department is allowing about six weeks for them to get set.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Massachusetts, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which “represent[s] approximately 90 percent of adults charged with crimes in Massachusetts” took the anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright as an opportunity to reflect on “what we have seen and experienced during a pandemic that has laid bare the gross inequities that continue to exist in our system.”
• In Florida, “[p]roposed amendments to Florida’s speedy trial rules would be ‘unjust’ for the criminally accused and, in particular, poorer defendants,” according to the Florida Public Defender Association.
• In New Mexico, “[t]he New Mexico Supreme Court Thursday invalidated a Hobbs man’s misdemeanor conviction because a magistrate court accepted a no contest plea without providing the defendant with a lawyer as required by the Constitution.”
• In Washington DC, “[a]ll federal prisons employees have been offered the coronavirus vaccine, but just 49% have accepted it so far, the Federal Bureau of Prisons director said…[w]hen asked during a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies[.]”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Manhattan NY, the “District Attorney’s Office grant[ed] the public access to more than seven years worth of racial data that the top prosecutor here says has informed his approach to criminal justice reform.”
• In St. Louis MO, CBS News profiled Kim Gardner, who “has endured death threats, racial slurs and the relentless opposition of the police union as she tries to keep her election promise and remake the justice system.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Welcome to the end of another jam-packed week. Highlights revolve around student debt relief, where the details of various proposals are coming under greater scrutiny as some form of relief looks increasingly likely, and the Right to Counsel in Eviction, where states and localities are moving with renewed urgency as various pandemic eviction moratoria continue to expire. In criminal justice, a judge in Missouri ruled public defender “waiting lists” unconstitutional. And in Ontario, a superior court judge accepted the possibility that gun manufacturers may have civil liability for mass shootings under certain circumstances.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In a Brookings Institution paper worth reading in full, authors Andre M. Perryand Carl Romer of the Metropolitan Policy Program argued that “[s]tudent debt cancellation should consider wealth, not income”:
  
  Critics of student debt cancellation often focus on the higher income earnings of professionals…But these broadside critiques often miss three key details in the labor market. First, an American Economic Association study showed that while individuals with student loans do have higher incomes, they do not have statistically significant higher hourly wages, suggesting that student debt is forcing loan holders to work longer hours. Second, student debt pushes graduates to choose work they are less passionate about and away from public interest careers that offer lower salaries relative to corporate work. Third, a study in the Economics of Education Review shows that recent graduates with student debt take jobs that have higher initial salaries but lower potential wage growth.
  
  Critics of student debt cancellation also misrepresent who borrows and who holds federal student debt. According to our Brookings colleagues, Black borrowers typically owe 50% more in student debt upon graduation than their white peers. Four years after graduation, this gap increases to 100%. While poor and Black households’ student debt increases, nonbank marketplace lenders like Splash Financial and SoFi offer lower refinance rates to low-credit-risk households. By targeting the student debts of the highest-income and highest-net-worth households, private companies have forced the federal government to hold the highest-risk loans (those held by lower-income and low-wealth households), according to the Congressional Budget Office. So, by cancelling federal student debt, lawmakers are ipso facto aiding low-wealth households.
  
  [emphases added]

Free & Fair Elections

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court hear[d] arguments [] in a pair of cases that could impact voting rights[.] The cases involve whether a third party can turn in someone else’s ballot and whether to count ballots that are submitted in the wrong precinct.”

Environmental Justice & Environmental Collapse

• In Houston TX, “[t]he Houston Bar Association (HBA) and its related organizations [are] offer[ing] legal resources and services for those affected by Winter Storm Uri.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Washington DC, “[t]he United States could help pay for transportation, healthcare, legal services, and career and educational programs for migrant families separated under former President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” border strategy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.”
• In Illinois, “[a] House committee [] advanced legislation that would create a task force to look into the feasibility of providing legal representation to individuals subject to deportation proceedings in the state.”
• In New York, “federal judge Lawrence Vilardo criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement for failing to provide medically vulnerable people it is detaining in upstate New York access to COVID-19 vaccinations. ‘You’re doing nothing to get them the vaccine,’ Vilardo told the government attorney representing ICE. ‘Nothing. Zero.’ In late February, Vilardo ordered ICE to come up with a plan for vaccinating people detained at its immigration detention center in Batavia.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “[r]acial justice has become a leading issue in the latest push for debt cancellation. Because Black students have to rely more on student debt to pay for their college education and then take much longer to pay it down after school, researchers have found that student debt is actually exacerbating the existing racial wealth gap among younger generations…The problem is, $10,000 worth of cancellation — the amount that President Joe Biden has said he’d support — is not enough to make progress on that racial justice goal, experts [told] Money…Recent research has shown that forgiving $75,000 would be needed to help roughly 80% of Black households with student loans by wiping out their debt and boosting their wealth.”
• In New York, “New York State has sued the Federal Education Department’s sole-source contractor FedLoan Servicing (or PHEAA, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency or American Education Services) for ‘failing miserably in its administration of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness.’“

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In Marion County IN, “a new pro bono mediation project…pushed forward [despite the pandemic], launching a program that so far has garnered roughly 100 volunteers and has already helped resolve some 20 cases[:] ‘As courts started getting more used to doing hearings by Zoom or Webex or by phone, [we] reconnected and said, ‘Why not talk to the courts about doing mediations this way?’ ”
• In El Paso County CO, “[a] judge [] threw out a contempt charge he’d previously leveled against a public defender who refused to show up in person for a jury trial due to COVID-19 concerns, saying he believed the attorney learned his lesson and needed no further punishment.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In New York, the state’s “prosecutor rejected a proposal by Governor Andrew Cuomo for her to pick a lawyer to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against him, after Cuomo’s office backtracked on Sunday on a plan to choose its own investigator. State Attorney General Letitia James said it was essential that Cuomo’s administration instead formally refer the matter to her office for investigation, which would give her subpoena power and ensure an impartial probe.”
• Also in New York, “New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has retained a prominent white-collar criminal defense lawyer to represent his office in a federal investigation into the state’s misreporting of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents[.]”
• In Los Angeles CA, “[a] deputy…city attorney is suing her employer, alleging she suffered a backlash after spending four years demanding equal pay for her and other female employees in her office.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Justice Department under President Joe Biden backed off the Trump administration’s argument that a California donor-disclosure requirement for nonprofits is unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that upheld the state requirement, which requires charities to disclose their largest donors to state officials.”
• In Wisconsin, “Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill…that will boost pay for state public defenders…allow[ing] the State Public Defender to exceed the 10% cap for merit raises for the remainder of this fiscal year [and] help close the gap that was created between public defenders and the Assistant District Attorneys.”
• In Canada, “[the] Attorney General of Canada[] announced the Government of Canada’s support to Botler AI for the Pan-Canadian Triage System for Sexual Harassment, Misconduct & Violence. Botler AI has created an artificial intelligence system that anonymously sorts sexual misconduct complaints across Canada based on the details of individual situations and provides users with a personalized set of resources relevant to their own case.“

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Connecticut, “[l]egislation that would provide tenants facing eviction the ‘right to counsel’ has been named a top priority of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus and House Speaker Matt Ritter. Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney also supports the concept. A hearing on the bill was scheduled for [3/4/21].”
• In New York, “The Legal Aid Society released [a] statement calling on Albany to immediately enact the COIVD-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program of 2021 (S2742B/A3918) now that New York’s 60-day blanket eviction moratorium [has] expired[.]”
• In Burlington VT, “[a] charter change proposal…[asking] voters if the city’s charter should be amended to include protections from evictions that don’t meet the standards of ‘just cause’…[passed] 8,829 to 5,187, according to the city’s unofficial results.”
• In Milwaukee WI, County District Supervisor Clancy argued that “[t]he time is now to adopt the Right to Counsel [in Eviction] in Milwaukee County.”
• In Texas, the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court “request[ed] additional funding [for civil legal aid] because of the dire need for assistance,” arguing that “[c]ivil legal aid is an essential resource that ensures all Texans have equal access to the justice system. While legal aid providers are working tirelessly to provide these invaluable services, the need for assistance grows as the economic and health effects from COVID-19 continue and will increase on the heels of the winter storm.”
• In Ontario, “[a] Superior Court judge has accepted, in a preliminary decision in Price v. Smith & Wesson Corp., 2020 ONSC 1114, that gun manufacturers may have civil liability in Canada for losses caused by mass shootings when feasible safety measures could have prevented the harm but were not used.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Missouri, “[l]awmakers may increase public defender funding after [a state] judge rul[ed] against [the] state’s wait list.”
  • Relatedly, “[l]ast month, Missouri’s ‘waiting lists’ for public defenders were declared unconstitutional. Cole County Circuit Court Judge William E. Hickle ruled that the Missouri Office of State Public Defender violated the constitutional rights of indigent people awaiting trial by forcing them to wait for weeks, and even months, before being assigned an attorney.”
• In Wyoming, the ACLU of Wyoming argued that “a common sense-solution” to the state’s “[inability] to adequate fund the State Public Defender’s Office” would be to repeal the death penalty in Wyoming: “the Public Defender’s Office has spent significant resources on providing constitutionally required defense in death penalty cases. Even the most conservative estimates…show that between $1 million to $2 million is spent every biennium on the death penalty…Without the death penalty on the books in Wyoming, that money could immediately be re-appropriated within the Public Defender’s Office to provide for competitive salaries, proper staffing and other immediate needs with the office itself.”
• In Medina County OH, “Chief Public Defender Jocelyn Stefancin made a final stand [] to try to save the Medina County Public Defender’s Office from closure. Despite her pleas, the Medina County commissioners wouldn’t budge and said they will follow through with plans for the office to be terminated, effective April 30.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Los Angeles CA, “[v]ictims rights advocates joined with the support of Sheriff Alex Villanueva to launch a recall campaign against newly-elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. Gascón campaigned on a reform agenda when he successfully unseated incumbent DA Jackie Lacey last year. But after he took office and began detailing how many of those reforms would take shape, victims advocates and others in law enforcement and even from within Gascón’s own office have begun to protest.”
• Also in Los Angeles, “[t]he City Countil voted [] to veto the mayor’s override of a spending plan to redirect some funds from the LAPD to social programs.”
• In Atlanta GA, “[a]fter Georgia’s attorney general refused to reassign two high-profile cases involving allegations of excessive force against Atlanta police officers, including the killing of Rayshard Brooks, the district attorney is asking the court to decide who should handle the prosecutions. Newly elected Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to Attorney General Chris Carr in January asking him to reassign the cases, raising concerns that actions by her predecessor, Paul Howard, made it inappropriate for her office continuing to handle the cases.”
• In Illinois, “Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli [talked] about the criminal justice reform bill signed by Governor Pritzker [] eliminating cash bail.”
• In Allegheny County PA, “the Abolitionist Law Center, a nonprofit law firm focused on criminal justice reforms…is suing [Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani…seeking ‘declaratory and injunctive relief’[.]” The Law Center “hasn’t been able to observe [Judge Mariani’s] courtroom via remote access, despite other courtroom participants using virtual access and other judges granting virtual access to several other ALC court watchers.”
• In Massachusetts, “[a] commission tasked with studying the civil service law and increasing transparency and the number of people of color in civil service positions did not hold its first meeting by the deadline required under the new policing reform law.”
• In South Carolina, “[state] senators…added a firing squad to the electric chair as alternatives if the state can’t execute condemned inmates by way of lethal injection. The Senate then approved the bill on a key 32-11 vote with several Democrats joining Republicans in the proposal which would allow South Carolina to restart executions after nearly 10 years.”
• In New York, “[t]he Monroe County Public Defender’s Office has sent a report to local police agencies in an effort to assist them in the state-mandated effort to reform law enforcement agencies.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! I wish you all the best, here on the tail end of yet another wild week. As has become the norm, there are many stories below all of which would dominate the week’s news in another era. In the US, the President rejected calls for unilateral student debt relief from Democrats in Congress and some state attorneys general and drew sharp criticism from the ACLU for a new DHS policy memo that the ACLU says reneges on his commitment to “to fully break from the harmful deportation policies of both the Trump and Obama presidencies.” At the local government level, you will find two stories related to counter-reform efforts aimed at limiting the scope of the progressive prosecution moment. In Canada, at both the national and provincial level bar associations and governments are making plans for improving the justice system, drawing on lessons learned from the pandemic.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choices

• In the United States, Vice.com published an article examining a developing debate around how public defenders engage with social media: “Public defenders had blogged about their work as long as a decade ago, and tweeting about arraignments wasn’t new, but [as] it’s grown, however, criminal justice reform advocates and formerly incarcerated people have started to argue that these posts can put clients at risk of retaliation from judges and prosecutors, violate their privacy, and present ethical quandaries for public defenders talking so openly about their work on Twitter. The optics of white public defenders gaining likes or retweets on stories of Black and brown suffering has also been called into question. As advocacy efforts morph from live-tweets to slick video productions, and gain traction with a public increasingly likely to support justice reform, the question has become: who should be telling the story?”
• In Canada, the CBA published a profile of Aimée Craft, of two CBA President’s Award recipients in 2021. Professor Craft, discussed her work “dismantling the colonial history of law[.]” : “Indigenous law is not simply adding a splash of ‘Indigenous flavour’ into the Canadian legal system. ‘It’s actually more profound in that it questions the foundations of how we make decisions. Indigenous peoples have been excluded from this sphere of decision-making for a very long time.’ ”

Transition of Power

• In Washington DC, “[n]early 5,000 National Guard troops will remain in Washington through March 12 due, in part, to concerns about potential violence stemming from online chatter among QAnon supporters who suggest former President Donald Trump could still be inaugurated on March 4, according to the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[w]ith the NAACP as counsel, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) [] sued the former president, his lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, accusing them of conspiring to stage the Capitol insurrection and violating a law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. The complaint explains that the law, enacted in 1871, ‘was intended to protect against conspiracies, through violence and intimidation, that sought to prevent Members of Congress from discharging their official duties. The statute was enacted in response to violence and intimidation in which the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations were engaged during that time period.’”
• In Fulton County GA, “[a] Georgia prosecutor plans to examine a phone call between U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Georgia’s secretary of state as part of a criminal investigation into whether former President Donald Trump or his allies broke state law in trying to influence the results of the election, the Washington Post reported on Friday.”

Legal Ethics

• In the United States, “[w]hen President Donald Trump and his enablers began bringing that Big Lie [that the presidential election was stolen] to court, some experts warned that these lawyers may never face disciplinary proceedings. But Monday’s disbarment complaint against Sidney Powell and three additional attorneys for alleged misconduct in Michigan, as well as ethics complaints elsewhere against Rudolph W. Giuliani and others, are important steps in that direction.”

Environmental Justice & Environmental Collapse

• In Harris County TX, “County Attorney Christian D. Menefee is urging the public to report incidents of price gouging and other consumer complaints committed by those looking to take advantage of the tragedy[.]”
• In Washington DC, “As part of the grant-making associated with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program, the agency will for the first time carve out some of that program’s $889 million budget for projects addressing climate change and environmental justice.”
• In Nottingham NH, “residents [this] town of less than 5,000 people, have backed an unusual law to protect the drinking water they pull from their wells. The Freedom from Chemical Trespass Rights-Based Ordinance, which voters passed in 2019, gives the streams, rivers, and tributaries that flow into Nottingham’s drinking water supply—along with all other ecosystems ‘and natural communities’—their own legal personhood. The ordinance was overturned last week, however, after a Rockingham County Superior Court judge ruled it was vague and unenforceable. But ‘rights of nature’ ordinances like this are actually part of a burgeoning trend in environmental law, and offer a relatively new way to think about protecting natural resources.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Department of Homeland Security issued a memo on interior enforcement [] that outlines government policy that will apply during the next 90 days and addresses the scope of who DHS considers a priority for deportation and interior immigration enforcement.” In a statement, the ACLU called the memo “a disappointing step backward from the Biden administration’s earlier commitments to fully break from the harmful deportation policies of both the Trump and Obama presidencies…it has chosen to continue giving ICE officers significant discretion to conduct operations that harm our communities and tear families apart.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[m]embers of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to put an end to ‘mass deportations’ they say are being carried out in a flagrant breach of orders imposed by the Biden administration.”
• Again also in Washington DC, “the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) released a letter to [newly confirmed DHS Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas concerning alarming reports that there was an uptick in deportations before his confirmation, which may mean immigrants were not afforded due process in the rush to get them out of the country.”
• In California, “[t]he ABA’s immigration project in Texas has joined a lawsuit alleging that unaccompanied children affected by the Trump administration’s remain-in-Mexico program are being denied basic legal rights…The amended lawsuit, filed in federal court in California,[] says some of the children sent to Mexico under the policy have entered the United States on their own, yet they are denied legal protections given to other unaccompanied children.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “President Biden is facing intense backlash from progressive lawmakers after saying Tuesday he would not sign a measure to forgive up to $50,000 in federally held student debt per borrower through executive action.”
  • Relatedly, “[a] multi-state group of attorneys general on Friday sent a letter to Congress urging the adoption of two resolutions that call on President Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt.”
  • Finally, “President Joe Biden will ask the Department of Justice to review his legal authority to cancel student loan debt, the White House said on Wednesday, adding the president does not favor $50,000 in student loan relief without limitation.”
• Relatedly, NBC News reported that “Black voters want student loan debt eliminated altogether. And without substantive action, a sizable chunk of Black voters may consider stay home during the next election, according to a new…national poll shared exclusively with NBC News[.]”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In New York NY, “[a] group of public defenders and social workers seeking to unionize their nonprofit legal organization got a boost from several local elected officials who joined them for a rally Wednesday…State Sens. Michael Gianaris and Jessica Ramos, Assemblymembers Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and Zohran Mamdani, and Councilmembers Brad Lander and Jimmy Van Bramer called on Queens Defenders administration to bring back the two terminated staffers and voluntarily recognize the union.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] task force created by President Biden to create a safer workspace for federal employees during the COVID-19 pandemic has issued its first set of guidelines, telling agencies to punish those who refuse to wear masks and provide leave for employees to get vaccinated.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he agency tasked with protecting federal employees who blow the whistle on wrongdoing is faulting an appeals board for creating a new standard those workers must clear to prove their case.”
• Also also in Washington DC, Dave Uejio, the Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, issued an open call for attorneys to join the agency he leads, including “Our work will be most effective when we are able to incorporate a broad range of perspectives. We are, therefore, particularly interested in hearing from a diverse set of candidates with a range of personal and professional experiences.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Canada, “a Canadian Bar Association task force said in a report released at its annual general meeting [that a] significant investment in technology and training in the correct use of that technology, funded by government, are both needed to improve access to justice[.]”
• In Washington DC, “Joe Biden met with a group of mayors and governors last week [and] bluntly told them to get ready for a legislative defeat: his proposed minimum wage hike was unlikely to happen, he said, at least in the near term…The comments…suggest that the president is more inclined to manage the fallout of it not being included than to pursue long-shot, political-capital consuming efforts to fight for its insertion.”
  • Relatedly, “[t]he Senate parliamentarian is expected to issue a preliminary ruling as early as next week on whether the wage hike can be included [in budget reconciliation], and Biden has notably not endorsed the calls of some Democrats who want to overrule any decision that would prevent its inclusion.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[w]ith the backing of civil rights organizations, labor unions, and economic experts, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley on Thursday morning unveiled a jobs guarantee resolution demanding that ‘meaningful, dignified work’ at a livable wage be made an enforceable legal right in the United States.”
• Georgia Public Broadcasting reported on how “[after] the pandemic struck and the SSA closed their 1,200 field offices across the country[,]…the number of monthly SSI applications and new benefit awardees has declined sharply. New data show that the number of new SSI awards given in January was the lowest on record — but it wasn’t because there were fewer people in need of the benefits.”
• In Ithaca NY, “city government, Cornell Law School and the Ithaca Tenants Union are collaborating to assist those facing eviction, as national [sic] economic crisis has left renters vulnerable. A new tenant housing hotline created by Ithaca Tenants Union, a practicum law class — where law students can provide cost-free legal advice or assistance to tenants while earning credit for their work — along with monetary assistance from a grant are being used to support renters through emergency rental assistance and legal resources.”
• In Olympia WA, the Washington State Senate debated “[a]n extension of an eviction moratorium for another two years and free attorneys for tenants who face eviction[, ] proposed in a new bill that landlords say would decimate their industry.”
• In New York NY, “[f]ewer than 2,300 New York City households have filed paperwork to delay eviction proceedings, with a Feb. 26 deadline looming.”
• In Princeton NJ, as “one study has found that evictions may have caused thousands of additional deaths because of displaced families catching or spreading COVID-19[,] The Eviction Lab at Princeton University…has tracked nearly 250,000 eviction filings since mid-March. The CDC order is preventing many of those people from losing their homes. But many others are being evicted regardless.
• In Maine, “[t]he office that oversees legal services for Maine’s poor is asking for more employees to fix a myriad of financial and constitutional problems identified by watchdog groups.”
• In British Columbia, “[t]he CBA-BC [released] Agenda for Justice 2021, a roadmap for action to improve the province’s justice system and modernize provincial legislation to ease access to justice for families, businesses and communities. It‘s been through the year-long pandemic that glaring needs for change, many of them technological, have been spotlighted.”
• In Ontario, “[t]he Ministry of the Attorney General is working with justice partners to move more justice services online and closer to communities through breakthrough modernization initiatives [via t]he proposed Accelerating Access to Justice Act, 2021.”
• Also in Ontario, the provincial government “introduced legislation Tuesday that would cement changes to how provincial judges are appointed, part of several reforms it said aim to increase access to justice.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Southern CA, “[a]s courthouses across Southern California begin to resume jury trials to tackle a backlog of criminal cases, public defenders are pushing state and county health officials to move them up the priority list for coronavirus vaccines. Since December, public defenders in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Clara and San Luis Obispo counties, among others, have banded together and sent letters to Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state Health and Human Services Agency, pleading to be included on the same priority tier as jail inmates for COVID-19 inoculation. Thus far, they say, their requests have fallen on deaf ears.”
• In Buffalo NY, “some 145 people saw their misdemeanor charges dismissed in Buffalo City Court before the evidence against them was even introduced. Prosecutors ran out of time to comply with laws guaranteeing the right to a speedy trial.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Los Angeles CA, “[t]he progress that newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón was elected to make is facing obstacles, including a lawsuit filed by his own prosecutors.” The piece (available as audio or a transcript) paints a vivid picture of how the progressive prosecution movement is changing the way law enforcement operates in California: “in Northern California where the DA felt that [Gascón] was not going to be appropriately punitive in his recommendations for how the charges went…she simply decided to take back jurisdiction of that case to ensure that it was prosecuted in the way that she felt comfortable with. And it’s interesting, you are seeing DAs for the first time that I’ve ever heard of in California, uh, having that conversation amongst themselves and amongst law enforcements about which jurisdiction when there is an option they want to file in[.]”
• In Okanogan County WA, former DA Arian Noma, “who [had] vowed to stop the over-prosecution of crimes and seek bail only when necessary” but resigned halfway through is term, “[spoke] publicly for the first time since his resignation [about how] he believes the online harassment campaign [which contributed to his decision to resign] had help from law enforcement and county colleagues, including people within his own office.”
• In Washington DC, “[c]ivil rights groups are pushing the Biden administration to take a stand against facial recognition technology, arguing the rapidly spreading software poses “profound and unprecedented threats” to Americans’ freedom and way of life. The American Civil Liberties Union and more than 40 other groups urged President Biden in a letter Tuesday to freeze federal use of facial recognition and block federal funds from being used by state and local governments to buy or access the artificial-intelligence tools.”
• In Oakland County MI, “[n]ew Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said Tuesday her office has taken steps that give the chance for nearly two-dozen “juvenile lifers” to get parole. According to McDonald, the prosecutor’s office has filed motions for re-sentencing of 22 cases, after reviewing 27 county-based juvenile lifer cases.”
• In Queens NY, DA Melinda Katz gave a video interview on her efforts to tackle criminal justice reform.