It’s finals season! Between studying and looking for summer jobs, this time of year can be very stressful for any student. Check out these tips from TheMash.com on how to avoid stress and frustration while studying:

Listen to classical music
Why? Think classical music is just for band geeks and grandmas? Think again. Yes, listening to piano pieces versus loud rap music has been suggested by “The Doctors” TV show to improve a person’s focus and help with relaxation. Just sit down, breathe deeply and play some Mozart.

“When I listen to classical and contemporary I feel relaxed and motivated,” says Huntley senior Yaresti Pena. “It is slow, soothing and lovely music.”

Exercise
Why? Going for a run or walking your dog around the neighborhood doesn’t sound appealing in this chilly weather. But sitting for long hours at a time staring your notes calls for a break. Your body will eventually need some form of exercise. Short 10-minute exercise breaks are beneficial periodically when studying. You can jog up and down your stairs or get zen with some yoga poses. You can also check out On Demand workouts on TV or free exercise videos on YouTube.

Snack on bananas and blueberries—away from your books
Why? It’s difficult to focus when your stomach is grumbling. Dropping the books and heading to the kitchen for a fruit or vegetable snack can help your concentration—something that is essential when studying. While eating junk food may seem like the easiest alternative to quiet your stomach, eating blueberries ranks among the top-10 healthiest foods to eat during exams according to startcooking.com. According to fitnessandfreebies.com, bananas supply potassium to make you more alert. Both fruits are recommended for learning and retaining information.
“They help me when I’m studying for a big exam,” says Vernon Hills senior Thalia Uriostegui.

Clean up
Why? Cleaning is probably the last thing on your mind while studying, but besides having a shiny, clean room, cleaning serves as a stress management technique, according to Prevention magazine. All that stress accumulated by intense studying has to let out in some form and moving around will serve both as light exercise and a way to reduce anxiety by getting those endorphins going.

If a full night’s sleep isn’t an option, try short naps throughout the night
Why? If you’re studying for various subjects on the same day, you might be thinking about pulling an all-nighter. A study by the National Sleep Foundation estimates that only 20 percent of teenagers get the recommended nine hours of sleep. While not recommended, sometimes all-nighters simply can’t be avoided. The best way to still get some form of sleep is to take 30-minute naps every two to three hours throughout the course of the night. Set an alarm to wake yourself up.

Meditation is also a great way to relieve stress, as well as taking a few hours of “personal time” to catch up with friends or relax. For more tips on beating the law school blues, check out this National Law Journal special report on law students and stress. Good luck with finals!

Interested in advocating for low-income tenants in eviction proceedings? The Eviction Defense Network, a nonprofit law corporation that defends low-income communities in civil proceedings, is now hiring a staff attorney to join its office in Los Angeles, California.

From the PSJD job posting:

EDN was created in 2003 to widen access to legal representation in the face of increasing evictions in Los Angeles, particularly to underserved immigrant communities. EDN increases access to justice access to justice by providing legal representation to low-income tenants through sliding scale and below market fees based on income.
Staff Attorney responsibilities: defend tenants in eviction proceedings in all stages of the proceeding, pretrial, trial, and post trial with a heavy emphasis on jury trials.

Successful applicants must be active members of the California bar with 0-2 years of legal experience and a demonstrated commitment to public interest law and serving the needs of low-income people. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required)!

By: Steve Grumm

Catholic Law just hired Kirland & Ellis’s DC-office managing partner as its new dean.  Brooklyn Law did something similar recently.  It’s only two hires, but it’s interesting to wonder whether pressures on the law-school business model will lead to more schools bringing in deans who’ve got law practice management skills.  Here’s the latest from the National Law Journal:

For the second time in the past year, a law school has tapped a new dean directly out of private practice. 

The Catholic University of America on November 27 named Daniel Attridge as the future dean of its Columbus School of Law. Attridge has been the managing partner of Kirkland & Ellis’ Washington office since 1998.

In March, Brooklyn Law School chose Nicholas Allard, then chairman of Patton Boggs’ lobbying, political and election law practice, as its new dean. Leaders at Saint Louis University also named local trial lawyer Tom Keefe Jr. as dean in August, but only on an interim basis.

Attridge’s appointment could signal an increased willingness among university and law school leaders to look beyond the scope of academia, politics and the bench for dean candidates, particularly at a time when the traditional law school business model is under enormous pressure. Catholic University President John Garvey, who previously headed Boston College Law School, said that Attridge will bring something different to the table.

There are just over 200 ABA-accredited schools.  And, again, these are just two hires.  But it’s still worth considering whether schools will look to lawyers with law-practice management skills as they choose current deans’ successors.

We’ve just posted several attorney listings from the Illinois attorney general’s office – in both her Chicago and Springfield branch offices.  Go to PSJD to check them all out (login required), but here’s one teaser:

Assistant Attorney General – Environmental Crime

The Environmental Crimes Bureau is seeking candidates for the position of Assistant Attorney General. Responsibilities include the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes in state court. Interested candidates must be able to work closely with local, state, and federal environmental agencies, as well as local and state police. Specific duties include: conducting all aspects of criminal prosecution, including case management, legal research, drafting and arguing motions, preparing witnesses for testimony before the grand jury and all phases of the criminal trial process to include jury selection, opening statements, witness preparation, witness examination, cross-examination, and closing arguments.

…

View the full listing on PSJD.

Please spread the word.  We’ve extended the deadline on our 2012 Public Interest Employment Market Snapshot Survey.  The new response deadline is Friday, 12/7.  U.S.-based nonprofit and government law offices should participate in this unique survey effort.  Here’s more info and a link to the online survey:

The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) is conducting a brief, anonymous survey of U.S.-based nonprofit and government public-interest law offices about 1) recent law student and attorney hiring and 2) hiring expectations for the immediate future. We will use the data to produce a report about what the public interest employment market looks like now and how it may change in the near future.

NALP will release the report in January 2013. The report will be made freely available online. The report will NOT identify any responding organizations by name. We hope the report will benefit the public interest legal community as well as law students and attorneys who are on public interest career paths.  Please participate in the short survey by clicking here.  The (new) survey deadline is Friday, 12/7/12.  If you have questions please contact Steve Grumm, NALP’s director of public service initiatives, at sgrumm@nalp.org or 202.296.0057.

Interested in Con Law? Interested in helping high-school students to learn about Con Law and civics principles?  Here’s a great summer 2013 opportunity.

Street Law, Inc. is an international leader in programs that teach non-lawyers about law, democracy and human rights.  Founded in 1972 at Georgetown University Law Center, Street Law has helped more than 100 law schools (70 in the U.S. and 30 more around the world) develop and implement programs in which law students teach practical law in schools, communities and correctional settings.  Street Law has also worked with democratizing countries throughout the world.  Information about the organization’s programs and materials are available online at www.streetlaw.org.

There are several components to the Summer Law Student in Residence Program for 2013.  There will be sufficient work for one law student in the summer of 2013.

US Supreme Court Summer Institute

Street Law, in cooperation with the Supreme Court Historical Society, conducts two six day institutes in late June about the Court and its cases for high school government, civics and law teachers.  Sessions are held at Georgetown Law Center and at the Supreme Court of the United States.  Our law student assists in the development of the materials for the institute, participates in all sessions, helps teach one session, and assists with the institute follow-up.  A justice participates in each of the two institutes. Street Law staff and participants are also in Court for the announcement of the final cases of the term. (www.streetlaw.org/scipage.html)

Legal Updates to Street Law Web Sites

Street Law has produced a high school curriculum (Street Law: A Course in Practical Law) which is the most popular practical law book used in high schools today. We will be providing a legal update to the web materials that complement the 8^th edition of the text (2010 edition).

In addition, Street Law has developed a popular web site for high school teachers and students who want to learn about Supreme Court decisions mandated in state history and social studies standards.  Our summer law student in residence will assist in expanding and updating this web resource, www.landmarkcases.org.

Our law student will assist with research, writing and editing tasks.

…

View the full job listing on PSJD (login required).

Interested in climbing the government career ladder?  From the FCW website, here are insights from a group of distinguished management and public policy professionals who interact with government workforces.  Empasis is placed on career mobility (but not serial job-jumping so that it looks like you can’t stay anywhere too long), developing leadership skills, and viewing a career as a lifelong learning opportunity.

This is geared toward folks in government but the advice is great for anybody looking to develop leadership skills.

With information on everything from postgraduate fellowships to student loans, PSJD’s Resource Center is full of helpful materials to guide your path to a public interest law career. If you’re just beginning the internship or job hunt, the Career Central page is a great place to start!

Figure out the basics of why you want to practice public interest law with Harvard Law’s Career Search Self-Assessment. Get tips on cover letters, resumes, and networking. Check out the Public Interest Career Fair Calendar for upcoming dates. If you’re interested in criminal law, browse PSJD’s Careers in Public Defense and/or Careers in Criminal Prosecution guides. We’ve also recently added a variety of specialty guides, also produced by Harvard Law, on practice areas ranging from conservative public interest law to LGBT Rights law, just to name a few.

All of these guides and more are available on the Career Central page in PSJD’s Resource Center!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, ladies and gents.  I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving, and that you’re able to spend the next few days eating leftover turkey and/or vegetarian/vegan turkey-like food products.  And stuffing.  Man, I love stuffing.  (Or “dressing”, if you’re a weirdo and are inclined to call it that.)  Earlier this week, I began taking inventory of all for which I am thankful.  Early in this process, the same thought again and again returned to me.  I wrote it down: “I count the many things I’m thankful for and realize that to be thankful is, in itself, a great privilege.”  Which is to say that, in light of all the people, ideas, and things that enrich me every day, it is truly my pleasure to stop, appreciate them, and feel a sense of humbled gratitude.  I am so, so fortunate.  Many of us are.  We should appreciate this fact more than once a year.  But once a year is a good start.

Yesterday’s Washington Post featured a terrific piece on my favorite Philadelphian, Benjamin Franklin.  Historian Walter Isaacson notes that Franklin exhibited both “strands” that make up our national character: the lover of individual liberty, and the community-builder.  (Isaacson didn’t quite get to this metaphor, but I began to see them as the two strands in the double helix of American DNA.)  Franklin’s work ethic, entrepreneurship, and boundless curiosity propelled him to individual success in commerce.  But his civic-mindedness was equally unbounded.   He launched innumerable civic and commercial programs, and was generous in his charitable giving.  Franklin believed in the power of community.

This piece helped me to understand how fortunate I am to be a part of the larger access-to-justice community, which counts among its members those from public interest organizations, law schools, law firms, and other groups.  For most of my professional life I have been able to learn and grow because of the access-to-justice community’s generosity and spirit of fellowship.  So I’d like to thank all of you, professional colleagues and collaborators, advocates, students, and clients, from whom I have taken so much.  It is truly a pleasure to try to repay those debts in the meager ways I do.

Before the bulletin, an important bit of NALP news, and a request for a (simple) favor from me:

• NALP has just release research findings on law-school “bridge-to-practice” programs, which fund recent graduates to gain work experience in short-term placements while the grads search for long-term employment.  These programs have of course grown in number and size in the recession’s wake.  Notably, within our response pool 48% of the bridge-to-practice placements were with public interest organizations, and another 30% were in government.  One wonders what impact the growth in these school-funded programs has had on hiring for full-time positions within the nonprofit and government legal community.  Here’s a report on some of the research’s key findings.
• If you have not yet circulated our 2012 public interest job market snapshot survey to your contacts, please do.  The survey response deadline is Friday, 11/30.  We need your support to make this unique and important survey effort a success.  Here are details and survey link.  Thanks!

This week’s public interest news in very, very short:

• JALA says, “We have a new ED!”
• NYSBA says, “More legal help for vets!”
• ACC says, “More flexibility for in-house counsel to do pro bono!”
• ABA law school accreditation committee says, “No mandatory pro bono!”
• Harvard’s public interest dean says, “The public interest job search is unlike the law-firm job search!”
• Music!

The summaries:

• 11.21.12 – “Jacksonville Area Legal Aid has named attorney James Kowalski Jr. as executive director, replacing Michael Figgins, who resigned in January to become the executive director of Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma.”  While this is the case for most legal services executive directors today, Kowalski is walking into a tough gig.  JALA has experienced a big funding decline and has laid off attorneys, as the Jacksonville Daily Record piece documents.

• 11.20.12 – in a press release, “The New York State Bar Association Tuesday called for providing veterans of the U.S. military with better access to quality legal services. It also recommended the creation of more specialized veterans courts, such as the successful Veterans Treatment Court in Buffalo, the first of its kind in the nation.”

• 11.19.12 – an update from the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) about their work to promote more flexibility in state practice rules (thus allowing in-house lawyers to do more local pro bono), and some insight on how in-house counsel can craft such proposals when advocating for changes in individual jurisdictions.

• 11.19.12 – It appears that a New York-style pro bono requirement for law students won’t be going national anytime soon.
  Several organizations and legal leaders have asked the committee that is updating the American Bar Association’s law school accreditation standards to add a 50-hour pro bono requirement, but that idea got a chilly reception from the committee at its most recent meeting on November 16 and 17. None of the nine committee members in attendance endorsed the idea, which generated only a few minutes of discussion. Those who took a position said that requiring a certain amount of pro bono work is outside the scope of the ABA’s accreditor role.”  Here’s the National Law Journal article, and here’s a link to many of the proposals, which are housed on the National Center for Access to Justice’s website.  Finally, here’s a look at the committee’s actions on other law school accreditation change proposals, from the ABA Journal.

• 11.14.12 – Alexa Shabecoff, assistant dean for public service at Harvard Law School, sets the record straight by responding to a Harvard Crimson article that had pushed for more promotion of public service within the law school.  Shabecoff writes: “Those of us who work in the community of public interest lawyers welcome media interest in the nationwide shortage of legal services for the underserved. We also understand the temptation to write stories that say that part of the problem is that on-campus recruiting by big private firms is so much more robust than on-campus recruiting by public interest employers, but to suggest—as the Crimson has done—that the way for Harvard Law School to address that imbalance is to “set up [on-campus] interview programs for public sector organizations akin to its efforts to facilitate student interviews for private companies” is to miss the mark. The vast majority of such organizations cannot spare the funds to send recruiters to law school campuses around the country. Nor do their hiring cycles lend themselves to the kind of unified recruiting ‘season’ adopted by large law firms.  The task for law schools is to maximize the support available for students who will not be deterred by the fact that it is indeed likely to be somewhat harder—and to take somewhat longer—to land a public service position than to obtain an offer from a private law firm….”

• Music!  Thanksgiving is for many of us tinged with nostalgia.  The return home, the football games (granted, played at a much slower pace) with family and old friends, etc.  So here’s some nostalgia from me – one of my favorite 1990s bands, the Connells, playing “Fifth Fret”.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting individual rights and demanding equal protection of the law, is continuing their legacy as a leader in public school student rights with the Juvenile Summary Representation program. In recent years, the ACLU-PA has seen a marked increase in the issuance of summary criminal citations for “disorderly conduct” or “harassment” to students whose “crimes” are usually non-violent misconduct such as using profanity or yelling at a teacher. In many public schools, a call to the local police is a routine addition to school discipline – though the criminal prosecution, unlike school discipline, can result in a criminal record that will follow the student for the rest of his/her life.

From the PSJD job listing:

The ACLU of Pennsylvania is seeking a young lawyer or third year law student to partner with us in seeking funding for a one-year fellowship to design and implement a project to provide representation to public school students charged with summary offenses for misconduct in school. Full details are on the attached summary and at the Stoneleigh Foundation website: http://stoneleighfoundation.org/sites/default/files/ACLU-PA%20Final%20Abstract.pdf.

The Fellowship is limited to those who have earned their J.D. between May 2010 and May 2013. Candidates must be admitted to or sitting for the Pennsylvania Bar in July 2013. Preference will be given to those with clinical or other experience representing clients in court.

The deadline to apply is next week on 11/29/2012. For more information, view the full job listing on PSJD.org (log-in required).