The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action (GNOFHAC) center is looking for dedicated, motivated, and talented law students to assist its staff with the investigation and enforcement of fair housing complaints.

GNOFHAC is a private, non-profit civil rights organization that was established in the summer of 1995 to eradicate housing discrimination throughout the greater New Orleans area through education, investigation, and enforcement activities. GNOFHAC is dedicated to fighting housing discrimination not only because it is illegal, but also because it is a divisive force that perpetuates poverty, segregation, ignorance, fear, and hatred.

Law clerks assist attorneys in all aspects of litigation including client intake, performing legal research, conducting factual investigation, drafting memoranda and motions, analyzing discovery materials, attending court proceedings, and preparing briefs.  Law clerks may also assist with community outreach events designed to educate the public about their fair housing rights.

For more information and to learn how to apply, check the listing at PSLawNet!

Yes, here’s another opportunity come work with us at NALP in D.C.! Here are the deets:

NALP is lookging for part-time summer project assistants to update and manage database content on its PSLawNet website. This is an ideal opportunity for law or graduate students who desire to supplement their income while interning or clerking in Washington, DC this summer.

PSLawNet is an online public interest/public sector resource center for law students and lawyers seeking internships, fellowships, or permanent positions. The site contains profiles of over 13,000 employer organizations and over 1,100 job listings, offering the most extensive listing of legal and law-related public service opportunities available anywhere.

We are seeking students with an interest in public interest law to assist us with data update and maintenance projects. Hours are flexible and can be arranged around an internship or other activity.

Since 2003, NALP has housed and administered PSLawNet. Founded in 1971 as the National Association for Law Placement, NALP is a nonprofit educational association of law schools and legal employers. NALP is dedicated to facilitating legal career counseling and planning, recruitment and retention, and the professional development of law students and lawyers.

Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

That kind of rhymed.  Anyway, from the Washington Post:

The burden of paying for college is wreaking havoc on the finances of an unexpected demographic: senior citizens.

New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans 60 and older still owe about $36 billion in student loans, providing a rare window into the dynamics of student debt. More than 10 percent of those loans are delinquent. As a result, consumer advocates say, it is not uncommon for Social Security checks to be garnished or for debt collectors to harass borrowers in their 80s over student loans that are decades old.

That even seniors remain saddled with student loans highlights what a growing chorus of lawmakers, economists and financial experts say has become a central conflict in the nation’s higher education system: The long-touted benefits of a college degree are being diluted by rising tuition rates and the longevity of debt.

Some of these older Americans are still grappling with their first wave of student loans, while others took on new debt when they returned to school later in life in hopes of becoming more competitive in the labor force. Many have co-signed for loans with their children or grandchildren to help them afford ballooning tuition.

As noted, some of this debt was incurred by parents and grandparents who co-signed on others’ education loans.  Nevertheless this story offers a helpful scare about how even our own “first generation debt” can hang with us if we don’t borrow wisely and take full advantage of repayment solutions.  You can learn more about solutions/resources through folks like Heather Jarvis and the people at Equal Justice Works.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

California Attorney General Kamala Harris has joined officials from 10 other states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Arizona’s immigration law, saying the law exceeds state authority, conflicts with national policy and would drive illegal immigrants into other states.

The law would require police to demand proof of legal status from anyone in their custody whom they suspect of being in the country illegally. Largely blocked by court order since its passage two years ago, it is scheduled for a Supreme Court hearing on April 25, with a ruling due by the end of June.

Harris said Tuesday that the Arizona law would disrupt a “cohesive federal immigration policy” that is particularly important in California. She cited a 2011 report by the Pew Hispanic Center that said California has more undocumented immigrants – 2.5 million – making up a greater share of the workforce – 9.7 percent – than any other state.

. . .California and other states opposing the law told the Supreme Court that the Arizona statute goes beyond federal law in several respects – making it a crime, for example, to be in the country illegally and to seek work – and would interfere with a uniform national approach to immigration.

“Arizona is impermissibly attempting to chart its own course in the identification, apprehension and detention of undocumented immigrants for purposes of expelling them from the state,” said the brief, drafted by the New York attorney general’s office and signed by Harris and her counterparts in nine other states.

Read more here.

From Above the Law:

While the writing and researching experience is invaluable, there are additional opportunities law clerks should look into before their clerkship ends. Now on to the tips….

As a practical matter, actively update a log of the cases and research projects you worked on throughout your clerkship. . . .

Be sure to maximize the additional training and CLEs you have access to for free at a major discount. . . .

In addition to CLEs and training, take advantage of other perks and discounts available to law clerks. Each federal judicial district has different local rules on admittance and practice. Some districts will waive special requirements and fees for current law clerks, and may expedite the process. . .

Master your researching skills on sites like Westlaw and LexisNexis. . . .

Don’t forget to keep your professional network active. . . .

Maximize your free time outside of chambers. This point doesn’t even have to directly enhance your career. Want to train for a marathon? Go for it! Become conversational in a new language? Why not? Consider taking a cooking class? Now is the time! If you are planning on the partnership trajectory at a major law firm, now may be your only shot at activities or goals that can be time consuming and non-legal. Do not look back at your clerkship with regrets — with either your life inside or outside the courthouse.

Read more here.

By: Steve Grumm

We know that some 1Ls and 2Ls are still interviewing for summer jobs. And of course many 3Ls are on the job hunt.  Here are resources for interview tips and best practices:

• Earlier this year we put on a two-part job search webinar series with our friends at Equal Justice Works, the second part of which focused on interviewing and professional networking.   The webinars were focused on the summer job hunt, but the interview tips would apply in the postgrad job interview context also.
• Also check out PSLawNet’s handout, Interviewing Tips for Postgraduate Public Interest Jobs.
• Harvard Law School has extensive tips on public interest interviewing. 

Good luck!

Mil Mujeres is a non-profit legal services organization dedicated to providing comprehensive immigration legal services to Spanish-speaking survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. 

Mil Mujeres is looking for legal interns for the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters.

Ideal candidates will have a strong interest in using the law as a vehicle for social change and advanced Spanish language skills required.

To learn more, see the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  It was a pleasure to see friends and colleagues from out of town as both the Association of Pro Bono Counsel and the Pro Bono Institute held meetings in DC this week.  Especially now, in the aftermath of a recession that gutted legal services funding, and with further cuts to the Legal Services Corporation’s budget quite possible, it’s critical for access-to-justice stakeholders to find effective ways to channel law-firm and corporate resources into public interest work.   It’s fitting then that this week’s bulletin features several items related to this important task.  

• Florida’s legal services community is hoping for a $2 million appropriation from the state legislature;
• President Obama has asked the Senate to reappoint five LSC directors for new board terms;
• the intersection of pro bono and attorney professional development;
• a look at pro bono successes in my hometown, which is also home to universe’s most glorious baseball franchise, about which you will read much more next week (teaser or warning?);
• a Massachusetts legislator wants to narrow the scope of indigent defense eligibility;
• the fundraising success of D.C.’s “Raising the Bar” initiative.

This week:

• 3.28.12 – the stakes are high in Florida, where the legal services community is depending on a state government appropriation to fund their work.  Bill Abbuehl, exec. director of Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, highlights the fact that IOLTA proceeds in the Sunshine State, which historically have been a key legal services funding stream, have plummeted by 88% in 3 years.  State legislators have appropriated $2 million for legal services, but this has to get past Gov. Rick Scott.  (Full piece in the Daytona Beach News Journal.)

• 3.28.12 – President Obama is seeking reappointment of five Legal Services Corporation board members.  Those directors are: Robert Grey, John Levi, Laurie Mikva, Martha Minow, and Gloria Valencia-Weber.  Next stop: the Senate, for confirmation. 

• 3.28.12 – the intersection of pro bono and attorney professional development inside law firms.  Pro Bono Institute president Esther Lardent looks at why and how pro bono work offers skills development opportunities for law-firm associates.  As it happens the folks I work with at NALP, who approach this from the professional development side, will be doing some work on this issue over the next few months.  I’m very much looking forward to spending time in pro bono issues again after having started my career with a pro bono clearinghouse.

• 3.27.12 – the Philadelphia-based Legal Intelligencer has run a “Pro Bono 2012” special edition.  It includes pieces on how pro bono work aid in attorney professional development and on law school pro bono.

• 3.26.12 – a Massachusetts state representative, citing budgetary concerns and questions financial eligibility screen system for clients who request indigent defense services, is advancing a bill that would limit access to those services based on the type of crime alleged and severity of possible punishment.  From Wicked Local (great name!): “To reduce spending, [Rep. David] Linsky has proposed indigent defendants charged with misdemeanors unlikely to lead to jail time shouldn’t get court-appointed lawyers.  ‘We’ve identified 41 very minor offenses that wouldn’t be eligible for court-appointed counsel. In 99 percent of the cases, they don’t lead to jail time,’ he said.” 

• 3.25.12 –3.23.12 – the Blog of the Legal Times reports on the fundraising success of the D.C. Access to Justice Commission’s new “Raising the Bar” initiative.  “Raising the Bar” encourages law firm monetary donations to legal services providers by asking them to donate certain portions of overall revenue.  Twenty-three firms’ combined donations totaled $3 million in contributions.  Here’s more about “Raising the Bar” from the AtJ Commission’s website.  

The Homeless Persons Representation Project (HPRP) is seeking to hire a full-time law clerk for the summer to assist its public benefits and education attorney.

HPRP’s mission is to end homelessness in Maryland by providing free legal services, including advice, counsel, education, representation and advocacy, for low and no-income persons who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

HPRP is a non-profit organization that provides free legal services and advocacy to maximize our clients’ ability to gain and maintain stable income, healthcare, housing, education and employment. HPRP primarily works with clients located in Baltimore City when providing direct services. The direct representation provided by HPRP informs the organization’s policy work which deals with complex legal and systemic issues facing people struggling with homelessness in Baltimore City and around Maryland. Therefore, HPRP provides both direct legal representation and corresponding client and community education in order to foster and promote the public interest.

Learn more about this position and apply at PSLawNet!

From NPR news:

When community leaders wanted justice for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, they went knocking on the door of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. And that’s been happening a lot lately.

Over the past three years, the unit has brought record numbers of hate crimes cases, uncovered abuses in local police departments and challenged voting laws in Texas and South Carolina.

“I wish discrimination were a thing of the past,” says Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. “I wish we were living in a post-racial America. I wish my phone were not ringing, but regrettably it’s ringing off the hook in the voting context; it’s ringing off the hook in the hate crimes context and in so many other contexts.” . . .

“The Civil Rights Division I think is the conscience of the Justice Department,” Holder says.

But for political conservatives, this unusually active Civil Rights Division represents something else.

“It’s a very liberal Civil Rights Division. I think by far the most liberal I’ve seen,” says Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank that follows issues of race and ethnicity.

According to Clegg, this Justice Department is pushing the boundaries of the law when it comes to voting rights and fair lending, and it’s not doing enough to prevent racial quotas in school admissions.

Read or listen to the rest of the story here.