by Kristen Pavón

This morning, I read an interesting Above The Law post on the rise of social media in the practice of law and how Gen Y attorneys are too caught up in the technology craze instead of focusing on traditional methods of lawyering (I came across this post on Flipboard on my iPad, of course).

Here’s a snippet:

While younger generations have always looked at their elders as “stupid,” and not worthy of listening to, it has never been as much a part of the legal profession as it is now. The Gen Y cheerleading squad of lawyers and their marketers believe there actually is a “revolution” in the legal profession and that if those who have come before don’t get with it and move their practices to the iPad, they (we) will go the way of the dinosaur. . . .

While many Gen Y lawyers see the use for mentors, there is little room for the thought from the worst of Gen Y that they could learn something over a cup of coffee or an intelligent email discourse with someone that’s been practicing law (and still practices) longer than four minutes.

And so they continue to wonder why the few clients that call them for legal representation after seeing them “on the first page of Google” don’t seem to have any money but “really like your website.” . . .

I believe their mentors, those they turn to for advice, those they respect, are the webmasters, the SEO hacks, the marketers –- not lawyers, not those who came before them. When your practice is a website, an iPad, some videos, and a price list, why would you want to listen to someone with a bad website, no iPad, no videos, who still markets “organically” – through doing good work and developing relationships with real people? . . .

Futures are built, they are earned, and they are created through hard work. I don’t care what year it is or what new technology or social media site is out, your future will never be something you can purchase from someone else.

Attorney Brian Tannebaum (who practices in my beautiful and sunny hometown of MIA!) makes some good points about the relevance of social media and technology in how we build law practices and a strong client base. I agree that a solid, traditional foundation is the real key to success in our industry. Sure, I think technology can be a way to attract some clients and build a certain level of expertise — but you have to take your efforts offline to be a real player.

However, I (a “Gen Y” attorney) and other newbie attorneys like me do want mentors (and sponsors), not marketers! We do want mentors who will tell us “where they’ve been, where they’ve failed, and  . . . how they became who they are.”

There were two takeaways for me from Tannebaum’s piece on how to snag a well-respected attorney as a mentor:

1. Stalk.
2. Ask if they’ve “got a minute?”

Read the rest of Tannebaum’s post here.

Thoughts?

The Policy and Advocacy Associate for Women’s Human Rights assists the Women’s Policy and Advocacy Director in furthering AIUSA’s work on women’s human rights with advocacy, strategy development and event planning.

Under direction of the Women’s Policy and Advocacy Director, the Associate will be responsible for advancing the women’s human rights priorities of AIUSA. This brief entails the development, planning, and execution of advocacy initiatives contributing to AIUSA’s women’s human rights goals.

These priorities include but are not limited to:

• Ending violence against women
• Ensuring U.S. action in support of Afghan women
• Supporting women’s human rights defenders
• Ending human rights violations based on gender
• Defending women’s sexual and reproductive rights, including working to end maternal mortality
• Ending gender discrimination

Interested? Check the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

The Internets weren’t even a series of tubes when I was high school.  In college I used Netscape Navigator to browse while doing school papers, and Yahoo! was the latest thing in web search technology.  So I’m greatly interested in how the technology-driven Millenials will change the ways we work as the years unfold.  Here’s some new research from the Pew Internet Project and Elon University’s Imaging the Internet Center:

Teens and young adults brought up from childhood with a continuous connection to each other and to information will be nimble, quick-acting multitaskers who count on the Internet as their external brain and who approach problems in a different way from their elders, according to a new survey of technology experts.

Many of the experts surveyed by Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center and the Pew Internet Project said the effects of hyperconnectivity and the always-on lifestyles of young people will be mostly positive between now and 2020. But the experts in this survey also predicted this generation will exhibit a thirst for instant gratification and quick fixes, a loss of patience, and a lack of deep-thinking ability due to what one referred to as “fast-twitch wiring.”

The survey results are based on a non-random, opt-in, online sample of 1,021 internet experts and other internet users, recruited via email invitation, Twitter or Facebook from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University.  Since the data are based on a non-random sample, a margin of error cannot be computed, and the results are not projectable to any population other than the experts in this sample.

From Huffington Post:

. . . [Attorney Melva] Rozier founded a new type of law firm — or rather, a law store — inside the Boynton Beach Mall near West Palm Beach, Fla. The Law Booth counsels walk-in clients on divorce, foreclosure and other legal topics at discounted rates from a kiosk planted between American Eagle Outfitters and Victoria’s Secret shops. . . .

While lawyers can play a crucial role in helping those in need, the cost of their services is out of reach for many Americans. Free
legal services, offered by nonprofit organizations, typically serve only those most destitute, while private law firms tend to charge expensive fees. A 2011 survey by the World Justice Project called the U.S. judicial system “inaccessible to disadvantaged groups,” ranking it 52 out of 66 countries when it comes to “access to civil justice.” . . .

In Rozier’s regular law office, clients schedule appointments in advance and pay an initial $125 fee for a consultation. At the Law Booth, they can walk in at, say, 8 p.m. on a Saturday, sit in a chair, eat a pretzel and consult her or one of her two partners for a fee that starts at $25. People can stop in for preparation of a will, advice about starting a business or questions about bankruptcy or a personal injury matter.

The idea for the Law Booth grew out of Rozier’s experiences of working with clients affected by foreclosure. Palm Beach County has the fourth highest number of foreclosures of any county in Florida — a state that ranks among the ones with the highest counts, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure database. Rozier started her career by representing clients at real estate closings, only to see her business “dissolve” when the real estate downturn hit, she said. “I started realizing how much people were hungry for information.” . . .

Some lawyers argue that the commercialization of legal services has changed the industry for the worse, causing a huge surge in claims and a culture of litigation as people try to sue for just about anything. Others say that marketing and advertising simply help disenfranchised people learn about services that they wouldn’t otherwise know about.

“Allowing access [to lawyers] has been a great benefit for the community,” said Richard Carey, 28, one of Rozier’s two partners at the Law Booth. “We want to be where the people are. If people are shopping at 4 a.m., we want to make sure we’re there.”

Read more here.

Thoughts?

The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is seeking a law student intern for Summer 2012 to assist the Division of Civil Legal Services. NLADA, founded in 1911, is America’s oldest and largest nonprofit association devoted to excellence in the delivery of legal services to those who cannot afford counsel. For 100 years, NLADA has pioneered access to justice at the national, state and local level through the creation of our public defender system, development of nationally applicable standards for legal representation, groundbreaking legal legislation and the creation of important institutions such as the Legal Services Corporation.

The successful candidate will be responsible for assisting the Civil Legal Services Division’s Quality and Program Enhancement initiative and ongoing efforts to identify federal funding opportunities for legal aid.  

View the full job posting for this (unpaid) internship position on PSLawNet (login required).

By: Steve Grumm

From OneNewsNow:

The nonpartisan League of Women Voters and two groups for prisoners’ rights have filed a lawsuit in a San Francisco appeals court, arguing that criminals should allowed to vote in the June primary election. The lawsuit challenges a note from Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s office that says low-level criminals shifted from state prison to county jail under the state’s prison realignment process are ineligible to vote.

…

Backers of the lawsuit say the state constitution only prohibits individuals who are in prison or on parole for the “conviction of a felony” from voting, and they claim that does not fit for low-level offenders under the realignment.

This Friday, I’ll leave you all with a motivating piece. CNN writer Tom Cohen published a great profile on President Obama’s Harvard law professor and social justice “maverick,” Derrick Bell.

Here are a few highlights :

. . . [M]any who knew Bell [he passed away last October] through his legal and teaching career express admiration for his life’s achievements and his academic prowess.

“Bell’s pursuit of racial and social justice and his dogged critique of liberal incrementalism in universities and elsewhere was like a persistent wind that changed the landscape of law schools and influenced the larger academic world as well,” wrote Harvard law professor Lani Guinier and Texas School of Law professor Gerald Torres in a remembrance of Bell published in the “Chronicle of Higher Education.”

“He worked in so many ways: a mentor to many of today’s leading academics, a master teacher whose commitment to his law students was unquestioned and unmatched, and a provocative scholar and critic,” Guinier and Torres continued. “He was a celebrated maverick before that word lost its luster.”

Guinier had particular reason to honor Bell. In 1998, she became the first black women granted tenure as a Harvard Law School professor, six years after Bell’s departure over that issue.

Bell was a founder of critical race theory, which examined the intersection of race, power and law in a harsh portrayal of American society as one dominated by class and racial conflict. . . .

“He [Bell] wrote and spoke with powerful authenticity about race in ways that alienated not only many an adversary but also many a friend, some who even begged for his silence,” Sexton said. “But he knew that the cost of silence to his soul could exceed the sacrifice of good opinion and material goods to himself.”

To Sexton, Bell “knew that he was meant to strive, to struggle, and to push — there would be no short cuts.”

“Yes, Derrick rocked the boat,” he continued. “He also shook the tree, yielding fruits of exceptional scholarship that nourished the discipline of law and thousands of colleagues, students and friends, whom he inspired to teach each other the law and to stand up, speak out, and find joy and satisfaction in stretching the boundaries of justice.”

You can read the rest here. You can also read the NY Times’ obituary for Mr. Bell here.

Have a great weekend!

The Appeals Division of the New York City Housing Authority Law Department is seeking one intern for a seven to eight-week period this summer.  The Appeals Division represents the Housing Authority in proceedings before state courts in response to Article 78 proceedings challenging administrative determinations, Article 81 guardianship proceedings, and appeals from housing court orders.

The intern will:

• Assist Division attorneys involved in high-volume motion practice and appellate work
• Draft notices of entry, stipulations of adjournment, and affidavits in support of applications for adjournments
• File motions, answers, judgments, and other documents
• Obtain documents from court files
• Obtain adjournments, including making applications before a referee
• Prepare papers for service and filing
• Research legal issues related to eligibility for public housing and Section 8 benefits, housing court proceedings, and Article 81 guardianship proceedings; and draft research memoranda
• Other duties as assigned in these and related areas

To learn how to apply, see the listing at PSLawNet!

By: Steve Grumm

Happy Friday, dear readers.  Along with teaching us to embrace and cultivate a sense of searing guilt for the remainder of our earthly days, the nuns in my Catholic elementary school imparted to their pupils much common-sense wisdom.  One such bit of wisdom is “fall back, spring forward”, a phrase which reminds me what I’m supposed to do with my clocks twice a year.  So, a reminder to spring your clocks forward by one hour tomorrow night.

Speaking of our earthly days, this afternoon I’m joining my family at Arlington National Cemetery to bury a great aunt and uncle, the latter having been a retired Air Force pilot.  This will be a solemn, but not a sad, event.  Aunt Kay and Uncle Jim, who were married, died late last year after long, happy lives together.  Uncle Jim was one unique cat, and his life story offers an object lesson in cherishing every waking moment.  I knew him as an older man who sky-dived, scuba-dived, and bungee-jumped into his 70s.  My dad knew Uncle Jim as his mom’s gregarious younger brother who, on holiday leave from the military, would sweep into their house like a hurricane – showering gifts on the kids and ribbing my grandfather, a Philadelphia fireman whose German-American roots left him wanting quieter, more sedate family interaction.

Uncle Jim knew what sacrifice in life meant, and he endured hardships.  But I can truthfully write that only once did I see him without a smile on his face for any more than a few seconds.  That was at his wife’s funeral last October.  He died weeks later.  Throughout his life Uncle Jim seemed to know better than most that, come what may, our clocks spring forward faster than we may wish.  So we must seize every single moment as they try to pass us by.   

This week:

• Maryland’s public defender law getting a rewrite, but litigation about the right to counsel still likely to follow;
• Kentucky prosecutors and public defenders might need a stiff bourbon to deal with the next state budget;
• Badger student pro bono gets a boost;
• why mandatory pro bono ain’t the solution;
• in the U.K, proposed legal aid cuts run into a House-of-Lords buzz saw (a phrase that is fun to write and not often written, I’d wager); 
• chickens coming home to roost in battle between U. Md. legal clinic & state lawmaker;
• pardon this! A proposed law school clinic on executive pardon power;
• Presidential Management Fellows application snafu draws attention of lawmakers;
• show me more funding! LSC cuts will impact Legal Services of Eastern Missouri;
• juvenile justice developments in the Buckeye State. 

The summaries:

• 3.9.12 – “Lawmakers have reached a compromise to rewrite Maryland’s Public Defender Act to accommodate a Court of Appeals decision that found criminal defendants weren’t given proper access to attorneys.  The consensus amendments, if passed early next week, would not require judges to work weekends and would dramatically reduce the number of people arrested for crimes with shorter jail terms.  Lawmakers are looking at changing the law ahead of a mandate from the Court of Appeals that would require public defenders to be available within 24 hours after an individual is arrested.”  (Story from the Gazette.)

• 3.8.12 – in the “just because it could have been worse doesn’t mean it’s now good” department,” Kentucky’s next biennial budget isn’t likely to please local prosecutors or public defenders.  From Gannett: “The proposed state budget pending in the General Assembly has local prosecutors…concerned.  The House of Representatives in the Kentucky General Assembly passed a proposed budget…that would cut most state agencies by 8.4 percent… The Senate will take up the budget next week and will likely make some changes.  The House’s budget opted not to make the further cuts proposed by Gov. Steve Besher to prosecutors and public defenders but also won’t restore their funding cut out of this year’s budget. If this budget passes…it will mean a further backlog of cases and potential reduction in staff, prosecutors said.”

• 3.7.12 – the University of Wisconsin Law School will bolster pro bono programs through two grants from the state bar.  One grant will help launch a free, law-school staffed legal clinic for veterans.  The second will support the law school’s new Pro Bono Society, which will engage law students and alumni pro bono efforts.  Here’s more from the State Bar of Wisconsin.  

• 3.7.12 – the Pro Bono Institute’s Esther Lardent makes the “pragmatic and philosophical” case against mandatory pro bono as a solution to our country’s access-to-justice crisis.  Here is Lardent’s blog post on the Association of Corporate Counsel website.  

• 3.7.12 -House of Lords = Radical Progressive Revolutionaries(?)  Civil legal aid advocates in the U.S. are not the only ones facing waves of government funding cuts.  The present UK government is trying to push through measures that would considerably slash legal aid funds.  But the House of Lords, which hitherto I’d thought was a legislative body preoccupied mainly with things like croquet and ascots, is pushing back.  They are dealing blow after legislative blow to the government’s justice bill, as reported by the Independent. 

• 3.6.12 – a Maryland lawmaker opposed to the work of the U. of Md.’s law school environmental clinic has thrown down the funding gauntlet.  We’ve covered the particulars of this ongoing battle before (see my colleague Kristen’s great summary here, and more here).  This is the latest from the Nat’l. Law Journal: “State Sen. Richard Colburn has proposed a budget amendment that would pit the state’s two public law schools against each other, transferring $500,000 from the University of Maryland, which houses an environmental law clinic that has angered some Republican lawmakers, to the University of Baltimore School of Law, to start a law clinic that would represent farmers.   Colburn and state leaders including Gov. Martin O’Malley have spoken out against the environmental law clinic for representing plaintiffs in a pollution lawsuit against a local chicken farm that supplies Perdue Farms Inc. They contend that publicly funded law clinics should not file suits that hurt state businesses.”  It’s a fascinating story raising questions around academic free expression, use of state education funds, combating pollution, and the power of local business interests large and small.    

• 3.5.12 – Pardon this!  A novel idea for a law school clinic. From Pro Publica and the Wash. Post: “For years, lawyers, faith-based groups and students have helped file petitions for inmates seeking to cut short lengthy prison sentences. But there have been no comparable resources for felons who sought pardons after serving their time.  That may soon change. In response to stories published in December by ProPublica and The Washington Post, former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich (R) plans to launch the nation’s first law school clinic and training program devoted to pardons.  Ehrlich’s proposal takes aim at the inequities identified by ProPublica’s investigation into the dispensation of presidential pardons over the past decade.”  [The investigation showed disparities in pardons granted based on race and whether a petitioner had congressional support.]    

• 3.5.12 – a snafu with the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program application process has raised larger questions for Republican lawmakers.  From Government Executive: “The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked Office of Personnel Management officials to explain a recent [PMF] program mishap.  In a March 1 letter to OPM Director John Berry, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Dennis Ross, R-Fla….sought more information related to a Jan. 23 incident when OPM mistakenly sent acceptance emails to 300 semifinalists who hadn’t qualified for the [PMF] program. About a quarter of the 1,186 semifinalists received the erroneous letters. Later that day the same applicants received another email informing them there was an error in the system.  In the letter, Issa and Ross expressed concern that the notification mistake was ‘indicative of larger IT failures at OPM,’ including the agency’s recent troubles with retirement processing and USAJobs.gov.”  A Washington Post commentator wonders if the PMF issue is a mole hill rather than a mountain. 

• 3.3.12 – the Missourian looks at the impact of recent Legal Services Corporation funding cuts on Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.  [Nitpick: the article misstates the latest LSC funding cut, by saying LSC’s appropriation was chopped from $350m to $210m.  In fact the appropriation now stands at just under $350m, having been cut last November from about $404m.] 

• 3.3.12 – juvenile justice developments in the Buckeye State.  From the Dispatch: “Juveniles in Ohio who are arrested for offenses that could land them in a detention center or youth prison can waive their right to legal representation without ever speaking to a lawyer.  That will change if a proposal by the Ohio Supreme Court goes into effect. The new rule would require juvenile defendants to meet with a lawyer before choosing not to use one.”

And since we’re closing with Ohio, I leave you with Mark Kozelek’s achingly beautiful Carry Me, Ohio.

by Kristen Pavón

This is it! The PSLawNet Blog has hit an important milestone — our 1,000th post!

We launched The PSLawNet Blog back in January 2010 and since then, we’ve worked tirelessly to bring you information on emerging news and developments in the public interest law arena, featured job opportunities from our abundant public interest legal jobs database and useful professional development and job search tips.

Our reach has grown over 150 percent since our blog’s inception and we have you to thank for that. Thank you for stopping by, following us, and reading our posts.

We look forward to celebrating many more milestones with you!