The National Law Journal just ran a well reported but very sobering (at best) piece about the funding woes confronting civil legal services programs throughout the nation.  This passage aptly sums up the circumstances:

Law firms may be benefiting from the slow economic recovery, but legal aid groups face the most dire circumstances in decades. The problem is a perfect storm of IOLTA funding declines, cuts in state and local funding, uncertain federal support and a tight private fundraising environment. The situation is exacerbated by steep increases in demand for free legal services as millions of low-income Americans face long-term unemployment, foreclosure and other serious problems.

The article offers a detailed, data-driven review of the funding cuts plaguing the nation’s legal services programs, and is well worth reading.  Very troubling for us are the numbers concerning staff constrictions and layoffs: 

• Texas RioGrande Legal Aid “stopped filling open lawyer positions in 2010 to prepare for cuts and may close offices, institute layoffs and roll back its caseload in 2011…”
• The Legal Aid Society in NYC “eliminated 30 staff positions in its civil division” and “can help only one of every nine people who ask for assistance.”
• Legal Services of New Jersey, an umbrella for Garden State legal services programs, was forced to “eliminate about 200 of its 700 positions since 2007, and President Melville Miller Jr. anticipates cutting another 50 to 70 jobs in 2011 if more money can’t be found.”
• New Mexico Legal Aid’s “employees agreed to a six-day furlough in 2010 to save money, but it may need to close one office and lay off four or five workers in 2012.” 

This is in keeping with what we’ve heard from other legal services executive directors, who have been struggling to make budgetary ends meet without cutting staff.  This situation is distressing for at least two reasons.  First, we know that many law students and recent grads have invested time, effort, and money in preparation for serving clients on society’s margins.  And while so many would-be advocates around the country want nothing more than the opportunity to serve as legal services lawyers, the opportunities to do so are increasingly few and far between.  Second, and more importantly, fewer lawyers means fewer clients served.  As noted in the NLJ piece, demand for services from the swollen numbers of low-income clients has skyrocketed in the recession’s wake.  It’s alarming, and positively disheartening, that the legal services community has been so hobbled by funding cuts at a time when it is needed to protect and assert the rights of so many vulnerable people and families.

From an email circulated today: 

James J. Sandman, a former longtime Managing Partner at the law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP and the current General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer for the District of Columbia Public Schools, has been selected as the next President of the Legal Services Corporation, Board Chairman John G. Levi announced today.

Here’s the full announcement from the LSC website.  The PSLawNet Blog has had the good fortune to work with folks at Arnold & Porter, Mr. Sandman’s old firm, on a number of pro bono/public interest-related  projects.  From this, we know that Mr. Sandman’s reputation as an advocate for public interest law and for promoting access to justice could not be stronger.

And here’s a little more coverage from the Blog of the Legal Times.

Happy New Year!  The PSLawNet Jobs Report is back after the holidays and ready to share updates on new job opportunities and career advice.

Need a job or internship? During the  last week PSLawNet has posted:   29 new attorney positions,   20 new internships, and  9 new law related opportunities.  Additionally, there are currently 1,015 active opportunities in our job database.  To search the database visit PSLawNet. 

Featured New Positions:

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) is seeking an experienced professional for the role of Legal Advisor in ABA ROLI’s response to a USAID Request for Applications. The Legal Advisor will be responsible for advising Liberian justice sector institutions and officials, professional judicial and attorney associations, civil society partner organizations, legislators, government officials, and international domestic NGOs on the Liberian criminal justice system, pre-trail practices and procedures and Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure.  Deadline to Apply:  January 18, 2011.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NIRP) is seeking summer interns for their Tacoma office.  The NIRP provides legal services to immigrant detainees at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), which holds up to 1500 detainees, 90% of whom are unrepresented.  Both the Tacoma office and the NWDC are a 35-minute commute from downtown Seattle.  Summer interns will directly represent detainees under the supervision of the attorneys in removal proceedings.   This includes appearing in immigration court hearings, preparing clients for court, preparing witnesses, drafting a number of legal briefs and making oral arguments in court.  In addition to their direct caseload, intern responsibilities include:  conducting “Know Your Rights” presentations at the NWDC to groups of detainees; conducting intakes with individual detainees; conducting workshops to assist detainees with applying for relief; identifying legal issues and potential forms of relief for detainees; drafting pro se briefs for detainees; and performing a variety of administrative tasks.  Deadline to Apply:  February 28, 2011.  Check PSLawNet for additional details and application instructions.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Looking for attorney positions with the federal government? As we shared last Friday in the Public Interest News Bulletin, a federal jobs expert shared some job-seeking wisdom in the Washington Post:

In each budget justification submitted to Congress, you get to see what an agency says it needs, as well any additional hiring requests to carry out its work … For the Justice Department to strengthen national security and counter the threat of terrorism the 2011 budget requests $300.6 million. The request includes 440 additional positions, including 126 agents and 15 attorneys. To enforce immigration laws the department is requesting an $11 million program increase, including 125 positions – 31 of them attorneys.  You can read an agency’s budget proposal on its Web site.

Learn more about getting a PSLawNet job seeker or employer account . . .

Some folks think it’s nearly impossible for a public defender to transition to prosecuting crimes, or vice versa.  For some attorneys, that may be the case, due to ideological or other motivations.  But many attorneys do bounce between public defense and prosecution jobs. 

Here, from the California-based Daily Triplicate (great newspaper name!) is the particularly compelling story of Jon Alexander, who’s being sworn in as Del Norte County’s top prosecutor today.  He just left his job as a public defender to become the boss on the other side of the courtroom.

Criticisms of Alexander for being a public defender pursuing a prosecutor’s position frustrated him, he said.

“It bothered me that certain people decried it,” said Alexander. “It was an honor to be a defense attorney and represent the county’s indigent.”

He referenced John Adams defending British soldiers and then going to war against them later because he believed in the right of being innocent until proven guilty.

“If you take that oath and adhere to it, then justice gets served no matter what side you’re on,” said Alexander.

It could be Alexander’s past personal experiences that allow him to move comfortably between the two positions.  He’s a recovering drug addict, and it was the intervention of a judge several years ago which allowed him to turn his life around.  Now, Alexander’s promising to be tough as nails on dealers, but says that users who wish to change their lives for the better will be given opportunities.  We suppose that Alexander knows exactly how much a person can make of an opportunity like that.

So long , 2010.  We close out the year with two week’s worth of public interest news.  We’re also happy that this week’s edition is packed with stories highlighting the extraordinary work of several extraordinary advocates.  Our Inner Scrooge’s heart is warmed.  Featured: a new place to look for new federal jobs; a law intended to help CA foreclosure victims hiccups; a report on whether the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is actually helping clients who seek unemployment benefits; Cooley Law School establishes a new pro bono initiative with the private bar; a successful public interest employment “bridge” program at Florida Coastal Law; the tremendous public interest commitment of an award-winning UConn law student; adios, Federal Career Intern Program; a busy legal services development chief is profiled; $500K going to a clinic and public interest programs at Cardozo Law; the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland’s incoming president knows firsthand what it’s like to be a legal services client; the business case for supporting legal services in Eastern Missouri; a big federal-court win for a Yale Law School clinic; a Cleveland judge and two attorneys dig deep to help out a low-income defendant; here are some phrases to keep off of your resume; a five-part story on Missouri’s beleaguered public defense system; and the New York Times editorial board weighs in on the importance of supporting legal services.

• 12.30.10 – how do you find federal jobs?  Pore through budget  proposals.  Not what you wanted to hear, we know.  But here’s a great bit of job-seeking wisdom, courtesy of the Washington Post: “In each budget justification submitted to Congress, you get to see what an agency says it needs, as well any additional hiring requests to carry out its work … For the Justice Department to strengthen national security and counter the threat of terrorism the 2011 budget requests $300.6 million. The request includes 440 additional positions, including 126 agents and 15 attorneys. To enforce immigration laws the department is requesting an $11 million program increase, including 125 positions – 31 of them attorneys.  You can read an agency’s budget proposal on its Web site.”

• 12.29.10 – Southern California Public Radio reports on an unintended consequence of a California law intended to benefit homeowners facing foreclosure proceedings: “A California state law to protect homeowners is backfiring—foreclosure lawyers can’t legally get any money until the case is done, so lawyers leery of losing or getting sued aren’t taking cases at all. That leaves homeowners facing foreclosure in a tight bind, effectively shutting them out of legal representation when they most need it.”

• 12.28.10 – the New York Times Freakonomics blog highlights what they characterize as a “remarkable randomized experiment (“What Difference Representation?”) with evidence showing that offers for free legal representation from the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) ended up hurting unemployment claimants.”  Well, sort of.  The circumstances are fairly complex, and we haven’t had a chance to read the researchers’ report yet, just the blog post.  Anyway, we wanted to pass this along for those readers who are data dorks.

• 12.28.10 – yet another example of a pro bono collaboration involving a law school and volunteer attorneys.  From the Examiner in Detroit we learn that the “Thomas M. Cooley Law School and the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association (DMBA) have joined forces to create a new program to expand free legal services in Detroit and Wayne County. The Cooley Law School-DMBA Pro Bono Mentorship Program will allow students from Cooley’s Ann Arbor and Auburn Hills campuses to collaborate with a mentoring attorney in providing free legal services to clients.”  Cases will be referred to the new program from local public interest organizations.

Keep reading . . .

A few days ago the ABA Journal picked up on some advice offered by a career-guru type from the LinkedIn website.  She listed 10 words/phrases that may appear empty and trite to an employer reviewing your resume.  Drumroll…

1. Extensive experience
2. Innovative
3. Motivated
4. Results-oriented
5. Dynamic
6. Proven track record
7. Team player
8. Fast-paced
9. Problem solver
10. Entrepreneurial

The PSLawNet Blog sees the wisdom in thinking twice before dropping a line about how you’re a “highly motivated problem solver with experience working in fast-paced environments.”  If you offer nothing to support that statement, it’s basically hogwash.  With that said, we’d offer a caveat: if a job description uses a certain word in characterizing what kind of professional skills an employer wishes to see in job applicants, then it should be fair game (at least in a cover letter if not a resume).  If an employer lists “sense of entrepreneurship” as a qualification sought, then you can use the word “entrepreneur” in your application materials.  But – and this is important – you should be able to support it.  So you don’t write “natural entrepreneur” and leave the phrase to hang there unsupported.  You write, “entrepreneurship as exemplified by X, Y, Z”  In any event, this is easier to do in the cover letter as opposed to the resume.  In the resume you want to be as specific about your skills as possible.  This, we think, is the moral of the story here: Don’t use the above words as meaningless space fillers on a resume.  Tell employers what you’ve actually done: wrote a brief; participated in a service project that helped X number of people in need, etc. 

Next month, The PSLawNet Blog will offer several posts with resume, cover letter, interviewing, and networking tips.  Stay tuned…

For the past three years, Yale law students in the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic have worked on behalf of 11 Hispanic immigrants arrested during a three-day raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in New Haven, Connecticut.

The 2007 raid took place in a predominately Hispanic section of New Haven and resulted in the arrests of 32 immigrants, the majority of whom were bystanders and not the inividuals with criminal backgrounds that were the actual target of the raid.

In their complaint, the plaintiff’s alleged

that ICE officers raided residents’ homes without warrants or consent, and interrogated, arrested, and detained them in violation of their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. The complaint alleges that officers did not have individualized reasonable suspicion that any plaintiff was in violation of immigration laws, and that the interrogations and arrests were on the basis of plaintiffs’ skin color and physical appearance. Plaintiffs further allege that ICE’s actions were part of a pattern or practice of violations and were planned in response to pro-immigrant policies recently enacted by New Haven political and community leaders, in violation of New Haven’s local sovereignty as protected by the Tenth Amendment. Plaintiffs are seeking declaratory relief and damages.  Read full complaint.

Precedent was set last week when Judge Stefan Underhill of the  U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut “ruled that officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be sued for civil rights violations” and that “the court has jurisdiction over this type of immigration case.”   From The National Law Journal’s coverage earlier this week:

“We believe this is the most sweeping decision by a district court on this issue,” said Muneer Ahmad, the director of the clinic. “It means that ICE, as a law enforcement agency, is subject to the same measures of constitutional accountability as other agencies.”

Although Underhill dismissed some minor claims, he found that the most important ones have enough merit to go forward, Ahmad said.

Congrats to the six Yale law students currently working on the case and the 25 other students that have been a part of the effort during the last three years on their victory!

The Washington Post has run a good piece today highlighting the criticism that’s befallen federal, state, and local government workforces as politicians, seeking to close alarming budget gaps, accuse government employees of being overcompensated.  And the public seems to have embraced the perception of cushy government service gigs:

Three-quarters of those who were surveyed in an October Washington Post poll said they believe federal workers get better pay and benefits than people doing similar jobs outside the government, and 52 percent said government employees are overpaid.

The Post article reviews some of the available data getting at the question of whether government employees are in fact overcompensated…

Much repeated by Republicans is an August review of Bureau of Economic Analysis data by USA Today. It showed that the average salary and benefits of federal employees had grown faster than that of private employees for nine years running, to the point where federal compensation had reached $123,049 in 2009 – more than twice the level of the average private-sector worker.

Other research suggests that once you adjust the numbers for the fact that government workers tend to be older, more educated and more experienced, they show that public employees don’t do all that well in comparison.

Also complicating the equation is the fact that while government salaries are often lower than those in the private sector, benefits are often better.

The nonpartisan National Institute on Retirement Security found that, on average, total compensation is 6.8 percent less for state employees and 7.4 percent less for local employees than for comparable non-government workers.

Of course this article focuses on government workforces at large, not on attorneys.  And as noted in the above quote block, some research shows that when you control for education level, some highly educated professionals could do much better in the private sector than in the public sector.   So, are government attorneys enjoying bloated compensation relative to their private sector counterparts?  Well, on average: no.

• As to local government attorneys, NALP’s 2010 Public Sector/Interest Attorney Salary Report offers a national median starting salary figure of $50,000 for prosecutors.  And after 8-10 years of work experience, those salaries increase to almost $76,000.    By comparison, NALP’s 2010 Associate Salary Survey reports that the national median starting salary for law-firm attorneys is $115,000 – more than double the prosecutor salary.  And even the median starting salary at a small law firm (2-25 lawyers) is $72,000 – almost 50% larger than the prosecutor salary.  After 8 years of experience, associate salary is $160,000.  (And remember that by year 8 in practice, many law firm attorneys will achieve partnership status, bringing with it considerable upward income mobility that is not reflected in these data.)
• Federal attorneys are the highest earning public service attorneys, but their salaries are still generally lower than their private sector counterparts.  Starting salaries for federal attorneys vary based on which agency they work with and other factors, but they generally fall in the $50,000-$75,000 range.  Federal attorneys can pass the $100,000 mark over time, but on average still don’t have the upward earning potential of private sector attorneys.  We do wish to note that federal attorneys typically have impressive benefits packages, and loan repayment assistance helps take financial weight off the shoulders of debt-laden junior attorneys.  Nevertheless, the road through federal service seems to be better described as relatively comfortable, but hardly lucrative.

Finally, we’ll close by noting what we see as the most troubling potential side-effect of the barrage of criticism of public servants: a sort of demonization of government service.  Attorneys in government service are not there for the money.  For the vast majority, there is tremendous satisfaction in working to promote public safety and welfare, national defense, preservation of individual rights, environmental justice, and on and on.  We hope that this is not lost in the rancor as the entire country – including its government attorneys – confronts post-recession fiscal realities.

UPDATE: after publishing this post we were reminded of this vigorous defense of the federal workforce against charges that is it bloated and overcompensated.  The author is Max Stier, the head of the Partnership for Public Service, with which PSLawNet and NALP have collaborated in the past.

NOTE: the PSLawNet Blog will skip next week’s Jobs Report as we will still be on holiday.  Never fear though, a jam-packed issue of the Jobs Report will be back on January 3, 2011.  Happy Holidays!!!

Need a job or internship? During the past week PSLawNet has posted:   65 new attorney positions,   28 new internships, and  10 new law related opportunities.  Additionally, there are currently 1,238 active opportunities in our job database.  To search the database visit PSLawNet. 

Featured New Positions:

The ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties is current accepting applications for a Staff Attorney/Civic Participation Fellow.  The Fellow will be responsible for cultivating and supporting the ability of local nonprofits to engage in political advocacy and policy change, including compliance with applicable c3/c4 rules and lobbying/disclosure requirements.  The Attorney will also be concerned with election protection and voter rights, including efforts to make voting easier for low-income communities, communities of color, immigrants, young voters, first-time voters, and/or limited English speaking communities.  The Attorney will serve as a community legal resource, educating organizations and individuals on their rights to vote and participate in political advocacy, as well as building up capacity for such work in the local legal community.  The Attorney will engage in non-litigation advocacy where appropriate.  The Attorney will also screen and develop impact litigation, including direct representation and amicus curiae briefs, on relevant issues, in conjunction with members of the legal community.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

The Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts (CLCM), with offices in Lynn and Lawrence, is seeking 3-4 law student interns for Summer 2011.  These internships provide students a great opportunity to assist in advocacy on behalf of young clients in critical legal matters.  CLCM provides direct representation to indigent children and youth in child welfare, CHINS, delinquency, mental health, and educational matters.  During the twelve-week summer program, student interns concentrate on one or two of the five substantive practice areas.  Each student is assigned to a specific mentoring attorney who they accompany to court and/or education meetings and hearings and provide case support.  Students have direct client contact and assist in client interviewing, investigation, and preparation of motions and memoranda.  In addition, CLCM provides appellate advocacy in delinquency and child abuse and neglect cases.  If a case is pending during the summer months, a student may be asked to assist in research and writing of appellate briefs.  Check PSLawNet for additional details and application instructions.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Do you think you might be interested in pursuing summer and/or career employment in a local/state prosecutor’s office? Check out Yale’s Guide to Criminal Prosecution.  Visit PSLawNet’s Prosecutors/Public Defenders Career page for links to other resources regarding working in a local/state prosecutor’s offices or as a federal prosecutor.

Learn more about getting a PSLawNet job seeker or employer account . . .

NOTE: the PSLawNet Blog will skip next week’s Bulletin so that we can finish our Christmas shopping and have a little sip of the egg nog.  The Bulletin will return on Friday, December 30th.  Happy holidays, cats and kittens!

This week: a Tarheel State law school launches a new clinic; New York’s chief judge takes a pragmatic approach in appealing for increased legal services funding; a shady former legal services employee gets time in the clink for skimming funds; Yale Law School’s veterans clinic goes to (legal) war with the Department of Defense – twice!; mandatory pro bono in Mississippi(?); promoting diversity in the federal workforce; a public defense shakeup in San Bernardino, CA; geeks raise money for legal services; some appreciation for the retiring ED of Rappahannock Legal Services; the continuing importance of the DOJ’s access to justice program; a pro bono up-tick in Las Vegas; and, Ropes & Gray’s deferred associates return to the firm following one-year public service placements.

• 12.16.10 – the Greensboro News & Record reports that the Elon University School of Law is stepping in to provide legal services to immigrants and refugees in the wake of a long-time provider’s discontinuance of services.  Students  and law professors involved with Elon’s Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic “will assist clients in applying for political asylum, permanent residency, citizenship and employment authorization, as well as reunifying families separated by war and conflict.”  The clinic is launching as Lutheran Family Services, on account of poor economic conditions, is discontinuing legal services to the immigrant/refugee community.  Here’s our blog coverage of these developments from yesterday.

• 12.15.10 – the Rochester City Newspaper reports on New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s efforts to better fund legal services providers in the Empire State.  “Last month, New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman released a report that recommends doubling the funding for New York’s low-income legal-service providers over a period of four years. He’s including a $25-million increase in his proposed 2011-12 budget, which state legislators will have to approve. New York’s legal service providers receive $200 million a year, some from the state, some from the federal government, and from other sources … What makes the judge’s report compelling…is that it focuses on the benefit to institutions and taxpayers. It doesn’t just reiterate the many important benefits to clients.  The report says that New York loses an estimated $400 million annually because state residents have difficulty collecting federal funds for which they are eligible, including disability payments and veterans’ benefits. State and local governments, and ultimately taxpayers, end up paying for that, the report says.”

• 12.15.10 – We’re not sure whether to feel satisfied or nauseated at this news.  The Washington Examiner reports that the “former chief of finance for the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau will serve two-and-a-half years in prison for stealing more than $1 million from the nonprofit.” Benjamin King served as MLAB’s chief financial officer for 20 years.  A little more than 10 years ago, he and an accomplice (who was not with MLAB) started skimming funds from MLAB’s coffers through inflated office supply invoices.  Yuck.  (Here, also, is more detailed coverage of the scheme and King’s sentencing from the Loansafe.org website.)

Keep reading . . .