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 . . .

Lutheran Family Services (LFS) has provided free services to refugees for decades in the Carolinas.  The Greensboro News & Record reported today that the nonprofit is shutting down its refugee resettlement program because of current “economic conditions.”

The announcement [that LFS was ending its program] came after a series of problems with providing refugees services, including a group of resettled Iraqi families who found themselves in apartments with no heat and leaky plumbing; some lacked proper clothing and follow-up services.

About one-third of all refugees coming to North Carolina come to the Triad (a 12-county area surrounding the cities of Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem), the state refugee coordinator has reported, because of the concentration of resettlement agencies here. . . . The Triad area expects to receive about 400 new refugees next year.”

In an effort to address the gap in legal services this closure will create for refugees in the Triad community, Elon University School of Law plans to open the Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic in January.

Students, supervised by law professors, will assist clients in applying for political asylum, permanent residency, citizenship and employment authorization, as well as reunifying families separated by war and conflict.

Legal services are “incredibly important” to refugees, who have a year to get a Green Card or become naturalized, said Helen Grant , an Elon law professor and the clinic’s director.

The PSLawNet Blog was excited to learn about Elon’s new initiative to serve their community and wishes them the best as the school community establishes their new clinic!

In a recent op-ed in The Seattle Times the Deans of Gonzaga University School of Law, Seattle University School of Law, and University  of Washington School of Law announced the formation of the “Race and Criminal Justice System Task  Force” by their law schools in partnership with the Washington State Access to Justice Board Chair and King County  Superior Court Judge Steve Gonzalez. 

From their op-ed:

DISPROPORTIONATE prosecution and imprisonment of minorities haunts our criminal-justice system. Too often we see confusion over why minorities are overrepresented among criminal defendants. Studies by University of Washington researchers, which were vigorously debated this year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit alleging racial bias in the state’s criminal-justice system, are shedding light on the contentious question.

Research shows that disparate minority imprisonment in Washington is mainly due to problems in how justice-system actors exercise discretion rather than higher minority involvement in crime. The problems of discretion occur at numerous junctures, leading to racial disparities in discretionary decisions, from whose car to search during the investigation stage to what sentences defendants receive. . . .

Our three law schools are engaged in a newly established “Race and the Criminal Justice System Task Force” in partnership with Washington State Access to Justice Board Chair and King County Superior Court Judge Steve Gonzalez. We are building a broad-based coalition with partners from the community at large, legal profession, minority bar associations and justice system to examine the issue of race and the criminal-justice system. The task force’s objectives will include deepening research and education in this important area and making recommendations for structural reform of our state’s and our nation’s criminal justice systems.  Read full op-ed.

To learn more about the efforts of the Task Force visit their website.

The Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law sponsors an annual essay competition “to stimulate the production of scholarly work in international human rights law.”

This year’s topic is:  The Rights of Children and International Human Rights Law. Competition participants may focus their writing on any subject related to this topic.

There will be two awards granted, one for the best article submitted in English and one for the best article submitted in Spanish.  Award recipients will receive:

• a scholarship to the Program of Advanced Studies in Human Rights Law and Humanitarian Law
• travel expenses to Washington, D.C.
• housing provided in university dorms
• a per diem for living expenses.

Further, the best articles may be published in the American University International Law Review.  Visit the Academy’s website for eligibility and requirements.

We were pleased to see Peter Kaufman, 3L at Charleston School of Law, featured today in the Post and Courier for completing 1,550 hours of pro bono at the 9th Circuit Solicitor’s Office while in law school.  According to Dean Andy Abrams this is the “largest contribution of pro bono service hours of any student in the school’s history.” (and the PSLawNet Blog is willing to wager it would clock in as the largest contribution at most law schools).

From the Post and Courier:

The school requires students to perform at least 30 hours of free public service work as part of its graduation requirements.Abrams said, “graduates like Peter have been instrumental in the remarkable success that our law school has experienced.  We are proud of their accomplishments and are confident that each of them will make a significant impact in the days ahead as leaders and change agents in their communities.”

Kaufman said he put in most of the hours during the past two years. And his grades actually improved while he was working in the solicitor’s office, mostly doing investigative research.  He attributes that to seeing legal work in action on an almost daily basis.  “Things just made more sense,” he said.

He hopes to eventually land a job doing trial work in a solicitor’s office.

But for now, he’s going to study for the bar exam, which he’ll take in February. Then he’ll begin job hunting, he said.

And he’d advise others to do public service even if they’re also busy with other things. “Always try to pay it forward,” he said. “You have to give it away to keep it.”

Need a job or internship? During the past week PSLawNet has posted:   69 new attorney positions,   55  new internships, and  27 new law related opportunities.  Additionally, there are currently 1,263 active opportunities in our job database.  To search the database visit PSLawNet.

Featured New Positions:

The U.S. Department of Commerce, Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) is looking for an International Program Specialist to assist with the development and implementation of plans for technical assistance in developing countries in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, but may be called upon to work in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions as well.  Deadline:  December 16.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PAILP) is currently seeking a 2011 Summer Intern.  The PAILP was created and designed to meet the needs of low income residents of PA’s prisons, jails, state hospitals, and state centers with the goal of ensuring equal access to justice for indigent institutionalized persons.  The intern will be responsible for legal research and writing, case development and investigation and other related duties under the supervision of a staff attorney.  Additionally, the intern will be taken to client meetings and court whenever appropriate.  Deadline:  Feb. 1, 2011.  Check PSLawNet for additional details and application instructions.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Attention 2Ls and 1Ls:  Are you interested in a postgraduate fellowship? Get a jump start by visiting our Fellowship Info and Resources page and Application Deadline Calendar.  Postgraduate public interest fellowships enable recent graduates to secure entry level positions with nonprofit organizations, government entities, and educational institutions.  Applications for project-based fellowships are typically due either late in your 2L summer or early in your 3L year.  The work you do during your second summer may be an essential component in a strong fellowship application.  Indeed, while not necessary, it’s ideal if your second summer placement is your would-be fellowship host.

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

This week: a controversial testing method for an NYC homelessness prevention program; TARP funds to prop up corporate interests, but not legal services for low-income homeowners?; the Skadden Fellowship Class of 2011 contains 29 budding public interest attorneys; funding calamity averted for D.C. legal services programs; will we lose more local/state government jobs in the recession’s wake?; significant changes in how NYC indigent defense cases are assigned to counsel; an Innocence Project report sees widespread prosecutorial misconduct in California; the Cleveland Plain Dealer looks at inefficiencies in the local criminal courts.

• 12.9.10 – in the New York Times, we look at a controversial social welfare program evaluation tool.  Borrowing an idea from the medical research arena, the City is essentially denying a homelessness prevention program’s assistance to half of a group of “test subjects” (who are actual people on the verge of homelessness), while giving assistance to the other half.  By doing so, the City will learn how effective the program – called Homebase – really is.  Given what’s at stake though – the welfare of families in crisis – many local public interest advocates have voiced concerns.  On the other hand, the piece notes that “randomized controlled trials” are increasingly used by philanthropies and governments because of their value in answering fundamental questions about social programs’ effectiveness.  And, due to funding shortages the program at issue in NYC is not able to serve all applicants anyway, so the net number of applicants denied is not actually rising as a result of the study.

• 12.9.10 – writing in The Nation, liberal commentator Katrina Vanden Heuvel laments that the Department of the Treasury, relying on an interpretation of current statutory authority, opposes the future use of some TARP funds by states to support civil legal aid for homeowners in distress.  There are pieces of legislation in the House and Senate, respectively, which would explicitly authorize states to channel TARP funding toward legal aid.

• 12.7.10 – The new class of Skadden Fellows has been announced.  Twenty-nine fellowships were awarded to students hailing from 21 law schools.  Four schools have multiple awards: Harvard (5), Michigan (2), Penn (2), and Stanford (3).  The 18 schools which have one Class-of-2011 fellow are a fairly varied bunch, including: Arkansas, Boston College, CUNY, Texas, UVA, and Widener.  Based upon our analysis of the past four annual classes, there has been increasing breadth and diversity with respect to the schools producing Skadden Fellows.  See our recent blog post containing comparative numbers for the classes of 2010, 2009, and 2008.

Keep reading . . .

The new class of Skadden Fellows has been announced.  Twenty-nine fellowships were awarded to students hailing from 21 law schools.  Four schools have multiple awards: Harvard (5), Michigan (2), Penn (2), and Stanford (3).  The 18 schools which have one Class-of-2011 fellow are a fairly varied bunch, including: Arkansas, Boston College, CUNY, Texas, UVA, and Widener.

For a little bit of context, the Class of 2010 (last year’s class) consisted of 27 fellows from 20 law schools.  The 2009 class conisted of 28 fellows from 14 schools.  And 36 fellows from 16 schools comprised the Class of 2008.  We don’t have time to look back further – although info on past classes is available via the above link – but based upon the past 4 years we’re seeing more diversity and breadth with respect to the schools from which fellows graduate.

Congrats Class-of-2011 Skadden Fellows!!!  Good luck!!!  

This will remain an open question for some time . . . we began our coverage of the debate over the adoption of mandatory pro bono in Mississippi back in September.  The Clarion Ledger reported this week that the state’s Supreme Court Rule’s Committee is still considering the proposal that would require lawyers to complete 20 pro bono hours annually or in lieu of that service contribute $500 to the state bar for legal services programs. 

The need for increased access to legal services is clear – “one in five Mississippians lives in poverty” and “many of [the state’s] poorest residents lack knowledge of the legal system and/or the financial resources to secure legal help.”

The majority of lawyers in the state (that have voiced their opinion) are opposed to the adoption of such a requirement.   The former chief-of-staff to Governor Kirk Fordice, attorney Mark Garriga, categorized the adoption as a separation of powers issue:

“[i]t’s nothing more than a tax on 6,000 people (lawyers)” and the judicial branch does not have authority to impose a tax.

Sandy Middleton, the Executive Director of the Center for Violence Prevention in Pearl, Mississippi, while acknowledging the need for more lawyers to assist victims of domestic violence is still opposed to mandatory pro bono because she fears “if [lawyers] are forced to do it, they may not give their all in cases.”

While the Rules Committee continues to deliberate, the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project (MVLP) has established Advancing Justice, Restoring Hope.  This annual campaign aims to raise $50,000 to:

Increase the number of volunteer lawyers statewide, Boost the number of legal clinics to match volunteer lawyers with pro bono clients, Ensure small fees do not impede legal actions, Provide outreach, and Support operations.

What do you think?  Should Mississippi (and other states for that matter) adopt mandatory pro bono requirements?