The Singer Connecticut Public Service Fellowship Program was established for the purpose of offering opportunities to recent law school graduates to gain practical experience working for Connecticut civil legal aid providers. The program is administered by the Connecticut Bar Foundation, whose mission is to further the rule of law and assist in efforts to improve the administration of justice in Connecticut.
The Position
The Fellowship Program offers recent law school graduates (or those who expect to graduate by July 1, 2019) the opportunity to engage in the practice of law with a 501(c)(3) civil legal aid organization having at least one office in Connecticut which provides legal services to the underserved population of Connecticut. Candidates are sought from a broad spectrum of backgrounds who reflect the diversity of residents of Connecticut’s cities, towns and rural communities served by the state’s legal aid providers. The work of the legal aid providers encompass a wide range of legal issues, including but not limited to family, domestic violence, landlord-tenant, housing, education, employment, immigration, government benefits, healthcare, and elder law. The aspirational goal of the Singer Connecticut Public Service Fellowship Program is to retain Fellows to practice public interest law in Connecticut upon completion of the Fellowship.
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! Major news this week includes changes to Apple’s approach to dealing with data requests from government authorities, ABA plans for disaster aid to regions affected by Hurricane Florence, and the ACLU’s release of 50-state policy blueprints for reducing mass incarceration. There’s lots more besides, though! Read on below.
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! Major news this week includes regulatory action from the Trump administration that would allow the government to detain children for the duration of their asylum proceedings, the resignation of a CFPB official charged with safeguarding student borrowers, and a Louisiana court’s class certification in a structural right-to-counsel lawsuit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center. For these stories and more, read on!
Meanwhile, in NALP news:
Registration is now open for the 2018 NALP/PSJD Public Service Mini-Conference. Scheduled each year to occur immediately before Equal Justice Work’s Annual Conference and Career Fair weekend, the Mini-Conference is an ideal opportunity to meet and network with colleagues from across the country, attend substantive and skills-based programs, and interact with NALP staff members! The conference will take place on Thursday, October 25th, with additional programming for newcomers to the field on the evening of Wednesday, October 24th.
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! In a relatively slow week (aside from ongoing immigration developments) I have one specific recommendation for you:
In Wired Magazine, Professor Susan Crawford of Harvard Law wrote about a recent event where “a hand-picked group of university presidents and provosts from across the country, plus a few university faculty members, met for two days at an estate-turned-conference center on Long Island to catalyze the intentional creation of a new academic field aimed at addressing precisely this gap in interdisciplinary opportunities. This new area, “public interest technology,” is still being defined; it encompasses designing public policy and laws with an awareness of how technology actually works, as well as ensuring that technology is being used to serve public values of fairness and equity.”
One more thing: PSJD is currently considering nominations for the 2018 Pro Bono Publico Award. If you know students at PSJD subscriber schools who have made outstanding pro bono contributions to their communities, please take a moment and let us know about their work. The deadline for nominations is 8/31.
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! Immigration policy continues to be a major story, with a number of new developments this week. You’ll also want to check out the A2J news out of LA, which may join other major cities in the right-to-counsel-for-eviction movement.
Closer to home (or rather, my desk), I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome the 2018-2019 PSJD Fellow, Awa Sowe! You’ll begin seeing Awa’s work on PSJD.org and here on the blog in the coming weeks. We’re very lucky to have her with us.
One more thing: PSJD is currently considering nominations for the 2018 Pro Bono Publico Award. If you know students at PSJD subscriber schools who have made outstanding pro bono contributions to their communities, please take a moment and let us know about their work. The deadline for nominations is 8/31.
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! It’s been a relatively slow news week, but one with a couple particularly weighty pieces. Several high profile organizations including government, civil society, and corporate actors critiqued law enforcement’s growing reliance on facial recognition technology. In Canada, experts warn that proposed changes to sentencing structure for minor offenses could have a profound affect on defendants’ ability to obtain representation from law student volunteers.
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! Immigration and refugee issues continue to dominate the news this summer. Another noteworthy story is in the “Civil Rights” section, where reporting out of New Mexico looks at stalled efforts at reforming civil asset forfeiture in the state.
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public. Noteworthy news this week includes a special advance announcement for readers of the digest. See below!
See you around,
Sam
Public Service Attorney Compensation
On Monday, NALP will be officially announcing the release of its 2018 Public Service Attorney Salary Report, analyzing data collected during a survey of local public defenders’ offices, local prosecutors’ offices, legal aid offices, and public interest organizations conducted earlier this year. For the first time, the report is available for free to PSJD account holders. (Students and alumni of PSJD subscriber schools can create a PSJD account for free.) The big splash is next week, but if you check out the link above now (and you have a PSJD account) you can get an early look at the new, interactive tool.
The University of South Carolina School of Law received a second gift of more than $1 million from the Kondurous Fisherman Fund. The gift will build on programs established by the fund’s previous gift, including scholarships and summer internships for students aspiring to work in public service through governmental and non-profit agencies.
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a public interest law firm that protects and advances the civil rights of adults and children with mental disabilities. For nearly four decades, our lawyers and policy staff have brought impact litigation, participated in Supreme Court cases, lobbied Congress and federal agencies, and worked with state-based legal advocates to ensure the rights of people with mental mental disabilities to self-determination, employment, education, housing, and health care and mental health services. Our cases are primarily brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Medicaid Act. We are active in the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights and other D.C-based coalitions. The Bazelon Center envisions an America where people who have mental disabilities make their own life choices and are supported in participating fully in their communities.
The Position
The Bazelon Center regularly seeks applicants for Skadden, Equal Justice Works, and other applicable fellowships. Candidates interested in a fellowship project in any of our core areas of advocacy, including criminal justice systems reform or children’s mental health and education systems reform, are encouraged to submit a preliminary proposal for consideration. Please review our website to learn more about our current advocacy efforts.
Qualifications: Applicants should be rising third-year law students or recent law school graduates with excellent academic credentials and strong research and writing skills. Related experience and/or judicial clerkship experience is a plus.
Do you have a passion for helping others? See the full-post on PSJD.
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