Sam Halpert, PSJD Fellow 2014 – 2015

Photo: Nicolò Bonazzi – CC License

As regular readers already know, between now and the end of the semester we will be blogging about how to make the most of the winter holidays to upgrade your job search tools and hone your job search skills. It’ll be a collaborative effort, but each of us will be in a separate role. When it comes to career development, Christina’s the coach, the drill sergeant, the Mr. Miyagi—choose your favorite metaphor. I won’t be providing knowledge, but raw material. In my own job search efforts, I’m the struggling player, the fresh-faced recruit, the Karate Kid—again, take your pick. (Just so long as you picture Ralph Macchio and not Jayden Smith.) And Christina’s winter goal is to get me—and you—into fighting form.

But wait! (You may very well say.) Sam, what are you doing at PSJD.org if you aren’t a job search guru? Truth is, I bring a fair amount to the PSJD Fellowship: my past experiences have made me an adept web developer, a proficient public speaker, and a comfortable manager. But I’m not adept, proficient, or even comfortable when it comes to looking for work myself. In the last thirty words, I think I’ve already eclipsed the cover letter I wrote last Spring to get this job. I’m comfortable speaking and writing, but not about my own accomplishments. I can advocate for causes I believe in, but I feel awkward asking people I respect to take time away from their important work to help me out with an informational meeting or a job recommendation. I worry so much about whether my materials are perfect that I often run the risk that they won’t be timely-submitted.

In short, if you’re reading PSJDblog to figure out how to improve your job search results, you and I are probably more alike than you think. I believe I’m fairly qualified for my chosen career, but many qualified people are struggling to find work in public interest law right now. If you’re looking for a job next year, so am I—and if you’ve had as much trouble meeting your job search goals this Fall as I have, you have my sympathy.

This is where Christina comes in. Between now and the end of finals, I’ll be putting myself where PSJD’s mouth is. Starting with a resume makeover later this week, I’m going to be trying out each of the ten tips we suggested for our readers; Christina will be critiquing my efforts. We’ll share the results with you here on PSJDblog. I’ll talk about which changes feel most significant, which feel non-intuitive, and how easy or difficult each tip is to put into practice.

Until next time: wax on, wax off.

Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Thank you to American University Washington College of Law Office of Career and Professional Development for contributing these tips.

Whether you’re looking forward to finishing your first semester of law school or looking forward to starting your last one, the best holiday spirit is the one that puts you in the mood for career planning. We here at PSJD hope you’re able to take a well-deserved rest from classes, but you can’t afford to let your job search efforts freeze over. To help your job search stay warm through winter without burning you out, we’ve come up with ten concrete activities you can take on between now and New Year’s to be ready to impress your future employers in 2015.

The gist of our ten-step program is below, but stay tuned: We’ll be covering each of these tips in greater detail in upcoming installments of PSJDblog over the weeks between now and the end of the semester.

by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  The Digest will take a holiday next week to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family.  We will return in December with news to prepare you for the winter break.

Here are the week’s headlines:

• New certificate program at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law prepares students to work in the public interest;
• Former MS Volunteer Lawyers official pleads guilty to stealing federal funds;
• National Center for Access to Justice revises Justice Index;
• ABA launches site to aid unaccompanied minors;
• USAJobs is getting another makeover;
• Kings County (WA) Council delays PD layoffs;
• TN CLE Commission supports access to justice;
• Spotlight on Public Service Servants: Maureen Alger;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

November 12, 2014 -“The Loyola University New Orleans College of Law now offers a new Social Justice Certificate Program, which assists students who want to effectively advocate for the poor and the marginalized.  Through hands-on experience and focused academic study in this certificate program, students will not only be able to advance public interest causes for the needy and disadvantaged, but also provide a strong signal of their commitment to social justice to fellowship programs and future employers.  Students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the certificate courses and an overall GPA of 2.5 or higher to receive the certificate, while completing four to eight hours of doctrinal coursework, seven to 10 hours of experiential hours, as well as 50 hours of public service work.  (Loyola University New Orleans)

November 13, 2014 – “The former executive director of the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for stealing less than $1,000 in federal Legal Services funds. Shirley Mae Williams, 47, of Jackson pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft of less than $1,000 in federal funds, which is misdemeanor. Federal prosecutors say from January 2009 through December 2012, Williams, while employed as MVLP executive director, converted the federal funds to pay for a portion of her family’s cellular phone expenses and health club membership. MVLP received Legal Services Corp. grant funds as a sub-grantee of both North Mississippi Rural Legal Services and Mississippi Center for Legal Services.”  (The Clarion-Ledger)

November 13, 2014 – “The National Center for Access to Justice revised The Justice Index on November 13, 2014 to reflect comments and corrections received from 21 states following publication of The Justice Index on February 25, 2014.”  A notice will be published on the Index when the updates are finalized.  (National Center for Access to Justice)

November 14, 2014 – “Child advocates have for months voiced concerns about unaccompanied minors not having an attorney by their side in immigration court, and now the American Bar Association is stepping in to help. The group launched a website this week as a resource for attorneys who want to volunteer their time to help unaccompanied minors navigate through the immigration system. The goal is to get more attorneys to provided unaccompanied minors with legal representation on a pro bono basis. The website is dubbed the Immigrant Child Advocacy Network. It was put together by the American Bar Association’s working group on unaccompanied minors in collaboration with partner organizations, like Kids in Need of Defense and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.” (VOXXI)

November 17, 2014 – “The Office of Personnel Management once again is revamping USAJobs, the website most people use to apply for jobs in the federal government. The agency wants to streamline and clarify its job descriptions and make sure job postings don’t ask applicants redundant questions, said OPM Director Katherine Archuleta on Friday during a virtual town hall where she took questions on topics including recruitment, diversity and the role of veterans’ preference in the hiring process. She did not say when a new site might debut.”  (Government Executive)

November 17, 2014 – “The King County department that helps defendants who can’t afford an attorney will lose 40 employees, including about 20 attorneys, under the two-year county budget adopted Monday by the Metropolitan King County Council. But the controversial staff reduction won’t happen immediately and could potentially be reversed next spring, because of a last-minute amendment by the council. County Executive Dow Constantine had proposed the reduction, saying the Department of Public Defense, at nearly 400 employees, had more staff than required. But the council tweaked the proposal after hearing one attorney after another testify Monday that the reduction would harm poor people and fail to save money.”  “Lisa Daugaard, deputy director of the Department of Public Defense, said the council’s amendment was in line with the board’s recommendations. ‘This is an important and welcome shift,’ said Daugaard. ‘It gives everyone involved a chance to get on the same page about what the real staffing requirements of the department are and then to make budget decisions in light of that information.'”  (Seattle Times)

November 19, 2014 – “The Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization has awarded more than $100,000 in grants to support Access to Justice initiatives in the state. The grants will extend by one year each the pro bono coordinator position and the aLEGALz project. ‘Encouraging lawyers to give back to their communities is a priority for the Court,’ said Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Lee. ‘These programs play a significant role in identifying opportunities and aligning the appropriate resources and we are grateful that the funding to continue them was possible.'”  (The Chattanoogan.com)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants: On November 14, 2014, at its annual conference of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), Cooley pro bono partner, Maureen Alger, was awarded the 2014 Arthur von Briesen Award for her work on behalf of equal justice. The von Briesen Award honors outstanding service in advancing the cause of equal access to justice, and recognizes the contributions of individuals and programs from a cross-section of the legal aid, public defense, and corporate law communities.  Congratulations!  (Market Wired)

Super Music Bonus!  Happy Thanksgiving!

http://youtu.be/t_VIq0iKZDA

Photo: Brenda Gottsabend – CC License

If you’re a law student or a recent grad looking for your first policy experience, you may want to act fast. FlyersRights, a consumer advocacy organization, is looking to fill two internships and a one-year staff attorney position specifically for a recent law graduate. The organization has been around since 2006, working on behalf of airline travelers. Among their legislative successes is a federal statute requiring airlines to allow stranded passengers to disembark from planes after 3 hours on the ground.

FlyersRights’ post on PSJD is eye-catching for the care it takes to describe how working with the organization would allow legal newcomers to grow their legislative advocacy skillset:

The person we are looking to hire for one year would be a staff attorney (or as a legal analyst if the person has yet been admitted to the bar) under my primary supervision. The person would receive substantial training in public interest advocacy and law, including research and drafting of administrative rulemaking petitions, legislation, Congressional testimony and legislative memos and policy papers, amicus brief writing, as well as non-legal writing and advocacy.

If you know you want to do policy work, you should consider letting FlyersRights show you how it’s done. Check out the full post on PSJD.

If you’re interested, it’ll cost you a weekend: the Application Deadline is Sunday, November 23rd.

Photo: Brenda Gottsabend – CC License

Those of you with a few years of experience under your belts and an interest in community economic development may want to consider going private. Winston & Strawn–one of US News’ Law Firms of the Year for Bankruptcy, Creditor/Debtor Rights, and Insolvency and Reorganization Law–recently advertised on PJSD. The firm is looking for an attorney to work out of New York City, managing its pro bono practice. The majority of your time would be pro bono; the firm expects its Pro Bono Practice Attorney to log a minimum of 1750 pro bono hours. You would be working with employees at all levels (from paralegals to partners) throughout the firm, supporting and facilitating attorney involvement in nonprofit corporate and community development efforts.

So, if you have several years of experience in nonprofit corporate law and an interest in moving to large law firm pro bono, check out the full posting at PSJD. (Application Deadline: Jan 1, 2015)

by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy Friday everyone!

Here are the week’s headlines:

• Georgia State Law School opening clinic to help vets;
• Lewis & Clark Law School shuts down pro bono legal clinic;
• SUNY Buffalo Law School launches new veterans clinic;
• Brooklyn charity fund seeks to help people too poor to afford bail;
• William & Mary Law receives DOJ grant to expand domestic violence clinic;
• Immigrant aid expands to western NY;
• Columbia Law’s Human Rights Clinic launches mentor program;
• Spotlight on Public Service Servants: The Public Interest Law Society, the Black Law Students Association and the Latin American Law Students Association of Widener Law;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

November 7, 2014 – “Georgia State University officials say the school is opening a law clinic to serve roughly 800 veterans who are enrolled as students. GSU officials say the Law Volunteer Clinic for Veterans will open with a ribbon cutting ceremony Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. GSU dean and law professor Steven Kaminshine said in a statement that the clinic will demonstrate how a law school can provide a valuable community service. Kaminshine says the clinic will allow students to work with experienced volunteer lawyers and receive pro bono credit.”  (The Florida Times-Union)

November 7, 2014 – “The downtown Lewis & Clark Legal Clinic, a source of pro bono legal services for low-income Portlanders since 1971, will close on Jan. 1, 2015.  The Clinic was run by legal clinicians and law students enrolled in externships through the law school. It created a mutually beneficial relationship between LC and the community: students received practical law experience; low-income Portlanders received help with legal issues including child support modifications, domestic violence cases and tax controversies.  The closure will force people to find pro bono services elsewhere.”  “Despite the loss to the local community, the downtown legal clinic is not the only public interest clinic run by the law school. There are six others currently in operation. In addition to services provided through the clinics, externships and internships, [Dean Jennifer] Johnson stated that students provided more than 15,000 hours of pro bono community service last year.” (The PIOLOG)

November 7, 2014 – Beginning in January, 2015, the SUNY Buffalo Law School clinical program will launch a new Veterans’ Economic Security Clinic to help veterans.  “The clinic will provide free civil legal services to western New York veterans facing eviction and consumer debt issues. Law faculty and students will work to prevent veterans’ homelessness and increase their financial security by helping them navigate the legal system, and crafting comprehensive suggestions for needed law reform. The clinic will strive to ensure equity in securing basic necessities required to thrive in civilian life.”  (University at Buffalo)

November 8, 2014 – You can plead guilty and get out of jail right now or fight your case, and stay in jail.  This situation is faced by many of the Brooklyn Defender’s clients who are pleading guilty to charges because they can’t afford to miss work or their family will be turned out of a shelter because they won’t be back for the night.  “To help these indigent defendants fight their cases out of jail and without the pressure to plead guilty, [Josh] Saunders and a fellow public defender, Scott Hechinger, are creating a charity fund, which would be sponsored by their employer, the Brooklyn Defenders Services.”  “The charity, called the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, is made possible by a 2012 law that allows nonprofit organizations to post bail for defendants with misdemeanor charges, who are facing bail of $2,000 or less.”  This fund will follow the example of the first nonprofit bail fund in the state, the Bronx Freedom Fund works with clients from The Bronx Defenders.  So far, that Fund has “served 149 clients so far, with roughly $100,000 in the fund.”  (The Epoch Times)

November 11, 2014 – “William & Mary Law School has announced that its Domestic Violence Clinic is the recipient of a grant from the Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women (DOJ OVW). The grant will provide more than $250,000 over two years to expand the services of the existing clinic.”  “The W&M Domestic Violence Clinic provides domestic violence legal education and protective order advocacy. The grant funding will be used to expand the clinic’s services to provide a more holistic approach to assisting clients and enable the clinic to represent more clients.”  (William & Mary Law School)

November 12, 2014 – “The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, a joint venture between the Vera Institute of Justice and other groups, expanded to the Buffalo area on Monday, with the Erie County Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project providing free legal services to 55 immigrants facing deportation.”  (New York Law Journal) (free subscription required)

November 12, 2014 – “Students working in Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Clinic have been paired with experienced advocates from leading human rights organizations as part of an exciting new mentoring initiative.  ‘The Mentorship Program is designed to develop a new generation of human rights advocates while increasing practitioner links to new allies and fostering a supportive environment for human rights work,’ said Sarah Knuckey, the Lieff Cabraser Clinical Associate Professor of Human Rights, faculty co-director of the Human Rights Institute, and director of the Human Rights Clinic.  The just-launched Human Rights Clinic Mentorship Program connects students with mentors drawn from the global community of human rights practitioners. Selected to ensure diversity of experiences, the mentors work as advocates at organizations defending everything from the environment to freedom of expression, and from the rights of civilians in armed conflict to indigenous communities harmed by extractives projects. Students have been paired with mentors based on their interests and career goals, and the mentorship will promote the students’ development as strategic, principled, and reflective advocates for social justice.”  (Columbia Law School)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants: Law students from the Harrisburg campus will be embarking on a new service project this holiday season that provides a meaningful opportunity to give back to the community.  Signups are now underway for students who will participate in a Thanksgiving Day of service at the Bethesda Mission in Harrisburg. The effort is a joint public service project of the Public Interest Law Society, the Black Law Students Association and the Latin American Law Students Association.  ‘This experience – the interpersonal skills and giving back – that’s what we are founded on,’ said Bri Gaumer, president of the Public Interest Law Society, which formed just last year.  The organizations will volunteer at the mission from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving afternoon. Gaumer said they will be serving plates of food but also able to sit with residents and engage and connect with them. The students will also set up a table with access-to-justice information and resources for low-cost community legal services.”  Read more about this outstanding new project here.

Super Music Bonus!  A dance tune that’s been running through my head lately.

Sam Halpert, PSJD Fellow 2014 – 2015

“Public libraries are critical access points to government institutions. As times get tougher, it becomes more and more important that people have libraries where they can find out how to protect their rights and navigate the complexities of our society.”

— Self-Represented Litigation Network, National Center for State Courts

(Photo: umjanedoan-CC License)

If you’re looking for pro bono opportunities, you might want to try your local library. For example, just this fall the D.C. Public Library partnered with D.C.’s Neighborhood Legal Services Program, joining a growing number of public libraries where low-income patrons can obtain legal information or advice. (Update: Check out the Washington County [Oregon] Law Library’s list of library-legal aid collaborations to get a sense of scale.) Working with the library, NLSP lawyers will focus on employment law, adding a legal component to job programming, which the DC Public Library (like many similar institutions) has offered its patrons for some time. In addition, the partnership includes seminars on tenant rights and paternal rights.

With this new partnership, the D.C. Public Library joins a number of its sister institutions working to address the United States’ access to justice gap. The concept has been picking up steam since at least 2010, when the Self-Represented Litigation Network of the National Center for State Courts held a conference titled “Public Libraries and Access to Justice” at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2012, Probono.net followed up on the conference with a Webinar Series titled “Libraries and Access to Justice.”

Both of these events explored the logic behind library-legal aid partnerships and the variety of forms they have taken. Like DC, some of these institutions bring pro bono lawyers into the library to provide community education. Other libraries ask lawyers to train library staff to work with online legal resources; a third group hosts full-blown legal aid clinics. Update: Liz Keith of Probono.net recently clued me in to Colorado’s Virtual Pro Se Clinic initiative, which connects pro se litigants to volunteer attorneys via webcam–a model that relies heavily on public libraries’ computer services.

For my fellow Washingtonians, if you’re interested in being involved contact the NSLP’s project attorney, Dan Choi (dchoi@nlsp.org), with questions or requests for information.  For those located elsewhere, ask your local library whether they have any similar partnerships going. If your area isn’t yet lucky enough to host one of these partnerships, remember that both the Self-Represented Litigation Network and Probono.net have left all of their event materials online. Between the two, you have access to a wealth of information and contacts to help you think about how your community might begin leveraging libraries for legal aid.

by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy Friday everyone!  Welcome to November.  Can you believe the holidays are almost upon us?  Now that we’re in the full swing of 1L counseling, any new initiatives out there we should know about?

Here are the week’s headlines:

• Alberta increases legal aid funding/raises eligibility threshold;
• Vermont Legal Aid receives HUD grant;
• FL Supreme Court to decide bar dues increase fight;
• New York Law School starts public interest center and new externship program;
• NY State Bar seeks broader definition of pro bono;
• Spotlight on Public Service Servants: Jeannette Rankin;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

October 30, 2014 – “The provincial government on Thursday announced increased Legal Aid funding which will allow lower income Albertans, such as those on AISH, access to justice.  An additional $5.5 million was pledged to the $47.9 million already committed for this fiscal year, meaning the maximum annual eligible income will be increased from $16,176 to $19,056.  The additional funds were ‘necessary to increase the eligibility requirement above AISH levels,’ Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said of those on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped.”  (Calgary Sun)

October 30, 2014 – “Vermont Legal Aid has received a three-year Fair Housing Initiatives Program Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to continue the Housing Discrimination Law Project’s work to ensure Vermonters’ access to housing and to challenge both individual and systemic discriminatory practices. The $975,000 grant will be disbursed over three years to fund Vermont Legal Aid’s statewide systemic and complaint-based testing project, fair housing counseling, representation in enforcement actions, education, and land use planning and policy advocacy with state and local officials.”  (vermontbiz)

November 4, 2014 – Legal aid providers in Florida are at the crisis stage.  “A combination of [Governor Rick] Scott’s budget vetoes and the [Florida State] bar’s refusal to add a new $100 fee to its membership dues mean that Florida’s legal-aid budget is about to take a 40 percent whack. Pending a last-minute emergency rescue by the Florida Supreme Court next month, hundreds of attorneys who help the poor will be out of a job.”   A group led by Kent Spuhler, executive director of Florida Legal Services Inc., has challenged the State Bar’s decision.  Oral arguments will be heard by the Florida Supreme Court on December 2.  (Miami New Times Blog)

November 4, 2014 – “New York Law School has launched the Impact Center for Public Interest Law, which will act as an umbrella for seven new and five existing initiatives seeking to advance social justice.  The Unshared Bounty Project, the Health Law and Patient Safety Initiative, the Voting Rights and Civic Participation Project, the Detention and the Struggle Against Terrorism, and the Safe Passage Project will be housed at the Center.”  “Separately, the school has started an externship program that places four fellows within eight business improvement districts (BID) in the city. The three students and one recent graduate in the Neighborhood Legal Fellows Program this fall are researching BID legal issues, such as city administrative law compliance, under the supervision of the city’s Small Business Services legal team. The graduate fellow will receive $3,000 while the students receive course credit.”  (New York Law Journal) (free subscription required)

November 4, 2014 – “The Unified Court System will work with the New York State Bar Association to develop a more expansive definition of pro bono to guide attorneys when they disclose pro bono hours and monetary contributions.  State Bar President Glenn Lau-Kee said drafts of more liberal definitions of pro bono were being exchanged between his group and the court system. On Saturday, the state bar’s House of Delegates adopted his resolution calling on the court to amend §118.1 of the Rules of the Chief Administrative Judge to identify additional activities as ‘reportable hours and financial contributions given by attorneys’ toward pro bono (NYLJ, Nov. 3).  “Lau-Kee said adding new categories of service to §118 of the Rules of the Chief Administrator will effectively formalize new and expanded definitions of pro bono.”  (New York Law Journal) (free subscription required)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants: On this day in 1916, Montana suffragist Jeannette Rankin is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the first woman in the history of the nation to win a seat in the federal Congress.  Today, in the 113th Congress, there are 99 women (20 in the Senate and 79 in the House of Representatives) serving.  That is 18.5% of the elected officials in Congress.  Doesn’t seem like we’ve come that far in 100 years, have we?  One avenue toward change is to motivate our girls to grow up to become women who  seek change in positive ways.  I know we all know someone like that.  Let’s make an extra effort to support and encourage them.  We all benefit from diversity in our electorate.  (History.com)(Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics)

Super Music Bonus!  A little blues from two of my favorites.

by Christina Jackson, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives & Fellowships

Happy Halloween everyone!  What great week we had celebrating National Pro Bono Week!  Thank you to all those who worked so hard to make it happen.  It is a great reminder of what we can do when we come together as a community.

Here are the week’s headlines:

• 6 NY Counties take part in study of state funding;
• South Carolina Legal Services receives its first EJW AmeriCorps Fellow;
• DOJ names new head of Access to Justice Initiative;
• No deal on legal aid funding at justice ministers’ meeting;
• Panel finds MD poor deserve free counsel for family law cases;
• LSC awards nearly $3.5 Mil in technology grants;
• Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services received HUD grant;
• Legal Aid of East TN gets DOJ grant;
• NYCLU reaches public defender agreement;
• 13 MD organizations receive funds to combat violence against women;
• Ontario raises eligibility threshold for legal aid;
• Spotlight on Public Service Servants:  Quakers, Abigail Adams, Sarah Grimke, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Sojourner Truth;
• Super Music Bonus!

The summaries:

October 17, 2014 – Six counties have been chosen to be part of a two-year study to determine whether state funding is solving the problem of underrepresentation of the poor and underserved in court.  “The University at Albany announced Oct. 2 that it will continue its partnership with the state Office of Indigent Legal Services to research the state of legal counsel for the underserved upstate, evaluating the impact of $12 million in state funding spent on tackling the issue. The study is fueled by a $381,402 grant from the National Institute of Justice.  The study is based on ‘counsel at first appearance,’ a concept that guarantees a person can speak with an attorney after being arrested, and before appearing in court.  ILS Director of Research Andrew Davies, a co-investigator on the study, said having no access to an attorney before court can mean jail time without discussion of bail.”  (Watertown Daily Times)

October 17, 2014 – “South Carolina Legal Services (SCLS) is excited to announce that it has been selected by Equal Justice Works to host its first-ever AmeriCorps Equal Justice Works Fellow. Lonnie R. Doles, a 2014 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, will be serving as an Employment Opportunity Fellow to provide legal assistance to remove barriers to employment for unemployed or underemployed people who are actively seeking to join the labor market. This assistance will include expungement of minor criminal records, correcting errors in criminal records, restoring driver’s licenses and occupational licenses, and providing other legal assistance aimed at helping individuals get to work. The fellowship will last for one year with the possibility of renewal for second year.”  (SCLS)

October 17, 2014 – “A former California judge who had been the head of California Common Cause, Lisa Foster, has been named the director of the Justice Department’s ‘Access to Justice”’Initiative, officials familiar with the appointment told BuzzFeed News.  The initiative, started by Attorney General Eric Holder in March 2010, aims ‘to address the access-to-justice crisis in the criminal and civil justice system’ by helping to ensure that the justice system is accessible to all people, regardless of income.”  (BuzzFeed News)

October 17, 2014 – “Federal, provincial and territorial justice ministers were unable to reach a deal in meetings this week on increased funding from Ottawa for legal aid. The issue was at the top of the agenda at a two-day meeting in Banff, Alta., that wrapped up Friday. Ottawa used to split the cost of the program 50-50, but now only chips in about 16 per cent. Since 2003, there has been no new federal funding to the program, leaving it to provinces to make up the difference.”  “This is an ongoing issue and discussion with respect to the amount and the support and the distribution of federal funding for legal aid,” said Justice Minister Peter MacKay, who called the discussions constructive and “very frank.”  “I can assure you there have been no doors closed but we’re very encouraged by innovations, by efficiencies that have been identified, these are discussions that are very important and will continue.”  (CP24 News)

October 17, 2014 – “[A] state task force this month recommended assigning free lawyers in certain family-law cases, and spending nearly $8 million over four years to help the poorest Marylanders work through the complex court system.” “The Task Force to Study Implementing a Civil Right to Counsel in Maryland is a group of judges, attorneys, delegates and state senators that has been meeting since December to discuss the benefits of providing legal representation to low-income people involved in civil disputes.”  “A bill, sponsored by Del. Sandy Rosenberg, D-Baltimore, outlining the task force’s recommendations, will be introduced to the legislature at the start of the next session, which begins on Jan. 14, said Dumais, who plans to co-sponsor the bill.”  (Southern Maryland Online)

October 17, 2014 – “The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) today released a list of 38 projects nationwide that will receive Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) funding in 2014. The grants will support a variety of initiatives, including user-friendly online tools for women veterans, mobile delivery of legal services for clients using text messaging, and video-conferencing technology that reaches low-income clients in rural areas. Since its start in 2000, LSC’s TIG program has funded 570 technology projects totaling more than $46 million. With this funding, legal aid organizations have built a network of websites serving both attorneys and clients nationwide, developed easy-to-use online forms, incorporated video technology into service delivery, and enhanced support for pro bono lawyers.”  Click on the article to see which organizations received grants.  (LSC)

Spotlight on Outstanding Public Servants: Society of Friends (the Quakers), Abigail Adams, Sarah Grimke, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Sojourner Truth.  What do these and  many more individuals have in common?  They worked tirelessly to ensure that all men and women were free and had the right to vote.  A mid-term election is coming up next week, which generally means lower voter turnout.  Keep in mind the struggles of others to ensure our right to vote, and exercise your rights come Tuesday.

Super Music Bonus!  

http://youtu.be/AFSDR1iJrZ4

Sam Halpert, PSJD Fellow 2014 – 2015

First, the news:

Citizens of Detroit: whistleblowers, not freeloaders.
(Photo: People’s Water Brigade-CC License)

Yesterday afternoon, two UN-appointed human rights investigators with mandates to understand and develop the human right to adequate housing and the human right to water (respectively) concluded their three-day investigation into Detroit’s ongoing humanitarian crisis with a press conference at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel.

According to their press release, the UN experts were “deeply startled” by the magnitude of people affected: “thousands of households are living in fear that their water may be shut off at any time without due notice, that they may have to leave their homes and that children may be taken by child protection services as houses without water are deemed uninhabitable for children.” As the UN News Center reports, the Special Rapporteur on the human right to water was particularly blunt: “It is contrary to human rights to disconnect water from people who simply do not have the means to pay their bills.” The UN investigators called on the City of Detroit, the Federal government, and other lawmaking authorities to take a variety of steps to remedy Detroit’s problems and to protect against similar vulnerabilities elsewhere.

When people ask me what I would do if I could work on anything, I don’t blink: Water Affordability. This moment seems a perfect time to grab my first soapbox. Every once in awhile, I’ll take a break from more typical PSJD blogging to write about issues that matter to me personally as an advocate. This is a big one. The recent UN visit to Detroit invites a few questions which I’ll try to address in this post: First, is access to water for domestic uses a human right? Second, are thousands of people in Detroit really without the means to pay their bills? And third, why are some of the UN’s recommendations aimed at government actors generally—isn’t this a Detroit problem? In brief: yes, yes, and no.

The Human Right to Water – An Emergent Norm

Access to water for drinking and sanitation is a human right. It is explicitly mentioned in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights has discussed at length the right’s implicit presence within the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (ICESCR) “right to an adequate standard of living.” Within the last few years, the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council have adopted resolutions formally recognizing the human right to water.

Granted, UN resolutions are not binding, and the United States has not ratified either CEDAW or the ICESCR. That’s likely why the Special Rapporteur’s comments yesterday were carefully shaded, discussing Detroit’s disconnections as “contrary to,” rather than “a violation of,” human rights.  That doesn’t make her wrong. The idea that human beings have a right to water for limited domestic purposes (drinking, cooking, washing, sanitation) and that states must progressively realize this right among the people they govern is an increasingly well-accepted international norm. Other countries may not have the means to provide water, but we do. And yet we do not. We are disconnecting thousands of people from water services for circumstances beyond their control, contrary to this emergent norm. Whether the United States has a legal obligation or not, it has failed its people in the eyes of the international community. That ought to be a big deal.

Water Affordability – A Nationwide Issue

So far, though, I’ve assumed that people losing access to water in Detroit have no control over their situation. As the Special Rapporteur said, disconnections are contrary to human rights only if the people disconnected “do not have the means to pay their bills.” How do I know that the residents of Detroit—half of whom were subject to disconnection notices this past summer—are actually that insolvent? It may be difficult to accept, but water is increasingly priced beyond the reach of many low-income families.

We’re used to thinking of water as inexpensive because for a long time the way we’ve managed it has prevented us from feeling the true cost of water service. For one thing, we’ve deferred maintenance on our water system for so long that estimates for the cost of renovations run from the hundreds of billions to the low trillions. Moreover, when we do pay up, it’ll be in a financial regime under which rate-payers are covering a much higher proportion of the tab than they used to. In previous phases of infrastructure development, state and federal governments would cover some costs in the form of grants. In the 1980s, we replaced these grants with loans, pushing water systems to charge their customers full-cost or nearly full-cost rates (see page 21). In the last 20 years, regular ratepayers have financed 90% of water and wastewater investments in the United States.

Logically, low-income households are the first to feel the pressure. The US Conference of Mayors and the American Water Works Association consider water to be “unaffordable” for households which must devote more than 2% of their monthly income to water bills. Little data available describes how many people in the United States live under these conditions, but what there is is discouraging. For example, the Pacific Institute recently estimated that over 100,000 households in the Sacramento region pay more than this 2% threshold. (Not people, households.)

As far as I know, most of these Sacramento households are still paying for water. The Pacific Institute’s study merely suggests they’re seriously struggling to afford their bills. Rules for how water utilities may proceed against customers in arrears vary from location to location, but many utilities will disconnect customers who fail to pay them. This measure might make sense in a system where water is cheap enough to be readily affordable for most people. In such a system, being disconnected would be a wakeup call to poorly-organized or dishonest individuals to take out their wallets and pay into the system. Disconnections would be brief, and would prevent anyone from freeloading.

But we don’t live in that system. When people genuinely can’t afford their water bills, they can’t simply pay up. Even if they find the money (and Detroit has had some success with collections through its shutoff campaign), qualitative research in Detroit and Boston suggests that families often turn their water back on by giving up prescription medications, food, or other essential goods also protected by human rights principles. If they can’t find the money, prolonged disconnections create severe consequences for affected families who find themselves unable to bathe at home (making it harder to stay employed), unable to cook or do laundry, forced to send children to live with relatives so child protective services won’t place them in foster care, and at risk of losing their homes entirely.

Struggling households aren’t asking for water to be free. Only for it to be affordable. If it were, some experts think water utilities might actually collect more revenue, not less. When customers genuinely can’t afford their bills, disconnecting them is more likely to result in default. The utility loses one of its customers, and must raise rates on every other customer in order to pay off the fixed cost of its infrastructure. If water utilities were to keep customers paying into the system at whatever rate they could manage (based on ability to pay), they would be able to put more toward these fixed costs than if they leave many former customers disconnected.

Looking Beyond Detroit

So far, much of the coverage of Detroit’s water crisis has assumed that the problem is specific to Detroit. I hope I’ve made the case it isn’t. As a nation, we’ve under-financed our water infrastructure and changed our finance strategies to rely on local ratepayers instead of state or federal tax dollars. As water becomes unaffordable for many Americans (just how many is hard to determine), the collections policies of many of our water utilities continue to assume it’s cheap. Detroit isn’t the only city where water disconnections are causing widespread human suffering: the problem is also significant in more prosperous cities like Boston. We don’t know how many such cities there are, and any city where large numbers of households struggle with their water bills is one economic shock away from the level of injustice and suffering that’s brought the United Nations’ humanitarian experts to Detroit’s doorstep. The citizens of Detroit who have been struggling to call attention to this issue for years are not freeloaders, but whistleblowers, working valiantly to inform the public of a hidden danger to us all.

I think the UN’s independent experts understand this. Speaking yesterday, they directed their recommendations not only to the City of Detroit but to the country generally. With one recommendation in particular, I think they’ve identified the smallest, simplest and easiest first step: They want federal and state agencies to deny funding and permits to water utilities that refuse to report annually on their water shutoff practices. From talking with non-profits focused on this issue, I’ve learned that the reason there’s little information about water affordability is because water utilities have resisted non-profits’ questions about their customer bases and survey methods like those used in Sacramento and Boston are difficult and expensive to implement. Tying utilities’ funding and development permissions to these reporting requirements would require only a small commitment from governments, but would generate the information we all need to truly understand the scale of this problem and –hopefully–will bring us one step closer to forming the political resolve we need to fix it.