Source: https://pslawnet.wordpress.com/2012/06/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 07:00:23+00:00

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You may be already making monthly payments on student loans – or you may still be taking them out. Regardless of your current financial situation, it pays to become financially literate and aware of the various options for loan repayment and forms of assistance that are available if you’re interested in a public service career.
Check out PSLawNet’s Financing a Public Interest Career page to get started!
Job o’ the Day: Supervising Attorney for the Mobile Legal Help Center at NYLAG!
NYLAG has an immediate opening for a supervising or coordinating attorney for its Mobile Legal Help Center (MLHC). Created through a partnership between NYLAG and the New York State Courts Access to Justice Program, the Mobile Legal Help Center is the country’s first-ever legal services office and courtroom on wheels. Attorneys provide counseling, advice, and direct representation without leaving the vehicle. A video link with the courts enables access to judges for emergency hearings, including domestic violence and eviction cases. The MLHC contains three private meeting areas for attorneys and clients and is equipped with high-speed Internet and state-of-the-art technology. It travels throughout the five boroughs and parts of Long Island and Westchester, focusing on areas with limited public transportation options. Through the MLHC, low-income New Yorkers in need of legal help can overcome obstacles such as geographic isolation, health and mobility issues, and childcare concerns.
NYLAG is seeking an exceptional attorney who possesses the enthusiasm and flexibility to ensure the provision of high quality legal services through the MLHC. This attorney’s primary responsibility will be to coordinate and supervise the legal work that occurs on the MLHC. The attorney will supervise volunteers both while they are on the MLHC and on certain MLHC cases selected for representation. The attorney will also coordinate the MLHC work of NYLAG staff. Further, this attorney will handle a modest caseload of cases which fall within his or her area or areas of legal expertise. It is anticipated that this attorney will staff the MLHC at least two days a week. In addition to working with NYLAG staff and volunteers providing service on the MLHC, this attorney will serve as the immediate supervisor of the paralegal who coordinates the schedule and other administrative aspects of the MLHC and the driver and back-up drivers. This position requires some work on evenings and weekends, when the MLHC is providing services.
Founded in 1990, the New York Legal Assistance Group provides high quality, free civil legal services to low-income New Yorkers who cannot afford attorneys. Our comprehensive range of services includes direct representation, case consultation, advocacy, community education, training, financial counseling, and impact litigation.
Find out how to apply at PSLawNet!
the New York Times reports: “Companies have been slowly adding workers for more than two years. But pink slips are still going out in a crucial area: government…. Government payrolls grew in the early part of the recovery, largely because of federal stimulus measures. But since its post-recession peak in April 2009 (not counting temporary Census hiring), the public sector has shrunk by 706,000 jobs.” On the state level, while revenues are back up there is fiscal angst about impending pension obligations. Municipalities are up a creek, with property values – property taxes being the municipal bread and butter – having declined so precipitously.
Sign of the times: Stockton, CA, a city of ~300,000 people, is going into bankruptcy.
Unrelated: here’s yet another report on The Millennial Generation. (I don’t remember being the object of such scrutiny as a Gen Xer, maybe because social scientists were about as interested in us as we in them. We were invisible, latch-key kids even to researchers. Hah.) The 2012 Millennial Impact Report looks at the generation’s attitudes towards engaging the nonprofit community. Tip of cap to the ABA’s Cheryl Zalenski, who via Twitter brought this to my tweetention. Wow. First and last attempt to coin a Twitter word. Already embarrassed.
6.25.12 – this piece in the Altoona Mirror looks at the impact of LSC funding cuts on Central Pennsylvania legal services providers, includine Laurel Legal Services and MidPenn Legal Services.
U.S. v. Jones–it’s obvious that we have less privacy in the digital age–either by choice or by convenience–but the definition of what constitutes a “search” under the Fourth Amendment is constantly evolving to keep up with digital devices. In Jones, the Supreme Court held, 5-4, that a GPS device placed on a car for surveillance purposes does constitute a search. The good news–“Big Brother” can’t watch you quite yet without having a good reason.
Maples v. Thomas–Maples, a death row inmate represented by two pro bono associates at a large law firm, was barred from appealing from his conviction because the associates left the firm and missed a deadline for deciding an appeal. The court voted 7-2 that Maples had shown sufficient cause to excuse the procedural default judgment. Although this doesn’t happen often, it shows that a man’s life shouldn’t be bargained with even if representation decides to leave.
Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye–the court once again dealt with the effect of lawyers who caused inappropriate outcomes for their clients in this pair of cases, holding that the Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel applies throughout the process of plea negotiations. In order for this there to be a valid claim for ineffective assistance of counsel, though, the defendant has a strong burden to show that the lack of or deficiency of counsel caused irreparable prejudice on the decision. In Frye, where the lawyer simply did not inform his client of the plea bargain offers before they expired (resulting in a guilty plea and a much longer sentence for the defendant), this harm the lack of communication caused is obviously clear. We’ve posted about overloaded public defenders and the changes coming in Michigan’s indigent defense system – potentially, these rulings could help spur reevaluation of programs elsewhere.
Minneci v. Pollard— Although a Bivens action, or an action enabling an inmate in a government-run prison to sue for violation of his constitutional rights, has long been valid, the court held 8-1 that an inmate cannot sue employees of a privately-run prison for constitutional rights violations because the claims could be pursued under state tort law. In light of the trend of the government trend to increasingly rely on private companies and contractors to run the operation of prisons and the mass incarceration of minor drug offenders, this decision might set a strong precedent in coming years.
Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs–in this pair of cases, SCOTUS ruled that life without parole for juveniles violates the prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment” in the 8th amendment. This ruling adds another element to the complicated and ever-changing definition of what “cruel and unusual punishment” really means – SCOTUSblog has a great guide to the precedent surrounding this issue here.
Arizona v. U.S.–in a complicated ruling that left both sides claiming partial victory, the 5-3 decision struck down the provisions of the 2010 Arizona immigration law that made it a crime for an undocumented immigrant to be in Arizona without documentation papers, to apply for or get a job in the state, and allowed police to arrest people who had committed crimes that could lead to their deportation. The “show me your papers” provision is still left intact, but could be challenged in lower courts again. This ruling will certainly deter the development of future copycat legislation in other states, and is welcome news for undocumented immigrants in Arizona who may have lived and worked in the U.S. for years.
Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida–the dramatic 5-4 decision, written by Roberts, joining the left of the court, held the individual mandate constitutional under the taxing power – even though it violates the commerce clause. Plenty of ink has already and will be spilled elsewhere about the implications of the decision, but this monumental case will make affordable healthcare accessible to millions more Americans – often, the same community that civil legal aid organizations serve. Although there will always be continuing legal battles surrounding healthcare, access to affordable care may automatically eliminate some need in this area.
Believe it or not, “public interest” and “law firm” can be used in the same phrase – a small niche practice of firms devote all or a significant portion of their time to “plaintiff side” work, partnering with public interest organizations and/or representing labor unions, associations, and government bodies.
Even if you thought you would never work at a law firm, researching these organizations is still valuable – especially after considering the fact that public interest positions are more competitive than ever.
Check out our Public Interest Law Firm Careers page on PSLawNet!
If there’s one thing I learned in my first year of law school, it’s that lawyers love paper. Outlines, textbooks, rulebooks, and more outlines – lawyers may be the only people who still have their noses in a book in a futuristic day when our smartphones are attached to our bodies.
In this digital age, though, it’s time to talk seriously about the potential to harness the functions of the many rapidly developing digital tools and streamlining access to legal resources. The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) held a Summit on Technology and Access to Justice discussing this very issue just outside D.C. last week, and as Richard Zorza writes, it is an exciting time to think about how investing in the development and security of low-cost or free online legal tools can help improve access to justice – even in the face of constant budget cuts and funding struggles.
The Technology Initiative section of the Legal Services Corporation annually makes grants to legal services organizations to develop tools and services that harness the power of technology. This speaks to the legal services community’s commitment to better employing technology – and, for today’s tech-savvy law grades, the increasing need for individuals to have access to easy-to-read, accessible legal resources online opens the door for a potential Equal Justice Works or Skadden fellowship proposal at a welcoming organization.
With the help of these tools and many others, it should ever-easier to maximize productivity and maintain the data about clients and services that is needed for civil legal aid organizations to compete for competitive grants from LSC and other funding sources, showing how increased access to civil legal aid can save society money in the long run. The LSC strategic plan for the next four years outlines concrete ways in which it can spur civil legal aid organizations on towards using data and technology to move forward. It’s certainly a developing area in the access to justice community, though: how can your ideas help innovate the system?
Job o’ the Day: Fall Law Intern at the U.S. Small Business Administration!
The U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) is offering academic year internships through its Office of Litigation within the Office of General Counsel. This unpaid internship can provide students with course credits and valuable experience in a wide range of litigation work and exposure to a variety of issues.
SBA was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise, and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of the nation.
The main sections, each headed by an Associate General Counsel, are Financial Law and Lender Oversight, General Law, Litigation, and Procurement Law. OGC advises the Agency with regard to its various financial, contracting, and training programs; and also represents SBA in administrative and court proceedings, involving areas of law such as employment, procurement, and contract.
Intern assignments include legal research, drafting legal memoranda, and section-specific assignments. Interns will likely have the chance to interact with SBA’s top management, staff at the White House, Office of the Inspector General, Justice Department, other federal agencies, banks, and major corporations.
The Law Intern Program includes mentoring, formalized training, and a writing seminar. The Brown Bag Lecture Series provides interns the chance to attend weekly panel discussions on topics ranging from current issues in OGC to clerking after law school. Interns will also have many opportunities to meet and interact with SBA attorneys. Happy hours, baseball games, and golf trips are just some of the fun social events interns will attend!

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