Monday, July 30, 2007

Equal Justice Works
Fellowships

The Equal Justice Works (EJW) Fellowships Program provides financial and other forms of support to lawyers (new grads) working on innovative legal projects throughout the U.S., including New York City. The two-year Fellowships offer salary (up to $37,500 annually) and generous loan repayment assistance; a national training and leadership development program; and other forms of support during the term of the Fellowship.

This year,projects include areas such as :

Aid to disadvantaged children and youth
Civil rights litigation
Special education
Transactional law
Transgender rights

The 2008 Equal Justice Works Fellowships application is available here. You may review the application form by creating a profile and an application name. All applications will be judged according to the quality of the proposed project, the host organization and the individual candidate, taking into consideration other factors such as issue area and geographic diversity. Interviews will be conducted nationwide throughout the fall, and offers will be extended on a rolling basis.

The application deadline is September 18, 2007, 5 p.m. EDT.

If you have any questions, please email fellowships@equaljusticeworks.org or call (202)466-3686, extension 202.

The Legal Services Corporation
Announces "Quality Initiative" to
Encourage Public Interest Careers

Karen J. Sarjeant, Vice President for Programs and Compliance of the Legal Services Corporation in Washington, D.C., has written a terrific article in the July 2007 issue of the NALP Bulletin entitled, "Working to Encourage Public Interest Careers with Legal Services Corporation Programs: The LSC Quality Initiative."

Although NALP does not often allow Bulletin articles to be published beyond its membership, we received special permission from NALP to reproduce the article here.

Any student or alum who is considering a career in public interest should read Ms. Serjeant's article, which addresses recruitment, retention, loan assistance, professional development, diversity, mentors, and other important issues that can make a public interest career successful.

Senate Passes Bill to Help
Prosecutors and Public Defenders
With Student Loan Debt

Recently, the United States Senate passed Senate Bill 442 (higher education reauthorization) that provides debt relief for law graduates going into state prosecutors and public defenders offices.

The House passed similar stand-alone legislation separately earlier this year (see the Blog's report on this here). The House and Senate will now conference to determine what the parameters of the final Bill will be.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

A Writing Competition:
The Rights of Transbeman Persons

Here's an odd little writing competition.

Terasem Movement, Inc. is sponsoring a writing competition and asking for papers containing an analysis of the legal rights and obligations of transbeman persons. "Transbeman" is defined as a being who claims to have the rights and obligations associated with being human, but is beyond currently accepted notions of legal personhood. (Examples would include a computer claiming to be conscious; a person successfully revived from post-mortem cryonic biostasis; or downloading cyberconsciousness into bionano bodies).

The deadline is December 10, 2007. Winner(s) will receive a $1,000 prize plus all related travel and lodging to/from a Colloquium in Melbourne Beach, FL.

Your paper must be 6,000 to 10,000 words in length, including footnotes. Send submissions to: Terasem Movement, Inc. 201 Oak Street Melbourne Beach, Fl 32951.

Good luck, and may the best nanite win!

(Look along the right hand column for links to websites that list many more writing competitions. The year is just getting into gear and many websites have yet to be updated for 2007-2008 competitions, but at least you can get a good idea of the requirements and deadlines from last year. Winning a writing competition is an incredible boost for your resume. Think about it.)

The Student Loan Albatross

In the July/August 2007 edition of the New York County Lawyer, the monthly newspaper of the New York County Lawyers Association, the President of the Association, Catherine A. Christian, pens an article entitled The Student Loan Albatross, in which she discusses the burden student loans place upon a graduating law student's public service career options and potential federal legislation which may address it.

Go to the New York County Lawyer online to read Ms. Christian's article on page 5.

Corporate IP Intern Scholarship

The Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation (IPOEF) will award two $10,000 scholarships this year to law students who have completed internships in corporate intellectual property law departments and who intend to pursue a career in intellectual property law. The deadline for application materials is October 12, 2007.

For more information, go to the IPOEF website.

PRLDEF Hosts
Incoming Law Student Reception

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

ABA Law Student Division Career Fair:
August 9 in San Francisco

The ABA Law Student Division Career Fair kicks off the Division’s portion of the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The event takes place Thursday, August 9 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Marriott San Francisco Hotel (55 Fourth Street) in the Yerba Buena Ballroom Salon 9 on the Lower B2 Level.

This inaugural Career Fair is structured as a table-talk and resume submission event to provide law students an opportunity to learn more about each firm or agency, while actively gaining valuable career advice. Legal employers will have tables where attendees can drop off resumes and meet representatives from law firms of all sizes, state and federal government agencies, military JAG, and public interest and non-profit groups to discuss summer and new associate positions, as well as internships and volunteer opportunities. Students may interact with legal employers without the typical stress of formal, sit-down interviews.

The Law Student Division’s Career Fair also features a Resume Review component, with a panel of lawyers and legal recruiters available to critique resumes and offer suggestions to maximize impact and improve effectiveness.

Law students must be registered for the ABA Annual Meeting to gain access to the Career Fair. Pre-registration has closed, but students who have not yet registered for the Annual Meeting, may do so beginning Thursday morning, August 9 at 8:00 am in the Exhibit Hall, 1st Floor, Moscone Center West (800 Howard Street). The registration fee for law students is $75. Only law students wearing official ABA Annual Meeting badges will be admitted to the Career Fair.

For more information about registration and ABA Annual Meeting events, please go here. The American Bar Association offers many educational sessions that give students the opportunity to meet and interact with legal professionals from across the country. While lawyers must pay for CLE events, registered law students generally are allowed complimentary admittance to educational events.

Participating Employers:


Arnold Law Practice - San Francisco, CA
The Florida Bar Foundation - Orlando, FL
Florida Department of Children and Families / General Counsel's
Office - Tallahassee, FL
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP - New York, NY
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis (K&L Gates) -
Seattle, WA
Leonard, Street and Deinard - Minneapolis, MN
Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand - Minneapolis, MN
McCormick, Barstow, Sheppard, Wayte, & Carruth, LLP - Fresno, CA
Morgan, Lewis - San Francisco, CA
Seyfarth Shaw LLP - Los Angeles, CA
U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps - Washington, DC
U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps - Rosslyn, VA
U.S. Coast Guard - Washington, DC
U.S. Department of Justice / Office of Attorney Recruitment and
Management - Washington, DC
U.S. Postal Service - Washington, DC
U.S. Public Interest Research Group - Boston, MA
White & Case - Palo Alto, CA

Confirmed Resume Reviewers:

Ilene R. Breitbarth, Manager, Law Student Field Recruitment, ABA
Membership & Marketing Division
Andrew Chapin, Director of Public Interest Scholars &
Counseling, Fordham Law School
Lisa Dickinson, Attorney Recruiting and Professional Development
Manager, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Cathy Fitch, Director of Career Development, Stetson University
College of Law
Shelley Levine, Professional Recruitment Manager, Heller Ehrman
LLP
to be determined from Latham & Watkins

For more details about the ABA Law Student Division’s Career Fair or Annual Meeting programming, please go here.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

2008 State Court
Clerkship Guide Available

Vermont Law School has published the 2008 State Court Clerkship Guide, an invaluable resource when trying to figure out the tangled web of 50 state court clerkship application procedures.

CSO has purchased the username and password for this year's Guide for students. Any student interested in the Guide should contact CSO (631-761-7030) for this information.

The website for the Guide is here.

In addition, there is a hard copy of the Guide in the CSO suite.

Registration Deadline for
Diversity Job Fair Looming

Vault and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) are hosting 4 legal diversity career fairs in August, 2007.

Register today to:

Gain exposure to 150 legal employers from across the U.S. (attending the 4 events) actively looking to recruit 2L, 3L and lateral hires for positions nationwide.

Obtain valuable educational content through presentations, panel discussions, and interactive sessions focused on interviewing, career options, associate life, women & minority law leaders.

Listen to diverse industry leaders reveal their recipes for a successful legal career.

For more information on the event, go here.

For a list of participating legal employers, go here.

For the event agenda, go here.

To register, go here.

Deadline to register is August 6th -- register today!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

“Finding and Funding
International Public Service Opportunities”

The newly updated “Finding and Funding International Public Service Opportunities” guide is available on PSLawNet here.

2008 Equal Justice Works Fellowship
Applications are Now Available

Go here for more information.

The deadline for Fellowship applications is September 18th.

Important reminders:

Review the application ASAP. EJW recommends that prospective candidates review the online application form as soon as possible to familiarize themselves with how it works and to consider the necessary items required to apply -- the online application, the Certification Form (signed by both candidate and host organization) and up to two letters of recommendation.

Begin working on the application early. The online application does not have spell check capability, so candidates are advised to draft their application text in a word processing program. There are character limits noted for each text box, and character counts may differ between a word processing program and the application. It is therefore important for candidates to paste the text into the application well in advance of the deadline to ensure that the text fits in the allotted space.

Hard copy documents must be received by September 18th. The deadline for submission of the application, which is done online, is 5pm EDT on September 18th. A signed Certification Form and up to 2 recommendation letter(s) must be received by Equal Justice Works no later than September 18th. These items must be mailed or hand delivered. Faxes and emails will not be accepted.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Labor/Employment Law
Summer Intern Reception