Monday, December 22, 2008

Rebellious Lawyering Conference

The RebLaw Conference is an annual, student-run conference that brings together practitioners, law students, and community advocates from around the country to discuss innovative, progressive approaches to law and social change.

Where: Yale Law School, New Haven, CT.
When: Friday, February 20–Sunday, February 22, 2009
Cost: Standard registration is $30.
(Registration is free for members of the Yale, UConn, New Haven, and Quinnipiac communities)

Go here to register and to check out schedules, information, and links (including the Reblawg, updated frequently with rebellious tidbits).

New NY State Bar Exam Rules

The New York State Board of Law Examiners recently revised certain rules, policies, and deadlines that are effective immediately and will impact graduates planning to take the February or July 2009 New York State Bar Examination.

Go here to view the new rules.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Managing Your Career in Difficult Times

Here is an interesting article in Law Practice Today, a publication of the American Bar Association, concerning dealing with a legal career in difficult economic times:

Because of the difficult economic times we currently face, and the layoffs that have already occurred in the legal market, attorneys are understandably concerned about job security, and what to do if they are victims of downsizing.

Law Practice Today brought together three well known legal career experts from different parts of the country to talk with us about how they are advising their clients today. Shelley Canter, based in San Francisco, is the author of Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights And Strategies to Land Your Dream Job, Marcia Pennington Shannon is based in Washington, D.C., and serves as a columnist for the ABA’s Law Practice Management magazine, and Kathleen Brady is based in New York City, and is the author of the book Navigating Detours on the Road to Success.


To read the piece, go here.

Interested in Criminal Law and Capital Cases?

The University of California at Berkeley Law School's Death Penalty Clinic maintains a website that lists summer and other internship opportunities in capital defense offices. The site has recently been expanded to include full-time paid positions in these offices as well. Go here to access this great resource.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Loan Forgiveness Podcast

Check out this podcast! Equal Justice Works and American University's Washington College of Law have teamed up to launch an all-new podcast: The Student Debt Relief Series.

The first episode, "How to Figure Out if You Benefit from the College Cost Reduction & Access Act - and How Much?" is available now. Listen to the episode, stream, download or subscribe to the series here.

You can also download the corresponding Loan Forgiveness for Public Service Employment Checklist here.

Manhattan Legal Services
Summer 2009 Jobs

Manhattan Legal Services is a very popular summer job placement for fist-year students. This is the first year in which MLS is interviewing students for summer jobs on a rolling basis, so it is best to get your resume, cover letter, and writing sample (most 1Ls use their first semester memorandum) in to them as soon as practical.

(Click on image to enlarge it.)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Cover Retreat.
An important conference.

The 22nd Annual Robert M. Cover Retreat, organized by students at the University of Maine Law School, is taking shape. The theme this year is "Energizing Your Interest in Public Interest Law." The keynote speaker will be Ezra Rosser, a 2003 graduate of Harvard Law School and currently an Assistant Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. Professor Rosser will be speaking on the topic of "Public Interest, Individual Responsibility, and Markets."

Also speaking are William Eubanks, a 2007 graduate of the environmental LLM program at Vermony Law School; Rafael Cancel-Vazquez, a 2008 graduate of the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, and Echoing Green Fellow; Ben Smilowitz, a 2009 J.D. candidate from Unviersity of Connecticute School of Law and also an Echoing Green Fellow.

The Cover Retreat regulars will also join the event this year: John Brittain from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights; Danny Greenburg of Schulte, Roth and Zabel; Professor Chris Northrop from the juvenile Justice Clinic at Maine Law; Zach Heiden from the Maine ACLU, and many others.

More information and a Cover registration form can be found on the Cover Retreat webpage.

Summer Job Money!

The Summer Funding Resources page on PSLawNet is freshly updated with the most current information. The website lists different funding sources for those with unpaid summer internships and is organized alphabetically.

Go here to view all of the summer funding opportunities.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Nassau County Bar Association
Writing Competition

Local law students now have the unique opportunity to hone their legal writing skills, receive scholarship aid to prepare for the Bar exam, be discovered by their future employer, and receive the many benefits as a member of the Nassau County Bar Association, all from an idea from a first year bar association member. Simone Freeman’s idea led to the NCBA’s Publications Committee hosting the 2009 Law Student Writing Competition, the first time NCBA has hosted such an event. Freeman worked in conjunction with long-term NCBA member Doug Lieberman, a past chair of the Publications Committee.

Freeman, who is in her first year practicing law as an assistant town attorney for North Hempstead, joined NCBA this year and decided to get involved by joining the Publications Committee. “My main goal was to get students more interested in NCBA, as well as to address current student members who may not have found an avenue to participate in the Bar,” she said.

The 2009 competition is open to all student members of NCBA, as well as all full or part-time law school students enrolled in an ABA accredited Law School in the Second Judicial Department of the State of New York. In addition to having the top three winning entries published in the Nassau Lawyer, the three winners will receive scholarships to Pieper Bar Review courses.

For more information about the writing competition, including the topic and deadline, go here.

Pride Law Fund Fellowships

Pride Law Fund funds several Summer internship opportunities for those seeking experience in the areas of sexual orientation discrimination, individual rights litigation, direct legal services to people with HIV/AIDS, and other legal issues of concern to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. In 1999, Pride Law Fund created the Tom Steel post-graduate fellowship to fund a recently licensed lawyer for a full year of work on a project addressing the needs of the LGBT community.

Previous fellowships have funded work on impact litigation in the areas of employment, education and family law; developing legislative/educational strategies on the issues of privacy and sodomy law reform; developing legal materials to assist clients with family law questions; documenting sexual orientation and HIV related discrimination in youth and minority communities; compiling national surveys of sexual orientation and HIV nondiscrimination laws; providing direct legal services to people with HIV/AIDS; and developing educational information on the issues of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth, military personnel and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Pride Law Fund’s Fellowship Program has provided critical support for projects at such diverse organizations as the AIDS Benefits Counselors, the American Civil Liberties Union, National Center for Lesbian Rights and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, among many others.

For more information about Pride Law fellowships, go here.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Employment with the Department of Justice

Here is a PowerPoint presentation from the Department of Justice regarding spring, summer, and post-graduate employment. Check it out.

20th Anniversary Video/Essay Competition:
ABA Commission on Women in the Profession

20th Anniversary Video/Essay Competition

Gender Diversity: Have we solved the problem? If not, where do we go from here?

The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession is now accepting video and essay entries from law students and young lawyers.

Eligibility

The contest is open to
(a) law students – all law students attending an ABA-accredited law school; and
(b) young lawyers – lawyers under 36 years old or admitted to practice for less than 5 years.

Prizes

1. There will be one YouTube video winner and one essay winner in each category of law students and young lawyers.

2. Each winner will be presented with a $500 honorarium.

Rules

1. Subject: Each entry must address the following topic: Gender Diversity: Have we solved the problem? If not, where do we go from here?

2a. No joint entries: Joint entries submitted by a group of two or more people are not permitted and are void.
2b. Multiple entries: An individual may submit one entry in the video competition and one entry in the essay competition. Multiple entries in each competition by a single person are void.

3. Original work: Videos and essays must be original works created for purposes of this competition. Entries published elsewhere previously will not be accepted and are void.

4. Submissions:

4a. Videos: YouTube video entries are limited to three (3) minutes in length and must be uploaded to the YouTube contest submission site at www.youtube.com/group/GenderDiversity. Nothing in the videos shall identify the entrant.

4b. Essays: Essay entries must be submitted online as a Microsoft Word document no more than 600 words (actual text) or six (6) pages in length, double spaced, Times New Roman font, 12 point, with 1-inch top, bottom, and side margins. Footnotes are prohibited. Essays must be uploaded.

5. Deadline: Entries must be submitted by 12:00 p.m. Central Time on December 31, 2008. Entries submitted after that time will not be accepted.

6. Announcement of winners: The award-winning entries in each category will be announced during the 2009 American Bar Association Midyear Meeting in Boston, MA held from February 11-17, 2009.

7. Publication of winning entries: The award-winning entries will be published on the Commission’s web site following their announcement at the 2009 Midyear Meeting but no later than March 1, 2009.

For additional information on this great contest, go here.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Professor Miller has a New Podcast

Professor Meredith Miller, author of the blog The Slippery Slope, recently interviewed Ari Kaplan, of Ari Kaplan Advisors. Ari provides consulting services to law firms, speaks at law schools and ghostwrites. Their conversation focuses on his book, The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development. Professor Miller states that Ari's book is well-written, thoroughly researched, encouraging, and dense with helpful hints on building business. Topics include: "organic self-promotion," what law school career services never told you, making friends not contacts, the importance of publishing, and commonalities among rainmakers.

To hear the podcast, go here.

Long Island Business News:
Forecast of Legal Specialties

Recently, Michael H. Samuels penned an article in Long Island Business News in which he talked about his conversations with Long Island attorneys and business people who attempted to forecast which legal specialties will be busy during these lean financial times:

The economy and the new presidential administration will have the biggest effects on Long Island’s law practices in 2009.

Lawyers throughout the Island say that for the next year and for many to come, they will be reacting to the national recession and how it locally impacts Long Island’s businesses and homeowners.

That means company reorganizations, real estate workouts and upticks in fraud and white collar crime.

Among the practice areas expected to be busiest: bankruptcies and foreclosures.


* * *

One particular area in which [Jeff] Wurst [head of the financial services practice group at Uniondale’s Ruskin Moscou Faltischek] said he expects to see more business is commercial foreclosures. When big-box retailers like Circuit City and Linens ‘N Things go out of business and close stores, the landlords of many Long Island strip malls can no longer collect those hefty rents. If those landlords default on their loans and banks foreclose on the properties, even more businesses could go out of business on Long Island, he said.

* * *

[Jerry] Sloane [partner in charge of Berdon’s Jericho office. Berdon is an accounting firm that helps law firms deal with economic issues] said he expects to see an increase in white-collar crime because bad economic times are when company officers tend to misrepresent financial statements and companies take a harder look at their books to discover which employees have been stealing from them.

“The forensic stuff is going to be a very busy area,” he said. “Attorneys are going to get hired to do internal investigations, to interview management, staff, vendors.”

John Bauer, a shareholder in Littler Mendelson’s Melville office, said he also expects to assist more companies with layoffs in 2009. He said as the economy worsens, businesses are going to seek ways to cut costs, especially with personnel.

“The down economy leads to more work in the labor and employment area,” Bauer said.


For the rest of the article, go here.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Money for Post-Graduate
Public Interest Projects

Are you a 3L interested in public interest work? Do you have a project you'd like to get off the ground next year? If so, apply for funding from the Initiative for Public Interest at Yale.

The Initiative is a non-profit organization that provides start-up money for projects that protect the legal rights or interests of inadequately represented groups. It funds cutting-edge projects whose successful execution might be a model for other organizations seeking new and better ways to represent clients. For information about how to apply, visit The Initiative's web site here.

The deadline to submit applications for one-year grants of up to $30,000 to be awarded in the summer of 2009 is February 2, 2009.

Questions about the Initiative in general or about the grant application and selection process should be directed to intiativeforpublicinterest@gmail.com.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Registration Deadline
for NYU Job Fair Looms

The deadline to register for the NYU Public Service Job Fair is:

Friday, December 5, 2008, at 3:00 p.m.

Do not wait until the last couple of days to register, as the NYU servers have been known to crash and you may not be able to register.

All first-year students should register. Upper-level students should register if they are at all interested in government and/or public interest work.

Register now and ask questions later. You need to register if you want to attend the Fair.

In addition, while the resume upload deadline is January 1, 2009, the sooner you upload your resume the better. Employers review resumes as they are uploaded, so you should choose employers and upload your resume as soon as you can. First have your resume reviewed by a CSO counselor, of course.

Go here to register.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Summer Fellowships in Labor Law

The Peggy Browning Fund provides unique opportunities for law students to work for economic and social justice. The Fund accomplishes this goal through a variety of activities, including the sponsorship of legal fellowships and workers' rights conferences for law students. In so doing, it is their belief that law students who are exposed to these positive experiences will have an increased understanding and appreciation for the issues facing workers and what representing working people is all about.

The Fund's Fellowship Program provides students with an opportunity to work for non-profit labor-related organizations. Their office works closely with participating law schools in soliciting qualified and committed students for their programs. Additionally, they provide networking and other support services to the selected Fellows. Each year the Fund brings the Fellows and their supervisors from the mentor organizations together for a half-day workshop. The mentor organizations present worker rights/labor issues facing their clients; students outline the work projects accomplished during their respective fellowships.

In 2009, The Peggy Browning Fund will support between 40 and 50 funded Summer Fellowships in labor-related organizations throughout the United States. The Summer Fellowship stipends are for a minimum of $4,500 per student for a ten-week employment period. In many cases Mentor Organizations will supplement the stipend.

Students interested in applying must submit applications both to the listed organization and to The Peggy Browning Fund. Applications must be received no later than Thursday, January 15, 2009. The Fund aims to notify students selected for these positions in mid to late February.

For more information about these summer fellowships, go here.

Friday, November 21, 2008

"Author Blames Yale and
‘Having a Good Time’ for Failing NY Bar"

An article by Debra Cassens Weiss in the online ABA Journal reports on a Yale law student's trouble with passing the New York State Bar Examination:

A famous Yale Law School graduate who has written books about her struggles with depression and addiction has failed the New York bar exam.

Elizabeth Wurtzel blamed the failure partly on Yale Law School and partly on her study habits, the New York Observer reports. Wurtzel has written the books Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America; Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women; and More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction.


The article reports that a New York Observer reporter informed Wurtzel about the Bar Exam results:

"Wow, really? I had no idea. I didn't even see that. That's interesting," she told the reporter. "It's a weird test. I think when you go to a different school than Yale you are better prepared for it. It was definitely hard. I guess when I should have been studying, I was kind of having a good time."

For the rest of the article, go here.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Do You Really Enjoy Legal Research?

In this information-saturated age, becoming a law librarian can be a satisfying and productive career.

What do law librarians do? Law librarians are professionally trained people who work in various legal settings, including law schools, private law firms, and government libraries.

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has published a booklet, entitled Finding Your Way in the Information Age that explains the many roles of law librarians as well as the kinds of skills needed to be successful in this profession. You can request a free copy from AALL.

If you are interested in learning about the profession, you should also look at the two major publications of the American Association of Law Libraries, AALL Spectrum and the Law Library Journal. AALL is a professional organization representing 5,000 law librarians. The association exists to promote and enhance the value of law libraries to the public, the legal community and the world; to foster the profession of law librarianship; and to provide leadership in the field of legal information. A review of AALLNET will help you understand this profession and the kinds of work we do.

Academic law librarians with JD and MLS (Master of Library Science) degrees are currently starting at approximately $60,000 in the New York area. Law Library directors make upwards of $150,000. There is opportunity for continuous advancement in this career. For people who like to do legal research and want to teach, this might be the perfect career.

What are they thinking?

An article by Martha Neil in the online ABA Journal focuses on how the tightening economy is having an effect on large firm events:

Plans for the annual holiday party at White & Case were made months before the firm announced this week that it would lay off 70 lawyers and 100 staff members.

So the 2,400-lawyer international firm will be going ahead with the event at a midtown Manhattan restaurant, reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. However it's cutting back this year and plans to spend under $250,000, roughly half of what last year's gala at the United Nations cost.


The article reports that the firm has also done away with the fireworks.

For the rest of the article, go here. The ABA Journal is a great site to keep up to speed on news in the legal profession.

Thursday, November 13, 2008


You are invited to the next Partnertrack Event on December 3rd, 2008 which will be held at The Night Hotel (132 West 45th street) from 6:30-8pm (please see the attached invite). For those of you who are unfamiliar with Partnertrack, it is a cocktail event that the chair of the Entertainment, Media, Intellectual Property and Sports Section of the New York County Lawyers’ Association has hosted for the past four years.

The December event will be a Special Holiday Event hosted in conjunction with at least 5 other Committees at NYCLA, so it is sure to be well attended!

Please remember to RSVP to this email address.

Where: NIGHT HOTEL
132 W 45th St., New York, NY

Cost: $5.00 Cover / Cash Bar
When: December 3rd, 2008, 6:30-8pm

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Business Law Diversity Clerkship


The American Bar Association's Section on Business Law is sponsoring the Business Law Diversity Clerkship Program, which encourages students to pursue business court clerkship opportunities and to consider careers in the practice of business law. In considering a student's diversity, the Section will give special consideration to individuals who have overcome social or economic disadvantages such as physical disability, financial constraints, or cultural impediments to becoming a law student.

Submission Process:

The objectives of the program include:
• To encourage more diverse law students to apply for clerkship positions
• To foster relationships between business court judges and diverse law students
• To provide students with a foundation in various aspects of business law

Up to nine interns will be given a summer stipend of $6,000 and placed in business court clerkships in the Philadelphia Commerce Court or the Delaware Court of Chancery. Other possible internship locations include New York and Florida.

To apply, students must be Section of Business Law members. For membership information and to join the Section, click here.

Applications for the 2009 program are available here. All application materials must be received on or before Friday, January 30, 2009. More information about the Business Law Diversity Clerkship Program is here.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Pass the Bar Reception

The New York City Bar Association and the New York Law Journal are once again hosting a cocktail reception to honor those who recently passed the bar. This year's annual reception is Thursday, December 4 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at the New York City Bar Association at 42 West 44th Street.

The invitation is for everyone who has recently passed the bar; their mentors, co-workers and friends who wish to join in the celebration. This event is an excellent networking opportunity for new attorneys and a great way to catch up with old friends and make new contacts. All attendees will receive gift bags and a chance to win great door prizes.

There is no fee for the event but registration is necessary.

Monday, November 10, 2008

2009 New York City Bar Association
Diversity Fellowship Program

In 1991, the New York City Bar Association's Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Lawyers established a program of summer clerkships for first-year students to address the under-representation of minority lawyers in law firms and corporate law departments. The New York City Bar Diversity Fellowship Program is available to all underrepresented populations in the field of law. The goal of the Fellowship Program is to offer first-year students from underrepresented populations a unique summer employment opportunity in large law firms and corporate law departments.

Applications will be available in the Career Services Office on Monday, November 24th. Please contact Erica Edwards-O'Neal for more information

Inns of Court

Everyone is familiar with the demands of law school. Many students also work as part-time interns throughout the school year. It’s hard to squeeze in any time for sleep, let alone networking.

According to several studies, over 60% of all jobs are found through networking. Membership in an American Inn of Court is the ultimate networking forum for meeting attorneys with hiring authority and/or input into hiring decisions. Furthermore, at some future point in time, many students will find themselves appearing before the judges they meet at the Inn.

An American Inn of Court (“AIC”) is an amalgam of no more than 80 members including judges, experienced lawyers, law professors, less experienced lawyers, and law students serving as a forum at which CLE dinner programs are held, featuring prominent speakers and informative seminars. It is the only legal organization in the United States dedicated to the enhancement of civility, ethics, and legal excellence. The main objective is establishing a society of legal professionals who work together to promote excellence in all fields of law. These events are organized and attended by practicing lawyers, judges and law students.

The format has proved very successful at developing camaraderie among the bench, bar and students. The Inn programs are designed specifically to promote interaction among members of the bar and judiciary, and lasting mentoring relationships are encouraged and fostered.

Some of you may be familiar with or are members of the Theodore Roosevelt Inn of Court in Nassau County. The Alexander Hamilton Inn of Court in Suffolk County was active until three years ago. Touro has taken the lead in reviving the Inn to provide students with this exceptional opportunity to get to know attorneys and judges on a more personal level. Many of the attorneys have hiring authority, so this is a convenient way to meet them long before it’s time to find a full-time position as an associate in a law firm. Best of all, membership is free! Note: Students are not restricted from membership in both Inns. In fact, we encourage students to double their networking opportunities by joining both Inns.

More information on the history and objectives of the organization can be found at www.innsofcourt.org.

Programs will be held in the Faculty Conference Room at Touro Law Center. Dinner is served at the beginning of each meeting. Topics for each program are carefully selected so that current areas of interest in the law are addressed in the context of everyday experiences which attorneys face in their practice.

Programs are generally created by a team of seasoned attorneys, less experienced attorneys, judges and law students. However, given the urgency of reviving the Inn as soon as possible, some members of the Executive Committee agreed to take on the responsibility for creating these programs without a large team.

The following programs are schedule to begin in January.

January 22, 2009
E-discovery
John Bracken, Esq., Bracken & Margolin
and
Hon. Arlene Lindsay, U.S. District Court

March 5, 2009
Ethics
James Wicks, Esq.,Farrell Fritz

April 16, 2009
Trials
Gene Berman, Esq., Eugene Berman, PC

May 21, 2009
Appellate Advocacy
Hon. Sol Wachtler,
Chief Justice, New York State Court of Appeals (retired)
and
Hon. Arlene Lindsay, U.S. District Court

Each program lasts for two (2) hours. Can you find a way to squeeze eight (8) hours into your schedule during the next semester?

Students interested in joining the Alexander Hamilton Inn of Court should request an application from Margarett Williams in the Career Services Office at mwilliams@tourolaw.edu.

Friday, November 7, 2008

LSPIN Application:
Get your summer money here!

Summer Job Money: The LSPIN Fellowship Program provides grants for first- and second-year law students with public interest organizations in the New York metropolitan area for ten weeks during the summer. Last year, 100 law students were awarded stipends in the amount of $4500 through the Program. Applications, which are simple, are in CSO and are due back in CSO by 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 13. The Program has given money to a number of Touro students in the past. Apply for this now and ask questions later. This is a great opportunity to obtain funding in the summer.

Go here for application materials.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

New York District Attorney's Office
Summer Internship
Application Deadline Looming

The New York County District Attorney's Office will hire 50 1Ls and 2Ls for its paid 10-week Summer Intern Program. In 2008, 52 interns were hired from approximately 1500 applicants. The program begins in early June and interns receive a stipend of $500 per week. Summer interns conduct legal research, write appellate briefs and trial memoranda, and work closely with Assistant District Attorneys to prepare cases for grand jury presentations, hearings, and trials. Also, the Office conducts a weekly lecture and field trip series for interns that highlights aspects of the criminal justice system.

The District Attorney’s Office employs over 450 attorneys in 4 divisions. The Trial Division prosecutes misdemeanor and felony street crime cases and is divided into such units as: Firearms Trafficking, Homicide Investigations, and Identity Theft. The Appeals Bureau prepares briefs and oral arguments and handles civil litigation in federal and state courts, including habeas corpus proceedings and civil rights actions. The Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor has city-wide jurisdiction over felony drug prosecutions. The Investigation Division prosecutes white collar cases, public and private corruption cases, and rackets cases.

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS:

Applicants should possess strong academic credentials. Prior leadership experience and demonstrated commitment to public service are desirable.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

Apply by Monday, December 15, 2008, submit cover letter, resume, and law school transcript. In-person interviews will begin in January and candidates must bring writing sample, list of 3 work-related or academic references (including phone numbers), and official law school transcript. Offers are extended on a rolling basis; most are made by the end of April.

Submit your documents by mail only to:

Ms. Robin R. Edwards
Administrator of the Legal Hiring Unit
New York County District Attorney's Office
One Hogan Place
New York, New York 10013
212-335-9361

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Blogging About Touro Law Center

Perhaps you have heard Touro Law Center's new radio ad on CBS News Radio, 880 AM. It's a great ad that is targeted to employers, and lets employers know how well prepared Touro Law Center students are to practice law when they graduate. Well, people are listening.

Susan Cartier Liebel graduated from Quinnipiac University School of Law and, upon graduation, started the law firm of Cartier, DeMatteo and Forman, LLC based in Fairfield, Connecticut. After five years, the law firm became Cartier & DeMatteo, LLC as the partners grew into their own. Since 2001, Ms. Liebel has operated the Law Offices of Susan Cartier-Liebel, LLC. In addition, in 2005, Ms. Liebel created the national coaching/consulting firm of Build A Solo Practice, LLC, which she describes as a natural evolution from her professional and life experience.

Ms. Liebel is the author of a blog entitled Build a Solo Practice, and she recently heard Touro's ad on CBS News Radio and penned a blog post about it:

Just today I heard an ad on CBS news radio for Touro Law Center. I wanted to jump for joy but nearly drove into a tree instead because I was so giddy. The radio spot (and I'm paraphrasing) said:

All law students get an education. Our law students are prepared to practice law. Our students get training in their first year, meet judges, do pro bono work and basically can hit the ground running as competent trained associates and practitioners of law.

Can you imagine my stunned but euphoric state when I heard this law school on the radio promoting their students to potential employers (as it was to employers) not through grades but their practical training? (And for those USNWR snobs, I don't know or care where this school is ranked.) Whatever the motivation, the school listened to what employers wanted and what their students wanted. For employers, experience and training in school so the students would come out with practical knowledge the employers were requesting. For the students, this in turn helps them find jobs! (Which also, by the way, prepares them upon graduation for solo practice.)

I was truly impressed. Maybe, just maybe, not every law school aspires to be the next Yale. Maybe, just maybe, more positions will open at these law schools for adjuncts who actually practice law. Maybe, just maybe more law schools will opt out of competing for artificial ranking in U.S. News and World Report. And maybe, just maybe, as we preach to new lawyers to fashion practices centered around the client those same law schools will fashion educational programs around the needs of their clients, the students. And maybe, just maybe, the ABA will loosen up or revamp their accreditation process to mandate more skills training so the education makes more sense in the real world.

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm tired and delusional and I didn't really hear the radio ad. (No..I heard it. I really did :-)


In addition, one of Ms. Liebel's readers posted a comment to her blog post:

So true. I can tell you, having been an adjunct faculty member at a law school, that very often practical experience for the faculty is not sought after and can be perceived as a negative - those in practice are "dirtying their hands in trade" - not being true scholars and academics. This mindset needs to change and I'm glad Touro is getting on board. I have seen some other schools moving in this direction - but its a big ship that turns slowly.

It's so good to see that word is getting out about Touro Law Center's mission.

Monday, October 27, 2008

NYC Legal Services Open House

Legal Services NYC is the largest organization in the nation devoted exclusively to providing free civil legal services to low-income New Yorkers. For over 40 years, its network of 19 offices has provided legal help to people who have no where else to turn. Its multi-disciplinary, multi-lingual staff of more than 350 dedicated individuals — attorneys, paralegals, social workers and support personnel — helps more than 60,000 individuals and families every year to resolve urgent crises in critical areas such as family, housing, health, benefits, consumer, employment, economic development and education law.

Legal Services NYC’s community-based offices in low-income communities throughout New York City include Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services, the Brooklyn Family Defense Project, Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Legal Services NYC-Bronx, Legal Services NYC-Brooklyn Branch, Manhattan Legal Services, Staten Island Legal Services, Queens Legal Services, and South Brooklyn Legal Services.

The November 13th Open House is an opportunity to discuss employment, fellowship and internship opportunities at Legal Services NYC. Leadership from the various offices will attend the event. There will be staff presentations about its vital work and innovative projects.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Touro's Public Advocacy Center Featured
in New York Law Journal Article

The October 24 issue of the New York Law Journal has a great article on Touro Law Center's Public Advocacy Center. Here's a portion of it:

Touro's Public Advocacy Center Benefits Students, Community
By Thomas Adcock

October 24, 2008

(Picture: Thomas Maligno, director of the Touro Law Center's public advocacy center and Maria T. DeGennaro, a Touro law student who works at Long Island Housing Services, one of 16 nonprofits housed at the center.
NYLJ Photo/Rick Kopstein)

The William Randolph Hearst Public Advocacy Center of Long Island, a warren of tiny offices on the Central Islip campus of Touro Law Center, was created for the likes of Maria T. DeGennaro.

Never mind that five years ago neither Touro Law Dean Lawrence Raful nor the Hearst Foundations had ever heard of Ms. DeGennaro, who at the time found it ethically challenging to work as she was in the mortgage loan industry with the deals and debentures she saw as portents to the current economic crisis.

"I'm not a whistleblower," said Ms. DeGennaro, today a 44-year-old 2-L evening student at Touro Law. "I found another way."

As a law student with familiarity with the questionable practices of her former line of work, Ms. DeGennaro was a natural fit for Long Island Housing Services, one of 16 public interest agencies housed on campus at the public advocacy center.

The nonprofit agencies each pay $100 monthly for office, phone and Internet service - along with access to the Touro Law library and faculty, as well as proximity to state and federal courts adjacent to the campus. In return, the agencies pledge to use the passions of Touro Law students as legal support.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony last October, Dean Raful said of the advocacy center, "This is the first of its kind in the nation. Our community and our law school will be enhanced because of this collaboration, and I believe the center will have an impact on social justice and legal training."

Monday, October 6, 2008

New York City
Law Department Reception

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Thursday, October 2, 2008

Environmental Law Writing Competition

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Writing Competition in World Trade Law

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Oktoberfest 2008!

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Presidential Management Fellow
Application Period Open

The 2009 Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program Application Period is Now Open!!!

The PMF Program was established by Executive Order in 1977 to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. By drawing graduate students, including law school graduates, from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, the PMF Program provides a continuing source of trained men and women to meet the future challenges of public service.

The application for the PMF Class of 2009 is open Wednesday, October 1, 2008, through 11:59:59 p.m. (Eastern Time), Wednesday, October 15, 2008. Students must also be nominated by their school to be considered for the PMF Program. The nomination deadline is October 31, 2008.

PMF Class of 2009 Schedule:

October 1 – 15, 2008, 2009 PMF Application Period
October 1 – 31, 2008, 2009 Nomination Period
January/February 2009, 2009 PMF Assessments
February/ March 2009, 2009 PMF Finalist Selections
March 24-26, 2009, 2009 PMF Finalist Job Fair

Please go here for complete details about the program, and visit Erica in the Career Services Office to talk about your application.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

U.S. Attorney's Office Rotation Deadline

Although the deadline for applications for the spring U.S. Attorney's Office Rotation is October 7, 2008, applications received by the Clinic Office prior to that date will be sent to the US Attorney's office as soon as the Clinic receives them.

If you are interested in applying, please deliver your application, writing sample, resume, and transcript as soon as possible to the Clinic Office.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Welcoming Program and Reception for International LL.M. Students

Welcoming Program and Reception for International LL.M. Students

Monday, October 6, 2008, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

New York City Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street, New York, NY.

The Association welcomes international LL.M. students to learn about the activities of the Association that might be of interest to you, including its historic and present role in upholding the rule of law and the work of its various committees. A reception will follow after the program so that you can share your experiences with the New York legal community. The Association also invites former international LL.M.'s to attend the program and reception.

The program and reception are free of charge. Members of the Association, their guests, and all other interested persons are invited to attend. Please register here.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Trademark Law Writing Competition

The International Trademark Association, INTA, announces the

2008-2009 Ladas Memorial Award Competition

Paper Submission by January 16, 2009.

The Ladas Memorial Award Competition is open to all students, practitioners
and academics interested in trademarks and trademark law.

Sponsored by INTA and supported by the law firm of Ladas & Parry LLP, the Ladas Memorial Award was established in memory of the distinguished practitioner and author Stephen P. Ladas. The Award is presented once a year in two author categories, Student and Professional. In each category, the Award is given to the best paper on the subject of trademark law or a matter that directly relates to or affects trademarks.

The subject of the paper must be trademark law or a matter that directly relates to or affects trademarks. Eligible papers include both original unpublished manuscripts and published articles that are submitted or otherwise come to the attention of INTA by JANUARY 16, 2009.

Awards:

The Student and Professional winner is recognized by a US $2,000 cash award, and a set of Dr. Ladas's three-volume treatise. Award winners will be invited to attend the 2009 INTA Gala in Seattle, Washington at INTA's 131st Annual Meeting, where they are recognized before the outstanding volunteers and leaders of the Association. The Student winner will receive a travel and lodging stipend of $US 1,000 to attend the Gala.

Winning papers will be posted on the Academics section of INTA's website and published in the September -- October Issue (Issue 5) of The Trademark Reporter®, INTA's legal journal.

For more information:

To find out where to submit papers, to read more about the rules, or to read the winning papers from the 2007-2008 Ladas Competition, go here.

Friday, September 19, 2008

CSO Open House Week:
September 22 - 25, 2008

Please join CSO from Monday, September 22, through Thursday, September 25, as we throw our doors open and welcome students for daily treats, handouts, tours, training, and fun. Here is a preview of what to expect on each day:

Monday: Dean Gilbert’s homemade cookies and brownies; our QuickLook table for speedy resume and cover letter reviews; Resource of the Day Training: JACOB, our online job system.

Tuesday: Sandwiches; short crash workshops on effective interviewing techniques; submit your anonymous “This is how I would make CSO better” postcard; Resource of the Day Training: martindale.com.

Wednesday:
A cup of tea? Stop by for a cup of one of our specialty teas; PAC tours and meet & greets; let’s talk student biz cards; Resource of the Day Training: pslawnet.org.

Thursday: Pick up a free CSO highlighter (while they last) and a kiss (Hershey’s, of course); an employer wants a writing sample, what do I do?; learn how to give an employer a five-minute “elevator presentation”; Resource of the Day Training: JACOB.

We will have our regular day and evening hours, so stop by at your convenience to see us. We’d really appreciate it. Really.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

MetLife Legal Affairs Career Forum

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

New York City Bar Association
Welcoming Reception

Do you want to eventually practice in New York City? If you do, then you should attend this event at the New York City Bar Association, and join the Law Student Perspectives Committee, as part of a pledge to yourself that you will begin to develop contacts in the City.

Annual Welcoming Reception for Law Students and Recent Law School Graduates

Monday, September 22, 2008, 6:30 - 8 pm
House of the Association, 42 West 44th Street

Start the academic year off right by joining the Committee on Law Student Perspectives at their Annual Welcoming Reception! Members of the committee, as well as representatives from other committees, will discuss the exciting opportunities and programs offered by one of the largest and most respected bar associations in the country. Come learn about:

• The Committee on Law Student Perspectives’ programs for the up-coming year

• The Committee’s resources for prospective and current law students, and recent law school graduates

• The Association’s other committees and opportunities for student involvement

A reception will follow and light refreshments will be served. No fee required. Please RSVP to Jodi Savage.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

What do you think about this?
Good idea? Bad idea?

Today, The New York Law Journal had an interesting article about law schools requiring Bar Prep courses as part of their curriculum. Excerpts from the article are below. What do you think about the idea? (Please feel free to post a comment.)

More Schools Offer Bar Prep Courses: Some faculty consider making exam prep classes a requirement

By Leigh Jones

During the first few sessions of "Advanced Analytical Skills" that William Doherty took at Pace Law School, he and his classmates ribbed each other about being in a remedial course.

"That was the joke for the first two weeks, then we were grateful to be in there," said Doherty, an attorney and a police officer in Floral Park, N.Y., who became licensed to practice last year.

The course that Doherty took was a bar exam preparation class offered for credit by Pace Law School in White Plains, N.Y.

Pace was one of the first schools to provide such a course after the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar in 2005 began allowing schools to give bar prep courses for credit.

Since then, more schools have begun offering bar prep courses, and more are expected to do so following another rule change made at the ABA annual meeting in August.

COURSES CAN NOW BE REQUIRED

The recent change removed an interpretation of the rules pertaining to law school accreditation and enabled law schools to require students to take bar exam preparation courses in order to graduate.

More school-offered bar prep courses also are anticipated due to an ABA standard revised in February, which makes numerical pass rates a factor in accreditation.

"I don't know if I would've passed without the class," said Doherty about the course he took at Pace. He passed the New York state bar exam on his first try after the law school encouraged him to take the course. His grade-point average at the time was around 3.1, he said.

* * *

Some of the courses focus on the multiple-choice portion of the exam. Others aim to hone essay-writing skills or prepare students for performance test components of bar exams.

At the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, Calif., "Practical and Persuasive Writing" is a pass-fail, two-unit course designed to help students on the written portion and the performance test of the California bar exam. In the fall, some 75 students took the class. In the spring, about 110 students were enrolled.

Pacific McGeorge will consider making the course mandatory for a portion of its third-year classes, said Timothy E. Naccarato, assistant dean for academic programs at the law school.

* * *

For now, many of the schools offering bar prep courses are middle-tier institutions. They want to help ensure that their students, who often have lower Law School Admission Test scores and lower undergraduate grades, can pass the bar at percentages that are comparable to higher-ranked schools, particularly in their own jurisdictions.

The John Marshall Law School is expected to consider requiring some of its students to take a bar preparation course, said Corinne Morrissey, director of academic achievement at the Chicago law school. She teaches "Legal Fundamentals," a course that focuses on the six subjects tested on the multiple-choice part of the bar exam.

* * *

"The principal thing we found out is that it really causes these people to become aware of how difficult the bar exam is," she said.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Internet Dos and Don'ts

The September 2008 issue of the NALP bulletin contains an interesting article entitled E-Professionalism Dos and Don'ts by Tracy Evans (Director of Career Services at Louisiana State University Law Center) and Amy Gerwitz (Associate Director, Alumni Counseling and Relations, Pace University School of Law). The article talks about how best to use e-resources to present yourself in a positive light.

For example ... a few of the "dos" are:

1. Do a regular online search of your name (Google, Yahoo, Ask). If necessary, consider hiring a company to “clean up” your online image.

2. Keep your online profiles private, letting in only those you trust and know personally. Check friends’ profiles on a regular basis to monitor what pictures and comments are being posted about you.

3. Record a professional voicemail message at home and on your cell phone. Employers may think you have a beautiful voice if you choose to sing your message, but they won’t be impressed with your professionalism.

The "don'ts" include:

1. Don’t risk putting inappropriate content on the Internet, including on social networking sites, blogs, message boards, YouTube, etc. Don’t assume that just because you don’t put inappropriate content online, others can’t or won’t do so, and their content may include your name or pictures, etc.

2. Don’t assume that even though your profile settings are private, employers and others may not see them.

3. Don’t assume that employers are not con¬ducting electronic background checks on you; they are and will continue to do so.

4. Don’t over blog unless the content is professional. In particular, don’t put anything about your employer in a blog; employees have been fired for this.

Go here to read the entire article.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Any Future Trademark Practitioners Out There?

The International Trademark Association (INTA) is a not-for-profit membership association of more than 5,500 trademark owners and professionals, from more than 190 countries, dedicated to the support and advancement of trademarks and related intellectual property as elements of fair and effective national and international commerce.

The Association was founded in 1878 by 17 merchants and manufacturers who saw a need for an organization “to protect and promote the rights of trademark owners, to secure useful legislation and to give aid and encouragement to all efforts for the advancement and observance of trademark rights.” After 125 years, INTA continues its mission to represent the trademark community, shape public policy and advance professional knowledge and development.

Law Student membership is $25. Benefits of membership:

The Trademark Reporter: Bimonthly journal containing articles that contribute to the scholarly discussion and exploration of all aspects of trademark law.

INTA Bulletin: Biweekly newsletter with up-to-date news on Association issues, trends in trademark law practice and procedure, and legislative activity and business developments. Student members receive the INTA Bulletin as an electronic newsletter via email and can also access it online.

Practitioner’s Guide to the Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol: Searchable online database of practical information on the local application of both treaties in the member countries.

International Opposition Guide: Searchable online database that allows comparative analysis of the availability and feasibility of trademark opposition in 130 jurisdictions worldwide.

Country Guides: Searchable online database of current information on trademark filing, prosecution, registration and maintenance in more than 90 jurisdictions.

Trademark Matters: Online news service that brings together the latest trademark news and case law information from more than 4,000 sources.

INTA Membership Directory: Provides easy access to trademark owners, counsel and service firms worldwide.

TM Topics List: The TMTopics email discussion list is a free forum where more than 1,000 subscribers from top-level corporations, law firms and academia exchange comments, questions and ideas via email on intellectual property-related topics.

And more!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Suffolk County
Women's Bar Association Event

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Interested in Public Defender Work?

PSLawNet, that great resource of public interest and government opportunities and organizations, has created a new Public Defender Handbook for students looking for public defender internships and post-graduate jobs. You can download the Handbook here.

The Handbook has two main sections: 1) FAQ's about the hiring process for internships and permanent jobs, with very specific examples of simulations and hypothetical questions; and 2) a listing and brief description (e.g., application process, training provided, etc.) of the major public defender offices that regularly hire post-graduate attorneys.

This is a great resource for those interested in criminal defense work. Check it out!

Alumni Mentor Program

The Office of Alumni Relations and the Career Services Office are co-sponsoring an Alumni Mentor Program, designed to connect students with alumni mentors in specific practice areas. Students fill out a short application, designating their three top practice areas and geographical preferences, and they will be paired with alumni to talk about the real world of legal practice.

The specific contours of the mentor-mentee relationship will be determined by both parties, but mentors frequently have their mentees trail them in court or at client conferences, talk about career options over lunch, discuss how employers view different kinds of experience, and other activities. The Program is a great way to meet lawyers in practice areas which interest you and to get pointers as to what practitioners are looking for when they hire interns and attorneys. While the Mentor Program is not an employment program, mentors often provide their mentees with employment advice.

Alumni Mentor Program applications are available in the Development Office on the fourth floor or in the Career Services Office, and they may be returned to either office. Alternatively, you may review and print out the application here. The deadline to return your completed application is September 15.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

New Graduates: Young Lawyers Connect

The September 2008 issue of the New York City Bar Association newsletter for new attorneys, Young Lawyers Connect, contains a wealth of interesting information, tips, and invitations to networking events.

One of the newsletter's articles is entitled Job Hunting in a Down Market, by Susan Manch. It should be read by all law students and new grads looking for a legal position.You can read the article here.

In addition, the Bar Association offers a free (for members; $25 for non-members) networking series entitled First Thursdays. The next First Thursday even is a cocktail reception on September 4, 2008. Register for the reception here.

Department of Justice Application Deadline

A reminder!!! Time is short!!!!!

The Department of Justice application deadline for both the Attorney General's Honors Program (post-graduate) and the Summer Law Intern Program is September 2, 2008. Details on the Honors Program application process can be found here. Details on the Summer Law Intern Program application process can found here.

Monday, August 25, 2008

NYC Public Service Career Reception

Public Service Career Reception
Thursday, August 28, 2008, 6:00-8:30 p.m.

NYC Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street, New York, NY (between 5th & 6th Avenue).


All law students, including first-year students, are invited to attend this amazing career fair event at the New York City Bar Association to meet and mingle with dozens and dozens of public interest and government employers as they try to recruit you to work for them. Many Touro Law Center students attended last year, so don't miss out this year. Dress is business casual. Bring copies of your resume.

Please speak with Tom Maligno in the Public Advocacy Center for more information.

Students will register at the door. There is no need to register ahead of time.

Sponsored by Fordham University and co-sponsored by twenty-two New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut law schools, including Touro Law Center.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Gould Law Library is Blogging!

The blogosphere just got a little bit larger with the recent introduction of the Touro Law Center's Gould Law Library blog. The blog offers students a quick-start site for helpful research and writing links and also interesting posts concerning information that will make your life a little bit easier.

One of the blog's posts has a link to a tour of the library. You can take the tour here.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Overloaded with Student Debt?

Touro Law Center Professor Meredith Miller has a blog entitled The Slippery Slope, a regular podcast serious on interesting areas in the law. Professor Miller's most recent podcast concerns federal legislation that is meant to help with student loan debt load. The description of this very interesting podcast as taken from Professor Miller's blog is:

A recent podcast featured a conversation with Heather Jarvis, Senior Program Manager for Law School Advocacy at Equal Justice Works. Heather is a national expert on educational debt and financial barriers facing law school graduates.

Student debt isn't quite a fun topic, but it is an important one. In the coming weeks, many students will begin their legal education, taking on a burdensome pile of debt and the attendant anxiety about paying it back. Thanks to Heather's efforts, law students and graduates can be a little less anxious.

Heather has been a tireless advocate for the new federal loan forgiveness law, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act ("CCRAA"), which was signed into law in September 2007. She is fluent in this complex rubric, and the interview is overflowing with indispensable information for anyone with student loan debt, anyone about to incur student loan debt, and anyone advising or mentoring someone with student loan debt.

Because income based repayment is not limited to public service work, it is worth listening even if you are in the private sector. And, it is especially important to listen if you work in public service, which is broadly defined by the statute. If you follow all of the rules outlined, you could be eligible for loan forgiveness in 10 years.

Our conversation focuses on navigating the complicated waters of the CCRAA. Topics include: eligibility for income based repayment, the statute's definition of "financial hardship," eligibility for loan forgiveness, what constitutes "public service work" under the CCRAA, career public interest work and ramen noodles. Here's a link that contains more information about the CCRAA and the worksheets and calculators mentioned in the podcast.


You can listen to the podcast here.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

First-Year Orientation
Public Service Project

Every year, a hardcore group of first-year students (and a few faculty members) volunteer for a public service project during orientation week. This year, students pitched in to do some preservation work on historic buildings owned by the Central Islip Civic Council. Students landscaped, weeded, painted, sanded, and cleaned to make the Council's buildings and the grounds look their best. Kudos go to the students and also to Tom Maligno, Touro's Director of Public Interest and Executive Director of the Public Advocacy Center, for organizing the project.

Here are a few pictures of this year's project and participants:










Interested in International Law?

A law student who is seriously interested in international law should join ASIL, the American Society of International Law.

ASIL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational membership organization founded in 1906 and chartered by Congress in 1950. ASIL holds Category II Consultative Status to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies. The Society is headquartered at Tillar House in Washington, D.C.

The Society’s 4,000 members from nearly 100 nations include attorneys, academics, corporate counsel, judges, representatives of governments and nongovernmental organizations, international civil servants, students and others interested in international law. Through meetings, publications, information services and outreach programs, ASIL advances international law scholarship and education for international law professionals as well as for broader policy-making audiences and the public.

The American Society of International Law provides its members with information on the latest developments in international law, access to the larger community of international law professionals, and opportunities for professional development and public outreach. Join one of the most respected international law societies in the world and become part of a tradition of sharing and fostering knowledge of international law that spans more than a century.

Benefits of membership:

* Receive 4 issues of the quarterly American Journal of International Law, 4 issues of the ASIL Newsletter, as well as electronic news items such as IL.post;

* Take advantage of discounts on ASIL Publications and the Annual Meeting;

* Gain access to the online Member Service Center, including the Membership Directory; and

* Participate and network – at conferences, on committees, or in Interest Groups – in your areas of interest or expertise.

Other benefits include eligibility to receive JSTOR for online access to the American Journal of International Law from its first issue. In addition, your membership and contributions support the educational mission of the Society.

Student membership is $35 and you can register here. Needless to say, your membership should be included on your resume in the "Activities" section under the Touro Law Center entry.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Looking for a Topic for a
Research Paper or Writing Competition?

ACS ResearchLink is an innovative on-line resource for the legal community. The project leverages previously untapped resources to generate and share new ideas about important legal issues, while engaging the next generation of lawyers in addressing vital law and policy issues that will shape the future of our country.

ResearchLink collects legal research topics submitted by practitioners for law students to explore in faculty-supervised writing projects for academic credit. Topic authors will receive a copy of the resulting student papers, which ACS will also post in a searchable online library. By connecting law students and faculty with the research needs of public interest organizations and advocates, ResearchLink will become an increasingly comprehensive and powerful engine for change, while also enhancing the relevance and influence of student academic scholarship.

Go here to read ResearchLink FAQs.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

"The Social Network as a Career Safety Net"

On August 13, 2008, the New York Times published an article by Sarah Jane Tribble entitled "The Social Network as a Career Safety Net," in which Ms. Tribble discusses how important social networking sites like LinkedIn can be in the job search process.

LinkedIn is a great resource. It's a networking site like Facebook or MySpace, but on a much more professional level. In fact, CSO created a Touro Law Center Community group which you can join to stay in contact with other members of the Touro community. CSO has a presence on Facebook, too.

Go here to read the entire article.

If you have avoided social-networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook with the excuse that they are the domain of desperate job hunters or attention-seeking teenagers, it’s time to reconsider.

In a world of economic instability and corporate upheaval, savvy professionals like the technology consultant Josh So epitomize the benefits of brushing up your online image and keeping it polished.

When Mr. So, a 32-year-old from Dublin, Calif., learned he had 45 days to find a new job before his company eliminated his division, he turned to friends online.

Within hours of updating his job status on the social-networking site LinkedIn, Mr. So won four job interviews through his contacts there. Within a week, two of the interviews resulted in offers. And within less than a month, his employer counter-offered with a position in another division and a $25,000 bump in his annual salary.

* * *

While it lacks the glamour of more popular sites like MySpace and Facebook, LinkedIn “is the place to be,” said the JupiterResearch media analyst Barry Parr, if you want to make professional contacts online. LinkedIn is a “Chamber of Commerce mixer,” he said.

LinkedIn has more than 25 million members, and it is adding new ones at the rate of 1.2 million a month — or about one new networker every two seconds.

With that kind of mass demographic, LinkedIn is hard to ignore. But with that kind of scale, can it be useful? It can be if you use it judiciously.

* * *

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

"100 Tips and Resources
to be a Happy, Successful Lawyer"

JobProfiles.org is a website which provides a multitude of job descriptions for various career paths and what to expect from each.

On August 11, Job Profiles posted an article by Laura Milligan entitled 100 Tips and Resources to be a Happy, Successful Lawyer. The article lists many useful tips in various broad categories, such as associations, blogs, social networking sites, avoiding burnout, work-life balance, job boards, humor, and more. It is definitely worth a look.

Go here to read the article.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

New Bar Review Course on the Market

The online ABA Journal recently reported this:

Kaplan Offers ‘Full-Service Bar Review’ in Three States

Posted Aug 6, 2008, 01:01 pm CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A company that provides bar review courses for the multistate exam will offer state-specific bar review courses in three states.

Kaplan PMBR announced it will offer “full-service bar review” courses in New York, New Jersey and Florida, according to a press release. The Florida program will be available for the winter 2009 bar exam. The New York and New Jersey programs will start in time for the summer 2009 exam.

The exam-prep company will offer features such as online course videos for students who miss lectures, an online quiz builder and personalized study plans.

Go here to read the rest of the article.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

National Security Program

ABA Annual Meeting Program in National Security Law

Sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security

The first 50 attendees receive an advance copy of "Careers in National Security Law", soon to be available through the ABA bookstore.

The program is FREE: no need to register.

Local Police Fighting International Terrorism
Hilton New York, 1335 Avenue of the Americas, Gibson Suite, 2nd Floor
Saturday, August 9, 2008 -- 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

What is the appropriate role of cities in national security? Attend this free program for a discussion of the issues raised by increasingly sophisticated intelligence capabilities being developed at the local level in major cities, including a briefing on what cities and local police are doing to fight international terrorism. With particular emphasis on the intelligence activities in the cities of New York and Los Angeles, as well as the role of the FBI and other federal agencies in working with city officials, the program will examine the issues from local and federal law enforcement and intelligence perspectives. How do they interact? Have these cities gone too far?

Moderator: Harvey Rishikof, Professor of Law, National War College, Washington, DC

Panelists: Susan N. Herman, Centennial Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School; Samuel Rascoff, Assistant Professor of Law, New York University, School of Law and former Director of Intelligence Analysis, NYPD; Michael Rolince, Senior Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton and former Chief of the FBI’s International Terrorism Operations Section; John P. Sullivan, Lieutenant, Emergency Operations Bureau, Tactical Planning Unit of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

Postgraduate Fellowships:
Information and Resources

Postgraduate public interest fellowships enable recent graduates to secure entry level positions with nonprofit organizations, government entities, and educational institutions. Typically, fellowships are term-limited opportunities (one to two years) designed to give a recent law graduate or junior attorney experience in public interest practice. A small number of law firms offer public interest fellowships as well. The PSLawNet job database includes over 250 fellowship listings.

Fellows are able to use their legal skills to effect positive change for disadvantaged populations and/or society in general. They generally receive top-rate training and supervision. Also, many organizations use fellowships as a point of entry to continued employment. And, because application processes are so competitive, a fellowship is an impressive credential. So even if continued employment with a host organization does not materialize, a fellow has a strong professional foundation on which to build.

For FAQs on fellowships, go to PSLawNet here. A fellowship deadline calender (many deadlines are in the fall) is here.

CSO Programs for Fall 2008

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