BAY AREA LEGAL AID 2012 FELLOWSHIP SPONSORSHIP

Bay Area Legal Aid provides free civil legal assistance to low-income families of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its mission is to provide high quality service regardless of the client's disability, language, or Bay-Area location. Since 2000, BayLegal has successfully sponsored one Shartsis Friese, five Equal Justice Works and three Skadden fellowship applications.

BayLegal invites law students beginning their third year and recent law school graduates to propose innovative fellowship projects for 2012 for submission to the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, Equal Justice Works, Soros Justice Fellowship Program, and/or similar programs. Project ideas should relate to one or more of BayLegal's four substantive practice areas:
• Domestic Violence Prevention/Immigration: help survivors of domestic violence navigate the various legal, housing, and income options available to them as they strive to end the violence and create a safe and stable environment for themselves and their children. This can include: divorces, restraining orders, custody, visitation and support orders; preventing unwarranted evictions, and obtaining priority transfers within public housing. BayLegal also provides full legal representation on immigration-related matters under VAWA.
• Housing Preservation: work to preserve and expand affordable housing by enforcing housing laws and regulations. This includes: assisting clients who are victims of illegal evictions, housing discrimination, substandard housing conditions, foreclosure rescue scams, and wrongful termination from affordable housing programs.
• Health Care Access: help people enroll in and obtain services from health insurance programs for the indigent, including Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, and county care programs. In addition to providing brief services and extended direct representation, BayLegal conducts education and outreach activities at community-based organizations and public policy advocacy.
• Economic Security: secure income and support services for those who qualify for public benefits such as SSI, CalWORKs, General Assistance, Food Stamps, and In-Home Support Services. This includes: assisting clients in reversing unfair terminations or denials of benefits; working with local and state government to improve the administration of these programs, thereby helping public agencies become more responsive to the community’s needs.

Factors that will be utilized in evaluating candidates for sponsorship include:
• Demonstrated commitment to public interest law;
• Knowledge of or strong interest in the relevant issues presented in the fellowship proposal;
• Membership in a minority population served by BayLegal, including the LGBT Community;
• Fluency in a non-English language spoken by many BayLegal clients;
• Excellent oral, writing and legal research skills;
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team; and
• Anticipated or current California Bar membership.

Application materials are due July 15, 2011. For application details, please visit the CSO Symplicity site.