New England Law | Boston

Return to the New England Law | Boston home page.
Center for Law and Social Responsibility
New England Law Opportunities
Center for Law and Social Responsibility Environmental Advocacy Project Criminal Justice Project Education Law Project Immigration Law Project Public Service Project Women's and Children's Advocacy Project Student International Experiences

Welcome to the CLSR Weblog.

Please browse around, catch up on our latest public interest law projects, peruse our links (including the one to our home site, New England Law | Boston), and add your comments. Before you start, we encourage you to become familiar with our Terms of Use.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Interested in the Immigration Law track? Professor Haynes offers the following advice:

In Spring 2012, a Business Immigration Law course is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday evenings. Professor Haynes advises those interested in the Immigration track to take this course. It may be offered every spring, but that will not be determined until next year, so it may be the only chance for 2L's and 3L's to take it.

Similarly, Immigration Law and Refugee and Asylum Law are currently both offered only in the Fall. Professor Haynes advises those interested in the Immigration track to try to take both of these courses. Refugee and Asylum Law is space limited.

Finally, there are clinics in addition to the Immigration Law Clinic that may be suitable for an immigration law related placement. These include the Administrative Law Clinic, International Law Clinic and Public Interest Clinic. If you cannot fit the Immigration Law Clinic into your schedule, you may consider talking with Professor Engler about finding an immigration placement and taking it in one of the other above-listed clinics.

Skadden Fellowship Information Session

The Skadden Fellowship is a program that awards approximately 25 fellowships year year to graduating law students and judicial clerks to provide two years of civil legal services to indigent clients through public interest organizations chosen by the Fellows.

What: Skadden Fellowship Information Session, conducted by Susan Butler Plum
When: April 12, noon
Where: Harvard Law School Campus, 332 Pound Hall, 1563 Massachusetts Avenue

Public Interest Fellowship Series

Boston-Area Law Students and Graduates Are Invited to Attend Three Fellowship Information Sessions at Northeastern School of Law This Summer!


Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowships:
June 27th @ Noon, Room 230 Dockser, Adam Culbreath, Program Officer

Soros fellowships fund outstanding individuals—including lawyers, advocates, grassroots organizers, activist academics, and others with unique perspectives—to initiate innovative policy advocacy projects at the local, state, and national levels that will have a measurable impact on criminal justice reform. Fellowships are 18 months in duration, may be implemented in conjunction with a host organization, and can begin in either April or September of 2012. Information available @ http://www.soros.org/initiatives/usprograms/focus/justice/programs/justice_fellows/guidelines/advocacy.

Equal Justice Works Fellowships:
July 11th @ Noon, Room 230 Dockser, Chuck Jackson, Director of Fellowships

Equal Justice Works (EJW) is the national leader in creating postgraduate public interest fellowship for law students and lawyers. EJW fellowship programs provide financial and technical support to lawyers working on innovative and impact-oriented legal projects. Fellows work on a range of issues, including domestic violence, homelessness, community economic development, immigration, civil rights, juvenile justice, employment rights, access to health care, consumer fraud and environmental justice. Mr. Jackson will be speaking about AmeriCorps legal and Equal Justice Works Fellowships as well as the new Public Defender Corps. Program. Information available @ http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/post-grad.



Skadden Fellowships:
July 18th @ Noon, Room 230 Dockser, Susan Butler Plum, Director

Skadden Fellowships fund third year students and exiting judicial clerks who propose projects that provide civil legal services to the poor, including the working poor, the elderly, the homeless and the disabled, as well as those deprived of their civil or human rights. Fellowships are awarded for two years. Skadden provides a salary, loan forgiveness and fringe benefits. Information available @ www.skaddenfellowships.org.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Robert M. Cover Public Interest Law Retreat

Over the weekend of March 4, 2011, Mary Hutton '11, Elizabeth Alfred ’12, Adelina Janiak '12, and Astrid Paniagua '12 traveled to the Sargent Center in Peterborough, NH, for the annual Robert M. Cover Public Interest Law Retreat. The retreat is held each year in late February with the goal of bringing together law practitioners, professors, and students from across the country who share a common passion for public interest law.

The Cover Retreat hosted workshops, panels, and speakers covering issues and topics in public interest law, as well as networking, socializing, and recreational opportunities. Hutton noted, “attending the retreat was a wonderful experience. My only complaint is that there was simply not enough time to attend all the workshops on topics ranging from immigration law to educational equality to starting your own legal nonprofit.”

The overall tone was informal, fostering learning and collaboration with the various students and practitioners. Alfred explained, "the advantage of being at retreat with the speakers is the opportunity to follow up on what they said. It was a privilege to be able to sit, at a meal or during recreational time, with lawyers who are actively succeeding at making the law work for everyone, including the most disadvantaged, and talk about how these lawyers got to where they are and how they view the world. It was inspiring to hear other law students and recent graduates talk about the projects happening at their schools. Probably my favorite part was getting to know the other four New England Law students so well, and talking about how we can bring what we learned at the retreat back to NELB.”

Additionally, Hutton noted the importance of the collaboration between students at the Retreat: "I also very much enjoyed meeting so many different law students who are committed to public interest. Many of these students have already achieved amazing things, from starting their own non-profits (funded by teaching salsa lessons), to forming the first public interest law groups in sometimes hostile academic environments. Spending time in this environment was a good reminder of the reasons I went to law school in the first place."

The CLSR intends to promote and support similar student opportunities in the future.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Careers in Public International Law: Panel Discussion

Panelists include: Professor Dina Francesca Haynes, Jane Rocamora, Andrew Lowenstein, Adrienne Fricke

Thursday April 7, 4:30-6pm, Room 305

Co-sponsored by International Law Society, Center for Law and Social Responsibility, Career Services

Monday, March 21, 2011

Summer Internships with Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC)

MDAC is an international human rights organization based in Budapest, Hungary, working to advance the rights of people with intellectual disabilities and people with psycho-social disabilities. MDAC works towards six priority human rights themes: legal capacity, living in the community, inclusive education, freedom from ill-treatment, political participation, and access to justice. MDAC is currently seeking suitably qualified graduate students to intern this summer. There are four openings this summer:

1. Litigation intern
The litigation intern will carry out research on international and comparative law to support strategic litigation before domestic and international courts. This intern needs to be a law graduate with excellent legal research and drafting skills.

2. Employment rights intern
This intern will assist MDAC in compiling data from a research project looking into the denial of "reasonable accommodation" in employment across several European countries. This intern should be a sociology or law graduate.

3. Training development intern
This intern will assist staff to develop a training package on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The intern will gather information, draft sections, gather promising practice examples, develop training exercises and curricula. This intern needs to be a graduate of a social science discipline.

4. International standards intern
The intern will analyze and summarize international human rights standards in each of MDAC's six human rights themes for presentation on MDAC's website so that attorneys and lawyers can utilise the information in their work. This intern needs to be a law graduate who has taken a course on international human rights law.

Qualifications and experience: Interns should be graduates or in a graduate program. Internships are for a minimum of eight weeks, the start and end dates being flexible.

On offer: MDAC offers its expertise and gratitude, but no funding. MDAC is a fast-paced and cosmopolitan organization, with offices in the heart of Budapest, one of Europe's most beautiful cities. Interns will be supervised by one of MDAC's 15 staff members, and will take part in the full range of staff activities including attending sessions at MDAC's summer school at the Central European University.

To apply: applicants are kindly requested to send their CV, cover letter and the completed application form to nsimon@mdac.info with 'Summer Intern Application' in the subject line. Deadline, 30 March 2011.

Further information about MDAC can be found at

www.mdac.info

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Mass Alliance Campaign Manager Training

Mass Alliance, a coalition for political and advocacy organizations that work together to build a progressive Massachusetts, is hosting a training on April 2nd and 3rd in Boston. The Campaign Manager Training is a two-day training session that introduces future campaign leaders to the theory and practice behind successful grassroots campaigning. Attendees will learn from some of the best progressive campaign operatives in Massachusetts. The workshop is great training for full-time paid work on campaigns and is also helpful for issue and neighborhood activists who are hoping to enhance their understanding of how to influence the outcome of campaigns.

Campaign Manager Training covers:
• Field organizing
• Message Development
• Working with the press
• Time-tested tactics for grassroots fundraising

The cost for this workshop is $80. Scholarships are available. Students are strongly encouraged to apply. Food and materials for the two-day training are provided.

For more information, or to register, contact Jordan at Mass Alliance: 617.722.4320 or jordan@massalliance.org

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Summer Corps 2011

Summer Corps 2011 application opens on March 16 and closes April 5, 2011. The application will be available on the Summer Corps website, along with FAQs and other information to assist in the process.

Summer Corps is an AmeriCorps-funded program that in 2011 will provide 700 law students with the opportunity to earn a $1,132 Segal AmeriCorps Education Award for dedicating their summer to a qualifying legal project at a nonprofit public interest organization. To learn more about the program please visit the new Summer Corps webpage.

Program highlights for and changes for 2011 include:
• Larger Education Award: The amount of the education award has increased from $1,000 to $1,132 in 2011.
• More Opportunities: More Summer Corps funding opportunities mean more opportunities for law students to get involved in the public interest field. The 2011 Summer Corps program will be the largest class to date.
• Summer Corps Standouts Awards and Publicity: The Summer Corps Standout Program was started in 2009 to recognize members for their innovative approach to meeting the needs of an underserved or marginalized person or community. Winners received an article promoting their service on the public interest blog and more!
• Improved Efficiency: The paperwork requirements have been drastically reduced to further improve the service experience. The Segal AmeriCorps Education Award is now available electronically and students are able to apply the voucher soon after they finish their service. Please check to make sure your law school is able to accept electronic transfers from the National Service Trust. If your school is not yet registered, please visit the Segal Education Award website.
• The National Service Movement: National service is as important as ever and law students play an important role in bridging the justice gap. Summer Corps members have consistently reported that their summer internships solidified their commitment to public interest law, while reigniting their passion for the legal profession.