The OPIA Blog

The Recorder recently wrote about new money coming into California Legal Aid organizations as well as positive recent developments for the various groups, like balanced budgets.

A recent letter to the editor in the New Yorker Magazine highlighted Bruce Wasserstein's life achievements and work as the owner of The New Yorker. Bruce Wasserstein was a joint degree graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. The Wasserstein Public Interest Fellows Program was named in his honor.

A recent USA Today article mentioned two HLS graduates, Dan Lindsey and Melanca Clark, in a story focusing on the dearth of legal service attorneys available to poor people facing foreclosure.

Equal Justice Works posted a nice blog entry about the top reasons to be a public interest lawyer.

According to a recent column by Boston Globe's conservative columnist Jeff Jacoby, federal civil servant employees' salary is rising and holding a comparative advantage vs. private sector employees.

In a piece written in the National Law Journal, serious questions are highlighted over the changing legal field and the implications of a legal education. A recent letter from the Dean of the University of Miami Law School, Patricia White, highlighted the changing legal market and asked students to rethink their reasons in going to law school. Quite bold considering the potential money the school could have lost if students took the Dean up on her advice.

Externships - short-term positions with nonprofit organizations, government agencies or other organizations that are unpaid, credit-based and supported by a faculty member and supervising attorney - are apparently gaining popularity as a means to help recent law school graduates gain an edge in the job market and "stick out."

The University of Minnesota Law School launched a new fellowship program aimed at building legal experience for recent graduates entering the job market.

Steven Donziger '91, is at the epitome of what many may consider an epic David v. Goliath legal battle. Donziger is the lead U.S. Attorney in the case of Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco. The case pits 30,000 Ecuadoreans who claim oil drilling done by Texaco (now owned by Chevron) has lead to untold amounts of pollution of water and land where the Ecuadoreans live.

The DOJ's Civil Rights Division is reportedly undergoing significant policy and organizational restructuring according to a recent New York Times article. These changes could lead to new hiring within the division and a revamping of what has long been considered an historic division within DOJ that recently has been under some serious scrutiny.

The hay-day of high salaried firm positions, although not over, is definitely on hold. Law firms are looking to significantly restructure their finances and hire attorneys and law firms that have recently deferred associates, in many cases, gave the option to work a year at a public interest law firm while being paid by the law firm that deferred their start at a significantly reduced rate. Public Interest organizations are still reacting to this phenomenon with mixed feelings.

The DOJ’s Criminal Division, in efforts to back up the recent talk of the Obama Administration, is beefing up its fraud unit. As reported in…

It has already been well documented that nationally, legal aid is being hit hard by the economy and the Madoff scandal. In Massachusetts, a state that has a long history of providing legal aid to low income and individuals in need, has seen its funding seriously reduced. Greater Boston Legal Services, the largest legal assistance agency in the region, will be cutting its staff by over 20% in the fall. Other organizations across the state have had to cut staff and close on alternate Fridays.

A recent NY Times article highlights the unique dilemma District Attorneys Offices in New York are facing with the downturn in legal jobs with private firms.

The ABA Journal recently wrote up an article about what practice areas are "thriving" in the legal industry.

As economic pressures mount, more and more legal aid organizations are being forced to do more with less. In this short article and video, NY1 documents dwindling funds and the severe legal cases that The Legal Society of New York faces.

The contentious battle of warrantless wiretaps continues, this time with a couple of HLS alums as key attorneys in the debate. Jameel Jaffer ('99), an attorney for the ACLU, and Serrin Turner ('00) an assistant attorney with the DOJ were arguing against each other in the ongoing debate over warrantless wiretapping. The case surrounded, specifically, amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allowing warrantless eavesdropping abroad.

One might think that with the declining profits of law firms, lawyers who are still employed would actually be dedicating more time to cases that are actually earning the firm money. According to some statistics quoted in this American Lawyer article, lawyers at some of the largest and even many small or mid-sized firms have greatly increased the amount of their pro bono hours over the years, particularly in times when firms are actually losing money.

In two separate editorials this week, both the Washington Post and the New York Times published critiques of what the most recent house financing bill does (or continues to not do) for legal services.

Many non-profit and legal advocacy organizations jumped at the opportunity to offer up volunteer positions to recently deferred associates, provided the firms that the associates were deferred from are covering most (or all) of the costs. Many questions still linger but one thing that has been left unanswered is, what about working for judges?

John Berry, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management for the federal government, called for the federal government to stand for gay rights. In some of the more pointed words regarding the matter heard in years, Berry urged public officials to take the lead in pushing for equal rights for gay partners. "With the help of a president who supports our cause, the aid of courageous fellow countrymen and women who love liberty, and with God's grace, we shall prevail."