All Students

This article in the New York discusses how Skadden Arps has taken a bold step in this troubling economy: offering $80,000 to all of its associates worldwide and a year off. One of the associates, Heather Eisenlord is planning on taking the year off to teach English in Sri Lanka or bring solar power to the Himalayas.

Joe Davidson, Columnist for the Washington Post, wrote a column on how the federal government is squandering opportunities in developing its workforce. "Uncle Sam" he comments, is constantly behind the times with cultivating, developing and ultimately hiring interns that come through the various federal government offices.

Eric Holder's recent appointments to the Department of Justice suggest he will work to bring on a new level of ethics compliance unforeseen in the last ten years. The Bush administration was accused of appointing political appointees to the DOJ; attorneys that are looking to defend the mantra of the administration rather than the rule of law or hold any ethical standards.

Newly unemployed lawyers, Obama campaign workers, policy directors, or people simply interested in working for the government now that Barack Obama is in office are working overtime to find a job with the current administration and its various cabinets.

Questions are rising about who exactly will cover the hidden costs of those new graduates who have been deferred from their law firms for a year. While many law firms have agreed to subsidize their these new lawyers upwards to $75,000, and the non-profit and public interest organizations are in many instances happy to take on the new staff, there is the issue of cost that still needs to be answered.

In an op-ed in the New York Times, Adam Cohen believes that with the recent economic problems facing the legal profession (deferred starts to newly associates, firm closings and the rising costs of law student debt), it may be time to re-configure the profession for the 21st century. Mr. Cohen believes that the on-going economic problems could force the profession to look at a lot of different professional issues they have not looked at in quite a while, namely salaries and they way clients are billed.

The Inspector General in the Department of the Interior has a tough job ahead of him. Earl A. Devaney, Obama's newly appointed IG for the Department of the Interior, is charged with catching any slip-ups, negligence and wrong-doing with the federal stimulus money. A particularly tough task given what has recently happened at AIG. The trickier part is that he has to try to do this before any of it happens.

For those law students who put their fraternity hazing rituals on their Facebook page or those who put revealing spring break to Cancun on your MySpace page, you might want to think long and hard about what exactly you should and should not reveal on your online social networking sites.

An article from The Nation written this past summer discusses the subprime mortgage crisis and its legal consequences in Atlanta, one of the cities hardest hit by the housing and loan crisis.

This Washington Post article reveals some of the methods being used by big-time employers to save on energy costs and save on expenses. From Chrysler to Utah's state government, employers are now trying to find new strategies to go greener, reduce business costs and appeal to newer workers.

As a second year law student, Abbe Smith took on a particularly tough case her first day at NYU's prison law clinic back in 1980. Patsy Kelly Jarrett was facing a life sentence for a 1973 robbery and murder. She was convicted on the strength of a single shaky eyewitness who placed her in the vicinity of the killing of a 17-year-old gas station attendant.

While law schools continue to provide rigorous academic and intellectual training, some are starting to supplement this with more practical instruction. Several law schools have started Visiting Assistant Professorship programs in which practicing attorneys join as full-time faculty. By giving these attorneys a chance to concentrate on their scholarship and teaching, law schools hope to mentor promising newcomers with private sector, government and nonprofit experience and introduce them to academia.

With the growing call for pro bono work in major private law firms, some companies are beginning to offer a new approach. Ronnie Abrams is part of this growing trend and perhaps an example of what's to come.

A recent study from Harvard Law School's Program on the Legal Profession, working with the American Bar Association, has found that big law firms are steadily hemorrhaging nearly 50% of their young associates - and most are leaving of their own accord.

A new initiative is spearheading the fight to protect our veterans. The Veterans Rights Project, led by Rachel Natelson of New York's Urban Justice Center, seeks to address the plight of our soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Ms. Natelson wants to fight "the unjust and abuse-ridden claims application process, the lack of accountability for recruiting irregularities and sexual harassment and the persistence of the ill-conceived 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy."

In its continuing series about inmates exonerated by DNA evidence, The New York Times profiles Jeffrey Mark Deskovic. Convicted at age 17 of the murder and rape of a high school classmate in New York, he was released in 2006, his conviction overturned. Now 34, he is struggling after prison, trying to put his life back together and doing what he can to stay afloat.

William P. Quigley, Professor of Law at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law has written an eloquent essay entitled "Letter to a Law Student Interested In Social Justice." In the letter, Professor Quigley assesses the status of social justice law in modern society.

In her recent blog post, Kate Sinding, now a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, recounts a dilemma faced by many graduating law students. Citing an episode of "How I Met Your Mother," Kate discusses a difficult choice faced by one of the characters: take a high-paying job in a private law firm or work for a nonprofit.

This program, held on September 19, presented an introduction to the range of public interest opportunities available to students at HLS. Featured speakers included HLS graduate and a member of Equal Justice Initiative Bryan Stevenson and our own Assistant Dean for Public Service Alexa Shabecoff. The

A recent article in The New York Times describes the escalating debate over whether juveniles accused of violent crimes ought to be given life in prison with no possibility of parole.

The American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics is proud to co-sponsor the First Annual Health Law Student Conference. This year's theme will be "Taking the Health Law Career Path: Student Conference and Job Fair."