So you want to volunteer, are you missing the postings?

If you are looking for volunteer opportunities and you did not receive the latest pro bono listserve email, here is what you are missing:

Hello Pro Bono List People,

Two volunteer opportunities to publicize today:

1. The Washington County Circuit Court Family Law Facilitators Office
has its posting up for volunteers to help file family law cases. This
is a great opportunity to learn some of the basics of family law, to
see how civil practice works, and to gain experience with client
contact. Open to all levels from 1L through practicing lawyer.
Shifts are flexible and the commitment is minimal. Mandatory training
is this Friday the 9th 2:30 to 4:30 at the law school in Seminar
Smith. Email me at wcpenn AT lclark.edu by 4 pm Wednesday the 7th if you
are interested.

Full Posting:
The Washington County Circuit Court Family Law Facilitators Office
operates in the Washington County Courthouse in Hillsboro. This
office helps people who are filing family law cases pro se (meaning on
their own without an attorney). The court facilitators direct clients
to the correct paperwork and answer non-legal questions about the
process of filing a case. Students who volunteer with this project
assist the facilitators in assisting pro se clients following the
guidelines set in ORS 3.428.

Staff facilitators rely heavily on Lewis & Clark volunteers. If you
have any interest in family law, or on working on client interaction
skills, this is the project for you! The Courthouse is about a 40
minute drive from campus, but there is a MAX stop only a couple of
blocks from the courthouse. In the past students have coordinated
their shifts and carpooled.

2-4 hour shifts either weekly or bi-weekly for the Semester or the
year. Scheduling of shifts is VERY flexible (anytime that the
facilitation office is open). There is a mandatory two-hour training
scheduled on Friday, October 9th from 2:30 to 4:30 pm on campus in
Seminar Smith in Wood Hall.

Indicate interest by 4 pm Wednesday, October 7, 2009 to wcpenn AT lclark.edu



2. The Health Law Section of the Oregon Bar is looking for students
to write articles. Writing for bar section newsletters can be a great
way to meet people who work in a particular area of the law and can be
a great way to get your name in front of lawyers across the state.
Sections are always looking for people to write, and there are
sections in many areas, check out the list of sections at:
http://www.osbar.org/sections.

Full posting:
We are providing students the opportunity to publish short articles on
different areas of health law- whatever they are interested in or want
to write about. We ask for at least 2-3 paragraphs, but not a
multipage article. We will not edit the articles, or check cites, but
we could see if someone would be willing to mentor if that is an
issue. The articles will be published on the website with the
student’s name- and this could be a great opportunity for students to
get their name out there. If students are interested, need more
information, or want to submit something, they can contact Amy
Vandenbroucke: vandenbr AT ohsu.edu.

Best regards,

Bill

Signup for the listserve today. You can either send an email to majordomo@lclark.edu with "subscribe probono-list" in the body or email wcpenn AT lclark.edu and ask to be added. Volunteering, it is a great way to get experience, a great way to give back to the community, and a great way to remember the reasons why you came to law school.

Fellowship Season

It is fellowship season. Checkout the convenient fellowship calendar at pslawnet.org to find our where and when to apply. Some fellowships are simply jobs with a set term (1 year or 2 year), but others require you to develop a project and find a host organization in addition to finding a source of money.

Two of the largest funders of the latter type of fellowship are Equal Justice Works and Skaden Arps. Sometimes host organizations go out looking for people who want to apply for fellowships. These searching hosts can usually make a fast fellowship application possible (without a searching organization it takes months to develop a project find an organization and put together an application).

PSLawNet.org has many nationwide searching organizations in their database (signup for a free account to search), and there are some right her in the Pacific Northwest. One of these is the Northwest Workers' Justice Project (NWJP):

NWJP SEEKS FELLOWSHIP APPLICANTS

The Northwest Workers' Justice Project (NWJP) is seeking to sponsor fellowship candidates for Equal Justice Works and/or Skadden Arps fellowship programs. See www.equaljusticeworks.org/ or www.skaddenfellowships.org/. NWJP staff will help the successful applicant design a project for the proposal and act as the sponsor. Please submit resume and letter of interest to D. Michael Dale,michael@nwjp.org as soon as possible (final applications for the fellowships are due September 17 and October 5).

At NWJP we believe that all workers share the fundamental human right to live and labor with dignity, safety, and hope. Whether harvesting the food on our tables, cleaning our offices, houses, and hotel rooms, or constructing and landscaping the buildings in our communities, all workers deserve freedom from fear in the workplace, the assurance of payment for their labor, a wage that is enough to meet their basic needs, and the right to bargain collectively a wage and working conditions – in short, fair and lawful working conditions. People who work hard ought to have enough time to spend with their families and be able to participate in civic life, to contribute to making their community a better place to live.

Founded in 2003, NWJP uses advocacy, education, organizing, and direct legal services to protect workers’ right to organize, defend and strengthen the rights of contingent¹ and immigrant workers, and challenge the negative effects of international trade on low wage workers. Over 95% of the workers that NWJP supports are people of color and immigrants from Mexico and Central America who speak little or no English. They work in diverse industries, including agriculture, construction, manufacturing, child care, janitorial, automotive services, food service, landscaping, and food processing. At work, they face employers’ wage and hour violations, retaliatory acts for organizing, illegal and unsafe working conditions, and race and sex discrimination (including severe sexual harassment). While our primary focus is on improving the wages, working conditions, and legal protections for low wage workers in the Pacific Northwest, we engage in national and even international strategies where necessary and appropriate. A key part of our strategy for social change begins with the understanding that the problems facing low wage workers today are global.

2010 Equal Justice Works Fellowship Applications Now Available

The Equal Justice Works Fellowship application for 2010 fellowships is available now. Deadline to apply September 17, 2009. Do you have a project that will change the world? To apply you need a well thought idea and a host organization. Interested students entering their final year should come to Career Services and talk to Bill as soon as possible to brain storm and discuss strategies.

Read all about fellowships in the Post Graduate Public Interest Fellowship Handbook

Make a free account and search for other fellowship sponsors and host organizations at PSLawNet.org.

Lewis & Clark Graduates have received this fellowship in the past, will you be our next recipient?

What do Montana, Iowa, Maine, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Minnesota have in common?

Right now on the Career Services online job postings, there are listings for judicial clerks for Montana, Maine, Iowa, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Minnesota. The Montana and Iowa positions starts in this September, 2009, all others are for terms starting in fall of 2010 (these are positions for students entering their final year of law school). Some are Trial Court, some Court of Appeals, and some state Supreme Court. Log into the job postings site to view the full details.

• Montana - Apply by 7/10/09, start 9/1/09
• Iowa - Apply by 7/1/2009, Start 8/3/09
• Maine - Apply by (multiple positions) 8/28/09 & 9/8/09, Start fall 2010
• Hawaii - Apply by10/1/09 Start 9/3/10
• New Jersey - 480 positions, Apply by multiple dates from 5/8/2009 through 12/24/2009, Start fall 2010
• Minnesota - Apply by (multiple positions) 8/14/09 & 8/21/09, Start August 2010

Interested in another state, check the Guide to State Judicial Clerkship Procedures (login information available in Career Services). Check now, as there is no consistent date for state clerkships.