Perspective on Seventy Cents

Seventy Cents an hour, or about $1,400 a year for full-time workers is what today's minimum wage increase means. In Oregon, though, it will not mean any change because the state minimum wage is already $8.50 per hour, that is $1.25 more than the new national minimum wage of $7.25.

What does $7.25 per hour mean for the working poor? First it means that, in states where the federal minimum wage applies, a single parent of one who works a full-time minimum wage job will make just slightly more than the federal poverty guideline for a two person family. But beating the poverty level (just $14,570 annually for a family of 2 in 2009) is far from a comfortable or secure life.

The State of Oregon Housing and Community Services attempts to make a more realistic estimate of what constitutes poverty in each of Oregon's County and reports the results in an annual report. According to the most recent, January 2009, report that single parent with one child living in Multnomah County would require $35,556 per year to afford a basic family budget. In order to create that income, the single parent working full time would have to earn $17.09 per hour. More than twice Oregon's minimum wage, and nearly ten dollars an hour more than the new national minimum wage. It would take $41,316 for two parents with one child to afford a basic budget in Multnomah County, equivalent to $9.93 per hour with both parents working full-time jobs; still well in excess of Oregon's and the nation's minimum wages.

Surely the 24 hour news channels and the Sunday TV Politics and Press shows of the chattering class will be full of people alternately calling the minimum wage increase salvation for the poor and the death knell for our economy, but neither of those things loudly proclaimed straight from the gut of their speakers will prove to be true. When talking about those who live at the edges of poverty, it is easy to react from the gut, but a little perspective can provide more meaning.

Even with the 70 cent increase in the minimum wage, it is still possible to work hard, to work full-time in American and not make ends meet. It is possible for a woman to work full time and come home to wonder how she will find enough money to pay a lawyer to get a restraining order to help keep herself and her child safe from an abusive relationship she just escaped. It is possible for man to work full time and wonder where the money will come from to pay a lawyer to help get back what was lost when a shady mechanic took advantage of him. It is possible for a couple, both working full time to find themselves staring at a retaliatory eviction notice without money for a lawyer to fight and afraid that they and their kids will be kicked out into the street.

These are some of the people served by public interest attorneys. To leave you with a little more perspective: some of these public interest attorneys do not even make enough to afford the state of Oregon's budget for a single parent in Multnomah County. See the national distribution of attorney salaries for the class of 2008.

Returning to Plan A

Sometimes when the job market is tough, it can be important to embrace your ideals and return to the reasons you came to law school to guide your search for work.

Law school entrance essays across the country are filled with people expressing their mission to fight for civil and human rights, help the downtrodden, and contribute to the increase of human development around the world. By law school graduation time, many have shed that mission, citing finances or a lack of opportunity in the place they want to stay. Nationally this means that, for the class of 2008, only 5.4% of law graduates took public interest positions with an additional 11.8% working for the government in public service positions. Lewis & Clark does better with our 2008 class sending 11% to public interest careers and 17% to government work, but there are still many who have a change in direction while they are students.

For those concerned with money, it is worth looking into the new loan repayment programs for federal school loans that allow graduates to pay only 15% of discretionary income and have their loans canceled after 10 years if they work public service positions (non-profits and government).

For those looking for positions in a certain local, it can pay off to go all in and let the world be the place that you consider. Jobs with places like the Peace Corps, USAID, and the Department of State fit those Plan A ideals of many entering law students, but relatively few take these jobs after graduating. This is the time to return to ideals and seriously consider these careers.

The Peace Corps offers the chance to have hands on involvement in developing countries with a commitment of a little over two years. When you return, you will have had an extraordinary experience and fantastic material for your resume whether you seek to continue in the direction of international social development, take a legal services job, or head into the private sector. If the three mission goals of the Peace Corps--

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

appeal to you then check out the Peace Corps. There will be presentations on the Peace Corps in Portland on August 26, 2009 and September 16, 2009.

USAID works to provide a better future for everyone in the world by

• Supporting Agriculture & the Environment
• Expanding Education & Training
• Fostering Democracy & Governance
• Advancing Global Health
• Promoting Economic Growth & Trade
• Cultivating Global Partnerships
• Providing humanitarian assistance

Graduates start in Foreign Service positions through the Junior Officer Program. Applicants respond to postings for specific subject areas relating to USAID's mission. A listing of current openings is available. Junior Officers receive training including language training in DC before they go abroad for additional training. For those seeking careers in international humanitarian work, USAID can be a great start.

Foreign Service Careers through the Department of State allow you not only to represent the United States Government abroad, but they also let you escape the job search. If you have ever wished there was just a test that would result in an appropriate job at the end if you pass, then you will appreciate the application process for becoming a Foreign Service Officer through the Department of State. The process starts with the Foreign Service Officer Test, and continues on with an Oral Assessment. Foreign Service Officers work throughout the world in Management, Consular, Political, Economic, and Public Diplomacy Positions. The next written test dates are October 3 through 10, 2009 nationwide including Portland, Eugene, Salem, and Medford.

Volunteers needed to serve on the Portland Police Citizen Review Committee

The Portland police are looking for people to serve on the Citizen Review Committee. The work involves looking into complaints about the police and reviewing police bureau policies. You must be a Portland resident or business owner and you must commit to a two-year term with 5-7 hour a week of committee work. Applications are due July 20. Full details and application.

Go federal, apply or be appointed.

The federal government has been bracing for a mass retirement of baby boomers by ramping up efforts to recruit new employees. The focus of that recruiting has been through Making the Difference, check out the site for where the feds have need and how you can get headed toward a government career.

Who needs a job when you can get appointed? The Plum Book is the government's directory of appointed positions is 210 pages long and is published every 4 years. There are many appointed positions beyond the big name ones, and with lower level political positions, there is no confirmation hearing so your skeletons can stay hidden safely away. Thumb through the Plumb to see what the possibilities are.

William is wondering if he will be destroying his career with his status message

The weblogs and even the NY Times have been all Henny Penny concerning a beta and possibly broad changes to how people can control privacy on Facebook, but the reality sounds much more subdued than the initial end of June panic. Despite reality being less frightening than some have predicted, this is a good time to do a social networking privacy checkup.

What is going on with Facebook and privacy?

Fecabook rolled out a beta of the new publisher (that box where you enter your status message, links, and other things) that allows people to select the privacy level they want on a per post basis. A combination of the fact that one of the options is to make your post visible to everybody, and the fact that the beta was only provided to people who previously set their status to visible by everyone caused some fear that we would all be soon living in a brave new Facebook naked of privacy settings and having to remember to lock away every single post. From what I can tell, past the hype, your default settings will remain if/when the new publisher goes beyond the beta tests. So let us checkup on your defaults.

Defaults?

In Facebook you can control your default privacy settings on several elements of your profile. You can even partition your friends into lists and specifically block certain profile elements from certain friends; this can be useful for separating things you want professional colleagues to see from all your friends/acquaintances/angry towns people who remember that wicked awesome toga party you once threw--no matter what you think, there are photos, and they will be posted one day. Facebook has detailed help on privacy settings. Pay attention to friends of friends and network settings thinking hard about who this might include.

Do not forget the search settings.

Separate from your default privacy settings are your search settings. These control what shows up when people search for your name. It is worth noting that one of the items you can turn off in your search settings is the listing of the pages you are a fan of. If you tighten down all of your other privacy settings and forget this one, everyone will be able to see that you are an enormous fan of Emo Sponge Bob and judge you based on that revelation.

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?

Alum fights for the right to heat, light, and telephone

There are many ways to fight for the little guy, some of them at legal services organizations like Legal Aid, others in the government like Attorney General consumer rights divisions. Alumnus Simon ffitch has done both. Read about his path and how he fights to see that the people of Washington have power in utility rate cases.