Pace Law names Jennifer Friedman director of new Public Interest Law Center
Pace Law – July 29

Jennifer Friedman, a lawyer [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow] who founded and directs one of the country’s largest services providing courtroom help to women threatened by domestic violence, has been chosen to head the new Public Interest Law Center ( PILC ) at Pace Law School. The New York City Bar Association recently awarded her its Katherine McDonald Award for Service to the Family Courts, and in 1998 she received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship and the New York State Bar Association's President's pro bono award. Friedman is also the 2003 recipient of the Columbia Alumna Association’s Alumna Achievement Award.

Cops are applying off-duty guidelines
By Kristina Davis, San Diego Union-Tribune – July 28

After an off-duty Coronado police officer shot and wounded a Chargers player in 2006, new guidelines for cops off the clock were created by a coalition of law enforcement agencies to be applied countywide. Two years later, all but two local departments have adopted the formal policies that spell out how officers should respond to crime when they are not on duty. However, Kevin Keenan, director of the ACLU of San Diego [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow], said that it doesn't appear police agencies have taken the guidelines as seriously as he had hoped. "Most departments, if they did adopt the policy, didn't train on it," Keenan said. "What's the use of the policy if none of the officers know about it or talked about it, and haven't been given a signal from the top that this is important?"

3 towns challenge affordable housing rules
By Matthew McGrath, Asbury Park Press – July 26

Three Northern Ocean County townships want to see the Council on Affordable Housing's revised third-round rules suspended and revised again, according to court papers filed with the state Superior Court Appellate Division last week. "For our purpose, we don't think the rules go far enough," said Adam Gordon, a staff attorney for the Fair Share Housing Center [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow]. “In towns like Toms River and Jackson, developers were allowed to get away with building a lot of housing with no affordable units; the only way to make up that difference is to put a require on warehouse jobs, which Jackson has."

Association of Corporate Counsel
By Francisco Ramos Jr., Diversity & the Bar – July 2008

ACC joined forces with Equal Justice Works to create the ACC Disaster Relief Fellowship Program in response to Hurricane Katrina. “We funded a public interest lawyer to work in the affected Gulf area to handle Katrina-related matters,” notes ACC President, Frederick Krebs. “It was the first fellow sent to the region. The second fellow ACC funded is working in New Orleans to rebuild the New Orleans school system. As a result, a number of law firms and foundations have provided grants to Equal Justice Works to fund additional fellows.”

Prop. 8 backers take fight to kindergarten
By Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle – July 25

Backers of a November initiative to ban same-sex marriage in California plan to tell voters in the state ballot pamphlet that the constitutional amendment would protect children as young as kindergarten age from being taught in school about the virtues of gay and lesbian matrimony. "If the gay marriage ruling is not overturned, teachers will be required to teach young children there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage," supporters of Proposition 8 said in ballot arguments that went on public display this week at the secretary of state's office. An opponent of Prop. 8, attorney Shannon Minter, [a former Equal Justice Works Fellow] who represented same-sex couples in the state Supreme Court case, said California law requires only that students be taught at some point before high school graduation about the legal and financial aspects of marriage.

Case Western Law students selected as Equal Justice Works 2008 Summer Corps members
CSO Blog – July 24

Five Case Western Reserve University Law School students have spent thes summer serving with nonprofit public interest law organizations as a part of the Equal Justice Works Summer Corps program. Elisabeth Christensen, Benjamin Faller, Melissa Kline, Daniel Leathers and Kari White will each earn a $1,000 education award voucher through this national AmeriCorps-funded program.

2 enslaved women sue; Civil lawsuit seeks unspecified millions of dollars
By Robert Kessler, Newsday – July 23

The two Indonesian women who were enslaved by a wealthy Muttontown couple filed a civil suit yesterday against the couple, seeking millions of dollars in damages under the federal racketeering statute, according to their attorneys. "This civil suit gives them the chance to finally assert their rights after years of severe torment, physical abuse, degradation and exploitation," said Ivy Suriyopas, an attorney with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow]. Suriyopas, who is head of the legal defense fund's initiative against human trafficking, added, "Like many domestic workers, Samirah and Enung were vulnerable as immigrants and unaware of the laws that protected them."

Theater troupe shows how to stop abuse with a 'Phone Call'
By Elise Kigner, New York Daily News – June 23

True accounts of domestic violence are material for "The Phone Call: Texting for Life," a new play to help teach teens how to escape from abuse. The play involves a guy trying to stop his girlfriend from making a cell phone call to report abuse. The students won't just watch. The actors perform up to the crisis point, then freeze in place. Audience members are then invited onstage to reenact the scene by making smarter decisions. The play will make its debut in September at borough high schools. A social worker and a domestic violence lawyer later take the stage to explain the dynamics of control in verbally and physically abusive relationships, answer questions, and give out abuse hotline numbers. "We need to end the myth that domestic violence is about physical violence," said domestic violence attorney [and Equal Justice Works Fellow] Vivian Lehrer, who has toured with an "adult" version of "The Phone Call," and will be at the high school showings.

Partnership with Equal Justice Works brings training to dozens of Fellows
NITA – July 2008

In 2007 NITA began a partnership with Equal Justice Works, a non-profit based out of Washington, DC that works with law students and new attorneys to promote law practice in the area of public service or equal access to justice. Equal Justice Works has a fellowship program where recent law school graduates agree to work for two years focusing on a particular social justice issue. According to Equal Justice Works' Training Manager, Ericka Hines, the scholarship recipients have benefited immensely from the NITA trainings.

Equal Justice Works: Lawyers in Service
By George Chipev, ServeNext Blog – July 15

Equal Justice Works (EJW) is a unique program in the national service sphere, since it works directly with law schools, law firms and nonprofit organizations to promote public interest work and address community needs while also helping lawyers address their own financial concerns. Mr. Cole McMahon, Senior Program Manager for AmeriCorps at Equal Justice Works, headquartered in Washington, D.C., enthusiastically explained his organization's work and its importance, opening my eyes up to an entirely new area of public service.

Law students seek diversity at legal firms
By Michael Schoeff Jr., Workforce Management – July 14

It's not just corporate clients pressuring law firms to increase the diversity of their staffs. It's also the law students whom they will hire as associates one day—or maybe not be able to hire if they fail to diversify. In January 2007, a group of students at Stanford Law School launched an organization called Building a Better Legal Profession. They were inspired to establish the organization after they failed to find a resource that would give them diversity rankings for law firms in New York City. Andrew Canter, a Stanford law graduate and co-founder of the group, says many companies have implemented their own diversity goals and policies. They need to push law firms, though, to make a difference more widely in the legal profession. ``Corporations spend a lot of time on [diversity] internally but have less frequently chosen to use market power with outside counsel,'' says Canter, [an Equal Justice Works] fellow at the Mississippi Center for Justice.

Improving diversity can be hard for small firms
By Alana Roberts, Daily Business Review – July 14

Leading lawyers say improving diversity is a top priority for the legal profession, but their firms lack minority representation. Cesar Alvarez, Greenberg's chief executive officer [and Equal Justice Works board member], has said the firm's approach to diversity has been to focus on helping its minority attorneys succeed, and a high number of minority attorneys at lower levels isn't enough. "There is no valor in bringing in minority and women lawyers at an entry level so your overall numbers look good," he said by e-mail. "What you need is an environment that allows those attorneys to move into senior positions in the firm."

Setback for White House on visitor logs
By David Stout, Washington Post – July 11

The Bush administration was dealt a setback on Friday in its efforts to keep records of White House visitors under wraps when an appeals court refused to throw out a lawsuit seeking access to the material. The appeals court said the dispute should go back to the district court, which had ordered the Secret Service to track down the relevant documents and apply for any exemptions it considered applicable. “At that point, the court may agree with the agency, allowing it to withhold the requested records, in which case the government would have no cause to appeal,” [Equal Justice Works board member] Judge David S. Tatel of the appeals court wrote in an opinion joined by Judges David B. Sentelle and Merrick B. Garland.

White House scores key victory on government eavesdropping
By Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor – July 10

"Lame duck" might not mean "powerless" after all. With only six months left in office, the Bush administration has won a rare legislative victory on a contentious issue: secret government eavesdropping. The administration characterizes the measure as fair treatment of patriotic companies. Critics call it a coverup. "Congress should let the courts do their job instead of helping the administration and the phone companies avoid accountability for a half decade of illegal domestic spying," said Kevin Bankston, senior staff attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow] earlier this month.

Benefits, finances among concerns that can complicate marriage plans
By Seth Hemmelgarn, Bay Area Reporter – July 10

LGBT advocates said that in couples where at least one partner relies on some sort of government benefit, they should get legal advice before they marry. Some also noted straight couples can face similar issues. "We're just cautioning people to be careful if either partner is getting any public benefits, especially state-provided benefits as opposed to federally provided benefits," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow]. The way benefits programs work "are so complicated and have so many different parts and pieces, it's often a very specific question for a specific individual whether marrying would impact them," said Cathy Sakimura, an Equal Justice Works fellow at NCLR.

Buffett Fellowships help law students aid children
By Ken Reitz, UVA Today – July 8

Buffett Fellow [and Equal Justice Works Summer Corps member] Kyle Wamstad, a rising second-year law student, is spending this summer working at Charlottesville’s Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC), helping families with children resolve employment, housing, social security and consumer issues. “[The Buffett Fellowship] has been very helpful. You have to try to manage your resources, balance things out, and the Buffett Fellowship really helps,” he said. Wamstad also received a PILA grant from the Law School in addition to an Equal Justice Works grant this summer.

Firms ask partners to pony up
By Leigh Jones, National Law Journal – July 8

Becoming partner is getting pricier. A combination of factors, including the current credit market and longer client payment cycles, means that incoming partners – whether newly minted or lateral – are shouldering more of the responsibility for law firms' capital requirements. "It's more expensive to run a law firm now," said Cesar Alvarez, chief executive of Greenberg Traurig [and Equal Justice Works board member].

Rutgers Law graduates earn prestigious fellowships
Rutgers University – July 7

Four recent and new graduates at the Rutgers School of Law-Camden have secured highly competitive fellowships, which will begin this fall: Maria Hernandez '07, has been awarded a public interest fellowship from Equal Justice Works, and will work at South Jersey Legal Services in Camden to help children with disabilities gain access to education. Her fellowship is sponsored by ALM through Equal Justice Works. Marissa Band '08 received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship to work at Community Legal Services, Inc., in Wilmington, DE. She will focus on providing legal services to patients at a low-income health clinic. Her fellowship is partially sponsored by the Greenberg Taurig law firm.

Lawyers might be going off the clock
By Braden Lammers, Columbus Dispatch – July 5

There is a change brewing in the legal arena on the best way to charge clients. One Columbus law firm has abandoned the long-established standard, the billable hour. The billable hour became popular because of the growth of law firms, the breadth of their clients and the ease at which the billable hour can be applied, said Anastasia Kelly, executive vice president and general counsel for American International Group Inc. [and Board Chair for Equal Justice Works]. She was co-leader of the American Bar Association committee that studied the issue. "The billable hour very rarely represents the value of the work (and) it can be easily abused," Kelly said. The study also contended that billable hours penalize efficient and productive lawyers, discourages communication between the client and the lawyer, and puts the client's and lawyer's interests in conflict.

Video: Democracy's local heroes
NBC News/The Today Show – July 4

On July Fourth, there's a lot of talk about the founding fathers, but what about the ordinary Americans that make this country great?...These are folks who are making a difference, not because of privilege or wealth. Because they saw a problem, they wanted to change. And let me give you an example. [Former Equal Justice Works Fellow] Wynona Ward, who grew up in the wintry reaches of Vermont, tough childhood, even sexual abuse, left to be a long distance truck driver, and another instance of sexual abuse in her own family drew her back. She became a lawyer, founded an organization. In fact, now helps abused women, women who suffer domestic violence. And one of the things she honed in on is the fact that in rural areas, a lot of these women don't have transportation. That's key to getting help.

Lawsuit leads to release of immigrant
By Amy Goldstein, Washington Post – July 3

A South Korean immigrant who was repeatedly denied timely medical care while in the immigration detention system was released from an Arizona jail yesterday. In May, The Washington Post documented Harvill's struggle to get treatment as part of a series of articles about poor medical care for detained immigrants around the country. The series was based on interviews and thousands of internal government records. Equal Justice Works Fellow Kelleen Corrigan has been involved with the case.

DOJ sued over cell phone tracking practices
EWeek.com – July 2

The ACLU and Electronic Freedom Foundation moved July 1 to force the Department of Justice to turn over records related to the government's program of using cell phones as tracking devices. The groups claim the public has a right to know the extent of the government's use of the technique. "This is a critical opportunity to shed much-needed light on possibly unconstitutional government surveillance techniques," Catherine Crump, a staff attorney with the ACLU [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow], said in a statement. "Signing up for cell phone services should not be synonymous with signing up to be spied on and tracked by the government."

Indian immigrant sues Edison over his deportation
By Samantha Henry, Associated Press – July 2

A former Edison resident is suing the township and its police department, claiming he was deported to his native India in retaliation for complaining about police brutality. Parikh was arrested by immigration officials a month after filing the brutality complaint. "This is an example of a larger problem that's going on in New Jersey the fact that state and local authorities feel the need to enforce immigration laws," his lawyer, [former Equal Justice Works Fellow] Alexander Saingchin, said. "Mr. Parikh's situation underscores why so many people are afraid to go to the police, even as a victim."