Baylor Public Interest Legal Society

National Adoption Day

2009-12-09T17:33:00.003-06:00

On Friday, November 20, 2009, Baylor Law School, Baylor Public Interest Legal Society, Waco-McLennan County Young Lawyers Association and Child Protective Services hosted McLennan County’s National Adoption Day event at Baylor Law School. National Adoption Day is celebrated nationwide to finalize the adoptions of children in foster care and to celebrate families who adopt.

McLennan County’s National Adoption Day commenced with an invocation led by Pastor Ronnie Holmes of Church of the Open Door. Judge Gary Coley finalized the children’s adoption papers. Mayor Virginia DuPuy and Senator Kip Averitt issued proclamations recognizing McLennan County’s National Adoption Day.

After the children’s adoptions were finalized, the children and their new families enjoyed a reception where they decorated cookies and received baskets filled with gifts donated by local businesses and organizations.

In a collective national effort, National Adoption Day works with courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates to find a family for every child in foster care. More than 25,000 children have been adopted from foster care on National Adoption Day during the last 10 years. McLennan County has held an annual National Adoption Day event since 2005 and Baylor Law School has participated every year.

More than 40 Baylor Law School students helped coordinate the event by securing donations, assisting attorneys who have volunteered their time and expertise to make these adoptions possible and by raising awareness throughout the McLennan County community for the 129,000 children in foster care waiting to find families.

"National Adoption Day has become a Baylor Law tradition that reflects the commitment of our students to serve as they prepare to enter a serving profession,” Baylor Law School Dean Brad Toben said. “Nothing is quite as satisfying as seeing a child enter into a new family and a new life of hope.”

2009-10-21T15:11:00.001-05:00

National Adoption Day Golf Tournament

2009-10-21T14:56:00.003-05:00

Baylor Public Interest Legal Society is excited to host The First Annual National Adoption Day Golf Tournament on Sunday, November 15, 2009!

The tournament will be at Twin Rivers Golf Club in Waco. All proceeds will benefit McLennan County's National Adoption Day.

The fee is $80 per golfer which includes 18 holes of golf, range balls and a fajita lunch reception. The format will be a two person scramble with a 9:00 A.M. shotgun start.

Hole sponsorships are available.

If you are interested in playing, sponsoring a hole, or donating to McLennan County's National Adoption Day, please e-mail adoptiontournament@gmail.com.

World Habitat Day-October 5, 2009

2009-10-04T21:02:00.004-05:00

The United Nations has designated the first Monday each October as World Habitat Day.

This year on Oct. 5 in Washington, D.C. and around the world, please join Habitat for Humanity in support of this global observance as we come together and declare that the lack of decent, affordable housing is unacceptable.

According to the United Nations, more than 100 million people in the world today are homeless. Millions more face a severe housing problem living without adequate sanitation, with irregular or no electricity supply and without adequate security.

Worldwide, more than 2 million housing units per year are needed for the next 50 years to solve the present worldwide housing crisis. With our global population expanding, however, at the end of those 50 years, there would still be a need for another 1 billion houses. (UN-HABITAT: 2005)

Raising awareness and advocating for change are the first steps toward transforming systems that perpetuate the global plague of poverty housing. World Habitat Day serves as an important reminder that everyone must unite to ensure that everyone has a safe, decent place to call home.

The U.N. further states that both developed and developing countries, cities and towns are increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, resource depletion, food insecurity, population growth and economic instability.

Rapid rates of urbanization cause serious negative consequences - overcrowding, poverty, slums with many poorly equipped to meet the service demands of ever growing urban populations.

With over half of the world’s population currently living in urban areas the U.N. believes there is no doubt that the "urban agenda" will increasingly become a priority for governments, local authorities and their non-governmental partners everywhere.

The theme for World Habitat Day 2009 is "Planning our Urban Future"
Celebrations of World Habitat Day in Washington, D.C. will be an excellent opportunity to foster global discussion and raise the profile of shelter and urban issues at the national and international level. Events in the United States and around the world include policy forums, award presentations, luncheons, dinners, house-building and exhibitions.

ADVOCATE Photo by photo, Habitat for Humanity advocates have created this mosaic that has already been sent to the White House. Now it is time to deliver a strong message to Congress: Make housing a priority. Pass legislation that would prioritize adequate and affordable housing. Ask Congress to Make Housing A Priority on World Habitat Day!

Visit www.habitat.org for more information

Justin’s Alaska Public Defender Journal- July 5, 2009

2009-07-07T10:51:00.000-05:00

I can’t believe I have a month left until I go back to Texas to start another year of law school. The time has flown by so quickly up here! One of the most difficult things to get adjusted to is that the days are so much longer here. The sun rises somewhere around 4 a.m. and doesn’t set often until after 11:30 p.m., and even when it sets it’s never really completely dark, only dusky. That, combined with the frantic schedule of summer activities to try and cram into a few months, makes the days feel almost endless up here. When you never see it get dark, it can be hard to discern where one day ends and the next begins. Still, it’s a great place to spend the summer, and I especially like that I’m avoiding the 100+ degree heat that I would otherwise be experiencing back in Texas.
As far as work goes, things have been frantic there as well. One of the coolest things about Alaska is that because it’s such a relatively new state (they’re celebrating their 50th year of statehood this year), the opportunity to work on cases of first impression are plentiful. Last week I worked on an issue involving the effect of a Louisiana state pardon on Alaska sentencing provisions, and I’m also working on an evidentiary issue involving expert witnesses for the defense, and another issue involving the state’s burden of proof when prosecuting assault with a dangerous instrument. Additionally, both of the other interns are also working on issues of first impression in Alaska. When you have less than 50 years of caselaw to refer to, it’s easy to litigate a point of law that hasn’t been decided yet. How many other places in the country can a second-year law student help decide new law? Aside from doing a lot of interesting research, we also got certified to appear in court unsupervised recently, so we’ve each been doing bail hearings, changes of pleas, and trial calls without the attorneys present. It’s both exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time not to have someone there to bail you out if you hit a wall. I also have a few trials coming up, so aside from the constant possibility of last-minute negotiations and plea deals, I should be able to get some great trial experience during my last few weeks in the office. Overall this has been a great experience on every level, and I will be sad to leave the office once my internship is done.

Justin’s Alaska Public Defender Journal- June 9, 2009

2009-06-10T20:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I’ve been here for a month now, and I find the work to be interesting and exciting. The days usually start off in the office, where we figure out who’s going to be in court that day, and for what. I’ve been given a number of assignments ranging from suppression motions, pretrial investigation, research projects on evidentiary rules, motions to dismiss, research on particular definitions of words specific to criminal law, and a few others. Additionally, I do bail review hearings in the district court, where defendants are seeking to change the conditions of their bail and/or remove or lower the amounts set at arraignment. These can range from easy to very complicated, depending on the underlying charges, the victim’s position, and any third party issues. Alaska has a unique system where a defendant can request a third party custodian in lieu of a cash bond; someone who will watch over them 24/7 until their case is resolved. It was designed to help people in rural Alaska who may not have money for bail, but who have family or friends that can ensure that they meet all the court requirements. Unfortunately, it can get pretty hairy once you apply it to modern situations, and this is one of the more fun aspects of the job.

One of the unique things I’ve noticed about Alaska law is the strange level of informality and familiarity in the court system. There are few local rules governing how documents should be formatted and submitted, and many proceedings end up being impromptu based on the attorneys’ availability and the judges’ preferences. I’ve seen bail reviews that turned into changes of plea hearings on the spot, based on party agreements at the last minute. Another interesting thing is the attire. Jeans are acceptable in court here in Kenai, and it’s not unusual to see attorneys wearing tennis shoes, vests, ponytails, or any other number of unusual courtroom wear. It’s not a matter of disrespect of the court, but rather a realization that Alaska is a unique place and the day-to-day lives of attorneys reflect the climate and casual attire that most everyone wears. Whatever the reason, it’s nice not to have to be completely decked out in a suit every single day and wear jeans to the office, though I still usually wear a suit if I know beforehand that I’m going to be in court.

Aside from the legal community, Alaska is a great place to intern because of the numerous opportunities for outdoor activity here. Because the sun doesn’t go down until after 11 p.m., you basically have 7 hours of daylight left when you get off work. This makes for some great nights fishing for halibut or salmon in Cook Inlet, or going hiking or camping at any of the nearby trails and wildlife refuges. It’s not unusual to see a moose or two on your way to work, and sometimes they even come right up to the office. Last week there was a baby moose calf that sidled up to the back office window, and we got some really good close-up pictures of it.

Justin’s Alaska Public Defender Journal- Introduction

2009-05-26T10:42:00.000-05:00

Who Am I?

My name is Justin Tapp, and I’m a 2L at Baylor Law School in Waco, TX. I want to be a criminal defense lawyer when I finish law school in Summer 2010.

Where Am I?

I am serving a 12 week internship with the Alaska Public Defender Agency in Kenai, Alaska. Kenai is a small city of about 9,000 people located in the south central portion of Alaska, approximately 60 miles from Anchorage (though it takes over 2 hours to drive there).

Why Alaska?

Well first of all, have you ever seen this place? It’s incredible. Where else in the country can you see whales, sea lions, moose, caribou, bears, and bald eagles on a regular basis? The mountains are amazing, the weather is great, and the sun practically never goes down. There is ample opportunity for camping, hiking, backpacking, sightseeing, and Kenai has some of the best salmon fishing in the world. It’s an amazing place to spend a summer, and a great change of pace from the bustle of Waco and the Texas heat (the highs here average in the mid-60s during the summer). Also, Alaska offers a unique opportunity for internships. Because of the lack of law schools in this state, interns from other law schools serve a valuable function in the legal community here. Law students who have completed at least half of their law school coursework can be authorized to practice under the supervision of an attorney, whereas in many states one must have completed 2/3 of the coursework in order to be provisionally licensed. So while I wouldn’t be able to practice in Texas, I meet the requirements for Alaska, which gives me practice experience that I wouldn’t otherwise have gotten this summer.

What Do I Do?

I’ve been working here for 2 weeks now, and so far I’ve mostly been working with the misdemeanor attorneys on motions to suppress evidence. I’ve written a few motions for them, and am waiting to hear whether the State will choose to pursue the matters or dismiss them. Since the two other interns and I are still in the “training” mode, we observe a lot of court hearings, from bail reviews, sentencings, arraignments, changes of plea, pretrial docket calls (“trial call”), evidentiary hearings, and motion hearings. We’ve gotten to do some court appearances as well, stepping in for the attorneys on minor matters like trial calls and bail reviews. As the summer progresses, we’ll be allowed to second chair trials at the felony level and even take the lead on misdemeanor cases. The experience offered by the public defender internship here is practically unmatched, and I look forward to experiencing and writing about everything it has to offer us throughout the summer.

What Do I Hope To Gain?

The primary goal behind taking this internship was to gain some substantial criminal defense experience prior to graduating. Although Baylor offers significant experience in trial advocacy to all of its graduates, the daily in-and-out of law practice, particularly criminal defense, is something that can really only be gained by getting in there and actually doing it. From the hectic schedule of going back and forth to court, to meeting with clients who operate on entirely different wavelengths than I do, to dealing with victims, prosecutors, clerks, judges, jailers, and other attorneys on a personal level, there are some things that no amount of schooling can adequately prepare you for. Hopefully when I complete this internship, I’ll have a good understanding and some decent experience doing the day-to-day work of a first-year criminal defense attorney, which is exactly what potential employers are going to be looking for when I graduate. So far the experience has been interesting, invigorating, and enlightening, and I look forward to chronicling the rest of the internship as it unfolds.

You can learn more about the internship position at: http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/ADMIN/pd/emp_interns.shtml

Justin can be contacted at justintapp@gmail.com

BPILS volunteers at the People's Law School

2009-03-22T21:06:00.002-05:00

This Saturday, March 22, Baylor Law School held its 4th annual People's Law School. The People's Law School is a "one-day, free event is designed to make the law 'user friendly' and to educate members of the community about their legal rights."

Since its founding, BPILS has wanted to take an active role in this practical approach to helping members of the public with their everyday encounters with legal issues. This year, BPILS was proud to provide all of the student volunteers for the event. Please read more about this weekend's People's Law School here
or visit the People's Law School website.

Members who volunteered included:
Brandon Kinard, Jourdy Whelan, Kody Silva, Ryan Latham, Josh Borderud, Camille Varner, Jonathan Goldberg, Patricia Dixon, Drew Pate, Anjulie Patel, Ashley Stebbins, Amy Lee, Elena Cincione, Sarah Turner, Cheryl Blount, Victoria Honey, Terah Moxley, Mitch Mitchell, and Andrea Carter.

Thank you to our members who generously donated their free time to making this event a success.

BPILS Welcomes New Officers

2009-03-22T20:48:00.000-05:00

When BPILS met in February at the start of the Spring quarter, the enthusiasm of Baylor Law students for public interest events was overwhelming. We had a great turnout, and all of our members were full of ideas for new projects.

Due to the rigorous academic curriculum and unique quarter schedule at Baylor Law, it has been difficult for only 3 officers to coordinate large-scale projects and provide regular volunteering opportunities for the group's excited members.

To fulfill these needs, BPILS has created 2 new temporary officer positions. We are pleased to welcome Jourdy Whelan and Kody Silva as our Vice Presidents of Student Involvement. Jourdy and Kody have been committed BPILS members since starting at Baylor Law, and they will focus their efforts on finding and organizing new activities for the group.

With 5 officers at the helm, we hope to continue to expand the public interest involvement of Baylor Law students.

2008 National Adoption Day a Success

2009-03-01T18:36:00.007-06:00

After a slight pause (for dramatic effect!), we are finally ready to announce that National Adoption Day was a GREAT success! Many, many thanks and congratulations go out to our BPILS volunteers who helped the event go so smoothly and made it a great day for the children and their adoptive families. We are already looking forward to participating in this event next year!

National Adoption Day Countdown starts now!

2008-11-10T21:47:00.004-06:00

Exams are finally over for Baylor Law students, and BPILS is welcoming in the new quarter with our much-anticipated National Adoption Day event this Saturday. The event will begin at 9:30am and last until about 2:30pm.

To kick off the countdown, BPILS would like to share the touching story of Rick Darnell, Executive Director of Athletic Fundraising at Baylor University:

Adoption: Our Thanksgiving Gift
Rick Darnell

On Saturday, November 15, 2008, Baylor Law School, Baylor Public Interest Legal Society, Waco McLennan County Young Lawyers Association and Child Protective Services will host McLennan County’s National Adoption Day event at Baylor Law School. National Adoption Day is celebrated throughout the country to finalize the adoptions of children in foster care, to find permanent, loving homes for children in foster care and to celebrate families who adopt.

President George W. Bush declared November 2008 as National Adoption Month. In honor of National Adoption Month and National Adoption Day, Baylor Law Student, Jourdy Whelan, asked my wife and I to share our story of becoming adoptive parents. We are honored to be a part of this event and hope our story inspires other parent/child unions.

November 2008 also marks the first year all 50 states have implemented “Safe Haven” or “Baby Moses” laws that allow birthmothers to safely and inconspicuously release custody of their newborns. November is also a very special month for our family.

Our family loves Thanksgiving. November 2006 was the first year in five that my wife and I missed the Darnell family’s annual Thanksgiving gathering. We were living in Northern Idaho and there would not have been enough time to justify the expense of a cross country trip. Instead, we spent the holiday weekend with local friends and enjoyed several lively feasts. Monday arrived before we had fully recovered from our tryptophan induced comas but I managed to slip out the door before sunrise to get some work done before the usual barrage of Monday morning post-game phone calls began. The day was packed with many tasks to complete. I caught up on email, prepared for a staff meeting, outlined thoughts for my weekly meeting with the Athletic Director, wrote a couple cards and organized my talking points for a Booster lunch. Cindy woke and began her morning routine. Her phone rang at 9:30. It was her friend and fellow MFA student Ryan, reporting that a moose was at that moment standing on her porch! I don’t know about you, but I don’t hear that very often in Texas.

Immediately after finishing her memorable call with Ryan, the phone rang again. Our social worker was calling. This was not unusual; Denise was finishing up our home study updates and often called with questions about the details of our lives. “Would you two be interested in an infant?” She asked. Cindy hesitated, knowing that we had discussed that topic in a previous meeting; she did not quite comprehend why it was coming up again. “Yes,” she replied slowly “we have bunk beds and Legos but we’ll take any age.” “No,” Denise said clarifying, “would you take an infant today?” Cindy sat down and tried to focus through a blur of racing thoughts as Denise explained that a newborn baby had been brought to the hospital the day before and “released” by the mother. If we were interested, she would need to explain the situation further before we went to pick the infant up. Cindy said something to the effect of “ABSOLUTELY!!” and then called my cell phone.

At 9:36 I was completing my meeting with the Women’s Head Basketball Coach when my executive assistant, Ashley, entered, her eyes were huge, “Rick, Cindy just called, she couldn’t get you on your cell. You have to go home - now!” As I frantically called home, Cindy answered and tearfully gasped “come home”. I don’t remember the drive home, but I am sure it was not one of my better driving efforts. Cindy met me at the door, “Who died?” I asked as my wife tried to talk through her sobs. The next moment changed my life for the best forever!

“Denise just called -- they have a baby, -- she will be here in about ten minutes.” My eyes watered and then I realized I had to keep it together, somebody was going to have to pay attention when Denise started talking. Cindy and I embraced and I will never forget that awesome hug. Our minds were racing in unison – we were set up for young children, bunk beds, balls, board games, we had never considered that we’d have a newborn. We understood what a rare commodity babies were and had no expectation that one would come our way. We had NOTHING in the way of baby items no bottles, no crib, no diapers, no idea what a newborn would need.

Denise arrived a few minutes before 10 and she told us that the State had chosen our family to serve as foster parents for this Safe Haven baby boy. She had little information about the child: born around 4 Sunday morning, brought to the hospital around 5, he seemed healthy but initial tests wouldn’t be back for a day or two. The mother had allowed the doctors to look her over. She was fine. She had talked to a psychiatrist to make sure she really understood the gravity of relinquishment papers before she signed them.

We asked some questions about the Safe Haven Law in the State of Idaho and the chances we would have to adopt this child. The birth mother had 30 days to change her mind but that was not an automatic return policy – she would have to “earn” the right to have him back by following certain court dictated steps. Ads would be placed in the paper searching for a father, other relatives might show up too. There were a lot of unknowns but we agreed to care for him realizing that somehow, our hearts needed to remain detached – he was not ours to keep. Denise finished the meeting by telling us we would also need to have a name for him. It was almost too much, 45 minutes ago it was a nearly normal day – other than the moose on the porch. Now we had to choose the name that a child we had never seen would carry for the rest of his life!

There was too much to do to think about names very extensively. We’d meet him first then consider what fit. The hospital was 45 minutes away and they were expecting us at 12:30. We had to have a car seat before the hospital would release him to us. How could we be expected to choose a car seat? Most parents have nine months that works out to about 6,480 hours to research brands and all the safety aspects and comfort features of the multitude of car seats available. We decided to take advantage of Wal-Mart’s liberal return policy and thus chose a seat rather quickly.

As we drove down the mountain toward the hospital, snow began to fall, Cindy and I were on high alert with every nerve ending and sensory system exceptionally focused. Could this really be happening? Our minds were outlining a list of supplies we would need. Why had we not brought a single piece of paper to write these things down? I always carry an index card and pen to write notes – not today! How could we possibly take care of this child when we had nothing ready?

The reality is you are never totally prepared for parenthood. We arrived at the hospital and were met by the baby’s social worker (who was also one of our Pride Training instructors). She ran us through the scant details she knew and told us we would need to come to a court hearing on Wednesday. At 12:45 the nurses were giving us a crash course in newborn care. Pictures from those moments show us with deer in the headlights looks as we held this tiny creature. How could anyone leave something so beautiful behind? God made him a heart-snatcher: he was not the typical wrinkled plum of a newborn baby - he was absolutely gorgeous – thick brown hair, dark eyes that penetrated into our very souls – so much for detachment – we were in love!

Apparently nurses are very naïve, trusting people and they let us take that tiny bundle home. This exhilarating day became complete when Nate initiated us as only a newborn can. As I changed our son’s first diaper on our kitchen counter, a mysterious, warm rain began to drench me. I was so green that it really did take several seconds to realize that it was this tiny little boy instigating my baptism. It was a moment of levity Cindy and I both greatly needed. From there, we figured out diapers, how to heat formula and, like all new parents, we acquired wipe warmers, and mobile bottle heaters and a plethora of other paraphernalia we didn’t really need. We had formal portraits taken when he was 9 days old realizing that those pictures might very well end up gracing someone else’s mantle.

It was a whirlwind month and the birthmother’s 30 days to return ended, oddly enough, on Christmas Day – Cindy was a basket case, torn between worry and joy. Worry that the birth mother would show up and take him away, worry that the birth mother wouldn’t show up and thus never know how special this child is, and joy that Nathan was still with us. At 11pm Cindy finally let the waterworks go allowing herself to begin believing that she had a very good chance to be this little one’s mother. That Christmas night, I could not stop thinking about God’s Plan. The day we picked up Nate from the hospital was beyond “special” and as we drove back up the mountain to go home, Cindy asked me – “What do you think of the name Nathaniel?” I said, “I like it, but let me look it up before we finalize it”. God is amazing - Nathaniel means “gift from God!”

A little over nine months later Cindy and I stood before the same Judge who had placed that newborn in our care as we pledged to take care of him through the terrible two’s and teenage hormones. We were thrilled that the small court room was packed with social workers, nurses, advocacy volunteers, friends, and family. So many had helped us get to this point. The decisions they made and support they provided had brought about our utter joy and fulfillment that day.

Our Adoption story started with a moose on a friend’s front porch and by 12:30 we were holding our son in our arms. My wife still tears up when we talk about that day. As we get ready to celebrate his second birthday, we are, and will always be, thankful for the courageous act one mother took to protect her child by giving him for adoption.

Every story is unique! Becoming licensed to Foster or Adopt won’t necessarily be a quick, easy path. There are many requirements and sometimes it seems like there are hoops to jump through just for the sake of having hoops. I’ve shared the best part of our story and left out the years of infertility and disappointment as well as the devastating heartbreak of the International adoption that was thwarted when, after living in an orphanage since birth, the 5 year old child we were pursuing was reclaimed by his grandmother.

In Texas, there are over 6,000 children in the foster care program and of those, 2,000 are legally available for adoption. We have had the opportunity to work with Health and Welfare employees in two different states. It is often very emotionally draining work and I praise the folks who seek a career in this field. We want to encourage you to consider becoming foster parents, promoting education about Safe Haven Laws (Baby Moses Laws) and to contemplate adopting a child – Don’t worry about being “ready” that aspect isn’t nearly as important as we once thought.

This November, as you think about what you are thankful for, consider giving a child the opportunity to be thankful for you.

To learn more please visit:
www.childwelfare.com/texas.htm
www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/nam/highlights.cfm
www.nationalsafehavenalliance.org/
www.generationsadoptions.org
www.nationaladoptionday.org

Rick Darnell
Executive Director of Athletic Fundraising
Baylor University

Recent photographs by Jennifer Thebault of A Captured Life Photography.

Baylor Law's National Adoption Day Post on Texas Blog Post

2008-10-21T16:12:00.002-05:00

The Texas Lawyer Tex Parte Blog recently posted about the Baylor Law - Baylor Public Interest Legal Society joint venture in National Adoption Day.

Read the post here.

Institute for Justice comes to Baylor

2008-10-21T16:01:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, BPILS was proud to host Matt Miller, Executive Director for the Institute for Justice Texas Chapter, who spoke on "5 Things Every Law Student Should Know About Public Interest Law." The 24 students and faculty in attendance learned about the various career opportunities available in the public interest sector, ways to make these jobs financially feasible despite student loans, and the great personal reward that comes with committing yourself to a worthwhile cause.

Mr. Miller also showed videos of the Institute for Justice's involvement in Kelo v. New London 545 U.S. 469 (2005), an eminent domain case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005. IJ represented Susette Kelo.

So You're an Adoption Attorney Now: CLE

2008-10-07T15:53:00.002-05:00

Today Baylor Law School, with the help of BPILS, hosted a CLE event to teach lawyers and students how to perform adoptions for National Adoption Day. The program was presented by John P. Palmer, an attorney with Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee.

We currently have 8 attorneys signed up to perform pro bono adoptions for National Adoption Day. We need at least 2 more. Each attorney will be assigned a student volunteer to help with the adoption upon request. If you're an attorney in the Waco area or would be willing to travel to Waco to perform these pro bono adoptions, please email us at bls.public@gmail.com.

Weekly Update

2008-10-07T15:49:00.002-05:00

The Baylor Public Interest Legal Society is currently immersed in planning the National Adoption Day event on Nov. 15 at Baylor Law School.

On Monday, BPILS partnered with Baylor Law School to present The Human Right to Housing, a web/audio presentation by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.

Description of the program:

"The United Nations has designated the first Monday in October each year as World Habitat Day, in hopes that we will reflect on the state of our towns and cities and the basic right to adequate shelter for all. This day should also remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.

The human rights system provides an important framework for connecting civil rights issues with economic and social justice. We will share basic information about the human rights framework and its applicability to domestic issues of affordable housing and homelessness. We will highlight both methods of international advocacy and the use of international standards in domestic litigation and policy advocacy."

Weekly Update

2008-09-16T16:15:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society led a meeting to discuss plans for National Adoption Day. We had a wonderful turnout of both members and non-members. The great turnout and show of enthusiasm from the student community demonstrate Baylor Law students' willingness to serve public interest initiatives despite their heavy courseloads.

Students participating in National Adoption Day have joined committees to plan and coordinate the various parts of the event. Each committee is led by a student who will oversee that particular area.

The Baylor Law administration is generously contributing to the event. We are still, however, seeking donations to make this day truly special for the families involved.

If you would like to donate food, money, or gifts for the adopted children to the Baylor National Adoption Day event, please email: bls.public@gmail.com.

BPILS Summer Fellowships in LegalFront

2008-09-16T16:11:00.000-05:00

Exciting news!

LegalFront, a quarterly newsletter distributed by Texas Lawyers Care, recently published an article recognizing Baylor Law's new Public Interest Summer Fellowships and their recipients. Check it out here.

The article is on page 26.

National Adoption Day is Saturday, Nov. 15

2008-09-02T20:46:00.000-05:00

Baylor Law School is hosting a National Adoption Day celebration this year!

"National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness of the 129,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families. For the last eight years, National Adoption Day has made the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates to finalize adoptions and find permanent, loving homes for children in foster care."

(reprinted from the National Adoption Day website)

If you are a student or faculty member at Baylor Law School and would like to know how you can help the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society orchestrate this event, please email one of the group's officers.

New Officers Elected and New Members Inducted!

2008-08-27T19:30:00.000-05:00

Baylor Public Interest Legal Society is pleased to announce our officers for school year 2008-2009:

President Camille Varner

Vice President Meghan Kearns

Secretary-Treasurer Victoria Honey

Congratulations to our new officers and welcome aboard to all our new members!

Camille's Access to Justice Journal: July 11

2008-07-14T10:24:00.000-05:00

Looking back on last week, I can’t think of much that was eventful to talk about. I think the experience that most stands out in my mind was our second round gathering client information for wills and powers of attorney. As I mentioned earlier, Blaire and I were assigned to go to a public housing apartment building-type thing to write wills, powers of attorney, and physician’s directives for some low-income elderly people. The first time we went, we encountered friendly, easy-to-please clients who were grateful for our help.

Last week, however, was a different story. I am cautious about how to proceed here because I don’t want to judge this situation without knowing the whole story. And there is no way for me to know the whole story. Basically what I am trying to say is that I am not sure if my experiences with this second set of clients was different because of mental illness, age, or previous interactions with legal aid. I think it’s best for me to write about what we encountered but with the disclaimer that there could be any number of factors that contributed to the unusual behavior of the clients.

Blaire and I had been anxiously waiting to return to the building so that we could gather more information for these documents we needed to create. We had only gotten to see 3 or 4 clients on our first trip, and we had 9 total to meet with. We weren’t expected to, and didn’t, make appointments with these clients. These are elderly women, most of whom cannot drive, and they usually leave the building only for doctor appointments. (When we asked them about their daily activity, they really liked that they had everything they needed in one building.)
We met with the first 2 clients without any issue. While in the hall, we ran into one client who was leaving for a doctor’s appointment. We asked her when she would be back, and she said before 3:00. We made an appointment to return to see her at 3:00. The next client we tried was in her apartment and shouted to us to come in. When we went in, we saw that she was eating her breakfast. We offered to go to someone else for awhile and come back to her later.
I’m not sure what happened with these two clients, but they changed their minds about seeing us when we returned. The lady with the appointment was in her apartment but would not come to the door at 3:00. I have no idea why she wouldn’t meet with us.

The lady who was eating breakfast had left a note on her door that said for us to please not bother her. We were concerned that we had done something to upset her, so we spoke to one of the apartment directors. She phoned the client and asked her what was wrong. The client was upset that we had not made an appointment with her, and she wanted nothing to do with us. We asked the director to explain that we were going to work completely for free and just had to try to meet with everyone when we could get to them. No luck there either. We had no choice but to leave with only the information from 7 clients.

The experience with these clients really confused me. I don’t know if they were suspicious or maybe thought we looked too young to be trustworthy. Maybe they just had personal issues that had nothing to do with us personally. I really wish I knew what happened there and how, whether it was us or not, we could have made them more comfortable. I hate thinking that these clients may need a physician’s directive or power of attorney sometime soon and not have one because of something silly that we could have fixed.

Camille's Access to Justice Journal: July 3

2008-07-03T09:44:00.001-05:00

Last week was a really rough week for me. When I left on Friday, I thought that my mind was going to explode. I don’t think it was anything particular to legal aid or public interest work, actually. I think I had that moment (I’m hoping everyone has this experience at some point, or else I feel kind of embarrassed) where I realized that I know nothing about the law or being a lawyer. I hate to be so negative, but I realized that after a year of reading, memorizing, and hard work, I can do maybe a fraction of real “lawyer work.” And that fraction involves kind of breaking apart a problem, figuring out where to go to research it, and sort of pointing myself in the right direction. Forget actually finding a real answer.

The most upsetting thing for me to realize- and it had to come sometime, I guess- is that life is not a law school exam. I’m not saying that exams are easy by any means. But professors are generally kind enough to write their exams in a way where we can apply elements we have memorized and come to some sort of conclusion. Since I’ve been here at LSLA, I don’t think I have seen a single case that fit into a “law school exam” mold. Clients aren’t going to walk into your office and say, “I have a property law problem. Can you please tell me if I have adversely possessed this property?” That idea is laughable to me now. Instead, it is going to be, “Well, five years ago, I did this. And then they did this. No, I don’t have a record of that…” It is so frustrating!

I like to think in terms of lists, or steps, or something logical. We’re mostly A-type people, I think we all prefer things in those terms. When I am given a series of facts that bring up an issue that statutes, or Dorsaneo’s, or something concrete don’t address, I freak out. And it’s not like there’s ever going to be a Texas case directly on point. There’s always some little aspect that changes everything.

The depressing self-realization aside, I had my first experience with a justice court. We had a client whose case was set to be heard in front of a JP (justice of the peace) in a very small town about an hour away. The idea of a justice court kind of blows my mind. A judge… who gets to make real decisions… who isn’t a lawyer… I’m still not entirely comfortable with the concept, but I know it works to some extent. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for our client, when we got to the hearing, the opposing side had filed a non-suit. Basically they knew they were going to lose. The good part, though, was that I got to see what a really small town JP court looks like. It was this tiny shack of a building on the side of a highway. It had a gravel parking lot, which it shared with a gas station. Inside, there was a tiny “courtroom” with a kind of makeshift partition between the judge and the rest of the court. The only people in there were the judge and a secretary/clerk of some sort. This particular JP seemed really knowledgeable about the law and his cases. He knew exactly what we came for, and he knew exactly why the other side would have lost had they continued with the suit. I’ve been told, however, that a lot of JPs are not quite so well informed. (In fact, I helped sue a JP this week.)

I had some adventures this week writing those wills, but since I’m writing a week behind, I’ll fill you in on those next week.

Camille's Access to Justice Journal: June 24

2008-06-24T16:35:00.000-05:00

I debated before writing the past week’s journal entry of how honest I should be about my opinions on my experiences. I decided that I need to stay somewhat honest, but I will admit that I am not giving my entire opinion. Just wanted you to know that you’re getting kind of a cautiously optimistic view.

I worked on 2 major projects last week. First, Blaire and I began working on wills and powers of attorney for some elderly clients. This task involved going to the clients in their apartments and trying to understand exactly what they wanted or needed, then translating this information into the appropriate document. I was very concerned before we went that this would be a very emotional process. We had some files on the clients, and some of them had written some rather heart-wrenching requests on slips of paper. But when we actually saw the clients, I was pleasantly surprised. They lived in a public housing apartment building that was actually really nice. (I have a relative in a state-funded nursing home, and this place was palatial in comparison.) Also, the clients were very aware of what they were doing and knew what they wanted. There really wasn’t anything eventful to report. I think I was most struck, actually, by how much they trusted certain individuals over others. I guess this is something you encounter in all wills/POAs. I haven’t had Wills or Trusts & Estates yet, but these were easy cases to learn on because they involved a very small amount of property. Overall, it was a pleasant and informative experience.

Next, Blaire and I attended a divorce hearing with one of the attorneys in the Nacogdoches branch office. We traveled to a different city, but I will refrain from saying which court because I don’t have very nice things to say about the way they ran things. The case was a typical one for LSLA- we were representing a woman who wanted a divorce. She had been abused, on drugs at some point (possibly still), and the husband was treating the kids poorly. I was most struck by how informal this particular court was. The judge allowed Blaire and me to sit in on his discussions with the LSLA attorney and opposing counsel. The discussion was basically a shooting-the-breeze kind of argument session. The judge constantly interjected personal comments about his daughter, and the opposing counsel was quick to use inappropriate language and make rude jokes. Our attorney was not the especially assertive/gregarious type, so I don’t think that his style worked well in this setting, despite his knowledge of the law. He simply couldn’t break into this small town informal men’s talk. I honestly think that being friends with the judge in that court would have won any case.

When the judge finally went to read his orders, the informality continued. We were particularly concerned that our client may not be telling us the truth on one issue. Our attorney instructed her that if she were asked to respond to it, she should plead the 5th. He wanted her to understand that lying in court was a very serious offense, and he was worried that she would get herself into a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, the way the judge ran the courtroom was so informal, it was easy for everyone involved to forget that anything said could have very serious consequences. When the judge asked her about this issue (it was whether or not she had pawned something belonging to her husband), our client quickly denied it. The judge entered his orders but asked for more evidence to determine who was lying about whether these things had been pawned. Now, if our client was lying, she will be in a lot of trouble. I think that if the proceeding had been carried out more formally and seriously, our client would have been more aware of what she was getting herself into.

Another issue that came up during this hearing was the matter of trusting your client. Our client was accused of both being on drugs and pawning her husband’s belongings. We asked her for the truth on these issues, and she said that she hadn’t done either. We don’t have any proof yet of either, but my first instinct is that she is lying. The court ordered a drug test and, of course, some evidence of whether these items had been pawned. That is such a tough position for a lawyer to be in. You have to do whatever is best for your client, but you can’t do anything for them if they’re lying. It’s really a lose-lose situation. If you work from what they say, knowing they’re lying, you know that you’re going to lose if the truth comes out. But, if you refuse to believe them, then you’re not being very trustworthy in their opinion or at the very least being a very good advocate for them. I can’t wait for the “results” to come in. At this point, I can’t be very optimistic for our client.

This coming week, I’m back in the office doing some researching. Hopefully something interesting will come up.

Article on Public Benefits Project in Texas Bar Publication

2008-06-23T12:03:00.000-05:00

This article appears in the Spring 2008 edition of LegalFront, a publication of the Texas State Bar. The article appears on page 14 - Link here.

Baylor Law Students, Lone Star Legal Aid Collaborate on Benefits Assessment Project and Increased Outreach

By Jonathan Vickery

Law students with the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society, a student group founded in August 2007 at Baylor Law School, recently contacted the Waco office of Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA), seeking information on volunteer opportunities. The students – Josh Borderud, Meredith Riggs and Ryan Latham –hoped to volunteer to help clients of LSLA, persons with some of the greatest unmet legal needs in Texas. The law students are now part of the LSLA “Benefits Assessment Project” and are also assisting on a new initiative for identifying needed advocacy for remote rural communities.

Sheryl S. Swanton, Managing Attorney for the Waco office of LSLA, has long recognized that just because a client presents one type of legal problem at the door, this does not mean they do not have other problems that also need to be addressed. In the same way that a patient might present a sore throat and be found to have a heart condition, a family might be concerned about a divorce and at the same time experience serious food and nutritional issues.

Many low-income Texans have trouble making ends meet each month, even if they have a job. After paying for rent, utilities, transportation, and child care, there may be little left over to buy nutritious food. But it does not have to be that way. Thousands of low-income Texans — families, people who are elderly or disabled, and even single adults without children are eligible for assistance in the form of food stamps from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to buy nutritious food. However, many people are unaware of this program, do not realize that they are eligible, or are wrongfully denied.

The Baylor law students are volunteering their efforts to help ensure that LSLA clients have access to the benefits they are entitled to. The students will review clients’ files with their consent and evaluate the client’s case utilizing an online benefit screening tool called the “Texas Food Stamps Benefit Estimator for Federal Fiscal Year 2008,” which is offered by HHSC at their web site. The students will enter the client’s income & asset information into the calculator and make an unofficial determination of the client’s eligibility. They will then assist each tentatively eligible client with their food stamp application and its submission. This direct targeted outreach will result in providing increased assistance for needy families to secure crucial nutritional support for them. In addition to this project, the Baylor law students will be working to help identify and address issues and problems facing remote and rural communities in underserved areas. To accomplish this, the law students will help identify providers, client groups and leaders and social service agencies in targeted underserved communities, with the goal of setting up meetings to solicit input and ideas on the issues facing communities. They will then help plan and develop workshops located within the LSLA service area, creating additional opportunities for law students to volunteer. The workshops will be designed to allow the law students to assist with training and the dissemination of important information, as well as accepting applications for assistance.

Baylor Law School has been providing the Waco office of LSLA with externs for many years. Currently, Baylor law students, Laura Morgan and Sorana Ban are working as externs for the office. The externs help with interviewing applicants to gather additional fact information, providing legal information under an attorneys’ supervision, researching legal issues for the staff attorneys and filing documents in court. LSLA works with area law schools to foster student participation in public interest law and pro bono activities. In addition, LSLA helps area law schools develop lasting partnerships in the public interest community by creating programs that promote public interest and pro bono work. For more information, contact Sheryl Swanton at Lone Star Legal Aid at 1-800-299-5596.

Jonathan Vickery is Director of Grants at the Texas Access to Justice Foundation and at the time he wrote this article was Director of Grants at Lone Star Legal Aid.

Bill Kimble, Our Hero

2008-06-17T08:51:00.000-05:00

In April 2008, we created the Bill Kimble Service Award, in honor of Bill Kimble, a BLS alum and an attorney at Lone Star Legal Aid in Waco. The award is given to two students, in the amount of $250 each, who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to community service. The following article is taken from LegalFront, a publication of the State Bar of Texas, and profiles Bill Kimble, the 2005 recipient of the J. Chrys Dougherty Legal Services Award.

For more than 23 years, William Kimble, senior staff attorney at the Waco office of Lone Star Legal Aid, has been a tenacious advocate for the poorest of the poor. His practice has focused primarily on helping his clients who have physical and/or mental disabilities secure federal disability benefits. “The bulk of my work is in administrative law judge hearings,” Kimble says. If a claim is denied after two paper reviews, the individual may request a hearing before an independent administrative law judge. “The client’s best chance of winning is during this hearing,” Kimble explains.

“It’s high stress and anxiety for the clients,” Kimble says. During the appeal process, which can take up to a year or longer, the individuals often have to depend on family and friends for financial support. But once a decision is made in the client’s favor, Kimble finds satisfaction in seeing the individuals “go from no income at all to getting some income and their health care coverage.” Fred Fuchs, an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, says that Kimble’s longtime dedication to this type of work spurred his nomination of Kimble for the 2005 J. Chrys Dougherty Legal Services Award. “He has spent most of his career in public interest law.” Fuchs, who has been a housing advocate for the poor for close to 30 years, credits Kimble with urging him to volunteer with a legal aid program while he was in law school. “His encouragementstarted me on the road to a legal services career,” Fuchs explains.

“Bill is extremely bright,” Fuchs says. “He could have done anything.” Kimble recalls being inspired to pursue a law degree after reading Gideon’s Trumpet by Anthony Lewis. The book chronicles the landmark case of James Earl Gideon’s fight for the right to legal counsel. “This was a new case back when I had to read it for an undergrad constitutional law class,” Kimble says.

At Baylor Law School, Kimble served as editor-in-chief of the Baylor Law Review. After graduating, Kimble considered working for the Houston Legal Foundation. “I was not from the wealthiest family,” Kimble says, “and I had to turn a profit.” So instead, he joined an insurance defense firm, but “never caught the fever.” From there, Kimble took a tenure-track position teaching law at Texas Southern University. During this time, he volunteered with the ACLU to help represent a VISTA attorney accused of “inciting revolution.” The federal court ruled in his client’s favor, and Kimble says, “It made me think that I wanted to practice law — work on lawsuits — every day.”

Kimble became managing attorney of the San Angelo office of West Texas Legal Services in 1979 after Fuchs promised him “the work would be really interesting and they were now paying above the minimum wage.” Kimble served as litigation director from 1981 to 1991. He joined East Texas Legal Services (now Lone Star Legal Aid) in 1994. While working for these organizations, Kimble has zealously and vigorously represented his clients. In one lawsuit, he convinced courts in Texas, Florida, and Virginia that the Medicaid statute requires states to provide coverage for liver transplants. Kimble also settled a case where Texas’ county indigent health care programs are now required to pay the Medicaid-model of benefits while clients have a pending SSI appeal. This rule helps approximately 14,000 individuals annually. “I’ve always been pretty satisfied with that deal,” Kimble says.

“Bill broke barriers,” says LSLA attorney James Porter, who describes Kimble as “a walking encyclopedia of federal court cases.” Outside of his professional work, Kimble says he is “pretty boring,” but friends and colleagues appreciate his unique sense of humor. “He has a special wit about him, the way he twists the English language,” Porter says. “He will leave you in stitches,” Fuchs concurs. “Bill has three children whom he absolutely adores, and they adore him,” Porter says. “I’ve seen him pinch his pennies so they could get an education and have the basics they needed.” Miranda is a music teacher in Quanah; Rachel and David are students at different campuses of Texas A&M University. It’s a lot like being lucky,” Kimble reflects on his career. “Sometimes it seems odd to work at something you like this much,” Kimble says. “But I hope to do it for another dozen or 15 years.”

Camille's Access to Justice Journal: June 10

2008-06-10T15:17:00.000-05:00

Now that I have a general idea of the ropes of the office, things are starting to settle down. This week I have been doing secretarial tasks that are normally done by the office paralegal. I’ve worked in some offices before, but this is my first encounter with an actual law office. I was actually surprised at how much more complicated some tasks are in a legal office versus in a regular office. For example- tons of copies. This office gets this copy, that office gets mailed a copy, etc. It makes sense, though, since law is a profession where you always need to protect yourself from being accused of not having done something/misunderstanding/whatever. Note to the wise—Don’t mess up putting that “Received” stamp in the wrong place. You just might get in trouble if you stamp the front of something when you should have stamped the back…

This morning, Blaire Knox (the intern at the other LSLA branch office) and I were supposed to sit in on client intake meetings. There were four meetings set up, but only one client actually came. This surprised me, and my supervising attorney told me that no-shows are very common, especially in domestic abuse divorce cases. In those cases, she said, the abused spouse is likely to call in and make the appointment when they are angry and upset. Quite often they cool down or make amends with the abuser and don’t show up. Additionally, she said, LSLA has been seeing a lot of clients not making an appointment due to the cost of gas. Nacogdoches is a small town, but there are many clients who have to drive in from much smaller ones. With a tank of gas costing around $80, they simply can’t afford to make long drives. It’s amazing how many things the cost of gas affects.

I can’t say much about the client we saw for confidentiality reasons, but I was definitely moved. (Keep in mind, this was my first client intake ever, so I think I was naïve going into it.) The client was a woman seeking a divorce from a formerly abusive husband. It wasn’t the kind of situation where the client was very emotional and desperate. But my supervising attorney warned me that people in these situations tend to be very reserved in describing their problems. For example, they may say something like, “It hurt a little” when in reality whatever hurt them hurt them a great deal. I think some of this watering down of emotion comes from living difficult lives and having low self-esteem with respect to their problems. So while this particular client wasn’t anything out of a Law and Order episode, you could easily see that the matter was very important to her. There were a few moments where I had a sudden urge to just hug her, but that’s not what legal aid does.

I am finding that it is sometimes difficult to separate your compassion for a client from your reason. Not all cases are winners, and not all cases are “takers” for LSLA. It’s simply impossible to take every case that walks in the door, and public interest attorneys have to evaluate each case individually. It doesn’t help anyone when an attorney takes a case that they have no chance of winning. (Apparently this does happen somewhat frequently with new attorneys.)

Blaire and I are supposed to write some wills and powers of attorney for some clients next week. We are going to their homes since they can’t come to us. My understanding is that they all live in some sort of public housing together. We’ll see how that goes.

Camille's Access to Justice Journal: June 3rd

2008-06-03T15:31:00.000-05:00

For the purposes of this blog, I’ll start off with my initial impressions of the whole experience.

My internship has placed me in one of 2 main Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) offices in Nacogdoches. In my office, I work with the Director of Litigation (an attorney), a senior staff attorney (who actually does most of his work elsewhere), and a paralegal. I didn’t exactly choose Nacogdoches, and I have no ties to the area. I have to say I really like this town. It’s beautiful, charming, and friendly. I don’t think I could have picked anywhere better.

During the ATJ orientation, various instructors gave us very basic rundowns of Family Law, Immigration Law, client intake, and Professional Responsibility. Based on this introduction, I expected to be working with a lot of domestic abuse and custody cases. That probably is true for the other intern in the other office. My office, however, focuses on litigation encompassing all of the LSLA branches.

I’m not sure what I expected to find here, but I think I pictured a really crappy building with no resources, worn out attorneys, and poor clients in and out all day. Yeah, I guess that was pessimistic. My office is actually very pleasant. It’s basically a giant trailer, but you can’t really tell because it’s so nice and integrated into the surroundings. It’s in a nice part of town – the other office is, as well. They gave me my own office with a desk, and they basically leave me to my work for the most part. I really like how quiet it is. Also, we don’t generally take in clients here. In fact, there is absolutely no sign outside the building that says anything about legal aid.
According to my supervising attorney, that is because it would encourage people to show up with any problems all the time.

I don’t want to ramble, but I can’t say enough about how great my supervising attorney is. Her name is Brenda Willett, and as I mentioned before, she is the Director of Litigation for LSLA as well as the chair of the Poverty Law section of the Texas Bar. She is extremely intelligent, friendly, and passionate about her job. She has been very generous in taking me to lunch the past two days, and she is trying to accommodate my interests in any way she can. For example, I wanted to work with some clients, but this office doesn’t do that. So she is going to send me to a couple different places at some point so that I can have that experience. I was a little worried that a lot of the staff in legal aid would be “bleeding heart” types – like their emotions would almost control how they handled cases. I never really had a preconceived notion that the attorneys would be any less intelligent, but I know some people might. Ms. Willett has compassion and understanding for her clients, but she is completely rational and everything that she does. I am very lucky to have such a wonderful mentor.

As far as the work goes, I have been assigned to research and write a Supreme Court appellate brief. I have to admit I’ve spent a lot of time so far just looking up terms and concepts that I don’t know or don’t remember from class. For example, relearning what an interpleader is. There are a TON of acronyms in poverty law… TANF, SSI, FS. The great thing about this type of work, though, is that it has such an enormous impact on the clients’ lives. In this case, for example, a TX statute allowed for a client to be deprived of money needed for living expenses (unjustly, of course).

If we win the case, thousands of poor people statewide will no longer be subjected to an unfair and debilitating policy. I don’t care how much they’re not paying me- that idea alone will make me give it everything I can.

I can’t wait to see what else I encounter over the next 2 months.

WacoTrib article about BPILS

2008-04-11T10:29:00.000-05:00

Baylor Law School offering incentives for students to help the poor

Friday, April 11, 2008

By Tim Woods

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Baylor Law School has long touted service through the law profession as part of its mission.

Indeed, the school is putting its money where its mouth is, ponying up more than $200,000 since 2005 to support students’ interest in serving indigent and underrepresented groups.

Law school dean Brad Toben has agreed to help fund initiatives of a newly formed public interest organization founded by two current Baylor Law School students.

Those initiatives come on the heels of others at the school designed to encourage students and recent graduates to get involved in public interest fields: those intended to help provide equal access to quality legal representation.

“These programs play into (the law school’s mission) very directly,” Toben said. “We constantly drill into our students that the legal profession is a serving profession, and if you’re not in it to directly reach out to help other people and solve problems of the human condition, you don’t belong in the legal profession.”

Toben added, “We’re dealing, in these public interest and pro bono programs, with constituencies that do not have access to legal services for even the most common sort of difficulties that people look to lawyers to help them with.”

The Baylor Public Interest Legal Society, the brainchild of law students Josh Borderud and Brandon Kinard, is putting the law school’s service mission to practice.

The group, now 30 strong, has established the Bill Kimble Service Award, named after local Lone Star Legal Aid attorney Bill Kimble, a 1969 Baylor Law School graduate. Toben agreed to fund the award through the Baylor Law Alumni Association, matching student group funds three to one.

Two students who log the most hours in the law school’s Bear PAWS (People At Work & Service) program, a community service and pro bono program, are given the award each year, along with a $250 stipend.

The big money, though, is being spent on students dedicating their summers to internships at nonprofit organizations or government programs serving poor populations.

One internship program at the school pays students a weekly stipend for pro bono work. The Texas Access to Justice Commission pays the students $250 weekly, supplemented by $700 from the law school.

Another, a fellowship funded by Baylor Law School, sends five students to do public service work for the poor and pays each student $4,000 for their summer work, Toben said.

That fellowship is another Baylor Public Interest Legal Society initiative and Borderud said that Toben agreeing to come through with $20,000 annually was “way more than we expected.”

While the law school pays for a number of measures to help students gain hands-on service experience in school, perhaps the most expensive investment is in a scholarship for students who commit to serving the poor after they graduate.

Since 2005, Baylor Law School has paid the tuition of two students— Laurie Burns and Rachel Sonstein— who have committed to work for the indigent for three years after graduating. With the school’s annual tuition standing at $32,000, the value of those scholarships exceeds $95,000, especially when considering interest that accrues on student loans.

Toben was quick to deflect praise for the programs, noting that many law schools have similar offerings, but lauded the students’ eager participation.

“The students that are in the (Baylor Public Interest Legal Society) are on fire with interest to see this program further develop,” Toben said. “They are driven by a desire to serve because they know that we are placed here to serve others. It’s a natural extension of our faith commitment.”

twoods@wacotrib.com

Lariat Article on Kimble Service Award presentation

2008-04-11T10:23:00.000-05:00

Attorney honored by having law award named after him
By Jessica Belmares
Reporter

Baylor alumnus and law school graduate Bill Kimble was honored by law students yesterday, naming The Bill Kimble Service Award in his honor. “I was shocked,” said Kimble. “I had no idea the students were plotting something like this, but it’s very flattering. I did hear a rumor that they were given the choice of naming it after Dick Cheney, Warren G. Harding, or Jose Canseco.” Kimble, a senior staff attorney at the Waco office of Lone Star Legal Aid, used his humor and modesty while accepting a commemorating plaque at the student lounge of the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Law Center.

“I’m very proud of him. He should have let me brag about him,” said Paul Furrh, chief executive officer of Lone Star Legal Aid and long-time colleague of Kimble. “He’s being quite modest. He had a lot to do with the revolution of Medicaid in Texas.” Kimble has been working public interest law for over 25 years, and now shares his experience with other law students interested in the field. Waco law student and co-founder of the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society Josh Borderud, said his organization chose to name the award after Kimble because “he was a perfect example and inspiration of what a Baylor lawyer who serves the community should be.

“The more we got to know him and about him, the more we had gotten inspired by him. Bill is a Baylor man,” Borderud said. Borderud has been working with Kimble at the Waco office of Lone Star Legal Aid, assisting him with the Public Benefits Project. The project is a federally-funded service designed to aid low income clients in the application process of food stamp benefits. Borderud said he and his members have grown to know and admire Kimble through the Public Benefits Project in Waco.

“He has taken an active interest in our education and our careers, and we have just enjoyed his humor, his insight, and his wisdom on his career and practice,” Borderud said. Kimble shared his humor on the legal profession while accepting his plaque. “You know, Josh asked me a minute ago if I was willing to say a few words,” said Kimble. “And I couldn’t help but mention it to Paul, ‘This young man is asking a lawyer if he has anything to say?’”

The legal society began to form last fall, and has since been trying to make a difference on the law school’s campus. Assistant dean of professional development and student relations Heather Creed, is proud of how the legal society has grown and continued to work toward their goals. “I’m so proud of them and their diligence in sticking with it,” Creed said. “As with anything new, it’s always kind of a slow start.”

The Bill Kimble Service Award was proposed by the legal society to Dean Bradley Toben, requesting $250 be given annually to the two students who earn the most probono and community service hours in the past year. The society was granted funding by Toben through the Baylor Alumni Association, matching their funds 3 to 1. Law students Justin Schneider and Abigail Toth were the first to receive the award.

"Year-End" Membership Meeting and Kimble Award Presentation

2008-04-07T16:24:00.000-05:00

We have planned an elaborate "three-in-one" event on Thursday April, 10th, beginning at 3:30pm, which consists of a plaque presentation for Bill Kimble in the student lounge, a year-end membership meeting where we will discuss all the issues, concerns and questions regarding our organization, and a happy hour. I realize this happens during class time for some of you, and I apologize, but hopefully y'all will be able to join the festivities after class. Its very difficult to get a good time for these meetings. This meeting will take place at Treff's Bar & Grill (6th & Austin) and will be followed by a "happy hour". If we're lucky, maybe we can convince Bill Kimble to join us, where y'all could get to know him in a more relaxed setting.

1. Bill Kimble Service Award plaque presentation. Thanks to the generosity of the BLS admin, we will be presenting a plaque to Bill Kimble, a Baylor alumni (JD '69) and Lone Star Legal Aid attorney here in Waco. (see attached bio on Kimble if you don't know who he is) BLS is paying for the plaque and the refreshments to be provided in the student lounge. The presentation begins at 3:30p and will be on the student lounge patio (weather permitting) or inside the student lounge. Dean Heather Creed will be representing the law school, and the CEO of Lone Star Legal Aid, Paul Furrh is coming up from Houston just to attend this event. We also hope to honor the two recipients of the Bill Kimble Service Award, who will be named at this year's Spring Academic Convocation.

2. Membership Meeting. Following the Kimble Award plaque presentation, at roughly 4pm, we will drive over to Treff's and will discuss all our projects and initiatives, including the meeting with Toben, the Kimble Award, the stipends, the Public Benefits project, etc. We will also discuss financial issues, dues issues, and election issues for the upcoming officer election in the Fall quarter. As he has had a large hand in designing and structuring the new stipend program (over $20K annually!), our president, Brandon Kinard, will be able to answer your questions about it and discuss how it functions. Come prepared to bring up any issues you want to be discussed. We hope the meeting will be an open forum over this past year and the direction the group is taking.

3. Happy Hour. After we conclude our membership business, feel free to linger and get to know your fellow BPILS members. The drink prices at Treff's fit nicely into a law student budget and you can use this time to 1) relax before your scheduled moot court post-break tournament round at 5:30; 2) polish your happy hour conversational skills for your summer internship; or 3) find a date for next year's law prom.

If you will be in class until 5:30 - come on by Treff's afterwards, I guarantee at least half of our officers will still be there. We can recap the meeting for you. If you can't make it, we will send out a summary of the meeting.

If you have moot court at 5:30 - stop by briefly and let your voice be heard. We'll provide the emotional support you need to survive your tournament round.

If you just can't make it - email me at borderud@gmail.com with whatever issue you want raised at the meeting or information you would like on what went down.

We hope to see all of y'all there!

2008-03-20T14:37:00.001-05:00

Access to Justice Awards - Apply Now!

2008-03-20T08:26:00.000-05:00

The ATJ Law School Commitment to Service Award is open to all accredited law schools in Texas and will honor a law school that has made significant and innovative strides toward increasing access to justice. A law school dean, clinic professor, law student, or legal services organization may nominate a law school deserving of this award. A law school may also nominate itself.

The ATJ Law Student Pro Bono Award will honor a law student who has most enhanced the delivery of quality legal services to poor Texans and underserved communities. The award is open to all law students currently enrolled in or graduating from an accredited Texas law school. A law school dean, clinic professor or legal services supervisor may nominate an eligible law student. Law students may also nominate themselves for this award. The Commission will recognize one student from each participating law school. From these students, the Commission will select one student who will receive the award and a $2,000 stipend.

DEADLINE FOR BOTH AWARDS: Friday, May 16, 2008, at 5 PM CST. A postmark of May 16, 2008 will not suffice. The nominations must be submitted on nomination forms (attached).

FOR MORE INFO, AWARDS CRITERIA, OR NOMINATION FORMS: Call Texas Lawyers Care at (800) 204-2222, ext. 1855, or (in Austin) 512-427-1855 or email tlcmail@texasbar.com

The Supreme Court will inaugurate the awards at the November 2008 swearing-in ceremony for new attorneys, and, thereafter, will present them annually at the November swearing-in ceremonies. The Commission looks forward to your nominations, and thanks you for your continued support and involvement.

Email: bls.public@gmail.com for the forms necessary to nominate or apply.

Welcome New Members! Here's How to Get Involved

2008-03-03T10:56:00.000-06:00

The meeting on Wednesday drew a large turnout, and we are pleased to welcome aboard the new members. We now have 30 members of BPILS. We also want to thank all of our members who volunteered at the People's Law School for their service to the Waco community and to the law school. If you are interested in getting involved with our organization, here's how:

Current Opportunities

We are interested in working to provide assistance to legal services programs in the community through volunteering, fundraising, and the coordination of our efforts in conjunction with the faculty and administration of Baylor Law School. We hope to connect students with legal-oriented volunteering opportunities in Waco. Current avenues which students may participate in:

The Public Benefits Project at Lone Star Legal Aid – BPILS has developed the Public Benefits Project at Lone Star Legal Aid (a federally-funded nonprofit that provides free legal services to low-income clients). This project screens potential clients for food stamp benefit eligibility. BPILS also is spearheading a closer cooperation between LSLA and local chapters of the NAACP and LULAC.

Current Need: 2 Volunteers
Time Commitment: 90 minutes, 1 day per week
Contact: Josh Borderud at borderud@gmail.com

The Waco Youth Law Advocacy Project – BPILS coordinates student volunteering efforts with this project, involving direct attorney supervision. The Project provides individual representation in administrative and legal forums to address immediate crises in children's lives. Specifically, students who volunteer can work on cases involving neglect and abuse, disability accommodations, and foster care placement, among many others.

Current Need: Unlimited
Time Commitment: Up to the Individual Student
Contact: Ann_Ellis@wacoyouthlaw.com

Email Ann with your availability and the subject matters which you are interested in working.

National Adoption Day – BPILS, under the direction of our faculty sponsor, Professor Fuselier, facilitates pro bono adoptions in coordination with Child Protective Services and local attorneys. Members assisted with adoptions last November, and more adoptions are planned for late March.

Current Need: To be determined.
Time Commitment: n/a
Contact: Brandon_Kinard@baylor.edu

The Innocence Project of Texas – due to the advocacy of our members, the Innocence Project of Texas has taken root at Baylor Law, under the supervision of Professor Serr and a local attorney. Involves investigations of claims of actual innocence made by inmates incarcerated in Texas prisons.

Current Need: Participation closed for spring quarter.
May open back up for summer quarter.
Time Commitment: 2-3 hrs weekly
Contact: Brian_Serr@baylor.edu

Catholic Charities – Counsels legal permanent residents and undocumented individuals in their rights and responsibilities regarding their immigration status in the United States of America. Students can conduct legal research (via email), assist on Visa petitions, or work on a Naturalization Clinic under attorney supervision. Bilingual students have additional opportunities.

Current Need: Virtually Unlimited
Time Commitment: Up to the Individual Student
Contact: Brandon_Kinard@baylor.edu

Welcome, Spring 2008 Incoming Students!

2008-02-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

Here is some information about our student organization, if you are interested in joining:

Who are we?

BPILS is a service-oriented student organization, which seeks to involve our members in public interest projects in the community and assist them in pursuing careers in public interest fields.

What is public interest law?

Generally, public interest law can be divided up into five types of legal careers.

Nonprofit organizations
Legal Services Organizations
District Attorneys / Public Defenders
Federal, State, and Local Government
Public Service Law Firms

What do we do?

We are interested in working to provide assistance to legal services programs in the community through volunteering, fundraising, and the coordination of our efforts in conjunction with the faculty and administration of Baylor Law School. We hope to connect students with legal-oriented volunteering opportunities in Waco. A few of our avenues for volunteering include:

The Public Benefits Project at Lone Star Legal Aid – BPILS has developed the Public Benefits Project at Lone Star Legal Aid (a federally-funded nonprofit that provides free legal services to low-income clients). This project screens potential clients for food stamp benefit eligibility. BPILS also is spearheading a closer cooperation between LSLA and local chapters of the NAACP and LULAC.
The Waco Youth Law Advocacy Project – BPILS coordinates student volunteering efforts with this project, involving direct attorney supervision. The Project provides individual representation in administrative and legal forums to address immediate crises in children's lives.
National Adoption Day – BPILS, under the direction of our faculty sponsor, Professor Fuselier, facilitates pro bono adoptions in coordination with Child Protective Services and local attorneys.
People’s Law School – Under the direction of Professor Wilson, volunteer attorneys and legal experts teach courses designed to educate consumers about their legal rights, to make the law "user friendly."
The Innocence Project of Texas – due to the advocacy of our members, the Innocence Project of Texas has taken root at Baylor Law, under the supervision of Professor Serr.

How can I join or learn more about this organization?

Email:

bls.public@gmail.com

BPILS Blog:

www.blspublic.blogspot.com

Positive coverage of our recent involvement

2008-01-18T13:15:00.000-06:00

Recently, the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society has been receiving preliminary positive attention from a few different publications. The Baylor Lariat, the undergraduate student paper, sent a reporter to cover our meeting and involvement with Ann Ellis of the Greater Waco Youth Law Advocacy Project. Similarly, Lone Star Legal Aid has been so impressed with the Public Benefits Project, which we coordinate and participate in at LSLA-Waco, that they submitted an article and photo of the project to Legal Front, the publication of Texas Lawyers Care of the State Bar of Texas. Baylor Law School's alumni magazine, Docket Call, has also shown interest in our activities.

Here is the photo submitted to Legal Front for the Public Benefits Project. See if you can determine which pictured BPILS member is the tallest. (Pictured L to R: Josh Borderud, Meredith Riggs, Ryan Latham, and Sheryl Swanton, LSLA Managing Attorney; Photo taken on 1/16/08)

Greater Waco Youth Law Advocacy Project Meeting

2008-01-15T11:57:00.000-06:00

Ann Ellis from the Greater Waco Youth Law Advocacy Project will be coming to speak about volunteer opportunities with her organization on Thursday at 3:45 PM in room 120. It looks as though this will be a great opportunity for anyone who would like to serve in the community. The time commitment will be insignificant - basically work at your own pace in your spare time - and volunteers will actually be able to work on substantive legal issues as opposed to things on the peripheral. Here is a link to her website: http://wacoyouthlaw.com/

From the website: Our mission is to promote and protect the legal rights and interests of indigent children who are dependent upon the judicial, child welfare, health and mental health, education, and juvenile justice systems for their care and development. If you have any questions before Thursday, please let me know.

Best, Brandon

Baylor Law School Unveils Public Interest Program: BearPAWS!

2007-12-04T10:22:00.001-06:00

Today from 11:15am until 1pm in the student lounge, Dean Heather Creed will reveal the much-anticipated public interest program from Baylor Law: BearPAWS. Our organization will have a booth to demonstrate our support of this program.

The Waiting Game

2007-10-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

We want to thank all of our members for their patience as we eagerly await the approval of the Baylor Law administration regarding our participation in the Legal Assistance Project and the Immigration Clinic. Similarly, we soon plan to begin Adoption Day planning for the Spring Quarter.

If you are interested in assisting with the Baylor People's Law School, please contact our President, Brandon Kinard at Brandon_Kinard@baylor.edu.

Meeting - 5pm, Wednesday, Sept. 26 @ Dancing Bear

2007-09-23T20:49:00.000-05:00

We hope that everyone can come out to the Dancing Bear Pub this Wednesday (9/26/07) at 5pm for a meeting of the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society. We plan to discuss potential avenues for immediate involvement in public interest-related projects, as well as to amend the charter to allow 1Qs/2Qs to serve as officers, and to give the members an opportunity to voice their ideas about the direction in which they would like to see the group move. We hope that the meeting will also serve as an opportunity to get to know your fellow members.

The Dancing Bear Pub is located on Speight Ave. close to 12th St., right across the street from the HEB and next door to Food For Thought. 1117 Speight Ave. Waco, Texas 76706.

Public Interest Law Conference at Emory, Oct. 13, 2007

2007-09-17T14:58:00.000-05:00

Emory's student public interest group (EPIC) is sponsoring a public interest law conference to be held at Emory Law School in Atlanta on Saturday, October 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Students from all schools are invited, and there is no registration fee.

The fourth annual conference entitled "Diversity and Division: Unifying for the Public Interest," will feature the Honorable U.S. Representative David Scott of Georgia's 13th Congressional District. Congressman Scott will give the keynote address updating attendees on his legislative bill, the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Act of 2007 (H.R. 916), promoting a loan repayment program for law school graduates who commit to serve as criminal prosecutors or public defenders. The Conference also features four panels and two workshops.

Panel topics are:
* Nation Building and Developing Constitutions
* Right to Die: the Legal and Ethical Issues of Euthanasia
* Mental Health, Privacy and Out-Patient Commitment Post-Virginia Tech
* Law and the Media

Workshops will be held on:
* Innocence Matters: Freeing Troy Davis from Georgia's Death Row
* How to Fund a Public Interest Career

Detailed information (including registration instructions) is available at www.law.emory.edu/epic. Please direct questions to Linus Chen (Emory 2L) at lychen@emory.edu.

Membership Meeting an Astounding Success!

2007-09-14T08:18:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who came to the Membership Meeting yesterday. Special thanks to Professor Fuselier for speaking at length about our community involvement status and for all her efforts on behalf of our organization. If you were unable to attend the meeting and are interested in joining, we have a "rolling membership" policy, where interested individuals can join at any time. Email bls.public@gmail.com and we'll email you the membership application.

At the meeting were were able to elect our officers for the 2007-2008 school year (Fall 2007 quarter through Summer 2008 quarter). After a heated electoral showdown, we are pleased to announce our officers.

President: Brandon Kinard (2L - email: Brandon_Kinard@baylor.edu)

Vice President: Josh Borderud (3Q - email: Josh_Borderud@baylor.edu)

Treasurer: Camille Varner (1Q - email: Natalie_Varner@baylor.edu)

Secretary: Meredith Riggs (1Q - email: Meredith_Riggs@baylor.edu)

Hopefully within the next week or so, we will be able to commence volunteering with the Legal Assistance Project and/or the Immigration Clinic. We will email the membership with the details and schedule a meeting in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to all the new members of the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society.

Baylor Lariat Article On Public Interest Legal Society

2007-09-11T14:44:00.000-05:00

Its official - we're famous. The Baylor Lariat, after a series of extensive interviews, did an article about our organziation and the Legal Assistance Project. The article is copied below and linked here.

New group to offer legal aid programs to Waco community
Sept. 11, 2007
By Jessica Belmares
Baylor Public Interest Legal Society is a new student organization founded by law students hoping to provide an outreach to the Waco community through involvement in legal assistance programs. "The fact that Baylor Law lacked a public interest organization was kind of troubling," Beaumont law student Brandon Kinard, co-founder of the organization, said. Kinard, along with Waco law student Josh Borderud, talked about creating a public interest group last Christmas. They exchanged e-mails over the summer and founded the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society. "The administration was really excited about this. This will really help the image and the public interest outreach of the law school," Borderud said.
The society's main goal this year is to become more involved with the Legal Assistance Project sponsored by the Lutheran Ministries and Social Services of Waco. "What they do is provide legal forms and paper work and direct people who can't afford representation. They help them navigate the court system and legal problems on their own," Borderud said. The society's founders hope to facilitate Baylor law students and faculty in the involvement of legal assistance programs. They also hope to promote public interest issues on campus.
Assistant professor of law Bridget Fuselier, the organization's faculty sponsor, is excited about the newly chartered group. "It's great that a couple of students came up with this idea and expressed their desire for public interest work. They are mindful of the fact that as lawyers we are public servants," Fuselier said. Although Kinard and Borderud are excited about their upcoming community involvement, they realize their group faces obstacles. Baylor Law has a very demanding curriculum and The Princeton Review says it's the most competitive law school, Borderud said. "I would say our biggest obstacle is that you're pulling at students' time and their other commitments. That's probably every organizations obstacle," Borderud said.
Kinard said he thinks law school at Baylor doesn't allow very much time outside of class. "Classroom environment is very formal and the workload is burdensome," Kinard said. Despite juggling school work and other commitments outside of class, the organization's founders are continuing to work toward their goals. The Baylor Public Interest Legal Society will hold its next meeting at 4:00 p.m. Thursday in room 120 at Baylor Law. They plan to elect three officers and invite all law students to attend.

Membership Meeting, Thursday, Sept. 13, 4pm in 120

2007-09-08T09:23:00.000-05:00

For those who attended the informational meeting on Thursday and are interested in joining the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society, please bring your membership application and lifetime membership dues of $25 (cash or check) to the membership meeting on Thursday, September 13th at 4pm in Room 120. We will induct our first group of members, elect officers (Prez, VP, Treasurer, and Secretary), and discuss our strategy for the quarter. Hope to see you there.

If you weren't able to attend the informational meeting and would like to attend the membership meeting, please do. We will have membership applications available there. We can also email you one as well. Just email bls.public@gmail.com and we'll send you one.

Public Interest Legal Society - A Work in Progress

2007-08-14T09:54:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society ("Public"). We are a recently chartered student organization that seeks to get involved in public interest activities both on- and off-campus. Having been chartered in August 2007, we are just beginning to get off the ground. However, we have a faculty sponsor, Professor Bridget Fuselier, an official charter (copied below), and this blog, linked by the Baylor Law School website on the Student Organizations page. Public was founded by Brandon Kinard (a 2L from Beaumont) and Josh Borderud (a 3Q from Waco), who can be contacted at bls.public@gmail.com or individually at their Baylor email addresses (Brandon_Kinard@baylor.edu and Josh_Borderud@baylor.edu).

Primarily, we hope to involve our members in public interest programs (especially legal services programs) and serve as a liaison and partner with Baylor Law School's faculty and administration in all things relating to public interest. For a brief overview of what public interest law is exactly, see our post below on the 5 Ways to Practice Public Interest Law. Since this organization is so new, we expect the first quarter to be one of building membership, electing student leadership, and begining partnerships and participation with public interest programs. We hope to be an active organization with an emphasis on volunteering in the community. For specifics on elections, dues, and our mission, see our charter below.

Charter & By-Laws of the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society

NAME. The name of this organization shall be the “Baylor Public Interest Legal Society.”

MEMBERSHIP. Membership shall include any students interested in the promotion and furtherance of public interest law who are currently enrolled and attending Baylor Law School.

DUES. The fee for lifetime membership shall be twenty-five dollars.

PURPOSE & OBJECTIVES. To serve Baylor Law School and the Waco community in facilitating the involvement of students in public interest institutions and programs. To coordinate and encourage the efforts of students, faculty, and administration in promoting public interest issues on campus and in the community. To assist students in obtaining internships, externships, and employment in public interest fields in coordination with Baylor Law School’s faculty and administration.

OFFICERS. Members of the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society shall be eligible for the offices of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary, upon completion of twenty-four quarter hours of coursework. All officers shall be students in good standing and shall be willing to promote and advance the purposes of the Baylor Public Interest Legal Society.

Election of officers shall take place no later than the third week of the Fall quarter. The term of each officer shall be one year, or four quarters. A majority of members present shall elect the officers. If an officer is unable to serve in their official capacity due to a job, externship, internship, Practice Court, or any other reason, and desires to cease the performance of their official duties, the membership shall vote to fill the position for the interim period until the next election.

Terms in office shall be limited to one year per elected officer position. This will not prevent an officer whose term is expiring from election to another elected officer position.

The President shall preside over regular and executive meetings, coordinate group activities, and communicate with the officers and advisers on all matters. The Vice President shall assist the president and preside over meetings in the absence of the president. The Treasurer shall collect dues, pay bills, oversee other monetary transactions including fundraising and social activities, and prepare and maintain an annual budget. The Secretary shall record minutes at all business meetings, maintain membership records, and process new member applications.

MEETINGS. There shall be, at minimum, one meeting of the officers and members held per academic quarter. All actions by the organization must be approved by a majority of the members present and a majority of the elected officers. The officers shall notify the members of the time and location of all meetings no later than two days prior to the meeting.

AMENDMENTS & REVISIONS. Amendments and revisions to these by-laws may be proposed by submitting to the officers a copy of the proposed amendment or revision. Amendments or revisions to the by-laws must be approved by a majority of the members present and unanimously approved by the elected officers.

What is Public Interest? 5 Career Paths

2007-07-29T08:15:00.000-05:00

In case you are wondering exactly what a career in Public Interest might entail, we have taken the following from the University of Houston's Public Interest Law Organization's website:

Five Ways to Practice Public Interest Law
Public interest law is diverse, yet all of these opportunities have one thing in common: they all serve the public good. We bet there's a match for you in here somewhere.

Nonprofit organizations. These organizations have individually defined missions and center their efforts around related goals and objectives. Some are legally oriented, like the ACLU. Others are not legally oriented but still tackle legal issues, like Greenpeace or the NRA. Public interest lawyers might serve these organizations as in-house staff attorneys or general counsel, executive directors, lobbyists, legislative directors, grant writers, or policy advisors. There's a nonprofit organization out there with your name on it. Do you care about abortion rights or women's issues? NOW might be interested in meeting you. Are you concerned about corporate media ownership? The Media Access Project is a nonprofit law firm fighting specifically for your first-amendment rights. This is the most versatile of the five public interest categories.
Legal Services Organizations. These organizations provide legal assistance and representation to certain groups, usually low-income people residing in a particular geographic area. Offices like Lone Star Legal Aid typically focus on general poverty law issues, such as government benefits, employment, civil rights, housing, consumer, and family law issues. In addition, certain programs focus on specific client populations such as artists, people living with AIDS or other disabilities, even inmates on death row.
District Attorneys / Public Defenders. These offices prosecute or defend those charged with violating state or federal criminal laws.
Federal, State, and Local Government. In federal, state, and local government offices, attorneys both litigate and serve as policy advisors on issues affecting the public good.
Public Service Law Firms. Many public service lawyers work in private firms providing assistance to low-income clients or to clients with cases that involve unpopular issues. Other firms specialize in representing certain issues for non-profit organizations that may not have their own in-house counsel.

Adapted from Public Service Careers. Explore Your Options, published by NALP ( http://www.nalp.org/).