OPIA Blog

Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising

University of Minnesota Law School launches a new post-graduate fellowship program to get recent grads practical legal experience

The University of Minnesota Law School launched a new fellowship program aimed at building legal experience for recent graduates entering the job market.

The article, found in Minnesota Daily, the campus paper, highlights the growing demand at Law Schools to address the the rapidly changing job market. What many career service offices within law schools are recognizing is the increasing shift in the legal job market and the growing demand being placed on public interest organizations requires a shift in thinking. Students are now looking to the public sector and government lawyering jobs more and more.

The program will place 25 Law School graduates in a wide variety of legal positions, including assisting state judges and public defenders, working for the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis and doing policy work for various public interest organizations.

September 22nd, 2009 Posted by opia | Uncategorized | No Comments

Steven Donziger ‘91 at the center of big legal battle in Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco

Steven Donziger ‘91, is at the epitome of what many may consider an epic David v. Goliath legal battle. Donziger is the lead U.S. Attorney in the case of Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco. The case pits 30,000 Ecuadoreans who claim oil drilling done by Texaco (now owned by Chevron) has lead to untold amounts of pollution of water and land where the Ecuadoreans live.

This article features a brief interview with Donziger and Am Law Daily, where the journal asks him about the most recent twists in the case. The lawsuit was filed in 1993 and has turned into a long arduous fight with multiple twists, including the most recent accusation of bribery on the judge presiding over the case, judge Juan Nunez.

Please also note that Steven Donziger is featured in a documentary about this case called Crude, which was released in New York on September 9th and in Los Angeles on September 18th.

September 22nd, 2009 Posted by opia | Uncategorized | No Comments

   

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