OPIA Blog

An article from The Nation this past summer discusses the subprime mortgage crisis and its legal consequences in Atlanta, one of the cities hardest hit by the housing and loan crisis.

The article highlights how the subprime mortgage crisis played out both on the macro and micro level. Focusing on few family in Atlanta, Georgia, the article tries to focus on what the family went through in their efforts to keep their home.

Sarah Bolling an ‘07 alumni, is featured in the article. Bolling, who is working for the Legal Aid Society in Atlanta, is defending the Mitchell family and other families hit hard by the mortgage crisis.

To read the article, clink on this link

This Washington Post article reveals some of the methods being used by big-time employers to save on energy costs and save on expenses.From Chrysler to Utah’s state government, employers are now trying to find new strategies to go greener, reduce business costs and appeal to newer workers.

According to the article, the effort is gaining momentum across the country. “This month, Utah became the first state in the country to take the leap, shifting most of its 17,000 state employees to a mandatory 10-hour-a-day, four-day workweek and closing most state offices on Fridays. Hawaii is piloting a similar experiment with about 100 state workers, and officials in Fairfax County are studying whether such an arrangement would work for them. Even officials in governments that are not ready to move to a four-day week, such as those in Michigan and West Virginia, say they might allow more workers to do so or to work other alternative schedules to help them save money and reduce commuting stress.

After taking other steps to reduce energy consumption, car giant Chrysler is pondering whether to shift about a dozen of its manufacturing facilities and several of its parts units to 10-hour, four-day workweeks. The change, which must be negotiated with unions, could affect more than 10,000 workers. Because it could mean plants would be shuttered three days instead of two, it could save the company millions in utility costs, spokesman Ed Saenz said.”

Find the full story here.

A new student loan repayment program is now awaiting approval from President Bush before it goes into effect. The proposal, which is contained in the Higher Education Act, is part of an effort to make higher education more affordable an accessible.

Under the terms of the proposal, the attorney general will assume the obligation to repay the student loans of attorneys who commit to spending at least three years as criminal prosecutors at the state or local level, or as public defenders in criminal cases at all levels of government. The amount of the grant for each student is capped at $10,000 per year or $60,000 total. Repayment benefits will also be given on a preferential basis to those who have the least ability to repay their loans.

For more on this story, click here.

Dean Elena Kagan was named as a recipient of the 2008 John R. Kramer Outstanding Law Dean Award from Equal Justice Works. The annual award goes to three individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of public interest law.

Since she started in 2003, Dean Kagan has enacted extensive and innovative initiatives to promote public interest work at HLS. The Public Service Initiative, announced this spring at the Celebration of Public Interest, forgives the entire third year of tuition for students who commit to five years of public service work after graduation. Other highlights of Dean Kagan’s tenure include a generous loan repayment program, guaranteed Summer Public Interest Funding, and the mandatory Pro Bono Service Program.

Dean Kagan’s public interest efforts have increased the richness of OPIA’s program offerings and have also positioned HLS as the leader of public interest law. To read more, click here.

A report released last week by the Department of Justice’s inspector general and internal ethics office revealed the widespread politicization of hiring practices within the agency. During the tenures of both Attorney Generals John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzalez, highly qualified, left-leaning applicants for important civil service positions were passed over in favor of less competent conservative applicants. The practice violated basic Civil Service laws, which forbids the use of political considerations in hiring decisions. Senior aides to the Attorney General, notably Monica Goodling, had illegally used political criteria, including candidates’ stances on “god, guns + gays,” to weed out those with liberal ideologies.

For more on the story, click here. The complete report is also available at the OPIA office in Pound 329.

Last year, over 100 attorneys from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe contributed 3,617 pro bono hours to building a microfinance network in Latin America. The result was an $8.5 million dollar microcredit investment fund that would open entrepreneurial doors for millions of low-income people through tiny loans.

Private law firms are increasing their pro bono commitments to the microfinance industry, the banking sector for the world’s poor. In response to the recent jump in food prices and contracting credit, firms are stepping up and offering their finance expertise for the social good. Mary Rose Brusewitz, a global finance partner at Orrick, explains the motivation for such public interest work in this way: “Young lawyers are simply not planning on just working and earning money. They want to be inspired.”

To read the full article in New York Lawyer, click here.

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The World Justice Project recently unveiled the Rule of Law Index, a new initiative that will examine and assess the rule of law in over 100 nations. While it is still in its prototype stages, the initiative could potentially be used as a tool to increase government accountability and renew commitments to the basic principles of law and human rights worldwide. The index does not rank countries on a scale, but instead offers profiles that measure a country’s performance based on a variety of indicators, including corruption, access to services, and respect for property rights.

William Neukom, a founder of the World Justice Project, describes the project as a way to constructively engage with rogue nations “in a relentless and long-term way.” The project is a step towards increasing robust legal protections and fair enforcement around the world. To read more on the Index, click here.

As a second year law student, Abbe Smith took on a particularly tough case her first day at NYU’s prison law clinic back in 1980. Patsy Kelly Jarrett was facing a life sentence for a 1973 robbery and murder. She was convicted on the strength of a single shaky eyewitness who placed her in the vicinity of the killing of a 17-year-old gas station attendant.

Despite this dubious evidence, Kelly was convicted, and because she refused to plea bargain and admit guilt for a crime of which she was innocent, served 28 years in prison. Abbe Smith continued fighting for Kelly throughout these nearly three decades, filing continuous appeals and clemency petitions. It was not until the case was featured in a 2004 PBS documentary and garnered media attention that Kelly’s parole petition was finally granted. Even after practicing law for 25 years, teaching at Harvard’s criminal defense clinic, and directing Georgetown’s criminal justice clinic, Abbe Smith counts this case – her first as a criminal defense lawyer - as her life’s work. To read her essay, published in the Washington Post and adapted from her forthcoming book Case of a Lifetime, click here.

In a reversal of past department policies, Attorney General Michael Mukasey allowed the Department of Justice Pride group, which represents gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered employees, to use the Great Hall for its annual awards ceremony.

During the tenure of Attorneys General Ashcroft and Gonzales, DOJ Pride had been forbidden from using the Hall or any government computers for its activities. Along with recognizing the contributions of the GLBT community to the DOJ, Mukasey was given a standing ovation by the audience. The keynote speaker, Robert Spagnoletti, closed event by urging the audience to embrace who they are, affirming, “We can demonstrate pride in ourselves everyday.” To read more, click here.

With the provisional accreditation of two new North Carolina institutions last week, the United States became the first country in the world to host 200 law schools. Quantity, however, does not necessarily produce quality, explained a recent AP article. The proliferation of law schools has resulted in a surplus of lawyers, many of whom are having an increasingly difficult time finding work. This has led to the rise of “contract attorneys” – essentially lawyers working temp jobs at modest hourly rates. In addition to poor working conditions and the lack of job security, this temp work usually consists of monotonous tasks outsourced by law firms.

Lured by the promise of high earning potential and guarantees of employment, many students enroll in law school without doing adequate research. Universities, for their part, have also been somewhat disingenuous in their efforts to establish law schools and attract students. Because law schools feature big class sizes and small financial aid packages, they are a cost-effective and even lucrative option for many schools. Law school rankings have also had a damaging effect on the legal education system, as schools often exaggerate, underreport, or otherwise skew statistics to make their graduates seem more financially successful. To read more on this topic, click here.