Summer 2013 Inspire Fellows Program

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Youth Organizations Umbrella (Y.O.U.) is pleased to announce its Inspire Fellows Program for the summer of 2013. The fellowship offers graduate and upper-undergraduate students a full-time opportunity to learn best-practices in youth development and to prepare for a career in youth development, education, or the non-profit sector.

Inspire Fellows serve as workshop leaders and counselors for Y.O.U.’s 9-week summer program. Fellows are chosen to develop and facilitate specific workshops in one of three areas: arts and literature, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), or recreational activities. Additionally, all fellows help lead discussions and workshops on life skills topics.

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LGBT Fellowship Opportunities through Equal Justice Works

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Equal Justice Works is excited to offer additional fellowship opportunities for its member law schools that have a clinical or curricular emphasis on LGBT issues. The Rapoport Foundation (“The Foundation”) has joined with Equal Justice Works in honor of its founder, Paul Rapoport, to fund five fellowships – one every two years, for the next ten years, beginning in the fall of 2014.

Please note that the fellowship criteria proposed by The Foundation are very specific. The Foundation’s preferences, in this order, are as follows:

  1. An applicant who is LGBT (those who identify their sexual identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender) and a person of color working at a host organization on LGBT issues in New York City.
  2. An applicant who identifies as LGBT and is of color working on any social issue in the NYC area.
  3. An applicant who (if not identifying as LGBT) works with a project and host organization that address these types of issues in the NYC area.
  4. Same criteria as #1 above but working in the Mid-Atlantic region.
  5. Same criteria as #1 above but working in the South.

These fellowships will be offered through Equal Justice Works Fellowships. Therefore, the application process (creating a project and securing a host organization); duration (two years); when students apply (as a rising 3L); and application timeline (application period is open from July 8 to September 17) will be the same.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Fellowships team at fellowships@equaljusticeworks.org. Be sure to look for more information on our website and webinars on this opportunity as the application period draws nearer.

 

Professor Edward A. Purcell Jr. Receives 2013 Outstanding Scholar Award

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Renowned historian Edward A. Purcell Jr., Joseph Solomon Distinguished Professor of Law, received the 2013 Outstanding Scholar Award from The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. When he received the award, Professor Purcell thanked the Foundation and its Fellows for establishing the award as part of their effort to fulfill a noble mission: “advancing justice through rigorous research on the law, legal practices, and the law’s impact on our society.” He went on to discuss the difficult times that the legal profession and law schools are currently facing. Urging law schools to adapt to changing conditions, Professor Purcell emphasized the need for law schools to “remain true to the fundamental core of all truly professional and higher education: expanding and spreading human knowledge, developing and evaluation innovative ideas, fostering rigorous and critical thinking, and inspiring intellectual curiosity and creativity.” He stressed the need for scholarly inquiry, as it leads to a better understanding of legal and constitutional heritage. Professor Purcell concluded his remarks by thanking the Foundation for the award and “thereby annually recognizing the inestimable worth of scholarship in advancing both our understanding of the law and our quest for equal justice under that law.”

You can view Professor Purcell’s full remarks here.

Justice Talks – How can you ensure Gideon’s Promise is fulfilled?

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Fordham Law School, Room 302
140 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023
Register here. 

THE NEED

Fifty years ago a movement of young people changed the world.  Thanks to these committed, idealistic reformers, and the communities that supported them, basic civil rights were realized in the areas of voting rights, education, and employment.  But our work is not finished.  The greatest civil and human rights abuses of our time continue in the American criminal justice system.   Public defenders, meant to be the ultimate guardians of our Constitution, have been overwhelmed and beaten down.  Poor people are routinely processed through a mechanical criminal justice system without an advocate to ensure our system lives up to its ideals.  The result is that lives are destroyed, families torn apart, and communities decimated.  Without the meaningful right to counsel, all other rights are left unrealized and the promise of equal justice left unfulfilled.

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Justice Action Spring 2013 Capstone Presentation Schedule

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Graduating members of the Justice Action Center must complete a capstone project in their final year. A public presentation is an essential component of the Capstone and all graduating JAC members must attend three Capstone presentations in addition to their own. The presentations are open to all members of the NYLS community and are listed on the JAC Events Calendar for your convenience. We hope you join us.

Monday, April 15, 12:50-1:50pm, W302
Vanessa Craveiro, Jacob Korder, Cortney Nadolney, Sondah Ouattara, Jason Sender, Sonia Tapryal (Civil Rights Clinic)

Tuesday, April 16, 4:00-4:20pm, W520
4:00-4:20: William Kleindienst (Wills Clinic)

Tuesday, April 16, 5:00-6:00pm, W301
5:00-5:20: Melissa Zeigler (Racial Justice Advocacy)
5:20-5:40: Kelly Weiner (Racial Justice Advocacy)
5:40-6:00: Lailah Pepe (Racial Justice Advocacy)

Thursday, April 18, 12:50-1:50pm, W320
12:50-1:10: Chelsea Beshore (Domestic Violence Field Placement Seminar and Workshop)
1:10-1:30: Halina Schiffman-Shilo (Domestic Violence Field Placement Seminar and Workshop)
1:30-1:50: Danielle Esposito and Corinne Kavanagh: Juvenile Justice Website – LegalEasyNY

Thursday, April 18, 12:50-2:00pm, W302
Heather Hicks (Detention in the War Against Terrorism)

Thursday, April 18, 4:00-5:00pm, W320
4:00-4:40: Kiru Gichuru, Petal Hwang, and Kendall Randolph (Mediation Clinic)
4:40-5:00: Hanna Rubin (Mediation Clinic)

Thursday, April 18, 5:00-5:40pm, W504
5:00-5:20: Alison Lynch (The Guardianship Project)
5:20-5:40: Irma Rivera (Civil Justice Through the Courts)

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Justice Speaks Lunch: Digital Empowerment: International Human Rights Go Local

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 12:50pm-1:50pm W302

In recent years, new technologies have revolutionized activism, making it easier than ever for citizens to engage with one another and with their government. Professor Molly Land, Associate Professor of Law at New York Law School, will focus on the use of technological advances to engage in human rights activism. Although new technologies bring considerable benefits and opportunities, they also pose risks. Information may not be accurate, or the volume of information can overwhelm activists. The lunch discussion will cover these issues as well as several recommendations to overcome the risks and challenges of using new technologies in human rights activism.

Attendees at this program may be eligible for one hour of CLE credit in professional practice for both transitional and non-transitional attorneys.

RSVP to JAC@nyls.edu.

Justice Speaks Lunch: Mental Disability: Overcoming Social and Legal Prejudices

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013, 12:50pm-1:50pm, W302

This panel will examine a form of discrimination known as ‘sanism’- a hidden bias against individuals with mental disabilities. Today’s society is overwhelmed with fears and stereotypes of those with mental illnesses. The panelists will examine these patterns of prejudice and focus on their intrusion into the legal system. By focusing on how sanism affects the rights of citizenship for those with mental disabilities, we can work to educate and diminish the false beliefs that pervade today’s society.

Panelists will be Professor Michael Perlin, Professor of Law, Director of the Mental Disability Law Program and Director of the International Mental Disability Law Reform Project, and Professor Heather Cucolo, Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School.

Attendees at this program may be eligible for one hour of CLE credit in professional practice for both transitional and non-transitional attorneys.

RSVP to JAC@nyls.edu.

Justice Speaks Lunch: Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Future

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 12:50pm-1:50pm, W402



Much of America’s energy comes from abroad, but recent advances in hydraulic fracturing-or “fracking”-allow the extraction of natural gas from shale formations. According to the International Energy Agency, the large amount of natural gas in the shale formations will help make America the world’s largest producer of oil by 2020. Hydraulic fracturing has major side effects, however, including economic, health, and environmental issues. In New York State, there has been a moratorium on new permits for hydraulic fracturing until the Department of Environmental Conservation completes an environmental impact statement and works on regulations for this drilling. Governor Cuomo is expected to release the environmental impact statement and regulations this year. Come hear experts discuss this issue and how it impacts you and your community.

Panelists will be William A. Ruskin, Attorney at Epstein Becker Green, and Daniel Raichel, National Resources Defense Council, Legal Fellow of the New York Urban Program.

Attendees at this program may be eligible for one hour of CLE credit in professional practice for both transitional and non-transitional attorneys.

RSVP to JAC@nyls.edu.

Jill Gottfred, JAC ’11 – Advocate for Education Equality

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jill photoWhen Jill Gottfred, JAC ’11, graduated from New York Law School, she had already been a teacher and was looking for employment in the education field. She then was hired as the Manager of Education Policy on the Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) Advocacy and Policy Leadership team. As part of her key role on the team, she works to push for strong education laws and policies at the district and state levels. She specializes in supporting legislative policy work at the state capitol, drafting and analyzing education laws and policies, and capturing and disseminating nuanced performance and practice data about the Illinois charter sector. In addition, she writes comprehensive policy briefs to publish facts and findings from the Illinois charter sector to key stakeholders and partners with like-minded organizations on key policy initiatives.

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Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, February 2013 Now Available

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Fourth Circuit Revives Inmate’s Sex Reassignment Surgery Claim

A unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, based in Richmond, ruled that District Judge James C. Turk (Western District of Virginia) should not have dismissed an 8th Amendment complaint by Ophelia Azriel De’lonta, a Virginia state inmate who has been denied gender reassignment surgery by the Virginia Department of Corrections. The ruling may be the first by a federal appellate court to hold that an inmate may, under certain circumstances, have a right to gender reassignment surgery as a medically necessary procedure. As such, it could mark a significance advance in judicial recognition that sex reassignment surgery can be medically necessary treatment.

Visit www.nyls.edu/jac and click “Publications” and then “Lesbian/Gay Law Notes” on the left-hand navigation bar. To go directly to the Lesbian/Gay Law Notes page, click here.