clinicians with not enough to do

March a Mile in My Shoes

Posted on Feministe US:

It’s Gay Pride time here in New York City. Specifically, did you know that today is the 5th Annual Trans Day of Action? It’s a tradition we started / revived in the queer/trans people-of-color community around here for several reasons.

First, because we felt the need for another annual landmark to celebrate the lives and struggles of living trans people, in contrast to the somber, autumnal Trans Day of Remembrance. Second, because of an old tradition from decades past: gay pride parades that wanted to be “respectable” forbade trans people from marching on Sunday, so trans folks started their own march-in-exile on the Friday before. Third, because every year there is a lot of bullshit going down that threatens the lives and well-being of trans people, especially those who are marginalized and endangered by poverty, racism, disabilities, criminalization, unjust incarceration, homelessness, immigrant status, and much more. You can read the current list here, which is what the TDOA march was about today.

Here on the internet, there are a bunch of much more symbolic, less immediately-material issues bubbling up that have really been annoying me. Not as much as the city government here discriminating against trans people applying for welfare, but still very annoying in that internet way. Since I’ve built up a backlog, I thought I’d share them with you. An overview first, and more thoughts further down.

First of all, this website. Tranny-Alert.com. That’s right, Tranny Alert. Let me just quote their mission statement.

Your site for all things tranny. Tranny spottings. Tranny news. Tranny everything! We are all trannies, all the time. Our site cannot survive without your submissions! Spot a tranny or suspected tranny around town? See a hot tranny mess? Observe a guidette in New Jersey with tranny style? Notice trannies on TV/Radio/Billboards? Find yourself at a Lady Gaga concert? WE WANT TO KNOW!

So it’s like a celebrity-spotting blog, except they take pictures of random trans women on the subway and publish them. Guess what they just Twittered this afternoon? “omg trannies are marching in union square right now is anyone with a camera in the area?” That’s right, it was the Trans Day of Action march that I mentioned earlier. Seriously, I hope some cameras explode in some trans-stalking faces.

Second, the incredibly bigoted failure of this stand-up comedy bit by Iliza Shlesinger, the first woman (and most recent person) to win the Last Comic Standing reality series.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXDrrcLuwCg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efeministe%2Eus%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F06%2F26%2Fmarch%2Da%2Dmile%2Din%2Dmy%2Dshoes%2F&feature=player_embedded.

And finally, the increasingly common trend of everyone under the sun using the word “tranny” all the time. We’ve already talked about what’s most obvious: how it’s not OK for Christian Siriano and other non-trans to toss this term around for cred, especially with negative connotations. It’s a slur, folks. More recently, I came across a couple brilliant pieces of writing by iphisol and cedar (part 1 and part 2) about why it’s not really OK for anyone but trans women, who have been historically slurred with this term, to appropriate and throw it around like it’s hilarious hoppin’ party time. I agree with them.

Read more of this article at http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/06/26/march-a-mile-in-my-shoes/

Law Apps for iPhones (and Blackberry)

from A Mobblog on Legal Education by Deven Desai

This article lists some general apps that one may want to add to an iPhone. The one that caught my eye, however, is the Federal Rules of Evidence. The company that provides the Rules, The Law Pod, also offer the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy, Federal Rules of Evidence, and the U.S. Constitution. Apparently more apps are to in the works too. If the company updates them wirelessly, these apps could be quite useful (FYI The Law Pod folks are smart enough to offer the products for Blackberry users as well).

Furthermore Law Pod claims “Because rather than embracing a traditional business model, after-tax profits from the sale of these applications will be used to provide financial aid in the form of grants and scholarships to law students in need.” That is a nice touch.

This move reminds me of an old film about medical school where med students pretended to know what they were doing and then pulled out a handy reference guide to check a diagnosis. To be clear, looking up information is a good thing. If I remember correctly, Akhil Amar urged his students to keep a pocket copy of the Constitution with them. This service solves the problem of carrying extra paper around. Of course, if one is giving a closed book exam, one now had even more reason to have students surrender all phones during the exam.

This article lists some general apps that one may want to add to an iPhone. The one that caught my eye, however, is the Federal Rules of Evidence. The company that provides the Rules, The Law Pod, also offer the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy, Federal Rules of Evidence, and the U.S. Constitution. Apparently more apps are to in the works too. If the company updates them wirelessly, these apps could be quite useful (FYI The Law Pod folks are smart enough to offer the products for Blackberry users as well).

Furthermore Law Pod claims “Because rather than embracing a traditional business model, after-tax profits from the sale of these applications will be used to provide financial aid in the form of grants and scholarships to law students in need.” That is a nice touch.

This move reminds me of an old film about medical school where med students pretended to know what they were doing and then pulled out a handy reference guide to check a diagnosis. To be clear, looking up information is a good thing. If I remember correctly, Akhil Amar urged his students to keep a pocket copy of the Constitution with them. This service solves the problem of carrying extra paper around. Of course, if one is giving a closed book exam, one now had even more reason to have students surrender all phones during the exam.

What's Old Is New Again: Howrey Introduces Apprenticeships

Jeff Jeffrey
The National Law Journal
June 23, 2009

Starting this fall, Howrey will begin selling recruits on a new program at the firm in which associates will spend their first two years serving as "apprentices" before taking on significant client work.

As part of the two-year program, associates will spend the majority of their time at the litigation-heavy firm attending training seminars where they will learn the practical skills of lawyering, said managing partner Robert Ruyak in an interview.

During their first year at the firm, associates will take classes on legal writing and research and will work on pro bono projects to give them hands-on experience without charging clients. In the second year of the program, associates will be embedded at client sites for several months at a reduced billing rate of between $150 and $200 an hour. They will also continue to take classes on litigation skills such as trial tactics, cross examination, and mediation and arbitration.

Howrey started working on the program about two years ago when the firm decided it was going to move away from lockstep compensation for its associates. (In January, the firm did away with its lockstep model for associates, instead paying them based on measured levels of competency.) To hammer out the details, Howrey hired a consultant and discussed the program with partners and associates. The firm announced the change to partners in a meeting at noon and to associates in a meeting at 2 p.m. today.

Ruyak compares the new program to medical residency and accounting secondment, in which younger accountants are placed with clients for a period of time to learn how their businesses work.

"The old model is broken," Ruyak said. "You're bringing on these extremely bright individuals and letting them waste their careers buried in documents where they aren't really learning the practical skills it takes to be a lawyer."

The firm will be recruiting a smaller class this year, he said, with the goal of making sure that the associates who are hired are joining the firm for the long haul. In the first year, the firm will hire 20 associates and then bring on another 10 from judicial clerkships or from U.S. Attorney's Offices during the second year. "Clerkships and the U.S. Attorney's Office are great because you're learning how trials work. You're learning what the rules are," Ruyak said. "But there just aren't enough clerkships to go around because there are only so many federal judges. This allows us to give associates the experience they need in a much more organized fashion than the way most firms use younger lawyers."

Ruyak said the firm plans to pay associates slightly more than the $80,000 or so they would be making as a clerk but less than the $160,000 many top law firms currently pay. From now on, when associates join the firm, they will be paid $100,000 in salary with an additional $25,000 to, in most cases, help pay off loans from their last semester of law school. During the second year, that amount goes up to $125,000 with an additional $25,000 bonus if they finish the program successfully. Ruyak added that the firm will not be changing any other pay levels.

The reduced pay will also have the benefit of "weeding out the lawyers who are only in it for the money and not to be trial lawyers," Ruyak said. The people hired under the apprenticeship program will report to the firm earlier than usual, in September 2010, for orientation and training.

While associates will be paid less in their first two years, Ruyak said the new approach is not a way to save the firm money. In fact, he said, it's going to cost between $3 million and $4 million to implement once training costs and the unbilled hours the associates work are thrown in.

"The way we see it though is that it's going to cost more in the beginning because we're creating something from scratch, but once we get going and we start having a group of young, experienced lawyers coming out ready to handle client matters, we're going to turn a profit much more quickly than we would under the old model," Ruyak said.

He said that the firm would spend that same amount to train associates anyway, only it would be spread out across seven years. "This way, we just get it out of the way in the beginning."

So far, clients have responded to the change positively, Ruyak said, and many have offered to have first- and second-year associates join them for a few months to learn the ropes of their business. He says the firm has also been speaking with federal appellate judges about having associates serve as extra clerks with them for several months.

Ruyak said that it's easier for a firm that does primarily litigation to implement an apprenticeship program, but he sees it as the future for the profession. "Law firms are way behind on this kind of thing. Other professions like medicine have been doing this for years. The way we have been doing things simply doesn't make sense."

Notes from the Breadline: Our Endless Numbered Days

Above the Law Ed. note: Welcome to the latest installment of "Notes from the Breadline," a column by a laid-off lawyer in New York. Prior columns are collected here. You can reach Roxana St. Thomas by email (at roxanastthomas@gmail.com), follow her on Twitter, or find her on Facebook.

We've all heard the statistics about attorney layoffs, unemployment, and the sad state of the economy. But do the hard numbers tell the full story of life in the breadline? Inspired by the Harper's Index, today I offer you the Notes from the Breadline Index.

Months in the breadline: 6

Estimated number of jobs applied for: 266

Estimated number of responses received to job inquiries: 23

Follow-up phone calls returned: 2

Soup recipes developed: 4

Meals consisting primarily of soup: 87

Approximate hours spent online trolling for potential jobs: 745

Average number of times, per day, email inbox checked for responses to job inquiries: 28

Percentage of times inbox check followed by fleeting thought that email has stopped working: 8

Number of evil cats currently freeloading off meager household income: 2

Number of times I have seriously considered the employability of cats: 3

Half-knitted scarves finished now that I have "time on my hands": 0

Maximum number of days without washing hair: 5

 

To read the rest of the list, go to:  http://abovethelaw.com/2009/06/notes_from_the_breadline_index.php

Student Loan Bailout: You Only Have to be Broke for Ten Years

By Elie Mystal from Above the Law, A Legal Tabloid

A new federal program promises student loan forgiveness for people who qualify after they've dutifully paid their debts for ten years. The program will also cap monthly loan payments depending on income. The act, passed in 2007, is set to become effective on July 1st. The National Law Journal reports the awesome news:

Some members of the class of 2009 will have less to complain about, however. A new federal program intended to help borrowers manage their student debt goes into effect on July 1. The legislation -- called the College Cost Reduction & Access Act -- will cap monthly loan payments according to income and forgive student debt balances after designated periods of time. For attorneys, the main beneficiaries will be those who go on to have long-term public interest careers. But the program will also make loan payments more affordable for all attorneys with high debt loads and relatively low incomes.

"There are a lot of things that are making it tough for new graduates, with the tight job market and the deferrals," said Heather Jarvis, a senior program manager at Equal Justice Works, an organization that encourages attorneys to undertake public interest law careers. "But there has never been a better time to graduate, as far as student loans."

Essentially this is the best piece of news for the class of 2009 since they got into law school in the first place. The government will forgive outstanding loans after ten years of payments for people who work in public interest and other qualifying organizations.

read the rest of the story at:  http://abovethelaw.com/2009/06/student_loan_bailout_you_only.php

Don't Ask Don't Tell March on 40th anniversary of Stonewall

 

A Message from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network:

 

Dear Colleague,

 

As you know, this week we mark the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. As Barney Frank noted last week, we have made significant progress since then, but, unfortunately, discrimination still exists – and we have much more hard work ahead of us.

 

At SLDN we have been thinking of an appropriate way to honor those who took to the streets 40 years ago in Greenwich Village to fight for our freedoms.  And, at the same time, we want to honor the estimated 65,000 service members currently serving in silence every day under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We also want to recognize and appreciate the 13,000 patriotic service members who have been discharged under the law.

 

Like those who fought back four decades ago and took to the streets, we, too, say, "Enough!"

 

Led by the fighting Cook v. Gates plaintiffs (service members discharged under DADT), we will be marching to the White House on Saturday, June 27 to call upon President Obama to break his silence on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  The first 265 marchers will be veterans and service members. This is the number of service members discharged since January 20 when the President took office. In addition, family and friends of service members will be attending to implore the president to lead the way with lawmakers to get repeal done in this Congress and to end discrimination in the military.

 

We hope this can be a real community-sponsored event and that you and your organization can help make this an appropriate and spirited Stonewall commemoration. One doesn't need to be a veteran or on active duty to show up and support our LGBT troops, one only needs to be committed to equality for all. We will meet in Farragut Square (17^th & K St NW) at 2:00pm and march to the White House from there.

 

Even if you can’t make it to Washington, D.C., you can still play an important and hands on role in the demonstration…

 

·         Become an official sponsor of the march. We would love to add your organization’s name to the growing list of official co-sponsors. In turn, we encourage you to spread the word about the march to your supporters and feature information on your website.

 

·         Call the White House switchboard on Saturday. While we’re marching to the White House, you and your supporters can join us by calling the White House switchboard at 202-456-1414. Help amplify the call for President Obama to break his silence on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

 

·         Call your members of Congress. Your supporters can also take action by calling their members of Congress to urge they co-sponsor the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1283) – the bill to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and replace it with a policy of non-discrimination. Click here for more information about calling members of Congress.

 

Together, we have a real opportunity to deliver a powerful message to the White House, Congress, and to the American people, and to let our service members know they have not been forgotten. Let me know your thoughts and if you have any questions.

 

We look forward to your feedback and participation. If you wish to be added today as one of the official sponsors, please let me or Ben Mishkin (bmishkin@sldn.org), SLDN Grassroots Organizer, know.

 

Thank you,

Aubrey

 

Aubrey Sarvis

Executive Director

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network

202.621.5409

 

---

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell:

 

This week SALT sent a letter to President Obama urging him to use his leadership to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and to adopt an anti-discriminatory policy towards service by gays and lesbians in the military.  Please distribute these documents.    Visit the  SALT Website  for more information.

Isn't this what we all need?

from Feministing by Samhita

Oh wait this isn't vintage, this company exists today. Sociological Images (which is increasingly my go-to place for great break-downs of visual sexism) has a great breakdown of their not-so-funny marketing claims.

Oh wait this isn't vintage, this company exists today. Sociological Images (which is increasingly my go-to place for great break-downs of visual sexism) has a great breakdown of their not-so-funny marketing claims.

The Clash Of Ages: How Technology Divides Workers

by Joshua Brockman, All Things Considered, June 22, 2009 Listen Now[3 min 24 sec]

 

 

At her Chicago office, Kelly Huang connects with a friend in New York via Facebook. AP

 

If you're a boss, what do you do about employees who love to tweet, text and social network throughout the day? It's a question companies are grappling with as the generation gap threatens to create a communications divide.

Eric Pro, a 19-year-old electrical engineer at Aquas Inc. in Bethesda, Md., takes a few seconds out from his workday to send a quick text message on his T-Mobile Sidekick. He says he's in trouble with his girlfriend and he's trying to smooth things out.

While Pro may be worried about how things stand with his love interest, recent studies show real tensions are rising between Gen Y, or 20-something employees; Gen X, or 30-something workers; and their older, less tech-savvy, baby boomer bosses.

Culture Clash

"I'm old-school, but I am willing to learn," says 56-year-old Carmen Larsen, the president of Aquas, an engineering and IT company. Larsen says she typically reaches for a phone before a keyboard. But her daughters, who work with her, help with the learning curve.

"People go out of the office to take a cigarette break for 10 minutes, people take coffee breaks and people take Facebook breaks," says Emma Evans, Larsen's 19-year-old daughter. "It's kind of become built into our way of life."

In fact, 62 percent of Gen Y workers say they engage in social networking from work. That's according to LexisNexis, an online information service. The results of LexisNexis' Technology Gap Survey show vastly different attitudes about appropriate technology use among various generations in the work force. And this is creating a clash of cultures — especially during meetings.

Debate Over Multitasking

"You can have Gen Y-ers who are busy looking at their BlackBerrys. They've got their laptops flipped open, they're engaging in social networking right during the course of a meeting, and you have a boomer rolling their eyes, not understanding it," says Michael Walsh, the CEO for LexisNexis U.S. Legal Markets. "Two-thirds of boomers that were surveyed indicated that they felt that use of devices, technology — such as e-mail, social networking, the Internet, etc. — contributed to a decline in office etiquette."

Meanwhile, Gen X-ers are caught between having to manage and bridge the gap.

Walsh says the generational divide is most intense in Fortune 500 companies because senior management is typically made up of baby boomers. But it's also an issue that small companies like Aquas — with just over 30 employees ranging in age from 18 to 68 — have to contend with.

Social Networking's Reach

According to a workplace study on social networking and reputation risk by consulting giant Deloitte, nearly three-quarters of employees surveyed say they think it's easy to damage a company's reputation using social media.

Companies are cognizant of the far-reaching impact employees can have on their brand through social networking and other online activities. In April, when two Domino's pizza employees posted a video online showing one of them sticking cheese up his nose and sneezing on food, it sent shock waves through the corporate world.

Still, Deloitte's study also found that more than half of employees say their social networking is none of their employer's business.

Sharon Allen, chairman of Deloitte's board, says employers shouldn't put too many rules and restrictions into place: "We do believe as well that the ability to touch base with friends and family during the course of the day allows them to have a better mix of work and life."

Like it or not, technology is blurring the lines between work and leisure. In his book Elsewhere, U.S.A., New York University professor Dalton Conley even coined a term for it: "weisure."

Socially Responsible Social Networking

Posted by Deven Desai on http://madisonian.net/

In light of the events in Iran, many may laud the power of tools such as Twitter and Facebook as they allow information to reach the world. Here in the United States, however, a few stories highlight how social networking tools and blogs run into ideas of fairness, honesty, and even justice. First, the FTC is planning on investigating bloggers who are paid for their posts but who do not disclose their affiliation. The article claims “The common practice of posting a graphical ad or a link to an online retailer — and getting commissions for any sales from it — would be enough to trigger oversight.” Second, the Ninth Circuit has just ruled that a woman’s blog posts about her co-workers and job environment were not protected speech. As such, her demotion was lawful. Third, a recent Law.com article makes a strong argument that tweeting while on a jury should not be allowed and jeopardizes the fairness of a trial.

The FTC action seems too aggressive, yet it shows that the idea of blogs having some sort of purity is not always the case. But if it prompts bloggers to be more forthcoming about their affiliations and to develop some best practices (as the article suggests), that could be a good outcome. It also seems to embrace the idea of more information is better which may keep many online happy. Those who think tweeting is some sort of anointed right err. The trial context shows that rather well. As for the blog and speech case, I need to find the decision. The article claims that the court “concluded that [the plaintiff's] speech was not a ‘public concern’ but rather was ‘racist, sexist, and bordered on vulgar,’ and it characterized her behavior, in part, as ’salacious’ and ‘mean spirited.’” I leave it to the First Amendment folks to unravel that one, but I wonder whether this case will be appealed to the Supreme Court.

In any event, these three events show that while we can say that tools that enhance free speech are wonderful in the extreme cases such as the situation in Iran, the more subtle cases raise on-going questions about the contours of speech. As always the issues are familiar. Now, however, simply saying keep your hands off the Internet or keep it free is an insufficient guideline. Too many people are online and too much online behavior tracks offline experiences and problems. In other words, although the technologies seem to make the questions different and requiring special treatment, they may only make the old questions and responses more salient.

Poem for the Rooftops of Iran

Subtitled version of "INJA KOJAST INJA IRAN AST SARZAMINE MANO TO" (link below) - a woman speaking about the state of her country while filming the rooftop shouting of "Allah-o Akbar" in Iran on Friday June 19th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKUZuv6_bus

SALT Sends Recommendations for Administrative Immigration Reform to President Obama

Posted June 17th, 2009 on the SALT Website 

June 17, 2009--The Society of American Law Teachers—SALT—sent the Obama Administration recommendations to immediately revise nine categories of immigration policy through executive orders and administrative directives while Congress tackles the task of comprehensive immigration reform.  The SALT recommendations result from the accumulated experiences of clinical law faculty operating immigration law clinics in law schools across the country.

“The SALT recommendations acknowledge the need for national security balanced with due process, the rule of law, and human dignity, which are the heart of American jurisprudence,” said Professor Raquel Aldana, co-chair of SALT’s Human Rights Committee, and in-coming co-president of SALT.  “Our country’s traditions require that we treat all men and women, and their children, fairly and protect them from exploitation while acknowledging the role immigration has played in the history of our country.”

The nine categories of immigration policy include criminalization of immigrants; federal immigration enforcement policies, including workplace raids, gang-related immigration enforcement, and bus sweeps within our borders; immigration enforcement by local authorities; treatment of immigration detainees; rights of asylum seekers; right to counsel at immigration proceedings; exclusion of intellectuals, poets, artists, and activists for ideological reasons; immigrant labor and worker rights issues; and human trafficking.  

 Download a pdf of the executive summary and full recommendations.

Masculinities and the Law -- Revised Program and Registration Reminder

Hello everyone,

We have added a lunch panel to the Friday schedule of our upcoming conference on Masculinities and the Law (September 11-12). I have attached the revised schedule to this email with another copy of the registration form for your convenience.

Download FLT-Masculinities2009scheduleREVISED

Download Registration_Form_masculinities

Best,

Celeste Bocchicchio
Feminism and Legal Theory Project
Emory University School of Law