JD Journal » Public Interest Law

Sidley’s Flagg Honored For Public Education Work

joshua — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:48:56 +0000

Sidley Austin’s Ronald Flagg, a partner and chair of the firm’s committee on pro bono and public interest law, was awarded the 2010 Vincent E. Reed Award from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

The award was presented to Flagg at the Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon for his commitment to public education issues in Washington D.C..

In a press release from Sidley Austin, Flagg called education “the single most important civil rights issue facing our country.”

Flagg joined the Washington Lawyers’ Committee in 2003 after being active with the organization for many years. He currently is president-elect of the D.C. Bar and will take over full presidential duties on Thursday.

Flagg’s practice focuses on complex commercial administration litigation for regulated industries and professional firms.

Said Carter G. Phillips, managing partner of Sidley’s Washington D.C. office: “Ron’s numerous contributions and commitment to community service, whether it is on behalf of public education and the children of Washington, D.C., the elderly in our community or war veterans, are truly inspiring and a model for every lawyer in our firm.”

Harvard Law Tweaks Public Service Incentives

sara — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:50:12 +0000

Harvard Law has launched the Public Service Venture Fund to assist new graduates in starting their own nonprofit organizations or for those seeking jobs at government agencies and public interest groups. The fund will divide $1 million per year among a pool of students who submit a proposal detailing how they would use the money in pursuit of a public interest law career.

This announcement follows on the heels of several changes Harvard made to public service incentives in the past months. In November Harvard announced the Holmes Public Interest Fellowship program. This program provides up to a dozen 2010 graduates with stipends of up to $35,000 to work in public interest law for one year. These fellowships will be available only to students who have proven that their attempts to land a job or fellowship have failed.

Harvard also announced the suspension of its Public Service Initiative. Launched in 2008, students who committed to public interest careers for at least five years following graduation did not have to pay tuition during their third year. This program remains in effect up to the class of 2012.

Simpson & Thatcher Paying Bonuses to Public Interest Deferrals

joshua — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:58:34 +0000

Simpson & Thatcher deferrals who are doing public interest law while waiting for their new start date will be receiving a prorated bonus from the firm this year. Given that Simpson & Thatcher rushed in to follow the Cravath scale, the bonus won’t be much, particularly once it has been pro rated and taxed, but it’s still better than deferred associates from other firms are likely to get.

I spend too much of my time reading and writing about how biglaw is mistreating employees – it’s nice to get a story like this one. Props to Simpson & Thatcher.

Albany Law School Boasts 94% Employment for ’08 Grads

Erik Even — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:08:46 +0000

Albany Law School has announced a 94% employment rate in legal positions for its 2008 graduating class, outpacing the national average of 90% for all law schools.

Each year, Albany Law School’s Career Center coordinates more than 1,000 job interviews on campus, as well as many more off campus; processes more than 7,000 job applications; and organizes more than a dozen job fairs.

One third of Albany Law’s 2008 class is employed in New York City, while an additional one third is employed in the greater Capital Region.

Of the 2008 grads, 49% went to law firms; 16% into government; 9% got judicial clerkships; 19% into business and industry. Six percent went into public interest law, and 2% are in academia.

Albany Law School is an ABA accredited law school based in Albany, New York. Founded in 1851 by Robert H. Pruyn and others, Albany Law School is the oldest independent law school in the United States.

WilmerHale Defers Start Dates, Offers $75,000

Erik Even — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:24:54 +0000

WilmerHale is deferring start dates for its 2009 associate class.

Some associates will be deferred to January 20th, 2010, and others to March 17th of that year.

January associates will get a $10,000 deferral stipend on top of their $5,000 bar stipend. March associates will get a $15,000 bar stipend. Funny, if you do the math, there doesn’t seem to be a difference.

First years may also defer their start dates to Fall 2010, for a stipend of $75,000. The plan is voluntary, and does not require participation in a public interest fellowship.

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP has twelve offices across the USA, Europe and Asia. It was created in 2004 through the merger of the Boston’s Hale & Dorr and the Washington’s Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, and employs more than 1,100 attorneys worldwide. As of 2008, it was the 23rd largest law firm in the world in terms of revenue. In 2007, the National Law Journal ranked the firm as the 22nd largest in the United States by number of attorneys.