Public Interest Opportunities
The following opportunities are available to Seattle University School of Law students. Please note that many opportunities have application deadlines that are fast-approaching! If you have any questions about these opportunities, need guidance or would like to discuss other potential public interest opportunities, please contact the Access to Justice Institute staff. If you need assistance with preparing a resume or cover letter to submit for these public interest opportunities, we encourage you to meet with the Center for Professional Development staff. For other public interest information, be sure to check out the Center for Professional Development’s Public Interest Web site.
Public Interest Log on Symplicity
After completing your public interest/public service work, please fill out the form(s) on Symplicity. Download our Instructions (pdf) if you need help.
Short-Term Volunteer Opportunities
Immigrant Detainee Justice Project
Volunteer
Open to: All students.
Time Commitment: 2.5 to 3 hours (excluding travel time) one time, or once a month, or once a week.
Application Process: Email contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Monika Batra Kashyap, Associate Director, Access to Justice Institute - 206.398.4099 or batram@seattleu.edu
Through the Immigrant Detainee Justice Project, SU law students will attend, observe, and analyze detained court proceedings which take place at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. The purpose of the observation is to provide valuable information about the visiting rotating immigration judges presiding over detainees at the Northwest Detention Center.
Justice Works!
3 Strikes Mobilization Coordinator
Open to: All law students.
Time Commitment: Depends on student availability.
Application Process: Call or email contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Lea Zengage - lzengage@northwest.net or 206.725.9189
By the end of summer 2009, Justice Works! will have approximately 1,500 people on its Rapid Response list. Each of these people needs to be called and/or emailed at least twice, preferably 3 times between November 09 and May 2010. The Coordinators will do the following: study the key points/FAQs of 3-Strikes through a briefing/ quiz; participate in a training that prepares volunteers to call campaign supporters to ask them to contact legislators or attend events; participate in a training to be a "mobilizer"; help recruit participants in trainings through emails and phone calls; facilitate or co-facilitate at least 3 mobilization events that involve a 1-hour training and a 2-hour phone calling session; work with other JW! staff to ensure that a record is input to our database on each contact that was made and the outcome of that contact.
Justice Works!
3 Strikes Researcher
Open to: All law students.
Time Commitment: Depends on student availability.
Application Process: Call or email contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Lea Zengage - lzengage@northwest.net or 206.725.9189
Conduct a comparison of punishments for lower-seriousness crimes in states that impose Life Without Parole under 3-Strikes. Specifically of interest are Robbery 1, Burglary 1, Assault 2, and Robbery 2. The comparison would start with the statutory definitions. Eventually, it would be helpful, particularly in the cases of Assault 2, Robbery 2, and Burglary 1 to compare appeals decisions where the seriousness of the incidents were examined to determine if a punishment was disproportionate. The question is, essentially, which if any states give Life Without Parole for crimes comparable to these lower-seriousness crimes that Washington gives LWOP for under 3-Strikes.
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
Volunteers, attorneys, and paralegals
Open to: All law students
Application Process: Sign up now at http://wanewamericans.org/volunteer
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Kripa Upadhyay - Kripa@carmarlaw.com
AILA is looking for immigration attorneys, paralegals, and other volunteers to assist with Citizenship Day, a partnership between OneAmerica and the Washington State Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). All volunteers will be required to attend trainings prior to the day of the event. A separate email with information on the trainings (when, where, what the trainings will cover) will follow shortly.
King County Prosecutor’s Office - Truancy Diversion Program
Speakers & Volunteers
Open to: All law students
Application Process: Email contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: MeLisa Carson, Truancy Workshop Coordinator - Melisa.Carson@kingcounty.gov
King County Prosecutor’s Office is running a new Truancy Diversion Program and is looking for speakers and volunteers. The program is in need of speakers who will help to inspire truant kids to turn things around by presenting at Truancy Workshops. Volunteers are also needed to help facilitate attendance between the student, families and the school districts which includes starting dialogue on why the student is truant and possible solutions to that issue.
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
Volunteer
Open to: All law students.
Application Process: Email contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Roxanne Mennes, Continuing Legal Education Director - mennesr@seattleu.edu
Student ambassadors are needed to work on the Northwest Regional Immigration Law Conference. The best candidates will have an interest in immigration law (corporate, family or criminal). Students will work directly with the presenters who are leading attorneys in immigration law. Sample assignments might include assisting lawyers with PowerPoint presentations, pulling a few cases, proofreading or making a few calls. Most of these tasks will happen in November and more in early January. Six students will be needed at the conference itself, which takes place February 11 and 12 at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle.
Open Door Legal Services
Student Intern
Open to: All law students.
Time Commitment: 20 hours or less per week, depending on intern's schedule.
Application Process: Send letter of interest to contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: David Mace - dmace@ugm.org or 206.682.4642
Students will assist homeless and extremely low income clients with legal matters that are barriers to improving their lives such as ID issues, court fines and warrants, public assistance issues, child support and family law issues, and licensing.
Housing Justice Project - Kent
Volunteer
Open to: All law students.
Time Commitment: 3 to 5 hours (excluding travel time) once a week.
Application Process: Email or call contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Sandi Wandler, Program Manager - sandiw@kcba.org or 206.205.8060
The Housing Justice Project represents tenants being evicted from their homes. Law students will conduct client intakes and generally support the volunteer attorneys in their representation of our clients. The students will gain experience on how the court system works and court room experience as well.
Long-Term/Internship Volunteer Opportunities
U.S. Department of Labor
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Student Volunteer
Open to: All students.
Time Commitment: Between 15-20 hrs/week
Application Process: Email contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Vicky Coleman, Regional Supervisory Investigator - 206.553.5932 x8102 or Coleman.Victoria@dol.gov
The volunteer will work with Investigators in the Whistleblower Protection Program for the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program is responsible for investigating complaints filed by employees who claim they were discharged and/or discriminated against in retaliation for raising a variety of workplace safety and health-related concerns or file related complaints, and/or allege violations of safety regulations governing nuclear, environmental, commercial transportation, consumer products and securities fraud (Sarbanes-Oxley Act).
Statewide Poverty Action Network
Student Volunteer
Open to: All students.
Application Process: Email contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Danielle Friedman, Campaign Manager, Statewide Poverty Action Network - danielle@povertyaction.org
The Statewide Poverty Action Network is a non-profit that builds grassroots power to end root causes of poverty at the state legislative level. Students are needed to assist with the Predatory Lending campaign. Payday lenders typically charge more than 390% interest (APR), taking fees out of the pockets of working families to the tune of almost $200 million annually in our state. Recently Poverty Action was successful in passing legislation that will go a long way in interrupting the cycle of debt and helping borrowers break free of the debt trap. The new law will go into affect in January 2010. Students will help publicize the new law in communities around the state, outreach to potential borrowers of payday loans about inform them about their options under the new law.
Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA)
Volunteer Mentor
Open to: All students at least 20 years old.
Time Commitment: One year commitment.
Application Process: Email contact below.
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Wiley G. Carter, Jr., Mentor Coordinator, JRA Mentor Program - 206.621.3423 or cartewg@dshs.wa.gov
The mentor program matches adults from the community with a youth who is currently serving time in a Washington State juvenile correction facility. Mentors are asked to meet with his/her youth while he/she is at the institution. Once the youth is released the mentor meets with his/her youth weekly. Volunteering in the JRA Mentor Program will take an average of two to four hours a month of your time once the youth has returned to the community. Mentors attend a bi-monthly two hour seminar as well as turn in a monthly contact log. Before a mentor can be matched he/she must attend an initial training, complete an application packet, and consent to a Washington State Patrol background check
Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA)
Volunteer Mentor
Open to: All law students
Time Commitment: One year commitment
Application Process: Email contact below
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Wiley G. Carter, Jr., Mentor Coordinator, JRA Mentor Program - 206.621.3423 or cartewg@dshs.wa.gov
The mentor program matches adults from the community with a youth who is currently serving time in a Washington State juvenile correction facility. Mentors are asked to meet with his/her youth while he/she at the institution. Once the youth is released the mentor meet with their youth weekly. Volunteering in the JRA Mentor Program will take an average of two to four hours a month of your time once the youth has returned to the community. Mentors attend a bi-monthly two hour seminar as well as turn in a monthly contact log. Before a mentor can be matched he/she must attend an initial training, complete an application packet, and consent to a Washington State Patrol background check.
Asian-Pacific American Legal Clinic
Student Volunteer
Open to: All students
Application Process: Call or email contact below
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Jonathan Yeh, Clinic Coordinator - 206.251.3535 or jyeh@digital-legal.com
Students are needed to fill clinic administrator roles at the Asian-Pacific American Legal Clinic (part of the King County Bar Association’s Neighborhood Legal Clinics program), which provides free legal advice and consultation sessions with volunteer attorneys in primarily civil issues. The APA Legal Clinic is open to all, but its client base is drawn primarily from the Asian-Pacific American community. The clinic is held each Wednesday from 5:45-7:45 p.m. at the offices of the Asian Counseling and Referral Service located at 3639 Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, Seattle, WA 98144. Students are generally scheduled to volunteer once a month, but schedules are flexible.
CASA Latina Comite de Defensa del Trabajador (CDT) Program
CASA Latina Advocate
Open to: 2Ls, 3Ls, Bilingual English/Spanish only
Application Process: Call or email contact below
Application Deadline: 12/18/2009
Contact: Cariño Barragan - 206.956.0779 or cbarragan@casa-latina.org
CASA Latina seeks 2-4 advocates for a year-long commitment with the CDT Program to recover unpaid earned wages through community education, worker empowerment, direct action campaigns, negotiation, and utilizing governmental and legal means as appropriate. Bilingual (English/Spanish) required.
Summer Internships & Fellowships
Currently no summer internship public service openings have been submitted to ATJI. Please check back.
Post-Graduate Fellowships
Currently no post-grad public service openings have been submitted to ATJI. Please check back.
Erin Shea McCann '07
Equal Justice Works Fellow
Columbia Legal Services