Judges, prosecutors, and defence lawyers from around the world have been meeting in a consultation organised by the ICRC’s Advisory Service on International Humanitarian Law, to discuss key issues on … Read more
Back in January we shone the Progressive Lawyer spotlight on the The Center for HIV Law & Policy and chatted with Legal Director Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal. With news that Ivan has moved on to head the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in Boston (of which we hope to do a feature on soon) we thought it appropriate to revisit this post in case you missed it. Catherine Hanssens is the current Executive Director and Founder, Tosh Anderson is the Program Manager and Mayo Schreiber is the Senior Criminal Law and Managing Consultant.
This week we talk to Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal of The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) on the work they do to reduce the impact of HIV on vulnerable and marginalized communities and to secure the human rights of people affected by HIV
Progressive Lawyer: Please introduce yourself and describe your role in The Center for HIV Law & Policy.
Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal: My name is Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, and I am a civil rights lawyer advocating for racial justice, immigration and LGBT/HIV equality. I am the Legal Director of The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP). As Legal Director, I set legal and policy strategy, guide CHLP’s work, and supervise the organization’s lawyers and staff. I oversee CHLP’s legal and policy efforts across the country. CHLP’s website contains more information about our work (http://www.hivlawandpolicy.org/).
PL: Why was CHLP started? What issues does it confront?
IE-M: CHLP is a national legal and policy resource and strategy center working to reduce the impact of HIV on vulnerable and marginalized communities and to secure the human rights of people affected by HIV. CHLP is a national leader on policy development. We advise policy makers, lawyers, and community advocates.
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Pervasive injustice has society at a turning point. Every individual has a choice to make … Read more
(We originally posted this last October but felt it appropriate to revisit what is possibly the best source for public service legal career information.)
Welcome to week two of Progressive Lawyer’s weekly focus on organizations that help law students and lawyers practice the type of Progressive Law they want to practice. This week we speak to Christina Jackson from PSJD.org, the Public Service Jobs Directory where she brings us up to speed on what PSJD is all about and how it can help you find your place in a public service legal career.
Progressive Lawyer: Thank you for taking the time to talk to Progressive Lawyer. Please introduce yourself and describe your role with PSJD.org.
Christina Jackson
Christina Jackson: My name is Christina Jackson. I am the Director of Public Service Initiatives and Fellowships at NALP. I have been with NALP for more than a year. Prior to coming to NALP, I served as a law school public interest career counselor for many years after practicing public interest law. As part of my duties at NALP, I manage PSJD, a NALP initiative. PSJD is a comprehensive public interest career resource and job search tool.
My role is to bring together law school professionals, employers and law students and alumni through professional development resources, recruitment and retention strategies, and job search tools.
PL: Why was your organization started?
CJ: Both NALP and PSJD were created to serve an identified need. Details on each follow.
NALP: NALP is an association of over 2,500 legal career professionals who advise law students, lawyers, law offices, and law schools in North America and beyond.
What brings NALP members together is a common belief in three fundamental things. First, all law students and lawyers should benefit from a fair and ethical hiring process. Second, law students and lawyers are more successful when supported by professional development and legal career professionals. Third, a diverse and inclusive legal profession best serves clients and our communities. That’s why NALP members work together every day to collect and publish accurate legal employment data and information, and champion education and standards for recruiting, professional and career development, and diversity and inclusion. For more than forty years, NALP has played an essential role in the success of our members and the lawyers and law students they serve.
NALP believes in fairness, facts and the power of a diverse community. We work every day to be the best career services, recruitment, and professional development organization in the world because we want the lawyers and law students we serve to have an ethical recruiting system, employment data they can trust, and expert advisers to guide and support them in every stage of their careers.
In an engaging and personal talk — with cameo appearances from his grandmother and Rosa Parks — human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson shares some hard truths about America’s justice system, … Read more
Like many New Englanders, I waited to see what the Boston federal court jury would determine would be an appropriate sentence for Dzhokar Tsarnaev, the Kyrgyzstan native who, along with his brother, built and planted two bombs at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. The bombs killed three people, including an 8-year-old boy, and injured scores more on a perfect Spring day in the Massachusetts capital city.
I wondered if the Boston jury would show mercy. If they would realize that science shows that teen brains are still developing at 19, the age Dzhokar was when he appeared to casually drop next to a little boy a backpack filled with a bomb designed for maximum destruction. Dzhokhar was a child himself, really, at the time. A college freshman, he was apparently very bright and somewhat popular in high school. But something went terribly wrong, somewhere, and his young life was essentially over the moment that he was caught by Boston police.
I had hoped that decency and common sense would prevail in that jury room. That the men and women who had the opportunity to impose a reasonable sentence of life without the possibility of release would do just that. They did not. Instead, they sentenced this man-boychild to die. He is now the sixty-first person on federal death row.
It made me sick. Physically ill. What does the United States government hope to achieve by putting to death someone who admitted what he did was wrong?
(In recognition that interest in Progressive Lawyer has been steadily increasing, we felt it to be a good time to periodically reintroduce you to the organizations and people we have featured as well to update the post with any changes relevant to the subject we are covering. This week I am re-posting our very first feature on the Appleseed Network from October 6th, 2014. Since this was published Betsy Cavendish has moved on to become general counsel for Washington. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. The Appleseed Network interim presidency is currently in the very capable hands of Annette LoVoi.)
Welcome to the launch of Progressive Lawyer! Every Monday over the next few months we will be spotlighting some of the most innovative progressive law organizations around the world and we could think of no better way to kick off the site and this feature than by starting with the Appleseed Network. As our mission (and yes we have chosen to accept it!) is to connect law students and lawyers with progressive, public interest organizations and firms from around the world, the first step is to become aware of who those organizations are. Please check in regularly on the site, follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook and join our LinkedIn group as this is just the beginning of what we hope will be a true, progressive legal community that leads with its values and makes a real difference in our world.
Welcome to Progressive Lawyer!
Progressive Lawyer: Thank you for taking the time to speak to us! Please introduce yourself and describe your role in the Appleseed Network
Betsy Cavendish
Betsy Cavendish: I’m Betsy Cavendish, President of Appleseed. Appleseed has seventeen Centers in the U.S. and Mexico; I lead the headquarters office. We’re a network of public interest justice centers. Each Center and the national office tackle a diverse portfolio of issues. We address problems at their root causes and aim for systematic, structural solutions. The national office incubates and supports local Centers. We help connect our network of pro bono supporters to Centers to advance their work and we connect Centers to each other, so that they build on each others’ successes and learn from their efforts.
My role: you’ve heard the phrase “Chief Cook and Bottle Washer?” My roles span the range from social justice entrepreneur, to public interest organization medic, chief cheerleader, fundraiser, and connector.
PL: Why was Appleseed started?
BC: Appleseed’s founders thought that the agenda for justice was ever changing and that communities across the country needed local justice centers that could tackle local needs and problems. They wanted to break out of the model of lawyers handling one case at a time to fix injustices once and for all.
Appleseed’s founders were at their 35th law school reunion and they wanted to make a lasting difference with their talents. They ran big transactions, huge litigations, they were trusted advisors to major companies and government agencies. They thought that their talents would be best spent creating institutions for change across the country.
They wanted to switch the paradigm from charity to justice.
I recently came across a tweet from Paul Scott Prettitore about some Rule of Law work that he was doing in the Middle East. While the work that he was doing was not a surprise, that he was doing it on behalf of the World Bank. As I wasn’t even aware that the World Bank was involved in Rule of Law initiatives, I contacted Paul and he was gracious enough to take the time to discuss what he does.
Progressive Lawyer: A lot of people may be surprised that the World Bank is involved in Rule of Law initiatives when their mission is the reduction of poverty. Can you briefly describe what kind of work they do in this area and how they see this as part of their mission?
Paul Scott Prettitore: Yes, I was surprised myself when I was first approached by a friend at the Bank to help with one of his programs. The Bank has viewed rule of law through a number of lenses, including the links between the rule of law and economic growth. It has also acknowledged the importance of the rule of law in terms of quality of institutions, and its role in promoting good governance, namely accountability, transparency and delivery of public services. Building the capacity of justice sector institutions has been a core component of broader work on public sector reform. More recently there has been additional focus on the rule of law and the promotion of intangible wealth, such as social capital and human development. For me, the rule of law and associated work building justice sector institutions is very much a cross-cutting issue within the Bank, touching upon many of its major areas of activities, including poverty, social protection, private sector development and social development.
PL: What is the JUSTPAL network?
PSP: My colleague Amit Mukherjee is leading this work. It is primarily a community of practice to share experience and knowledge for practitioners in the rule of law in the Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region. We are now trying to link this work with the Middle East and North Africa region as well.
PL: What is your background and how did you become employed by the World Bank?
Paul Scott Prettitore
PSP: I came to the Bank mostly by accident, in that it was never planned. I never considered it as a place to work, thinking it was only for economists. And given my background I was always a bit suspicious of the Bank. I started my career in Bosnia in 1998, working on human rights, refugee and land restitution issues at the Office of the High Representative and then OSCE. My area of focus in law school was human rights and humanitarian law. My big plan was to find a job at ICRC and write about violations of humanitarian law. I very much enjoyed the human rights and refugee work in Bosnia. One of the more interesting aspects of the work was meeting often with refugees and victims of human rights abuses. While they were generally interested in exercising their rights, there was also a strong interest in economic and social development. People wanted their rights, but they also wanted good opportunities for themselves, and better ones for their children, in terms of employment, education and healthcare. This sparked my interest in broader development issues.
While working in Bosnia a friend who worked at the Bank in its Jerusalem office asked if I could provide an analysis of land expropriation procedures in the West Bank for a study he was conducting. This led to requests for some analysis of legal frameworks and evaluation of a judicial reform program with the Palestinian Authority. After several trips to Jerusalem, the Bank’s Country Director asked if I would be interested in moving there and taking a longer-term position with them. As he put it ‘usually the Bank lawyers are all in Washington, but it has been useful having you here’. I never planned to stay at the Bank longer-term, thinking opportunities for lawyers to work on substantive issues would be limited. But I’ve always managed to have interesting work. It can be frustrating at times to be in an institution where rule of law and justice sector reform are not the utmost priorities. However, the Bank is a large organization with much expertise and huge resources, and if you can direct just a bit of them to issues you think important the impact can be very rewarding.
When one thinks of the battle for freedom of expression we may not necessarily think of Hugh Hefner and his Playboy empire but that would be a mistake. Hugh Hefner has been promoting and fighting for First Amendment rights both within the pages of Playboy magazine and through the work of the HMH Foundation for years and this year marks the 36th year of the Hugh M Hefner Foundation’s First Amendment Awards.
Recently Progressive Lawyer spoke with Christie Hefner, former CEO Playboy Enterprises Inc. about the awards and the importance of recognizing First Amendment advocacy.
Christie Hefner
Progressive Lawyer: Playboy has always been a strong supporter of freedom of expression which may come as a surprise to some casual observers. Why does the foundation and magazine continue to engage in the freedom of expression debate?
Christie Hefner: From the very beginning of the magazine, Hef felt strongly that personal freedom and individual rights were the foundation of the magazine, and his editorial philosophy; and that no right was more fundamental that the 1st Amendment. As is clear every day, the fight to protect and enhance those rights is never ending.
PL: With Charlie Hebdo having kick started the debate over freedom of speech and what is considered “acceptable”, how do you define what is acceptable and what is not in a free speech debate? Is this even an issue?
CH: From the perspective of the magazine and the awards, it is a mistake to carve out types of ‘speech’ that may be hurtful or offensive and not offer them protection. As has been noted, it is precisely that kind of speech, i.e. the speech that is not supported by the majority, that is the most in need of constitutional protections. Our society is premised on the idea and ideal that the counter to ‘bad’ speech is not censorship, but more ‘speech.’
PL: How does the HMH foundation decide on its finalists and judges?
CH: The chairman of the Awards and the Executive Director of the Foundation have historically invited the judges. Those judges then select the winners, and present the awards. This year’s judges are:
Mike Hiestand, past winner, Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award for organizing the Tinker Tour, the national free speech and civic education bus tour. Hiestand was the staff attorney for the nonprofit Student Press Law Center (SPLC), located just outside Washington, D.C., from 1991-2003, and worked full-time as the Center’s sole consulting attorney until 2012. He continues to assist student media and work with the SPLC on special projects affecting the student press community. Over the years, Hiestand has provided legal assistance to nearly 15,000 high school and college student journalists and their advisers.
Pamela Samuelson, Faculty Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law. She is recognized as a pioneer in digital copyright law, intellectual property, cyber law and information policy. Since 1996, she has held a joint appointment at Berkeley Law School and UC Berkeley’s School of Information. Samuelson is a director of the internationally renowned Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. She serves on the board of directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation as well as on the advisory boards of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, for the Center for Democracy & Technology, Public Knowledge, and the Berkeley Center for New Media.
Ronald Brownstein, two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of presidential campaigns, and Atlantic Media’s Editorial Director for Strategic Partnerships, in charge of long-term editorial strategy. He also writes a weekly column and regularly contributes other pieces for the National Journal, contributes to Quartz, and The Atlantic, and coordinates political coverage and activities across publications produced by Atlantic Media. In addition, he currently serves as a senior political analyst for CNN and also served as an electoral analyst for ABC News during the 2012 election.
Prior to joining Atlantic Media, Brownstein was the National Affairs Columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
We would like to introduce a new feature here on Progressive Lawyer which explores the experiences of law students from around the world as they study the law. We hope it will be both informative for pre-law students as well as food for thought for those who may be thinking of pursuing the study of law. For our first edition, Shannon Roddy discusses her experiences studying law in France.
Shannon Roddy
My name is Shannon Roddy and I’m an undergraduate student currently in the third year of my Law degree. I’m studying Law with Criminology in Northern Ireland and this year I availed of the opportunity to undertake a study placement year abroad. The destination I chose to undertake my studies in was the city of Toulouse in the south of France. The structure of this year consisted of a year spent studying a joint programme in Law with Political Sciences in the Law school and Institute of Political Sciences in Toulouse. Upon completion of this year I hope to achieve a qualification equivalent to a diploma in European legal studies / International area studies from my University in Ireland.
When choosing where to apply for a study placement I had the option to choose from France , Sweden , the Netherlands or Italy. I instantly expressed an interest in studying in France because I speak French and understand French. Further to this I have an avid interest in international legal relations and developments and I understand that French is widely spoken in the legal world. On a personal level the fact that the European Parliament is located in France also helped found my interest. In fact as part of this placement I will be visiting the EU parliament in Strasbourg in the next month. The legal and political influences of France are notable in the functioning of the European Union and in the UN and it has been my long-term ambition to pursue a career in International Law. Studying in France is a great eye-opener for anyone interested in International Law as a career area in particular due to the influence of French legislature in international organisations such as the UN , European Union and EU parliament.
