If you are interested in immigrants’ rights or looking for a legal pro bono opportunity over the summer, then apply now to work for the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights!  If you would like to apply, please email Dean Linda McGuire at linda-mcguire@uiowa.edu with a statement of interest and your availability (which dates for the summer and how many hours per week). The deadline to apply is May 17, and the chosen candidate will be notified the week of May 21.  Also, students enrolled full time in summer school may count these summer volunteer hours for the Boyd Service Award.

This summer, one law student will be chosen to support the UICHR’s advocacy of immigrants’ rights by working on the Know Your Rights Manual project.  UICHR is developing this manual for detained immigrants so that they will be more informed about and be prepared for the immigration adjudication system, which most go through without the help of an attorney.  The student work will consist of researching fine points of state and federal immigration procedure and editing the final draft of the manual for publication.  The student will also assist with the process of distributing the manual and presenting the information from the manual to immigrants in detention facilities across Iowa.  The student will develop a Know Your Rights presentation that synthesizes key points from the manual in an accessible format.

Qualifications:

• UICHR seeks a student who generally supports UICHR’s mission, has experience or training in immigration law, and possesses strong research and writing skills.
• Spanish language proficiency preferred, but not required.
• The student’s work schedule is flexible, but the fellow will be required to spend at least ten hours a week on this project and to work out of the UICHR office (located in the Old Capitol Mall) for at least six hours per week.
• The student must be available to work a minimum of eight weeks, though not necessarily the whole summer.
• This position is unpaid.

The College of Law and the community as a whole give their sincerest thanks and congratulations to the College of Law’s outstanding students and the invaluable contribution they have made toward improving our community.

How are Texas construction companies getting around the law and exploiting undocumented labor? One landscaping business owner, Trent, says:

“I don’t pay anyone by the hour. In fact, I treat the guys that work on my crew as subcontractors — they are self-employed,” he says.

This is a key distinction. If Trent were to classify his workers as employees, he’d have to pay taxes, Social Security, unemployment and overtime. But by saying his workers are actually independent contractors — in essence, business owners — he’s off the hook.”

To read more, check out this NPR article.

All College of Law students are invited to participate in the North Liberty Community Pantry Golf Outing on Friday, May 10th at Saddleback Ridge Golf Course in Solon. This is a great way to unwind after finals and support the community at the same time!

For registration information visit here.

On April 11^th, Career Services hosted a discussion on Public Interest Fellowships. As many of you know, immediately upon graduating from Yale Law School, Professor Richardson was a Skadden Arps Public Interest Fellow. She spent the first year of her fellowship with the Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Unit in Brooklyn, NY and the second year with the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, CA. If you missed this program, it is available to watch on the CVS system.

Here are some links if you are interested in learning more about the fellowship program:

Skadden Foundation Fellowship: http://www.skaddenfellowships.org/

Sponsoring Organizations:  http://www.skaddenfellowships.org/statistics?year=&sort=organization

Current Fellows: http://www.skaddenfellowships.org/fellows-list

2012 Fellows:  http://www.skaddenfellowships.org/fellows-list/2012

The application is here: http://www.skaddenfellowships.org/application. For 2Ls who will be 3Ls this fall, the application is due October 7, 2013 but you should start planning now. It is recommended that first-year students review the application, start thinking about a proposal, and spend the summer building relationships to help foster a successful application next year.

If you are interested in apply, contact Christine Ralston in Career Services. She and Professor Richardson are important resources for interview preparation and proposal review.