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A Message from PILA
Amanda Ballantyne, 3L
It has been an exciting year for the Public Interest Law Association (PILA) at the
University of Washington School of Law. PILA is a student-run nonprofit organization
that is dedicated to promoting public interest and public service legal work. In
the past 18 years, PILA has raised and distributed over a half a million dollars to
support nearly 200 UW Law students and alumni in their pursuit of public interest
legal internships and careers.
19 UW Law Students Received PILA Grants in 2011
Thanks to the generous contributions from our many supporters, PILA was able to fund UW Law students to support their unpaid legal internships at public interest organizations and government agencies throughout Washington State, and around the world. Students worked at diverse placements such as the Seattle Federal Public Defender, The Center for Reproductive Rights (NY), International Justice Mission (Rwanda), Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (CT), Disability Rights Washington, the Texas Civil Rights Project, the Montana Innocence Project and Solid Ground (WA).
PILA Launched Its New Advisory Board In November
In November, PILA officially launched a new Advisory Board. The Advisory Board
will help PILA’s student board achieve its goals to expand public interest
funding at the Law School in two ways. In addition to advising and assisting PILA
with strategies to improve its current work, Advisory Board members will also mentor
and train PILA’s student board members. In this way, the Advisory Board will
help PILA become an organization where students can develop critical leadership
skills, including non-profit administration, program development, fundraising, partnership
building.
We are thrilled to welcome the following individuals to our new Advisory Board
and are grateful for their service to PILA and to the Law School:
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Sara Ainsworth, Counsel Emerita, Legal Voice & Lecturer, UW Law
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Justice Bobbe Bridge, President & CEO, Center for Children & Youth Justice
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Stephanie Cox, Assistant Dean, University of Washington School of Law
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Paula Littlewood, Executive Director, Washington State Bar Association
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Michele Storms, Assistant Dean, University of Washington School of Law
Please Join Us At Our 2012 Benefit Auction On February 10
PILA’s Annual Benefit Auction will be held February 10, 2012 at Fisher Pavilion
in Seattle Center at 5:30pm. Proceeds fund PILA's public interest grant program
and other initiatives such as the UW Loan Repayment Assistance Program.
Tickets are available for purchase
online.
If you are interested in learning more about PILA, advising the PILA board,
or contributing to our Auction, please contact Amanda Ballantyne at
acball@uw.edu.
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Human Rights in Africa & Asia
The Center for Public Service law is happy to
administer the process for the
Africa Public Interest Law Fellowship and the
Asia Health Law Fellowships.
These fellowships provide transportation expenses for students who are able to
obtain a summer internship in either Africa or Asia working with an NGO. During
the summer of 2011 two students received the fellowships.
The Nile Basin Initiative by Alex Baron, 2L
For a decade and a half the Nile Basin
Initiative (NBI), composed of scientists, policymakers, lawyers, and the water
affairs ministers of each country in the contentious Nile Basin, has conducted
joint research on everything from agricultural practices to early warning
systems for droughts, to aquatic biology, to the efficacy of water management
organizations. Its aim is to set up institutions that will provide for
cooperative basin-wide water management well into the future.
I went to Addis
Ababa in Ethiopia this summer to work with Imeru Tamrat, a lecturer at the Addis
Ababa University law school and consultant to Ethiopia’s Ministry of Water and
Energy. My general task was to look at how the Cooperative Framework Agreement
(CFA) and The Nile Basin Commission might provide for better integration of
hydrological science and data collection with water management policy and law.
The CFA requires basin states to “enter into consultations in a spirit of
cooperation” and to prevent “the causing of significant harm to other Basin
States.” Any reallocation of Nile water that does not preserve Egypt’s and
Sudan’s claims will be seen by them as causing significant harm. We decided to
examine inefficiencies in water management along two sections of the river, the
Blue Nile (which flows from Ethiopia into South Sudan and then Sudan) and the
Main Nile (which flows from Sudan into Egypt), as well as possibilities for
enhancing efficiency, with the reasoning that more efficient water use would
increase the water supply for all basin countries and ease anxieties about new
allocation regimes, at least to some degree.
The work is complicated and the
potential for conflict around water allocation is high. During my internship I
did research, wrote reports, and participated in meetings. It is thanks to the
UW Africa Public Interest Law Fellowship that I was able to travel to Addis
Ababa and take on this project. I am so grateful. This was far more than a
summer job for me. I will continue this work throughout the coming year and
throughout my career.
Forum for Women & Democracy in Nepal by Alec Paxton, 2L
My time with the Forum for Women, Law & Development (FWLD) was
meaningful, exciting, and formative. I had the pleasure of watching reports that
I had prepared for our director the night before presented to the Nepalese
Constituent Assembly, UN bodies, and at other regional conferences. In addition,
the comparative legal research I conducted on reproductive rights is currently
being used to inform and support two pieces of legislation that are to be
submitted to the Constituent Assembly shortly.
Following my first year at UW law
I harbored certain doubts about the efficacy of international legal development,
and my commitment to these efforts. However, after spending the summer with an
organization that has taken tremendous strides to protect the rights of women in
Nepal, I am certain of the importance that legal reform plays in achieving
broader development goals. I was likewise reassured of my interest, competence,
and commitment to being a part of this work.
At the Forum I prepared reports
pertaining to comparative research on reproductive rights legislation, I did
initial research on a bill that would protect the privacy and anonymity of
victims of sexual assault during police investigations and judicial proceedings.
I also worked closely with Sapana Pradhan Malla, a legislator and founder of
FWLD, to produce time-sensitive reports on a variety of topics. These reports
were used to advocate for reform in various national, regional, and
international forums. This summer was not only incredibly productive, it was
also proof of the incredible contribution that lawyers can make to the greater
community when they dare deviate from the well-worn path. It was proof I needed
to see personally, and an experience I cannot thank UW Law enough for
supporting.
Gates Scholars Update
An Opportunity to Serve by Johanna Gusman, 2L
About three days into the fall quarter of my second year of law
school, I received an email offering me the internship of a lifetime. Thirty-six
hours later, I was on a flight to my new home in Geneva, Switzerland. For my
internship requirement with the Gates Public Service Scholarship, I have the
honor of working at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), within the Division of International Protection as a Human
Rights Liaison. As an intern under UNHCR’s Policy and Law Pillar, I assist in
the finalization of UNHCR’s contributions to the human rights bodies, attend the
treaty body sessions and prepare feedback reports regarding the legal
implications of each resolution to UNHCR colleagues covering the countries under
examination. I also follow proceedings at the Human Rights Council, including
the Universal Periodic Review, as well as undertake legal research and analyses
on various topics of relevance to UNHCR’s work.
Needless to say, this experience
is invaluable to me because I was exposed to such a wide range of human rights
issues and concerns, right from within the United Nations legal system. I came
to law school with a human rights focus and this quarter abroad provides me with
the absolute best training I could receive in the field. Whether I decide to
fight for human rights abroad or deal with those issues domestically, I am being
groomed to consistently analyze legal issues from the eyes of the most
vulnerable populations, often the group most adversely affected by
discriminatory and unjust laws. It is refreshing to be able to frame legal
arguments from this perspective because it is exactly how laws should be
analyzed. I am able to pursue this dream because of the generous stipend I
receive as a Gates Scholar and I will be able to multiply that generosity when I
apply these lessons to ensure the realization of human rights in underserved
communities. Besides, that is exactly why this scholarship exists—to increase
access to justice everywhere and to solidify this school’s commitment to public
service.
Justice for Iraqis: The Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project by Sarah
Lippek and Yurij Rudensky, 2Ls
The Iraqi Refugee
Assistance Project is coming to Seattle through a partnership between UW School
of Law students and their Seattle University counterparts. IRAP is the first and
only organization that provides comprehensive legal assistance to individual
refugees abroad during the resettlement process.
The IRAP network pairs students
with pro-bono attorneys to help refugees navigate an unfamiliar, opaque, and
bureaucratically complex system. First conceived as a student group at Yale Law
School, IRAP has expanded rapidly throughout the United States and abroad. The
organization currently has 12 chapters at law schools in the United States and
the Middle East, including the first clinical legal education program in Jordan.
University of Washington School of Law 2Ls Yurij Rudensky and Sarah Lippek are
spearheading the Northwest chapter, in collaboration with 2L Arthur DeLong from
Seattle University. Yurij and Sarah, enabled by Gates Public Service Law
scholarships, gained a wealth of experience as summer legal interns at IRAP
international headquarters. Case work over the summer included urgent care for a
refugee in the process of deportation from detention in Syria back into
immediate threat of death in Iraq; assisting persecuted Chaldean Christians with
family reunification; and work with an Iraqi translator on an American base in
Baghdad, who was facing danger as the troop drawdown that will close his base
threatened to leave him vulnerable and without protection. Yurij and Sarah
returned to Seattle impassioned and empowered to continue their work with
displaced and threatened Iraqis. This new student-community partnership is the
result.
Success for IRAP clients can mean tangible, lasting improvements for
future generations. Because refugee law is entirely new, every case has the
potential to set common law precedent. Further, IRAP uses impact litigation,
broad FOIA requests, solicited and unsolicited white papers, and media outreach
to push for positive policy change. IRAP has already made an extraordinary
impact by converting free legal services into an immeasurable effect on
refugees’ lives. The University of Washington School of Law is proud to host the
newest IRAP chapter.
Faculty and Staff in the Pro Bono Honors Program
by
Aline Carton Listfjeld, Assistant Director for Public Service
As it
enters its third year of existence at UW Law, the
Pro Bono Honors Program now
welcomes faculty and staff to participate in the Program. The Pro Bono Honors
Program encourages law students, faculty and staff to provide pro bono legal
assistance to low-income communities.
It connects the law school community to
pro bono resources and opportunities, recognizes student pro bono work beyond
the 60-hour public service graduation requirement and now recognizes pro bono
contributions made by faculty and staff. In short, this program helps to promote
a culture of public service in the life of the law school and in the legal
profession. As with our students, we know that many faculty and staff are unsung
heroes, providing pro bono and community service. We are excited to now
officially request faculty and staff (whether or not they are attorneys)
participation in the program. All faculty and staff participating in the program
will be honored along with student participants at the Annual Law School Awards
Ceremony on May 7, 2012.
Notes from the Director
by Michele Storms, Assistant
Dean for Public Service
Our Center for Public Service Law continues to grow!
We have expanded the Pro Bono
Honors Program, begun the
Moderate Means Program, and we are providing
professional development and career coaching to more than 123 students who are
interested in public service careers after law school. And this is just the tip
of the iceberg. We are getting ready to enter into a new selection season for
the Gates Scholarship Program with
applications for new Scholars being accepted
until January 15, 2012.
We continue with programming on public service issues, both substantive and
career-related. This academic year we launched our online “Weekly Update” which is designed to keep
students apprised of the latest news regarding events, job opportunities,
scholarship & fellowship opportunities, conferences & training events and
community service opportunities. This year we are excited to work closely with
the Public Interest Law Student Association to support their annual event,
coming up February 10, 2012. Our Center aims to educate, empower and inspire all
of our students, graduates and broader law school community to incorporate
public service into their lives, regardless of where they work or what kind of
position they hold. We hope to nurture the culture of a service-oriented legal
education, career and community as a key component of the UW Law mission to be
Leaders for the Global Common Good.
Happy Birthday Bill Gates Sr.!
The presence of the Gates Public Service
Law Program and the increasing services offered through our Center for Public
Service Law are largely thanks to a unique birthday gift given to Bill Gates Sr.
back in 2005 by his son and daughter-in-law through the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation. We are ever grateful to Bill Gates Sr. for his enormous contribution
to law and public service, and for giving us the chance to prepare new
generations of lawyers to follow in his footsteps. Happy Birthday Bill Gates
Sr.!
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