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Ad Hoc Opps /Office of Public Interest & Community Service - Week of April 28th, 2008 ruler
Spring 2008

Ad Hoc Opps

      •  Short term, flexible, limited-commitment pro bono projects
     •  Eligible for Pro Bono Pledge credit
     •  Listed chronologically by training/project date
 

Organization:

 Professor Faith Mullen, Catholic Law School

Service:

Fact checking a Small Claims Fact Sheet: Fact checking needed for a fact sheet/resource list that will be available for pro se litigants in small claims court.
Where: This work can be done remotely.

Commitment:

This assignment should take 5 - 10 hours.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
 
Organization: Real Estate, Housing, and Land Use Section - D.C. Bar (www.dcbar.org)
Service:

Rental Housing Commission Digest:  The Real Estate, Housing, and Land Use Section of the D.C. Bar maintains a Rental Housing Commission digest that needs to be updated for the past several years. Volunteers will read Commission decisions and summarize them into concise paragraphs.

Where: Wherever you want.   Work is to be done remotely.
Commitment: Before the end of the semester.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton to indicate your interest and availability.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: Washington Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Service: French Translation: The Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project needs assistance in translating documents from English to French.
Where: This work can be done remotely or on site.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu

Organization:

 AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly

Service:

 Research review and filing: LCE needs assistance with review of various briefs and legal research documents over the next 30 days.

Where:

AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly

601 E Street, NW | A4-410 | Washington, DC 20049

Commitment: Flexible work to be done by the end of April.
Requirements: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Contact:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: D.C. Public Defender Service
Service: Research Memo on the Adam Walsh Act: Research and draft an informational memo on the impact of the Adam Walsh Act (requiring registration of sexual offenders over the age of 14) on developmentally disabled youth.
Where:

This work can be done remotely.

Commitment: Open-ended project that could be extended into summer.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: D.C. Public Defender Service
Service: Research Memo on Prosecutor Closing Statements: Research and draft an informal memo on prosecutor comments in closing argument that shift the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defense. This should focus on what types of comments have lead to reversal (and which have not), and what the legal standards are as laid out by the DC Court of Appeals.
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Commitment: 12 - 15 hours.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area
Service: Summary Memo on DCPS suspensions and expulsions: Analyze and summarize documents received from a FOIA request from D.C. Public Schools regarding long suspensions and expulsions as part of a project about the school-to-prison pipeline. This summary will assess if more information is needed, and recommend next steps for research and advocacy.
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Commitment: Approximately 500 pages exist to be summarized.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area
Service: Research Brief on Military Recruitment opt-out options: This project is to quickly become familiar with the legal framework for military recruiting in pre-college schools and begin assessing the working of the opt-out process in public schools in the area (DC and Maryland suburbs).  Tasks include background research on advocacy efforts by ACLU and others on the issue in other states, exploratory interviews with students and officials, consideration of a local version of a survey on military in schools done in NYC, and drafting FOIA requests.
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area
Service: Research Memo on Zoning Limits on Free Speech: This project is to review a pending case in DC that raises these issues, read case law and write a memo on a First Amendment challenge to DC zoning regulations covering sexually-oriented businesses.  Owners have argued to the ACLU that the rules are draconian and essentially prohibit such activity, but the question is whether there is a viable legal theory for an attack on the DC rules, particularly in light of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., 475 U.S. 41 (1986).
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area
Service: Action Memo on Voting Rights of the Incarcerated in D.C.: D.C. only disenfranchises incarcerated felons - all others involved with the criminal justice system are eligible to vote. However, there are pratical obstacles to exercising this right. We need a memo of action steps (with timeline) and legal issues to be dealt with to maximize the opportunities for eligible Jail inmates to register and easily vote in the presidential election in November 2008.
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area
Service: Summary Memo on D.C. Government Monitoring of Employee's Computer Usage: The ACLU submitted a FOIA request to the DC Office of Chief Technology Officer for any records showing DC government policy as to monitoring and blocking including e-mail as well as web use. This project is to review the 1100 pages disclosed by the agency and prepare a summary memo of findings and recommendations of next steps.
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: Immigration Legal Services - Catholic Charities, D.C.
Service: Country Condition Reports : As part of an asylum application, applicants must submit information regarding the conditions in the country from which they are seeking asylum.  In order to provide this information, we submit brief documents that consist of excerpts from human rights reports, such as Country reports issued by the State Department, or reports issued by major human rights groups, such as Amnesty International. ILS currently needs assistance in drafting reports on Burma, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: University Legal Services
Service: Mayor's Budget Analysis: A student is needed to read through the Mayor's proposed budget and find the dollar amount listed for attorney's fees for proceedings under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: National Juvenile Defender Center
Service: Research Memo on DNA Samples from Juveniles: Legal research memo on the collection of DNA samples from juveniles in delinquency court.  What states around the country have laws that allow for this?  What do those laws provide?  What caselaw is there on the issue?  How are these laws implemented at the local/county level in practice? Who has access to this information? 
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Commitment: This project may take 30-40 hours.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu
Organization: National Juvenile Defender Center
Service: On-going research for Juvenile Defender Research Guide: Legal and policy research is needed on a broad range of juvenile justice issues for our annual Juvenile Defender Resource Guide.  In addition, we would like brief summaries written for each of the relevant publications that are reviewed.  The Guide which will be published this fall.   Last year’s guide is available at http://njdc.info/pdf/2007_resource_guide.pdf.
Where: This work can be done remotely.
Commitment: This project is flexible and on-going.
Sign-up: Contact Holly Eaton with your availability and interest.

Questions:

 Holly Eaton, eatonh@law.georgetown.edu



April 21, 2008 (SKD)