2012 Fellowship Application

Posted on January 2, 2012 by BLSPI

The BLSPI fellowship program is a great way to become more involved in the BLS Public Interest community. The fellowship was created to allow students to do work in the public interest and still earn a living wage during their summer internship. A strong applicant doesn’t necessarily know where they will be working over the summer, but has demonstrated and continues to demonstrate a commitment to working in the public interest.

Additionally, the BLSPI fellowship is about fostering a strong community within the public interest community at BLS. In this vein we ask that applicants have been involved in BLSPI prior to the application beyond just attending general body meetings (although that doesn’t mean you have to be an e-board or committee member, we just like to see applicants who have volunteered at least once to help out with a BLSPI initiative.)

Once selected, fellows are expected to contribute 30 hours of service back to BLSPI. Five of those hours are required prior to the summer internship, with the remainder to be completed by the end of the next year. During the summer and at least once a semester, fellows have the opportunity to come together with new and old fellows for happy hours, internship debriefs, and other events of interest.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

  • Fill out the form below to begin the application process. We will send you an email with your unique application number and instructions on how to download the application.
  • Place your application number at the top of each page of your application. DO NOT PUT ANY IDENTIFYING INFORMATION ON THE APPLICATION (i.e., NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER, EMAIL, ETC.).
  • Number each page.
  • Please limit your total word count to 1,000 words. How much you write per question is up to you.
  • Paste your resume into the same file as your Fellowship Application. BE SURE TO REMOVE ANY IDENTIFYING INFORMATION FROM YOUR RESUME.
  • When the application is complete, please save it as a PDF and upload it onto our website between January 17th and January 23rd.
  • Contact webmaster@blspi.org with any questions about how to access the application or any technical difficulties.

APPLICATION TIMELINE

Spring Semester Begins: Monday, January 9th
Fellowship Information Session: Thursday, January 12th
Application Due Date: Monday January 23rd
Finalist Interviews: Saturday February 4th and Sunday February 5th
Decisions: To be made before the NYU PILC Fair (February 9th & 10th)

If you have any questions about the application process or the fellowship itself please email fellowships@blspi.org.

Sign up for an application number:

 

 

 

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Dinner with Steve Wise, Cosponsored by SALDF

Posted on October 20, 2011 by BLSPI

Along with the BLS Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, BLSPI is proud to cosponsor a lecture on animal rights jurisprudence with the legendary Steven M. Wise. A vegetarian dinner and wine will be served.

Practicing animal law for the last 30 years, Professor Wise has worked on some of the most ambitious and influential cases in his field, and has served as a pioneer of the legal and scientific arguments for animal rights. He is the former president of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and current president of the Center for the Expansion of Fundamental Rights, where, through its Nonhuman Rights Project, he seeks to establish standing rights for nonhuman primates in civil court. He has taught at a number of law schools, including Harvard, Vermont, Lewis & Clark, and John Marshall, and has written four influential books, including “Rattling the Cage – Toward Legal Rights for Animals” (2000).

Fri, 11/11/11, 6:30 – 8:30 P.M., Subotnick Center. RSVP here.

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Halloween Candy Drive

Posted on October 17, 2011 by BLSPI

Want to bring Halloween to kids who can’t go trick-or-treating this year? From Oct 17th-28th, you can donate bags of individually-wrapped candy (or cash money) to the BLSPI table in the cafeteria or at the drop-box in the student lounge! All donations go to benefit children in Brooklyn shelters Safe Horizon and Sanctuary for Families. Pick out your favorite Halloween candy and drop by! Happy Halloween!

Flyer: BLSPI Halloween Candy Drive! (PDF)

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Community Service Day

Posted on October 12, 2011 by BLSPI

Hi BLSPI folks!

We’re very excited to get underway with several service day opportunities, but want to get a clearer sense of what people are interested in, and when you all think would be the best time to spend a few hours away from school doing good work in the community.

Please respond to this poll: https://docs.google.com/a/blspi.org/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dExVOUNBdHBzNEFmOVVFVWRsZUozN2c6MQ

Individual Mentoring and Tutoring Opportunities with Publicolor

Many of our BLSPI members have expressed interest in being involved in more service opportunities.  While we are planning group service events, we also would like to pass along this opportunity for you to individually volunteer with Publicolor.  They are seeking mentors and volunteers for the school year.  You can also download flyers (1, 2) with more information about both opportunities.

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NLG-OUTLaws-BLSPI Event this Thursday Night

Posted on September 7, 2011 by BLSPI

To kick things off this year, OUTLaws, NLG and BLSPI would like to invite you to the Welcome Back to Brooklyn: A Peter Cicchino Youth Project Fundraiser!

When: THIS THURSDAY, Sept. 8th, from 7 – 10pm
Where: Last Exit Bar, 136 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Cost: $5 suggested donation (will get you discounted drinks during the entire event)

There will be music, burlesque performers, pizza, a DJ, and amazing raffle prizes like Yankees tickets, restaurant gift certificates, movie tickets, a Trader Joe’s card, and more!

All proceeds will go directly to the Peter Cicchino Youth Project.  The Project is dedicated to helping homeless LGBTQ youth access housing, benefits, and legal advocacy.  Almost half of the homeless teens on the street in NYC identify as LGBTQ, and PCYP does incredibly important work to help young people meet their basic needs.

Please invite your friends, colleagues, and anyone you think might be interested!

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Meeting Minutes and Election Results

Posted on August 31, 2011 by BLSPI

Hi BLSPI Folks,

We have posted the topics and discussions from our first general meeting: BLSPI minutes – 08.30.11.  Below are the upcoming events and volunteer opportunities.

  • Student Activities Fair: Tomorrow from 1pm-6pm in the BLS quad/courtyard; we could use help from 1-2 if people are available.
  • Charitable Bar Review: Tomorrow 9pm at Last Exit Bar; tell your friends to come drink for a good cause! (Hurricane Relief)
  • Pro Bono Fair: September 7th 5pm-7pm; we will have a table there to promote our efforts on campus and could use help
  • Halloween Party/Candy Drive: we will have a costume contest, games, and a date auction to raise money for orgs on campus
  • Blood Drive: once a semester we sign up students and faculty to donate blood for the NY Blood Center

Also, don’t forget to sign up for the auction and community development committees to see how you can get involved now!

Lastly, congratulations and welcome to our new e-board chairs:

Treasurer: Erin Covert
Asst. Treasurer: Michael Andrews
Auction Chair: Anna Park

We are looking forward to a fantastic year!

For questions or suggestions, please email info@blspi.org or blspi@brooklaw.edu.

See you all tomorrow!
Meredith and Mike

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BLSPI Mentorship Program

Posted on August 30, 2011 by BLSPI

It’s a new school year, and hopefully folks have had a really rewarding summer.  To the 2L’s, congrats you made it!  To the 3L/4P’s, we’re just in the home stretch!  Many of us survived our 1L year because of the community of people we had around us, and some of us have thrived thanks to the thoughtful guidance of mentors.

If you would like to offer your wisdom to an incoming 1L who is interested in public interest lawyering (or if you are required to as part of your BLSPI fellowship!) please take 30 seconds to click the following link and fill out a very brief mentor registration form.
For upper class mentors – http://bit.ly/BLSPI-MentorReg

If you know a 1L who could use a mentor, please feel free to forward them the following link for mentees.  They can also come to the first meeting if they are averse to filling out an online form.
For 1L mentees – http://bit.ly/BLSPI-MentorMe

And of course, please do circulate this among other organizations with which you’re active!  Mentors need only be active in public interest lawyering, and be willing to at least take their mentee to coffee and offer support throughout the year.  Public interest work includes government work and non-profits of all kinds.  We’d like to be able to offer a good, diverse pool of mentors for the incoming class.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email either sarah.udashkin@brooklaw.edu or cristina.lee@brooklaw.edu.

Looking forward to a productive year for the BLSPI mentorship program!
Best,
Cristina and Sary
co-chairs, BLSPI Mentorship Program

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BLSPI General Meeting Tomorrow, Aug. 30th at 1pm in Rm 603

Posted on August 29, 2011 by BLSPI

Welcome back, BLSPI Folks!

Hope you all had a great summer.  We have had quite a first week back to school (or a very anti-climactic one—either way).   Our first general meeting will be tomorrow at 1pm in room 603.  Please join us for lunch and a few important items to start off what will be a very busy and rewarding year of public interest on and off campus.  We will also have elections for a few positions, including a Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer, and the other Auction Chair.  Other positions, such as our two community development chairs and alumni relations chair, will be appointed this year based on interest and dedication to BLSPI.  We will explain this at the meeting.  Lastly, we will be appointing 1L representatives for these respective e-board positions to learn the ropes and get involved in the capacity they can as newbies.

Also, our new mentorship chairs, Cristina Lee and Sary Udashkin, are already underway to creating a wide-spread mentoring program for both 1Ls and upper-class students.  This year will host many new opportunities, not only to advise others but also to meet alumni and lawyers in various public interest fields.   In order to sign up as a mentor, please click on this link: http://bit.ly/BLSPI-MentorReg.  The process should not take very long at all.

Lastly, the Student Activities Fair will be this Thursday, Sept. 1st at 1pm, and we need some people to help table for BLSPI and advocate for our pro bono programs on campus.  If you are supposed to be at other tables, even a half hour would be appreciated!  Please email our secretary, Matt Allee at matthew.allee@brooklaw.edu to sign up for a time.

For all other questions and comments, please email blspi@brooklaw.edu.

Thanks, and see you tomorrow!

Meredith Symonds and Mike Berman
Co-Chairs

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PRO BONO ORG PICNIC FRIDAY 1PM

Posted on August 15, 2011 by BLSPI

Hi BLSPI Folks!

Hope you have all had a great summer, working hard and playing hard. We are gearing up for this coming school year, planning a lot of new programs and events, and would love you all to get involved in as much as you can, so keep an eye out for activities and our first big meeting of the semester.

Our annual picnic is going to be co-hosted this year with the other pro bono organizations on campus. This will take place this Friday, Aug. 19th, at 1pm in Brooklyn Bridge Park. At 12:45, we will meet the 1Ls at school in our brand new granite quad and walk them over to the park, touring the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood on our way.

If you would like to help out earlier or later than the walking tour, set-up and clean-up in the park are needed. Please contact blspi@brooklaw.edu to let us know what you would like to do. Otherwise, come grab a sandwich and hang out!

If you have graduated, you are VERY welcome to join.

See you soon!

Bar Study Grants for Graduating Students

Posted on April 7, 2011 by BLSPI

Hey Everyone,

BLSPI is extremely excited to announce a brand new program to help public interest graduates from BLS. Thanks to a very generous gift from the estate of the late Professor C. Edwin Baker of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, BLSPI will award 10 outstanding graduating students with a $1,000 stipend to help defray the costs of summer expenses and a Bar Review prep course.  It is our hope to be able to make this an annual program and to expand its size in the future. Download the application and cover sheet, and please be sure to carefully read through the the page of rules and restrictions regarding the grant program.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Michael Berman.

Applications are due by 5:00 P.M. sharp on Wednesday, April 27th. Late applications will not be considered.

Best of luck to all the applicants!

Bar Grant Application
Bar Grant Application Cover Sheet

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