Look for LSRJ at these upcoming public interest career fairs:
- 2/4: Philadelphia PI/PS Career Fair (Temple)
- 2/4: Seattle PI Career Fair (Seattle University)
- 2/5: Portland PI Career Fair (Lewis & Clark)
- 2/10-11: New York PILC Fair (NYU)
- 2/12: San Francisco PI/PS Day (UC Hastings)
Regional Conferences
Did you know that LSRJ hosts 5 Regional Conferences for members and alumni every winter? Well, we do!
We hope you'll join us to discuss substantive legal issues and current events in your area. Network with fellow LSRJ members, attorneys, and RJ activists. Alums welcome!
RSVP to the Regional Coordinator listed below.
Midwest Reproductive Justice Through the Looking Glass: From Issues to Solutions at the University of Wisconsin School of Law on Saturday, January 29 (email Laura Buchs)
Mid-Atlantic Accessing Justice: Reproductive Oppression in Communities of Color at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law on Saturday, February 5 (email Lauren Wallace)
West Babies, Bodies, and Borders: At the Intersection of Reproductive Justice and Immigration at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego on Saturday, February 19 (email Sarah Clarke or Rachel Metelits)
Northeast At the Intersection of Environmental Justice and Reproductive Justice at Harvard Law School on Saturday, February 26 (email Jess Wilkerson)
South Working for Reproductive Justice in the South at the University of Houston Law Center on Saturday, March 5 (email Kristen Young)
Dear LSRJ activists, alumni, allies, and amici: We hope 2011 is off to a stupendous start for all of you. Here at LSRJ HQ, we are committed to fostering sustainability, health, and efficiency at all levels of our work this year. We look forward to another year of mentoring and mobilizing, informing and inspiring the next generation of legal experts for the reproductive justice movement. Thank you for supporting our endeavors and celebrating our feats!
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Working in the Movement
ORGANIZATIONS: Get Matched with a Law Student!
LSRJ will be facilitating the placement of law students at reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations throughout the country for summer internships. If your organization could benefit from the knowledge and skills of a budding legal expert this summer, fill out the External Organization Application and email to Mariko@LSRJ.org so we can help you craft the right project and find the right person to execute it.
Want to spend your summer at an organization that doesn't have an established internship program?
LSRJ can help match students with organizations to work on unique projects over the summer. Interested students should fill out the Student Application Form and email it to Mariko@LSRJ.org.
ALUMS:
Check out new job listings at organizations like the National Health Law Program and the Center for American Progress on our Alumni - Jobs Opps page. Updated weekly!
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Blogosphere Buzzing with Course Survey Results
In fall 2010, LSRJ released results of the first comprehensive Course Survey, which found that fewer than one-fifth of ABA-approved law schools offered a course in reproductive rights law & justice over the last seven years. That's only 37 separate courses and instructor-led reading groups at 32 different schools. The good news? More than one-third of the courses resulted from LSRJ chapter advocacy!
Now the blogs are talking! Check out what allies are saying:
And we even made it onto the legal gossip site Above the Law, which asked, "Do lawyers need a reproductive rights class in law school?" to which 60% of poll respondents said YES!
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Featured Alum **Madison Burnett**
This month's featured LSRJ alum is Madison Burnett (Georgia State University College of Law, Class of 2009). Madison currently works as an associate with the Atlanta office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi, LLP. She is keeping up her RJ activism by representing minors in judicial bypass cases and through her pro bono work on the Atlanta Eagle case representing patrons at a gay bar in Atlanta who were subject to anti-gay abuse by police officers. The recent settlement in the case includes significant reforms within the Atlanta Police Department. Madison continues to stay involved with LSRJ by volunteering at the national office, working with the GSU chapter, and speaking at events. She is also branching out into immigration pro bono work as it intersects with RJ, and hopes to pick up tap dancing.
Madison founded her law school's LSRJ chapter as a 1L, and went on to join the national Board of Directors, serving one year as President. She won the Cari Sietstra Organizing Award in 2009. She credits LSRJ with enriching her law school experience, stating that "Law school has a tendency to be so insular, and my work with LSRJ was an excellent reminder of the broader implications of a legal education. It helped sharpen my leadership and organization skills, which no doubt have helped me in my career."
When asked what advice she would give to current student leaders, Madison says,"One of the most important [lessons] was learning that although LSRJ is a national organization, each chapter needs to take its own approach to ensure its success. It is important to take account of your own campus culture and recognize the diversity of priorities and perspectives within the organization."
We wish Madison the best in all her future endeavors, from pro bono counseling to tap dancing!
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Chapters Celebrate Roe
Faculty, LSRJ members, and International Law Society members from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego attended the Committee for Reproductive Choice (CRC) annual Roe v. Wade Anniversary Dinner.
Every year, our chapters celebrate the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision (January 22) in fun and creative ways. They share anniversary cakes with their campus, write thank-you notes to clinic staff and volunteers, put on panels with leaders in the reproductive health movement to discuss the current state of abortion in the U.S. and abroad, host screenings of films, and bring together faculty and students for book groups.
This year, LSRJ introduced a new Easy-Event-in-an-Envelope ("EEE") based on the 2010 book, Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court's Ruling by Linda Greenhouse and Reva Siegel. The Before Roe EEE gives students the tools they need to publicize, organize, and guide a book group to explore the political, social, and legal landscape in the period before 1973.
We honor all of the tremendous awareness-raising that our chapters engage in to celebrate the historic decision!
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6th Annual Sarah Weddington Writing Prize DEADLINE: MARCH 1
Win $$$ and get published in the NYU Review of Law and Social Change!
LSRJ has teamed up with the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) to encourage new legal scholarship applying a human rights framework to reproductive health issues. The theme of the 6th Annual Sarah Weddington Prize for New Scholarship in Reproductive Rights is"Beyond the Books: Realizing Reproductive Rights in Real Lives."LSRJ & CRR are seeking fresh student scholarship that focuses on a particular community's unique struggles against reproductive oppression.
For information about the application and selection process, please download the latest2011 call for submissions(PDF). The deadline is March 1, 2011.
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Welcome LSRJ's New Legal Fellow
Please extend a warm welcome to Jessica Rubenstein, J.D., who joined the National Office in January 2011 as the new Legal Fellow. Jessica graduated from NYU School of Law in 2010 and holds a masters in Human Rights from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. During law school, Jessica interned at Equality Now, the European Roma Rights Center, and the Center on Law and Security. She also participated in the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic. With her deep knowledge of international human rights and recent experience working on the Law School Initiative as an intern at the Center for Reproductive Rights, Jessica is ready to take the reins on developing the forthcoming Reproductive Rights & Justice Legal Reader. We are tremendously excited to add Jessica to the LSRJ team!
Please extend a warm welcome to Jessica Rubenstein, J.D., who joined the National Office in January 2011 as the new Legal Fellow. Jessica graduated from NYU School of Law in 2010 and holds a masters in Human Rights from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. During law school, Jessica interned at Equality Now, the European Roma Rights Center, and the Center on Law and Security. She also participated in the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic. With her deep knowledge of international human rights and recent experience working on the Law School Initiative as an intern at the Center for Reproductive Rights, Jessica is ready to take the reins on developing the forthcoming Reproductive Rights & Justice Legal Reader. We are tremendously excited to add Jessica to the LSRJ team!