Law School Briefs; March 16, 2011

Law School Briefs is Indiana Lawyer’s section highlighting news from law schools in Indiana. While IL has always covered law school news and continues to keep up with law school websites and press releases for updates, we gladly accept submissions for this section from law students, professors, alumni, and others who want to share law school-related news. If you’d like to submit news or a photo from an event, please send it to Kelly Lucas at [email protected], along with contact information for any follow-up questions at least two weeks in advance of the issue date.

Dinner raises loan repayment funds

The third annual Equal Justice Works dinner at Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis will take place April 9 at 6 p.m. The event will begin with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. in the law school’s atrium, 530 W. New York St., Indianapolis. Proceeds from the event support the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, which helps to pay loans of law school graduates who decide to work in public interest law.

Tickets are $75 per person, or $675 for a 10-person table. Checks should be made payable to the “IU Foundation,” with “IU Law – Indpls. EJW Dinner” in the memo line. Checks and RSVPs can be mailed to: Office of Development; IU School of Law – Indianapolis; 530 West New York Street, 227C; Indianapolis, IN 46202.

The keynote speaker will be former Justice Theodore R. Boehm. Honorees at this year’s event are ACLU-Indiana Executive Director Gil Holmes, Baker & Daniels Diversity and Pro Bono Coordinator Brita Horvath, and Marion Superior Judge David Shaheed.

Last year, Equal Justice Works hosted more than 180 guests. The first dinner in 2009 helped the endowment reach $100,000. Thanks to proceeds from the 2009 and 2010 events, the first round of forgivable loans was awarded during the 2010-11 school year.

Those who would like to support LRAP but are unable to attend the dinner should contact the law school’s Office of Development at (317) 278-7541.

– IL Staff

Prof’s findings in March ABA Journal

Research by the Indiana University Maurer School of Law’s Center on the Global Legal Profession was featured in a cover story titled “What Lawyers Earn” in the March 2011 issue of the ABA Journal.

Professor William Henderson compiled information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to track where the legal jobs are and how much lawyers get paid around the country, county by county. Other county-specific information including the number of lawyers employed, the overall population, and the number of Fortune 1000 companies is also reported in the online version’s interactive table of wage data for every county in the United States.

The top 35 legal markets, along with 10 smaller markets that pay wages as high as their large-city counterparts, are also identified in the article.

The article is available online at http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/what_americas_lawyers_earn.

– Rebecca Berfanger

Students organize legal aid services

In what will be a win-win for law students and the communities they live in, students at Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis, along with students from other schools in central Indiana, have started a program to provide free legal services to residents of Indianapolis through the Indiana University Student Outreach Clinic Legal Services, or IU-SOC.

The clinic includes volunteer students from the law school, the Indiana University School of Medicine, Butler College of Pharmacy, and Indiana University School of Social Work.

IU-SOC Legal Services was officially launched this spring. The organization is currently seeking volunteers, including supervising attorneys, and the students are reaching out to alumni and friends in the legal community. For more information, e-mail [email protected].

“I have never been more proud of our university than I am when watching medical students and law students working side by side to serve our neighbors who struggle for access to health and justice. The fact that this is a student-initiated and student-led program just makes it all the more special,” said faculty advisor and law professor, Fran Quigley, in a statement.

The group’s mission statement sums up why students want to serve their community through the clinic: “Law is about more than statutes or rules. Law is about people, our daily life, and our society. Law serves no one but us. The reason why we decided to pursue a career in the legal profession and to come to law school varies from one to another. However, the common stake we all have in one another is our calling in life: a sincere wish to dedicate ourselves to people and society. We realize that practicing law is more than just a job, but a privilege which provides us the capacity to make a difference in another’s life, an opportunity to help people who need help, and a prospect to make someone’s life better.”

Law students Todd Hassee, Kim Opsahl, Laramie Paras, Jay Parks, Yen-Chia Chen, Eric T. Hom and Jennifer M. Rosser formed a steering committee for IU-SOC Legal Services in the fall of 2010 and prepared to launch the project under Quigley’s supervision.

– IL Staff