Hello everyone out there,

I hope that you all are having a great week as I am. The weather in Atlanta has been awesome and I was very excited to be able to put my coat away! The unfortunateness is that it's supposed to get colder next week. Oh well, day by day it is.

So much is going on in my world right now... I'm heading to Alabama for another evidentiary hearing next week and this one promises to be very interesting. I am doing my part around here by helping all the attorneys get ready...it's nuts, but lots of fun!

I am also getting prepared for my the parole hearing in Montgomery on May 7...that should also be very interesting! I can't wait to tell you all about it!

On the school front, I am almost done with a first draft of my graduation speech and I am starting to get a little nervous about it. It's not often that a law student gets to speak in the presence of a Supreme Court Justice. In the real world when a lawyer prepares to argue in front of the High Court, there are weeks and weeks of mock oral arguments in front of colleagues to get you ready for your presentation and any question the Justices may ask of you. I am so glad that I am not preparing to be receiving any questions, but I am starting to get nervous nevertheless.

Finally, I still do not have a job post-graduation and graduation is one month from yesterday. I'm not too worried since most law school graduates don't have jobs before graduation, but it is still a point of contention. So, keep me in your minds.

I hope this email doesn't sound too depressing because that's now how I feel - I think that this sense of feeling anxious and a tad bit overwhelmed is normal for a third-year law student who has less than four weeks left.

So with that, I hope that those of you who have been accepted into NUSL will send me your questions about coming here that way I can write about things that will truly be helpful and insightful to you.

Take care!

Posted by Aisha at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello everyone,

I hope this blog posting finds you doing well...this entry is so late because I have been on the road. In fact, right now, I am sitting in my car outside of Panera Bread in Tuscaloosa using their free wireless connection. I did buy some tea though so I suppose I shouldn't feel that bad.

Last week, I went to Birmingham because guess what - I will be conducting a parole hearing for a person who is currently incarcerated. I got the assignment last Tuesday and on May 7, I will be her representative to the parole board. In Alabama, defendants do not have a right to be present at their own parole hearings and the Southern Center for Human Rights will take their parole hearings with the underlying expectation that a third year law student is available and willing to take their case. In this capacity, I am responsible for putting together packets outlining my clients' honors earned in prison and her home plan (a plan to transition back into society), and presenting all this information to the parole board. I am very excited about this!!! Apparently, the Alabama Board listens to you for a few minutes, listens to the state, and makes a decision right then and there...no pressure though. I am super excited!!!

Right now, I am in Tuscaloosa, Alabama because one of our clients on death row had an evidentiary hearing yesterday and today in support of his Rule 32 Petition. Based on my limited understanding, a Rule 32 petition is the procedural mechanism where a defendant may challenge certain aspects of his trial. Another way of putting it may be that a Rule 32 petition is a state habeas corpus petition, though that's not entirely accurate. Our hearing presented some ineffective assistance of counsel claims and some mitigation evidence claims. It was very hard to hear the latter because our clients' upbringing has been painfully difficult!!!! The judge still has some oustanding evidence to review so we won't get a ruling for at least 90 days, but I am so glad I was able to get this experience. It was very informative and I learned a lot!!!

Anyway, I'm heading back to Atlanta tomorrow - I would love to hear from you all if you have any questions about the Southern Center or if you have any general law school questions. I'll talk to you later this week!

Posted by Aisha at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello everyone out there,

I hope that you had a great week last week!

My week was pretty busy - lots to report here!

First off, I had my first post-graduate job interview for a superior court two-year clerkship. The judge said that she called me in because of the diversity of my resume (from teaching to recruiting to becoming a law student) and that while she isn't currently in need of a clerk (her clerk has a few more months to fulfill), she wanted me in her pipeline. The interview went very well and I feel very confident about my interview performance. I do need a job sooner than six months though, so we'll see what happens.

On another front entirely, we went to Alabama last week to interview people for our upcoming evidentiary hearing. Through this visit I learned quite a few things.

First, people can get very damaged from sitting on a jury where the crime is death penalty eligible. Consequently, their willingness to help you can be impaired. I never thought about jurors feeling guilty after sentencing a person to die and to witness it was very enlightening and quite sad.

Second, there seems to be a serious need for community-wide education about the death penalty - people are strongly wedded to their ideas and they are largely based on myths...now, if you read my entries a few months ago, I was definitely ignorant about the death penalty, so now that I know more, I recognize this sentiment is a bit judgmental. It's just very frustrating and difficult to balance respect for people's ideas (and people who you need to help you!) and the fact that their ideas are often very far from reality. Add that to all the evidentiary rules and you have a very thin line that you're balancing on.

Finally, the reason I love the coop system so much is that you really do get a feel for what you want to do (or at least, what you don't want to do) as an attorney. I have realized during this coop that if I decided somewhere down the road to practice anti-death penalty work, it would have to be at the trial level. The trial level can be fascinating - from selecting jurors to determining a defense theory. So, that's the revelation for the week.

The evidentiary hearing is next week, so hopefully there will be lots to share then!

Take care!

Posted by Aisha at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)