Calendar of MDefenders Events for Fall 2023

2LS & 3LS SUBMIT COVER LETTERS AND RESUMES FOR REVIEW
Deadline: Friday, August 18, 2023

Interested students who submit their application materials to MDefenders Jobs Chair, Achal Fernando-Peiris (achalfp@ umich.edu), by Friday, A​ugust 18th will get feedback on their materials from alumni in defender offices around the country with enough time to incorporate feedback before the EJW deadline in September.

Date: September 2 - September 4, 2023
Location:  Jeffries Hall Rooms 1020 & 1025

The Public Defender Training Institute​ begins with a three-day, intensive Retreat over Labor Day weekend. Participants will discuss the role of the public defender, ethics and professional responsibility, client interviewing, storytelling, and more. We will engage in in-depth conversations on secondary trauma and sustaining well-being in public defense, as well as the problems of white saviorism and how to be an anti-racist defender both inside and outside the courtroom. Simulations and mock hearings allow students to practice advocacy skills and receive feedback in real time. If you would like to audit part or all of the retreat, please email Professor Primus (ebrensik@umich.edu).

MDEFENDERS SEPTEMBER MONTHLY MEETING
Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Time: 11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
Location:  Hutchins Hall Room 250

Each month the MDefenders group comes together to talk and learn about subjects particular to public defenders. Our September meeting is entitled “The Things that Happened in Your Summer Internships in Public Defender Offices:  What Surprised You, Terrified You, and Inspired You?"  2L and 3L members will share experiences from their summer internships, and we will process them together.  (You do not need to have spent time in a public defender office to attend this meeting.  We encourage 1Ls who are public-defender curious to come and learn a bit more about what it is like to work in a public defense office.)  Lunch from Curry On will be served!​

KICK-OFF EVENT: COME LEARN ABOUT PUBLIC DEFENSE AND THE MDEFENDERS ORGANIZATION (co-sponsored by the First Year Information Program)
Date: Thursday, September 14, 2023
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Location:  Hutchins Hall 250

Join MLaw students interested in criminal justice reform and public defense for a discussion with current public defenders about why they love the work that they do. Practicing attorneys from the Neighborhood Defender Service in Detroit (Cait De Mott Grady, Glen Oh, Jackie Pilcowitz, and Jonathan Roberts) ​and Professor Eve Primus will talk about indigent defense work as well as the MDefenders organization here at MLaw. After the panel, students will have time to enjoy food from Jerusalem Garden while getting to know each other and the panelists socially.​

DEADLINE FOR 2L & 3L MEMBERS TO SUBMIT THEIR COVER LETTER AND RESUME TO THE EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS CAREER FAIR – DO NOT MISS THIS DEADLINE!!!
Date: Tuesday, September 12, 2023

The Equal Justice Works Career Fair is the largest national public interest legal career fair where over 200 public interest employers come together to interview law students for summer and full-time post-graduate positions. A number of public defense agencies from around the country recruit at this fair. (For a full list of the employers participating in 2023, click here.) If you are a 2L or 3L student interested in working for any of these employers, you don't want to miss this deadline to submit your materials.

HOW TO HANDLE THE PUBLIC DEFENDER INTERVIEW - PART 1 
Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Time: 11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
Location:  Hutchins Hall Room 138

Interviews for public defender jobs are different from most of the interviews you've had to date. They tend to involve more probing questions that stray beyond your resume. Employers want to know how committed you are to public defense, whether you care about and will relate well to your clients, whether you have the ability to stand up and fight in a system that is stacked against you, and whether you will last in the job. They also want to test your intelligence, public-speaking skills, and figure out whether you will fit with the culture of their office. In short, the questions will often be deeper than the typical get-to-know-you interview. In the first part of this two-part event, we will discuss what factors interviewers are considering and how to craft your answer to the inevitable question - why do you want to be a public defender?

HOW TO HANDLE THE PUBLIC DEFENDER INTERVIEW - PART 2 - SIMULATIONS & HYPOTHETICALS​
Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Time: 11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
Location:  Hutchins Hall Room 138​

Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Time: 11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
Location: Hutchins Hall Room 138

The day-to-day work of a public defender can look very different depending on the type of defense service provided. Join MDefenders and a panel of guests as they discuss the differences between state and federal practice, trial and appellate work, juvenile and adult work, and criminal and family defense. 

Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Check Symplicity for details on how to sign up.  These interviews will be virtual.

Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2023​

Check Symplicity for details on how to sign up.  These interviews will be virtual. 

Dates:  October 12, 2023 – October 14, 2023

The Equal Justice Works Career Fair is the largest public interest legal career fair in the country, bringing together hundreds of law students, recent graduates, public interest employers, law school faculty and staff, and public interest practitioners from across the United States and its territories for prescheduled interviews, informal “table talk" discussions, and networking opportunities. This year the Career Fair will be held virtually. For more information, visit the Equal Justice Works website. 

Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Time: 11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
Location:  Hutchins Hall Room 138

Each month the MDefenders group comes together to talk and learn about subjects particular to public defenders. Please join us for our October meeting where Professor Primus will lead a discussion about structural differences among public defender offices (county-based, state-based, non-profit contracts, holistic, participatory, traditional) and how to choose a public defense office, including questions to ask and how to figure out the differences between offices.​

Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Time: 11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
Location: Hutchins Hall Room 138

Bring a lunch and come learn more about the different course offerings -- what classes and clinics you should take if you want to do indigent defense. 2L & 3L MDefenders will talk to you about different classes (and the different professors who teach them) so this is your chance to ask all of those questions that you don't want to ask on LawOpen. They will also spend some time discussing the available 1L electives for second semester. 

Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Time: 11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
Location:  Hutchins Hall Room 138

How do you figure out where to apply if you want to work in a public defender office for the summer?  How many offices should you apply to? How are they different? When do you apply? And what do you submit as part of the application process? 2L & 3L MDefenders will talk to you about what different public defender summer experiences are like and explain the application process to you.

Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Time: 11:55 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
Location:  Hutchins Hall Room 138

Each month the MDefenders group comes together to talk and learn about subjects particular to public defenders. Please grab a lunch and join us for our November meeting on how to assert yourself in a courtroom.​