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Lyla Wasz-Piper 20 and Kennedi Williams-Libert 20 have received the 2020 Outstanding Clinical Student Team Award from the Clinical Legal Education Association. They were recognized for their unique partnership and exemplary teamwork during their time as student attorneys at the Criminal Justice Institute.

I have never seen a student team work in such a collaboratively succinct, seamless manner to zealously and skillfully provide client-centered representation to indigent and maligned clients said Professor Dehlia Umunna, clinical professor of law and faculty deputy director of CJI.

The award is presented annually to one student or student team from each U.S. law school for outstanding clinical coursework and contributions to the clinical community. Students are nominated by full-time clinical faculty at each law school.

Both Wasz-Piper and Williams-Libert joined CJI in the fall of 2019 to gain experience in the courtroom, to work with mentors who would ultimately make them better advocates, and to directly serve those most in need of representation.

The work they were given could be seen as daunting. They were assigned an assault and battery case with serious allegations of domestic violence. During the course of the semester, Wasz-Piper and Williams-Libert thoroughly investigated the case, interviewed witnesses, wrote and filed pre-trial and trial motions, and prepared their client to testify.

Being in a legal environment where Lyla and I got to work together was so meaningful to my HLS experience because I dont know that I can point to another instance, aside from extra-curriculars, where a classmate and I got to put our talent on the line all in one go, together said Williams-Libert.

Wasz-Piper echoed the sentiment and noted how their ability to connect offered a space for mutual growth.

One of the things I valued the most in our teamwork was that we built a level of trust that allowed us to critique each others work in a way that never made us feel defensive, she said, and that ultimately served the client.

Just weeks out from trial, they were spending 12-hour days in the clinic office and were in constant communication, something that carried over into the courtroom.

Kennedi and I spent so much time together that we could sense each others emotions and needs. During trial, she could turn around and look at me and I would know she needed a specific document while she was crossing a witness. Or I would turn around while [delivering my] closing and see her and it would give me that moment of inspiration said Wasz-Piper.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Lyla Wasz-Piper

After a short deliberation, the judge delivered a not guilty verdict that was witnessed not only by the clients family but also by the many CJI students who were in attendance. Wasz-Piper and Kennedi-Williams both saw the kind of support from their classmates as an extension of their partnership and representative of CJIs clinical teamwork.

To hear the sigh of relief from the client, see the tears of joy in the clients mothers eyes and receive tight hugs from her was inexplicably rewarding. I was thoroughly impressed with the kindness that was central to their team. There was never a harsh word, nor any tension, said Umunna. They were fully focused on securing the clients freedom and lifting each other up the entire time.

Credit: Richard Thornton

Having grown up in Brooklyn, New York, Williams-Libert notes her experiences as an Afro-Caribbean-American woman and her exposure to politically and socially active communities shaped her interest in fighting for representation of marginalized groups in legal forums.

During her time at HLS, she was a member of the archival research team with the Harvard Blackletter Law Journal, formally the Harvard Journal on Racial and Ethnic Justice, and she worked on preserving institutional knowledge, as well as documenting the impacts of black legal scholarship at HLS and beyond. In her capacity as an executive article editor, she helped devise themes for volumes, select articles, and helped expand the breadth of authors included in the journal.

She co-founded the Caribbean Law Students Associationto promote legal scholarship and to leverage her role as a Harvard Law student to create a space for other students of the Caribbean diaspora. She served as president of the organization during the 2019-2020 academic year. Williams-Libert has also served as the chair of community outreach for the Black Law Students Association.

Williams-Libert spent her 1L summer as a judicial intern in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York. Her 2L summer was spent at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where she will return after graduation.

Wasz-Piper recalls her first exposure to prisoners rights and civil rights cases during a college internship with Uptown Peoples Law Center and says it was one of the factors that drew her to want to pursue a career in criminal justice.

Beyond her clinical placement at CJI, Wasz-Piper was also a student in the Crimmigration Clinic, where she advocated for a clients release in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, drafted an amicus brief in a case in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and wrote a bond hearing letter for a client who was eventually granted asylum.

She was also very involved in the Prison Legal Assistance Project, serving as a parole coordinator her 2L year and as executive director her 3L year. At PLAP, she represented clients in disciplinary hearings, parole hearings, and emergency parole revocation hearings. At both PLAP and CJI, Wasz-Piper was a mentor to her fellow students, her guidance spanning not only clinical work but also post-law school careers in public-interest.

During her 1L summer, Wasz-Piper focused on criminal and immigration reform legislation at the House Judiciary Committee, and she spent her 2L summer at the Legal Aid Society in New York, focused on public defense litigation.

After graduation, she will join First Defense Legal Aid, in Chicago, as a Public Service Venture Fund Fellow, focusing on civil rights work and in particular on police brutality. Wasz-Piper also plans to serve as a law clerk in the Northern District of Illinois in 2021.

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Lyla Wasz-Piper and Kennedi Williams-Libert receive 2020 CLEA Outstanding Clinical Student Team Award - Harvard Law School News

Indigo Girls | Look Long | (Rounder)

4.5 stars out of five

The Indigo Girls have always been the essence of a populist band. Their legion of followers are rabidly devoted, reflecting a bond that runs deeper than the music itself and suggests an actual communal connection. Theres no need to tweak their template, although with five years since their last album and 31 since their first, one has to admire their determination in stay true to their MO. Amongst several standouts, the reggae flavored title track and the bubbly yet infectious twosome Favorite Flavor and Muster could be perceived as a slight change in tack, but given their affirmative anthems and positive perspective theres every reason to believe that their devotees will be well pleased with the results. The uplifting anthem When We Were Writers, the searing stance of the absolute rocker Change My Heart (read our Behind the Song of Change My Heart) and the soaring crescendo of the dynamic and demonstrative closer Sorrow and Joy a not-so-distant cousin to their classic Galileo ought to be enough to entice fans to sing along once the pair are able to return to the road.

Indeed, with few exceptions, Look Long comes across as a decidedly upbeat album, one that still shares sentiment and expresses the pairs need to share passion and purpose. If theres any change at all, its found in the sonic tapestry that embellishes these songs. Credit producer John Reynolds, who recorded the women at Peter Gabriels Real World Studio, for a steady presence behind the boards a place he last occupied when he was overseeing the Girls landmark Come On Now Social. Reynolds allows the music to resonate with enough of a luster and sheen to ensure these buoyant melodies will come fully to the fore. Only enough, that additive also helps the album attain a looser feeling than the Indigos have expressed before.

Of course, Ray and Saliers have never demurred when it comes to expressing both creativity and conviction, especially when it comes to causes relating to LGBT rights, political positioning, immigration reform, education, death penalty reform, and sustainability in Native communities.

And yet, their noble aspirations aside, titling the lead track Shit Kickin does take a bit of chutzpah all on its own.

Thats an additive the Indigo Girls have never found in short supply throughout their 35-year career. Ironically though, the most assertive offering in the entire set may be one of its sweetest and most sedate as well. Country Radio, a song by Saliers, reflects the essence of desire and dedication. It finds the two harmonizing to a lyric that Saliers says is essentially autobiographical. Im just a gay kid who loves country radio, she sings, and given that dedication to the cause, the line isnt shocking at all. They have much to be proud of, not the least of which is reflected by this decidedly farsighted Look Long.

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The Indigo Girls Share an Expansive View With Aptly Titled Look Long - American Songwriter

Rick converses with Doug Finke, statehouse reporter for the State Journal-Register of Springfield about his take on lawmakers coming back in session. Doug touches on the various items that will be addressed this week, the precautions being taken in order for everyone to meet safely, and much more.

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Immigration reform, the challenges of small business, the Census, and more - WGN Radio - Chicago

The novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the global economy, shuttering businesses, disrupting supply chains, and causing millions of people to lose their jobs. But the pandemic has been especially devastating for the worlds two billion or so informal workers, who constitute roughly 60 percent of the global labor force and often earn less than $2 per day. These workers, particularly in developing countries, face a looming economic calamity.

Unlike workers in the formal economy, who benefit from legal and social protections, informal workers earn their living without a safety net. They are mostly women and mostly self-employed, engaged in occupations as varied as street vending, domestic work, transportation, and garbage collection. Some also work as off-the-books day laborers in factories, farms, and other formal businesses that dont extend full rights or protections to all of their employees. Measures taken by many countries to fight the pandemicincluding lockdowns implemented without significant assistance for those whose jobs are affectedhave threatened the livelihoods of informal workers and pushed them further into poverty, hunger, and homelessness. In just a few weeks, millions of informal jobs have been lost and millions more have been put at risk.

But the crisis in the informal economy is not affecting just poor countriesit is hurting rich ones, too. Nearly a fifth of all workers in the United States are informal, and they are particularly vulnerable to the health threat posed by the new coronavirus as well as to its economic consequences. The popular image of the informal American worker may now be a laborer in the technology-enabled gig economysuch as a driver for Uber or Lyftbut the shift toward a larger informal economy began under U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Regulations on employers loosened after 1980, allowing businesses to gradually offload risks onto subcontractors, day laborers, and other flexible workers. Lack of worker protections now makes the coronavirus crisis particularly acute in the United States: it is not just a health crisis or an economic crisis but a deeper social crisis decades in the making.

Throughout the developing world, the pandemic has exposed entrenched social inequalities. In India, where upward of 90 percent of jobs are informal, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that over 400 million workers are likely to sink into deep poverty (defined as earning less than $2 per day) thanks to the nationwide lockdown announced on March 24. The existence of large informal economies in many poor countries also increases the risk that COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, will spread among the most vulnerable workers, who depend on daily earnings and cannot afford to stop working. Informal workers already face adverse health conditions, such as poor nutrition, limited access to sanitation, and chronic disease linked to air and water pollution. Unsurprisingly, informal workers have led protests demanding emergency public assistance in Colombia, Malawi, Uganda, and elsewhere. Some governments have taken small steps to support informal workers during the crisis. For example, in Peru, where almost three-quarters of jobs are informal, the government offered the poorest workers a one-time payment of about $100. But many countries have done little or nothing to help such workers weather the pandemic.

Informal workers are also at risk in the developed world. Since the 1980s, informal labor arrangements have become increasingly common in industrialized nations. As economies became more globalized and governments embraced neoliberalism, demand for cheap and disposable labor increased along with the supply of people willing to work informally, including immigrants and other vulnerable people barred from formal jobs. In the United States, the public blamed big government for the economic turmoil of the 1970s, leading to drastic cuts in welfare spending and the deregulation of numerous industries over the next four decades. In this regulatory vacuum, the informal economy grew: more and more jobs lacked employment security, health-care coverage, sick days, pensions, and severance packages. In other words, informality arose out of deliberate decisions by elected officials to dismantle welfare, ignore or remove hard-fought labor protections, skimp on affordable housing, and, more recently, prioritize financial firms over workers, reject universal health care, and neglect immigration reform.

The share of American workers engaged in informal work has crept steadily higher in recent decades. Between 2005 and 2015, the percentage of U.S. workers whose main jobs were informal rose from ten percent to 16 percent. By 2018, at least a third of the U.S. adult population had engaged in some form of informal work, according to the Federal Reserve. That same year, the ILO estimated that informal employment accounted for 30 million jobs in the United Statesor 19 percent of the total labor force. These workers are ill-equipped to handle routine health problems, let alone a pandemic. They have no choice but to go to work, even if they are sick.

What remains of the formal economy depends heavily on goods and services produced and delivered by informal workers.

They are also disproportionately people of color, immigrants, and women. Economic and racial inequality has profoundly affected the way Americans experience the coronavirus crisis. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from local public health agencies show that African Americans and Latinos are more likely to die from COVID-19 than non-Latino whites, challenging the notion that the disease is a great leveler. And death figures for these groups are most likely understated, given that vulnerable minority populations often lack access to testing and health care. Pundits are quick to point to individual underlying conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes as an explanation for these disparities. But among the biggest risk factors for COVID-19 are social and economic inequality, which have been exacerbated by the informalization of the economy.

Many at-risk informal workers have suddenly been classified as essential, keeping the economy going during the pandemic even though they lack basic labor protections. These include restaurant workers, farmworkers, caretakers, cleaners, and delivery workersnone of whom can work from home. Thanks to this labor, more fortunate Americans can telework safely without having to expose themselves to the virus. What remains of the formal economy depends heavily on goods and services produced and delivered by informal workers.

Such workers have limited access to the health care and other benefits needed to weather the pandemic and keep themselves and others safe. Even those whose employment is technically on the books, such as Uber drivers and Instacart shoppers, face a raft of disadvantages because they are classified as independent contractors. Many struggle to win unemployment benefits because their employers fail to pay insurance premiums or report wage data to state agencies.

It remains unclear how the major relief and emergency measures passed by Congress, allocating over $2 trillion for paid sick leave, unemployment benefits, and food assistance, will help informal workers, because these measures contain onerous eligibility requirements and significant loopholes. But they likely wont help the millions of informal workers who are unable to document wages and hours of work prior to the pandemic or who are ineligible for food stamps and sick leave because of their immigration status. What is clear is that the pandemic has deepened the precariousness of informal work in the United States, just as it has in India and other developing countries. Many workers dont know how they will pay for their next meal, let alone their rent, making it more likely that they will continue working regardless of the risk.

Major crises sometimes expose the root causes of societal and economic problems, encouraging reform and change. The Great Depression set in motion the New Deal, which created the foundation of a new social contract that was further solidified in the years following World War II. The New Deal put in place social safety nets and laid the groundwork for more collective bargaining, facilitating the growth of the middle class, expanding social and legal protections of workers, and formalizing economic security for most working people.

Since the Great Depression, however, subsequent economic crises have had the opposite effect. They have allowed legislators to gut existing welfare programs, relax government regulations, demonize immigrants, and bail out large corporations that often rely on informal workers to fill their most menial jobs. The five major recessions since the early 1970s have eroded much of the countrys social safety net, driving many workers into the informal economy. In fact, net job growth in the decade after the Great Recession of 2008 was driven almost entirely by jobs created in the informal economy. The United States has created bad jobs much faster than good jobs, and American workers are suffering as a result. The employment figures much touted by U.S. President Donald Trump prior to the pandemic masked the fact that 44 percent of workers, or 53 million people, earned low wages, as defined by researchers at the Brookings Institution. Many of these workers were informal, laboring without legal and social protections.

It doesnt have to be this way. The coronavirus pandemic seems to have generated an upsurge of solidarity. A number of organizations, such as the One Fair Wage Emergency Fund, the Restaurant Workers Community Foundation, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and the Undocumented Workers Relief Funds, have stepped up to protect informal workers and fill the gaps left by government programs in various U.S. cities. Although the work of these organizations is extremely important, it is not enough. If Americans want to minimize the most pernicious effects of the current crisis and better prepare for future crises, they must expand the social safety net and extend protections to informal workers.

The highly politicized protests to end state-imposed stay-at-home orders in Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, and other states may be intemperate and even reckless, but they reflect deep economic insecurities among middle- and low-income Americans. Unfortunately, these demonstrations attack the wrong target. It is not the lockdowns that have caused economic insecurity but the informalization of the economy that has taken place in recent decades. To build a stronger country and healthier society, the United States must start using its coronavirus relief programs to require and provide greater protections for all working people, formalizing the informal economy by recognizing its significance.

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The Pandemic Exposes Dangers of the Informal Economy - Foreign Affairs Magazine

A persuasive argument can be made that President Donald Trumps most trusted White House confidant is his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. The husband of first daughter Ivanka, Kushner has outlasted almost every presidential appointee except for his wife, who has hung on since Day One.

Recently, the Brookings Institution compiled a White House turnover analysis of Trumps most influential inside advisers, or A team. As of May 1, turnover is 86 percent, with many of the departures labeled as resigned under pressure.

More difficult to measure, Brookings admitted, is Cabinet turnover. Case in point, Nikki Haley was upgraded from U.N. ambassador to the Cabinet. After she resigned, her Cabinet post evaporated.

Despite the confusion associated with tracking the inner circles comings and goings, Brookings concluded, Trumps Cabinet turnover rate is record setting.

Throughout the turmoil, though, Kushner remains on the Cabinet. In January 2017 when Trump named Ivanka and Jared as advisers, his base wondered what possible good could come from adding family to the White House team. Little did the questioning base know theyd be poster children and proponents for high immigration, the equal of any congressional Democrat.

Well-placed Washington insiders reported that Kushner, who has a long history of immigration advocacy, was the loudest voice in the pushback against Trumps April 22 executive order to temporarily suspend immigration.

Globalist Kushner, sources said, immediately objected to the order and led an internal battle over the suspension. He quickly became one of the loudest voices pushing back on a full ban, and sought to carve out exemptions for refugees, temporary workers under the H-1B visa program, and farmworkers under the H-2A visa program.

Only a couple of weeks have passed since Kushner highjacked his boss original, more restrictive immigration order, and in that brief period the jobs landscape has dramatically worsened. The question is no longer When will the economy restart? or When will the 36 million unemployed creep back into the labor force?

The new reality is as long as the status quo remains, many companies will declare bankruptcy, their employees will be set adrift, and those individuals may eventually have to file for personal bankruptcy.

J. Crew was the first of the major embattled retailers to file bankruptcy, with 15,000 on its payroll. Neiman Marcus, with its 13,500 employees, quickly followed, and others on the brink include JCPenney and Rite Aid.

The Walt Disney Company, with its theme park, cruise line and entertainment businesses hammered, has lost one-third of its market value. It hopes to recoup $80 billion through a debt offering, but Wall Street analysts peg the company, with its 223,000 employees, at a 41 percent chance of going bankrupt.

While some failing companies have been teetering for years, the COVID-19 pandemic has landed the knockout punch. Their employees must now depend on slow-to-arrive unemployment insurance checks.

The longer this lockdown persists, the less the need for employment-based immigration. As the June 23 deadline for Trumps executive order nears, he can either listen to Kushner echo Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumers come one, come all immigration dream, or he can bury the hatchet and listen to his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

Sessions has said that the United States has no jobs, and will lay off more people this week than last week. Hes chided his old congressional colleagues for ignoring the interest of the American people. Its (high immigration) in the interest of their (Congress) corporate friends and some ideology that they adhere to.

Instinctively, Trump knows importing foreign labor during this economic implosion is folly, but he needs the political courage to act on his common-sense predisposition. Hes been reluctant to do that and come November, he may regret his waffling.

Joe Guzzardi is an analyst and researcher with Progressives for Immigration Reform who now lives in Pittsburgh. He can be reached at [emailprotected], or follow him on Twitter: @joeguzzardi19. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.

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Joe Guzzardi: As Unemployment and Bankruptcies Grow, Donald Trump Still Listening to Wrong Guy - Noozhawk