LEGAL DEPT. and Paralegal Opportunities
Colorado attorneys Rhonda Y. Ntepp, Esq. and Patrick Gillette have joined the Legal Department of Institute for People with Criminal Records, as General Counsel.
The Institute’s Legal Department serves the Institute’s legal needs, the needs exclusively of people with criminal records as clients, and will train select felons and probationers as paralegals. Pat Gillette will also assist the Institute in our public policy lobbying and advocacy work.
REPRESENTATIVE CASES AND CLIENTS
PARDONS
Seeking a state pardon from a misdemeanor child abuse charge resulting from the client having smacked his son for sticking his hand up his grammar school teacher’s dress.
Seeking a state pardon for a 60-year old client with a one-time 30 year-old drug possession charge.
FAILURE TO HONOR GOVERNOR’S PARDON
Despite a fully disclosed criminal background and pardon from the Governor, after admitting our client and taking her money, the graduate counseling program Dean is questioning our client’s moral character based on her criminal background and refusing to advance her to practicum.
Claims: Title IX Civil Rights / Hostile Environment and common law breach of contract
FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE & TREAT INCARCERATED VET’S PTSD
We are seeking to move an incarcerated decorated veteran with concurrent state and federal charges from the state penitentiary, which refused to treat his PTSD, to a federal facility, where he can receive proper medical care for PTSD.
Claims: medical malpractice and civil rights claims
FAILURE TO REMOVE FALSE CHILD ABUSE AND INCARCERATION ACCUSATION FROM STATE WEBSITE
Our client is falsely accused on its website by the State of Florida of having been incarcerated for child abuse. Our client has never been incarcerated or convicted of child abuse, yet the State of Florida refuses to remove and retract this false information.
Claims: Mandamus, defamation, and civil rights.
CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE BY PAROLEES
On behalf of our client and all parolees in the subject state, we are challenging the constitutionality of a state administrative regulation purporting to restrict all parolees’ right to enter into any contract without state approval.
AMICUS BRIEFS
Inmate Rights: With the Illinois Supreme Court’s agreement, we opposed the Illinois Dept. of Corrections’ efforts to garnish inmate wages at 100%.
Licensee Rights: We will be challenging the constitutionality of a state regulation that retroactively imposed a lifetime ban on a mortgage brokers’ with criminal convictions for dishonesty ever again to obtain further licenses, despite that the state had known of our client’s conviction and repeatedly licensed her for many years previously having found her rehabilitated.
Felon Paralegals
The notion of legal clinics for people with criminal records, staffed in part by felons and probationers who learn to work as and become paralegals who serve the needs of this vulnerable community, is inspired by the work of the Open Society Institute and their study and development of community paralegal clinics for vulnerable communities.
Did you know a felon can work as a paralegal? Here’s the ABA definition of legal assistant/paralegal:
“A legal assistant or paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.”
This means that in most states a person can begin working as a paralegal, essentially as an apprentice.
Interested in paralegal work and training? Contact Professor Ntepp: Rhonda.Ntepp@gmail.com
