Public interest law is a diverse, challenging, inspiring and rigorous practice. The work of public interest lawyers includes a broad spectrum of responsibilities and clients. To answer the question, "what is public interest law?," we can start by examining the many practice settings where public interest lawyers work. For the purposes of this handout, public interest is defined separately from government work.
PUBLIC INTEREST SETTINGS
Public Interest Organizations
Public Interest Organizations were formed to promote the public interest (as
opposed to special interests) in areas such as consumer protection, environmental
law, civil rights, and government accountability. They often hire lawyers who
are charged with the responsibility of law reform. Activities can include litigating,
drafting legislation and agency rules and regulations to accomplish policy goals,
lobbying and monitoring the legislature, building political coalitions, researching
and publishing reports, and public education of citizens.
Public Interest Litigation Organizations
These are policy oriented organizations that use class action law suits and
to protect legal rights or bring about social or systemic change. The litigation
agenda is usually not determined by an individual client's needs. Responsibilities
may also include activities related to legislative and administrative reform
such as advocacy, lobbying and education. Examples of this type of organization
include the Conservation Law Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Public Interest Advocacy Organizations
These are policy oriented organizations that primarily use means other than
litigation to effect change. Each organization generally focuses on specific
areas of public policy and law reform issues. Activities can include organizing,
researching and policy, acting as a watchdog agency, writing amicus court briefs.
Examples include the Public Interest Research Groups and Common Cause.
Legal Services Programs
Legal Services Programs seek to represent those people or groups of people who
could not otherwise afford legal counsel. The areas of law most commonly practiced
are civil matters including housing, family law, government benefits, debtor-creditor
and immigration law.
Some Legal Services Programs receive funding from a variety of sources, including the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation and the federal Legal Services Corporation, serving only low-income clients. Other law offices that concentrate on larger systemic legal problems of the poor are not restricted to representing indigent clients in purely civil matters. Legal service attorneys get extensive trial work and may also be responsible for community education, and legislative lobbying.
Private Public Interest Law Firms
Private Public Interest Law Firms are generally small private practice
law firms that concentrate on representing individuals on issues such as employment
discrimination, civil rights, housing and environmental law. Their clients can
range from criminal defendants, citizen environmental groups or plaintiffs in
tort claims, such as injured persons from defective products. Another type of
practice involves the growing field of community economic development.
Public Defender Offices
Public Defender Offices hire attorneys to provide criminal defense
for indigent clients. These offices offer excellent opportunities for immediate
courtroom experience. In Massachusetts, the Committee for Public Counsel (CPCS)
is a state agency created to provide legal representation to indigent criminal
defendants and in certain civil matters where the state is obligated to provide
counsel.
International Public Interest Law
International Public Interest Law is a growing field of interest. The largest
number of lawyers are either working for international organizations, such as
the United Nations, or human rights organizations in the U.S. or abroad, such
as Amnesty International. The focus of such work can range from criminal defense
to an analysis of new comprehensive treaties on civil and political rights.
Opportunities for full-time employment remain few. Students are advised to gain
some international experience as well as fluency in at least one foreign language.
Firms Sponsoring Split Public Interest Summers
Several law firms have instituted programs that enable law students
to work part of the summer with the firm and part of the summer with a public
interest organization, with the firm paying the students' salaries for the entire
summer. More ...
THE PUBLIC INTEREST JOB SEARCH
The timing and hiring process for public interest positions can be as varied as the many types of organizations. Unlike large law firms, most public interest organizations cannot make permanent job offers a year in advance of employment. Most public interest employers make offers much closer to the actual employment date such as in the late Spring or Summer. For Summer internship positions, the process usually begins in the late Fall and continues through the Spring. There are some important exceptions to this rule, such as the larger Public Defender Offices and post-graduate Fellowship Opportunities (see Career Services Handout on Fellowships) which have early Fall deadlines.
Many public interest organizations participate in the two public interest/government recruitment programs that are held each year in Boston for BC Law students. One is held at Boston College Law School in October. The other will be held at Suffolk Law School in early January. Many employers who participate in these two recruitment programs prefer to have students contact them directly and do not come on campus to interview. This list of employers will be posted in Symplicity.
A national public interest job fair sponsored by Equal Justice Works (EJW) is also held each year in DC. It is usually held in October.. Hundreds of employers participate, primarily for summer internships. The Career Services Office will have a list of participating employers and students must contact the employers directly to schedule an interview.
Throughout the year, many public interest employers will contact the Career Services regarding both summer internships and permanent placements. Such job posting are all listed in Symplicity.
Students can also access the PSLawNet database, located at www.PSLawNet.org. PSLawNet is a national database of public service opportunities both nationwide and international for law students. Such placements include term-time opportunities as well as summer internships and some permanent job opportunities.
Targeting Employers
Students must take an active role in identifying potential employers
and often must initiate the contact with the employer, particularly for
permanent placements. The student usually initiates the contact with a cover
letter and a resume.
An essential step in the public interest job search is developing a list of potential employers in which the student is interested. One of the most effective tools for developing this list, as well as identifying job opportunities, is the networking and informational interviewing process.
Networking is the process of contacting the people you know to help gather information and develop employment contacts. Your network can consist of present and former employers and colleagues, alumni of the Law School, and professors. Rather than advertising openings, employers often prefer to hire someone who has worked for them during the summer or as part of a clinical program, or who was referred by a colleague.
Prior experience and commitment to public interest work is one of the most important qualifications for the job search. Commitment can be demonstrated in many ways: summer internships, clinical courses, term-time volunteer work, public interest law journals and active roles in public interest related student groups. For example, the Public Defender Offices are usually receptive to hiring recent graduates who have had criminal trial practice or spent a summer working at a public defender office.
FINANCING A PUBLIC INTEREST CAREER
Boston College Law School offers a variety of funding programs for law students who wish to work in the public interest/public sector during the summer. There are also scholarship and loan assistance programs to make it more financially possible to enter public interest law.
The Summer Funding Brochure, available in the Career Services Office, provides details about eligibility, timing and application procedures for the following programs: Federal Work-Study, Publication Trust Fund Stipends, Holocaust/Human Rights Program Stipends and the Public Interest Law Foundation Stipends.
The Drinan Family Fund in Support of Public Interest Law is a loan assistance award of $10,000 given to a third year student pursuing a career in public interest law with a particular interest in child advocacy, landlord/tenant issues, criminal defense or criminal prosecution. The award is renewable for an additional year.
The Champy Fellowship Fund provides an $11,000 scholarship for the third year of law school to a student who has demonstrated a commitment to pursuing a public interest career. Students apply in their second year.
The Edward T. Bigham III scholarship provides a third year student who intends to pursue a career as a district attorney with a $4,000 scholarship.
The David H. and Mary Murphy Posner, Robert S. Pitcoff and Keefe family scholarships provides $4,000 scholarships each to third-year students pursuing a career in the public sector.
The Willier Program provides Loan Repayment Assistance to help graduates who practice public interest law with educational debt.
Several national funding sources are also available to law students for summer public interest work. Examples of the more popular funding sources include the Massachusetts Bar Foundation Program for work which involves direct civil legal services to the poor in Massachusetts.
For further information or assistance in any of these matters, make an appointment with Freda Fishman, Associate Director for Public Interest Programs.
Best Resource Materials for Legal Services / Public Interest:
· Directory of Legal Aid and Defender Offices in the United States,
also available on LEXIS.
· Boston College Law School Directory of Massachusetts Government
Agencies and Public Interest Organizations.
· Public Interest Job Search Guide, Harvard Law School.
· Yale Fellowships Guide.
· Lawful Pursuit: Careers in Public Interest Law, ABA (1995).
· Alumni Career Network, database of Alumni from BC Law who have
volunteered to speak with students about their careers.
· Public Service and International Law: A Guide to Professional Opportunities
in the United States and Abroad, Yale Law School (1998).
· PSLawNet located at www.PSLawNet.org. PSLawNet is a database of public
service opportunities nationwide and international. These placements include
term time opportunities, summer internships and permanent positions.
· BC Law Public Interest Summer Employment Questionnaires Notebook.
· A web site for general information and a list of job opportunities
in public interest law is the Equal Justice Network at www.equaljustice.org/jobs/jobschrono.
· See also www.idealist.org for jobs in the nonprofit sector.
· See www.pirg.org/jobs/experienced for opportunities with the
Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) and PIRG-related organizations.
· See www.law.umich.edu/academic/opsp/jobsalert which lists public
interest jobs.
· For summer internships in adoption law, there is the new web site for
the Dave Thomas Center for Adoption Law at www.law.capital.edu/adoption.
· See www.napil.org for information about the Equal Justice Works
with excellent links to a wide variety of public interest information.
· Several organizations have their own websites such as the American
Civil Liberties Union at www.aclu.org.
· The National Legal Aid and Defender Association's web site is www.nlada.org.
This includes a directory of all offices and a listing of job opportunities.
