Can You Tell Me How to Get to Washington? (Sam’s Final Answer)
The PSJD Fellowship: Not just a thing you could do, but a place you could be…
I know you all haven’t heard from me in a while. This February I spent a lot of time away from the office, travelling to various schools to talk to students about how to get the most out of PSJD. (I really love that part of this job; it’s fulfilling to meet the people who are relying on PSJD’s services to help them get out of school to do great work in the public interest legal world.) At the end of many of these presentations, I opened the floor up to general questions people might have about how I’m approaching my own career search or other topics they might have initially thought were too personal.
A number of students across several campuses asked me variations on the same basic theme: “How do I find work for myself in Washington DC?” It’s a good question (there are many, many opportunities here for public interest lawyers), and I’m a good guy to ask (PSJD’s based here, after all). I answered each variation on this question as students asked them, but in hindsight I realize that I neglected to mention a potentially helpful strategy for law students trying to relocate to DC after graduation: the PSJD Fellowship itself.
Those of you that follow this blog know that I wrote about the 2015-2016 PSJD Fellowship back in January. To recap, this position (my current job) is a great opportunity for graduating law students with an interest in helping us help you. But there’s another way to look at it: if your background or your current interests make you a good candidate for the PSJD Fellowship, the PSJD Fellowship is a good way for you to relocate to Washington DC and embed yourself in the public interest community here. I went to school just a few metro stops away, but several of my predecessors moved here from various other legal markets and then into other employment in DC when their fellowship year was up.
Not everyone can do this job, and not everyone would want to. But, if you read the job post and feel you might be a good fit, it’s worth remembering that the PSJD Fellowship isn’t just a thing you could do—it’s a place you could be.
If you’re interested, though, act fast—the last day to apply is this Friday, March 6th 2015.