This one’s for any law students working in Washington, D.C. over the summer who may still be looking for a way to help fund their summer public interest work or clerkship.

PSJD is looking for part-time Project Assistants to help us manage and update the website’s jobs database. PSJD’s Project Assistants get a bird’s-eye view of the public interest law job market, and is a great summer job for any student interested in legal technology, website management, access to justice and/or public interest law in general.

Project Assistants are paid $13/hour for a minimum of 8-10 hours per week. The deadline to apply is April 15, 2013. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

If you’re interested in working for the federal government, the 2012-13 Federal Legal Employment Opportunities Guide (with the unfortunate acronym  of “FLEOG”) is a good place to start.

The Guide offers a broad-based review of different career opportunities and paths to federal employment for law students and graduates. With tips on everything from the application process to looking for the ideal position, the Guide makes applying for federal jobs much less overwhelming.

When you’re done with the Guide, there’s even more helpful resources on PSJD’s Careers in Federal Government page. If you’re looking for information on working at any level of government practice – local, state, and/or federal – our Government Careers page contains a list of guides and links, including a state-by-state list of resources.

If you’re looking for government jobs and internships, log in or register on PSJD.org (it’s free for law students and alum!) and run an advanced search for  job postings in the Government/Regulatory Affairs practice area. Happy job hunting!

From the PSJD job posting:

Are you a recently admitted lawyer interested in obtaining the skills and resources necessary to build an innovative and successful law practice? Are you interested in making a positive impact on your community as a social entrepreneur? The Justice Entrepreneurs Project (JEP) is seeking its inaugural class of lawyers. The JEP will foster the development of practices providing affordable legal services to low and moderate-income people and small businesses who find it difficult to obtain such help. Additional information about the JEP, including the JEP’s mission and goals, is available at www.chicagobarfoundation.org/jep.

This 18-month program is broken into three 6-month modules. The inaugural class will begin in June 2013. The program is designed to help participants develop their ability to provide competent representation (including knowing when they need to refer or co-counsel a case) and to run a successful law practice. During the first module, participants will perform pro bono service for approximately 20 hours per week with partner legal aid organizations. At the same time, participants will receive training, workshops and coaching on business and other issues needed to start a solo/small practice. Participants will establish their own independent practices, begin handling cases in areas traditionally needed by modest income clients and charge reasonable fees for their services. During the second module, participants will develop a fuller caseload and will continue to receive training, mentoring and coaching on business and legal issues. As participants move into the third module, they will continue to develop a fuller caseload but will also prepare to move their practice out of the JEP and will focus more on marketing and business development issues. Participants will pay a modest monthly participation fee during the second and third modules.

About the JEP Participants

JEP is seeking lawyers who are:
• Dedicated to establishing a long-term practice serving the legal needs of low and moderate-income individuals and small businesses
• Committed to access to justice and using the practice of law to enrich the lives of clients and build better communities
• Interested in using technology and innovation to explore new ways of providing cost-effective legal services
• Interested in social entrepreneurship
• Excited to explore new ideas about problem-solving taking a collaborative approach with other program lawyers, leaders in the legal profession and the community, and your clients.

Sounds like you? The deadline to apply is April 5, 2013. For more information, view the full job description at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Law school debt affects many elements of an attorney’s professional career, from the selection of a post-graduate employer to stressing about repayment options. Lack of proper debt management can have a wide range of consequences, not only on law graduates but on the public service organizations that employ them. As legal aid groups and non-profits face a dearth of available positions and the threat of funding cuts, it’s becoming more and more important to stay financially literate so your employees can afford to be advocates for marginalized communities.

For this reason, NALP has engaged Heather Jarvis to serve as our student debt expert to provide members with information, best practices and professional insight related to educational debt and repayment options for law students and graduates. Next Tuesday, March 12 at 2:00 pm she’ll be leading the webinar Recruit and Retain the Best and Brightest in Spite of Their Student Loan Debt: NALP’s Step-by-Step Guide for Public Service Employers.

If you are a public interest employer, please respond to this brief survey to help Heather Jarvis tailor her efforts to your needs!

Want to spend your summer working at the greatest place on earth? No, it’s not the circus or Disneyworld, but it’s pretty close (in certain circles): work with us here at NALP and PSJD! If you’re looking for full-time summer employment, we’re hiring a Public Interest Projects & Publications Coordinator to help us edit and produce public interest law guides, in addition to managing social media content.

Here’s more information from the PSJD job posting:

NALP seeks a law or graduate student to work full-time this summer as its Public Interest Projects & Publications Coordinator. The coordinator’s primary responsibilities are threefold:

1. editing and producing the 2013 PSJD Comprehensive Fellowship Guide;
2. developing original content for the PSJD website and blog; and
3. contributing to the 2013-14 PSJD Federal Legal Employment Opportunities Guide’s production.

The employment period is approximately 10 weeks and includes a $675 per week stipend. The position is ideal for a law or graduate student who has editing/publishing experience and is interested in public interest law and/or nonprofit administration. The coordinator serves as an integral part of the PSJD team, which has two full-time employees.

NALP is a nonprofit member association of law schools and legal employers. NALP is dedicated to facilitating legal career counseling and planning, recruitment and retention, and the professional development of law students and lawyers. NALP houses and administers PSJD, an online public interest job database and career center for law students and attorneys. PSJD contains listings of several hundred postgraduate public interest fellowships which are offered in the U.S. and abroad. Every year, this information is collected from the website and published in hard-copy form as The PSJD Comprehensive Fellowship Guide. The coordinator plays the lead role in the guide’s annual update, along with making original contributions to other PSJD online content and publications.

Specific responsibilities associated with the coordinator position include:

• Research and update all PSJD online fellowship listings for use in the hard-copy guide. This is accomplished through email and phone outreach to employer organizations.
• Search for new fellowship listings to be added to the guide.
• Edit content and layout for publication.
• Aggregate resources and produce original content for NALP’s annually published Federal Legal Employment Opportunities Guide.
• Aggregate resources and produce original content for the PSJD website and blog.
• Other tasks as assigned.

The deadline to apply is this Friday, March 8, 2013, so don’t hesitate to apply! For application instructions and more important information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Practicing public interest law can sometimes be a thankless job, so celebrate your favorite public interest lawyer by nominating them for Stanford Law School’s National Public Service Award!

Every year, Stanford Law honors an attorney who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public service and social justice in his/her career. They are looking for nominees who are leaders in their field, who embody the tradition of public service that Stanford Law seeks to develop in their own students. Nominees, however, don’t have to actually be Stanford Law School alumni. The award is open to all lawyers who are engaged in public interest or public service work, including litigation, education or advocacy in the non-profit and government sectors. Stanford Law welcomes nominations from everyone, including younger attorneys who have significantly advanced social justice in the past year.

The award is presented at the Annual Public Service Awards Dinner, taking place this fall. Past recipients include the Honorable Patricia M. Wald, for her lifetime of public service; Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. for his lifetime of public service; Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative; Debo P. Adegbile, the Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; and Shannon Price Minter, the Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

The nomination deadline is April 1, 2013.  More details are available online at the Stanford Law School Awards & Fellowships page.

Did you know that postgraduate fellowships are one of the best ways for recent law graduates to lay a strong foundation for a public interest law career? These fellowships allow recent law graduates to secure entry-level jobs with organizations that serve marginalized or vulnerable client populations, while gaining a entire network of like-minded colleagues in the public interest legal community.

With that being said, it’s time to gear up and get ready to apply! Our Postgraduate Public Interest Fellowships Application Deadline Calendar offers a running list of deadlines to help you keep track, along with links to the organization’s profile and job description.

The list is always being updated, so check back on a consistent basis for approaching dates. Since the summer/fall is prime-time to apply, be sure to check last year’s deadlines to get a feel for how you might manage your applications in the upcoming months. Good luck!

The Charlottesville, Virginia office of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is currently hiring for an entry level associate attorney position within its Land and Community Program. The attorney will work with SELC for 2 years with the possibility of an extension to a third year.

From the PSJD job posting:

We are seeking a committed and energetic person with strong legal skills to work on a range of land use and transportation issues in Charlottesville and throughout Virginia. This is an excellent opportunity to join an organization that is successfully addressing some of the most important and challenging environmental issues facing the Southeast and the nation.

About SELC and the Land and Community Program: With offices across the region (Charlottesville, VA; Chapel Hill, NC; Atlanta, GA; Asheville, NC; Charleston, SC; Washington, DC; Richmond, VA; Birmingham, AL; and Nashville, TN), SELC uses law and policy expertise to protect the South’s natural resources—its land, air, water, coast and wetlands—and to preserve our rural countryside and community character. Although our regional focus is the Southeast, much of our work is national in scope and impact.
SELC works collaboratively with over 100 national, state, and local groups to enhance their efficacy and achieve our common conservation goals. Our legal and policy staff comprises some of the nation’s leading experts in their respective fields, and over its 27-year history, SELC has earned a reputation as one of the most effective environmental organizations in the country. We currently have a staff of over 100, including 53 attorneys. Additional information regarding our work and staff is available at www.southernenvironment.org.

About the Position: Our Land & Community Program uses legal advocacy, policy reform, and public education to promote smarter growth and more sustainable transportation policies, and we have a special project focusing on land use and transportation issues in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. The associate attorney will work closely with more senior attorneys and policy experts and will have a wide range of legal and policy responsibilities. The work will include legal research and writing, policy analysis and development, attending local government hearings and meetings, public speaking, and coordination with other organizations.

Successful applicants will have outstanding writing, analytic, interpersonal and speaking skills, among other qualities. The salary is $56,000 – 60,000, depending on experience. For more information, view the full job listing at PSJD.org (log-in required).

Did you know PSJD has a section in our Resource Center focused entirely on international careers? Well, we do – and it could help you get started on your journey to making a global impact in public interest law.

For advice on how to start an international development career, the Guide on International Development: Public Service Careers and Opportunities is a good place to begin research. This guide provides real-world accounts on working in the international field, and you can search for employers through a comprehensive directory of international organizations.

If you’re interesting in working with the United Nations, there are great tips in PSJD’s Jobs with the UN & International Organizations: A Brief Guide. Created for NALP/PSJD by the New York University Public Interest Law Center, this guide offers advice on how to pursue a broad array of legal careers on the international stage. Also, you can view a webinar on Landing a Job at the United Nations, presented by Akua Akea, the Director of Public Interest Advising at Yale Law, and Sara Rakita, Associate Director of NYU Law School’s Public Interest Law Center.

Last, but certainly not least, you have to figure out a way to fund your work abroad! For help with financing an international public interest position, check out the “Finding and Funding International Public Interest Opportunities” page. This guide proves useful background info and recommendations for students and attorneys embarking on international public interest careers.