Farmworker Justice, a nonprofit serving migrant and seasonal farmworkers across the country, is looking for a Fellow to support their work on health, labor rights and immigration policy. Anyone with a bachelor’s degree can apply, but Farmworker Justice also handles litigation. This would make a great part-time job for any interested law graduate waiting for bar results! From the PSJD job posting:

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From the PSJD job posting:

The Department’s Honors Attorney Program offers new law graduates (and recent law graduates completing judicial clerkships or fellowships) a unique opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the Department’s diverse law practice.

During the two-year program, honors attorneys rotate once in the Department’s Office of the General Counsel and in up to five Chief Counsels’ Offices of the Department’s operating administrations.

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by Kristian Smith, PSJD Summer Projects and Publications Coordinator

This is the second part of a two-part series on Alternative Public Interest Work. Check out “Part One: Can I Do Public Interest Work at a Law Firm?” here!

As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, law firms and public interest work don’t always go hand-in-hand, but there are many ways for law students and lawyers to combine a law-firm setting with public interest work. Though typically smaller than a traditional law firm,  private public interest firms provide a setting similar to that of other law firms while focusing their practice primarily on public interest work.

First things first: What is a private public interest firm?

According to a paper written by Scott L. Cummings of UCLA School of Law and Ann Southworth of University of California, Irvine School of Law, the term private public interest law firm refers to a range of “hybrid” entities that fuse private and public goals. The paper defines private public interest firms as “for-profit legal practices structured around service to some vision of the public interest. They are organized as for-profit entities, but advancing the public interest is one of their primary purposes—a core mission rather than a secondary concern.” Harvard Law School, which produces a Private Public Interest Law Firms guide in coordination with Columbia School of Law, similarly defines private public interest firms in the guide as “private, for-profit firms that dedicate at least a significant portion of their caseload to matters that have some broad social, political, or economic impact.”

Private public interest firms can be the perfect blend of the public interest work of non-profits and the resources of large law firms because, according to Cummings and Southworth’s paper, private public interest firms can take on large-scale social change litigation that non-profits can’t pursue because of resource limits and big-firm pro bono programs won’t take on because of business conflicts.

But not every private public interest firm is the same. Some firms focus solely on public interest issues and take on only no-fee or reduced-fee clients while others also take on plaintiff’s torts cases for funding. While civil rights and employment law are the most popular practice areas for private public interest firms, some firms specialize in other areas, such as environmental law. Most of these firms take on a large range of cases – from discrimination, housing and voting rights, to consumer protection, human rights, and plaintiff class action suits. These firms may also represent a wide range of clients, including individuals, nonprofits and community groups. Some examples of these firms include Traber & Voorhees, Chatten-Brown & Carstens, and Miner, Barnhill & Galland (where President Obama practiced!).

How to Get Hired

It may be more difficult to find jobs at these types of firms than at traditional firms due to their smaller size, but many of these firms still hire summer associates and entry-level attorneys. Some firms, such as Bernabei & Wachtel, also offer fellowships as a way to hire new attorneys. For a comprehensive list of public interest firms and their hiring practices, check out Harvard and Columbia’s private public interest firms guide.

From the PSJD job posting:

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington seeks a full-time attorney for its Hogar Immigrant Services program. Hogar Immigrant Services offers a wide range of services at little or no cost to a vulnerable immigrant population, without regard to religious or ethnic identity. Our goal is for immigrants to achieve self-sufficiency and participate fully as productive members of American society.

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From the PSJD job posting:

Every year, the Office of the Solicitor General accepts applications for one-year Bristow fellowships.  Bristow Fellows assist OSG attorneys in drafting briefs in opposition to certiorari filed against the government in the Supreme Court of the United States, preparing petitions for certiorari and briefs on the merits in Supreme Court cases, preparing recommendations to the Solicitor General regarding authorization of government appeals in the lower courts, and assisting in the preparation of oral arguments in the Supreme Court.  OSG usually selects four Bristow fellows each year.

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From the PSJD job posting:

With generous funding support from the John T. Gorman Foundation, Pine Tree announces the availability of a two-year attorney fellowship position, starting September 2013.   The position is intended for an attorney with less than 3 years of experience (including clerkships). The fellowship will be housed within Pine Tree’s KIDS LEGAL project and will focus on advocacy, training and outreach specific to the educational needs of low-income youth in public high schools, with the goal of helping them better prepare for successful adulthood.  The position can be housed in any one of the following Pine Tree offices: Lewiston, Augusta, Bangor, Machias or Presque Isle. (The Portland office does not have space to accommodate the position.)  Read the rest of this entry »

by Ashley Matthews, PSJD Fellow

The Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project focuses on protecting the rights of the largest group of small business owners in New York City: the 10,000+ retailers that struggle to make ends meet by selling everything from hot dogs to books on the streets of the Big Apple. Most street vendors are recent immigrants and people of color who are vulnerable to discrimination despite being hardworking entrepreneurs.

The Street Vendor Project is on the front lines to change the NYC system of oppression and provide access to legal services for street vendors. Want to join them? Read on to see their job description from PSJD.org:

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by Kristian Smith, PSJD Summer Projects and Publications Coordinator

This article is part one of a two part series about alternative public interest work. Check back next week for Part Two: Private Public Interest Firms.

When many law students and new lawyers are beginning to plan for their careers, they usually have to make a choice between working at a law firm or practicing public interest work. While law firms and public interest work are typically viewed as mutually exclusive, there are many ways for law students and new lawyers to do public interest work while still gaining training and experience at a law firm.

Many large, traditional law firms now have opportunities for attorneys to work on public interest projects while still receiving the training and resources that come along with large firms. With OCI and summer associate hiring fast-approaching, this is something for law students to keep in mind when looking for jobs.

Erica Knievel Songer, an associate at Hogan Lovells, has had a unique experience as a law-firm associate who has been able to spend much of her time at the firm working solely on pro bono projects. Songer said that Hogan’s pro bono practice has a rotation process for junior and senior attorneys to work solely on public interest work for a year at a time.  She said that she has been able to work on many different types of cases – from housing to voting rights – and that her firm encourages all attorneys to practice pro bono work. She said that doing public interest work at a law firm, as opposed to a non-profit or legal services agency, provides a wealth of resources that make it easier to make a difference in the lives of others.

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by Ashley Matthews, PSJD Fellow

Post-graduate fellowship application season has officially begun!

The 2014 Equal Justice Works Fellowship Application opened yesterday, kick-starting the search for innovative public interest law projects that help close the American justice gap and provide legal assistance to those in need. Applications will close on September 17, 2013.

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From the PSJD job posting:

Law students graduating in 2014 are invited to apply for a two-year juvenile indigent defense fellowship at National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) in Washington, D.C. starting in September 2014.

The Gault Fellowship is named for Gerald Gault, the juvenile petitioner in the seminal U.S. Supreme Court case In re Gault. The Gault decision extended many of the same due process protections afforded adults accused of crimes, including the right to counsel, to juveniles. Gerald is still active in the juvenile justice community and serves as an honorary board member of NJDC.

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