Unlike law
firms, which
typically recruit heavily in the fall, public interest employers may
interview
and select summer interns and new associates at any time during the year. Students seeking a public interest position should not only look at the job notices on the Career Services website, but should also consider directly contacting agencies in which they are interested. Because many agencies have difficulty acquiring funding for their interns, students are encouraged to contact agencies early, so that they can consider other funding sources if the employer is unable to compensate them. In addition, public interest fellowship applications for graduating students often have early deadlines, typically in September, October or November. Full-time public interest positions are not always easy to find, but students who persist will usually be able to find a position that they will enjoy. Sections: Career Search (Summer & Full-time) Internet Career Search PSLawNet Equal Justice Works Vault Public Interest Career Fairs Other Sources Public Interest Career Search Schedule for 1Ls Public Interest Career Search Schedule for 2Ls Public Interest Career Search Schedule for 3Ls Sample Resumes Jump to page: 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Back to Table of Contents |
Career Search (Summer & Full-time) Due to the scarcity of paid legal positions for law students after their first year of law school, many students participate in externships to gain credit while they obtain legal work experience. In addition, many students also work in public interest the summer after their second year or even after their third year while they prepare for the bar exam. Students interested in public interest work must understand that they will have to work harder to find a job than those students who obtain employment through the Fall and Spring On-Campus Interviewing Program where students simply drop their resume with employers of interest. Because public interest employers are often unable to devote any of their funds to recruitment, students will have to do considerable work on their own to identify public interest organizations that meet their needs and often have to do most of the work to get a job with that organization. Students can focus their search on different types of public interest law and/or different geographical regions. For example, New York and Washington, D.C. are home to a number of national public interest organizations, and students who are interested in policy-making/lobbying organizations may want to look closely at the opportunities in those areas. Internet Career Search The Internet has made the summer job search much easier, but students should remember that not all public interest employers have the time or resources to maintain a website with information on their organization or programs. The Law School is a member of both PSLawNet and Equal Justice Works, and students can take advantage of the resources provided by either or both organizations. The extensive online databases of public interest employers maintained by these two groups are a valuable resource to students. Because of the law school’s membership, these services are available free of charge to our students. The law school also has access to Vault, an online career library. Vault does not focus on, but does include, substantial information about public interest careers. Students experiencing any difficulty accessing any of these services should contact Debbi Myers in the Career Services Office. PSLawNet PSLawNet, the Public Service Law Network Worldwide, is a network of 150 member law schools across the country and more than 12,000 law-related public interest organizations in the United States and around the world. Through its online database, PSLawNet provides a comprehensive clearinghouse of public interest opportunities for law students. BYU law students can perform customized searches of several thousand public interest opportunities around the world, ranging from short-term volunteer and paid internships to post-graduate jobs, fellowships, and pro bono opportunities. 33
|
| Students using
PSLawNet to
conduct career research can search
organizations by the area of law they are interested in, the type of
organization they are interested in, and the geographical location of
their choice. When searching by area of law, students may choose from
over fifty areas of law ranging from AIDS/HIV issues to child/youth
law. Searching by type of organization also allows students to focus
their search by choosing from Non-Profit, Business/Corporation,
Government, Educational Organization, Judge/Judiciary, Law Firm, Law
Firm–Public Interest Focus, Legal Aid/Advocacy, Professional
Association, and Search/Placement Service. In addition to searching by organization, law students can also search current job opportunities by job type, schedule type, area of law, and geographical location. Students interested in public interest employment should search by both organization and opportunities. PSLawNet also offers students helpful information on summer funding possibilities by providing a list of summer funding sources nationwide. Students are given the option of posting a resume on the PSLawNet site; these resumes are then available for review by potential employers. The PSLawNet site is at www.pslawnet.org. Registration is required to use the database, but BYU law students can register free of charge. The only personal information the site requests is your email address. Equal Justice Works Equal Justice Works organizes, trains, and supports public service-minded law students. It is also the national leader in creating summer and postgraduate public interest jobs. Each year, Equal Justice Works offers job opportunities through: • its annual public interest career fair and conference that draws employers and speakers from around the country • Summer Corps, a program that provides educational vouchers of $1000 each to 250 students each year for qualifying public interest internships • the Pro Bono Legal Corps, where attorneys work with law students to create pro bono opportunities • Travel Assistance Grant Benefits, which provide students with financial assistance to attend Equal Justice Works events • a Fellowship program that allows at least fifty attorneys or graduating law students to each design a two-year dream job |
Furthermore, Equal Justice Works
offers access to members-only content,
including "how to" manuals, a national public interest events calendar,
and discussion boards. Because the law school is a member of
Equal Justice Works, its students can access that content. The Equal Justice Works website is at www.equaljusticeworks.org. To access the members-only content, you will need to specify the law school you attend and that school’s password. You can get the password from Debbi Myers in the CSO, or you can submit a request on the website for Equal Justice Works to send you the password. Vault Vault maintains an online career library which includes multiple legal career guides. Although the majority of the guides provided by Vault focus on private legal practice, there are guides that are useful to students interested in public interest/service. Students interested in working for well known public interest employers should consult the Vault Guide to Government and Non-Profit Legal Employers. The organizations highlighted in this guide include the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Legal Aid Society of New York, and the Vera Institute of Justice among others. In addition to general information about each organization, this guide also includes specific advice about how to get hired at each organization. Students who plan to work in private legal practice, but are still interested in actively providing pro bono services, should consult the Vault Guide to Law Firm Pro Bono Programs. This guide provides information on the pro bono programs of over ninety law firms. In addition to the information provided regarding the pro bono programs at each firm, the guide also provides real anonymous commentary from associates at each firm. BYU law students can access the Vault content at www.vault.com/cb/careerlib/careerlib_main.jsp?parrefer=2027. That site will ask for an email address and will then send an email containing a password that will work for twenty-four hours. There is no limit on the number of times a twenty-four hour password can be obtained. |
Public Interest Career Fairs Students should also consider attending one or more of the public interest career fairs held throughout the country. BYU students have attended three major public interest career fairs in the past. These include the Equal Justice Works Career Fair held in Washington, D.C. during October of each year, the Rocky Mountain Government/Public Interest Career Fair held in varying locations in February of each year, and the Northwest Consortium’s Public Service Career Fair held in Washington and/or Oregon during February of each year. The Equal Justice Works Career Fair and Conference is held each year in late October in Washington, D.C. The fair is sponsored and hosted by Equal Justice Works, and the location is usually a hotel equipped for large conferences. Well over a hundred employers attend each year; usually a few are government employers, but nearly all are public interest organizations. It is the largest public interest career fair in the nation, and students from all over the country attend. More information (including a searchable list of employers that have attended in the past or are planning to attend this year) is available online at www.equaljusticeworks.org/careerfair/dsp_start.php. The Rocky Mountain Public Service Career fair is sponsored by the law schools at the following universities: BYU, Arizona State, University of Arizona, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Denver, University of New Mexico, University of Utah, and University of Wyoming. This career fair is hosted each year in February by a different one of those schools, so the location is different each year. The fair in February 2006 will be hosted by the University of Denver. In recent years, the employers at this career fair have been predominantly government employers, but that is likely to vary by location. The Northwest Public Service Career Fair is sponsored by the law schools at the following universities: BYU, Gonzaga University, Lewis & Clark, Seattle University, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of Idaho, University of Oregon, University of Utah, University of Washington, and Willamette University. In the past, this career fair has been hosted each year in February by one of the member schools in Washington or Oregon. In February 2006 and possibly in the future, the fair will be held one day in Oregon and the next day in Washington. This fair offers numerous opportunities for students to learn about, make contact with, and interview with a mix of government agencies, public interest employers, and public service employers. More information is available online at www.lclark.edu/org/pifair/. |
There are also non-profit and
public interest career fairs that are not
limited to traditional legal work. Idealist.org
is an organization that
hosts this type of career fair in different places
across the United States. Other Sources The Career Services Office maintains a list of public interest organizations that is available in electronic format on the CSO Public Interest Website and in hard copy in the Career Services Office. Several other law schools also maintain lists of public interest organizations and provide links to those organizations. Many of these links are also available from the CSO Public Interest Website. There are also public interest oriented sites that post job listings and other opportunities for public interest work. Students should be creative in their public interest job search. Another way to find the right organization is to follow the news related to a certain area of law and see who the news agencies are quoting, as it is often the spokesperson of a public interest organization. Students may also want to contact local attorneys, in the area they want to work, to find public interest opportunities. All state bars and many local bar associations have pro bono or public interest sections and the people in these groups may be able to help students in their search. In addition, students may be able to use the J. Reuben Clark Law Society Advising Network at www.law2.byu.edu/career_services/AdvisingNetwork.htm to contact attorneys in any geographical area of interest (the password is available in the CSO). |
| Task |
Timeframe |
|
| □ | Consider getting involved with PILF (join, or participate in activities) | All year |
| □ | Complete the self-evaluation exercises in CSO Professional Development Handbook to help decide what type of public interest job you want | August – October |
| □ | Browse the members-only content on the Equal Justice Works website to learn more about public interest law and the opportunities available | August – October |
| □ | Make a budget and start living by it. Estimate a post-school budget and use it to estimate your target salary range. | August – October |
| □ | Register with PSLawNet.org to enable yourself to search their online database of public service organizations | September |
| □ | Make a list of the areas of public interest law that interest you and a list of the geographical areas that interest you | September - October |
| □ | Meet with Debbi Myers or the Student Public Interest Coordinator for public interest counseling | September - October |
| □ | Conduct a focused summer externship search using the resources outlined in the Public Interest Handbook and on the CSO Public Interest website | September – October |
| □ | Attend the PILF Auction meeting to find out what the requirements are to obtain a PILF scholarship for the summer | October |
| □ | Consider attending the Equal Justice Works Career Fair to meet with people from public interest organizations (1Ls cannot participate in interviewing but may attend presentations and do Table Talk) | October |
| □ | Contact organizations of interest to inquire about possible externships for the summer (some of these organizations follow NALP guidelines and you will have to wait until December 1st to contact them) | November – December |
| □ | Research funding resources (pay close attention to individual deadlines) | November – January |
| □ | Follow-up with the organizations you contacted as often as necessary | December – April |
| □ | Consider working on a pro bono case through the Pro Bono Alliance | January |
| □ | Consider attending the Northwest Public Interest Career Fair and/or the Rocky Mountain Government/Public Interest Career Fair | January – February |
| □ | Decide whether you are eligible for law school credit for your summer public interest experience, and if you are, work to fulfill the preliminary requirements | March – April |
| □ | Have a great summer working at the public interest organization of your choice | May – August |
Public
Interest Career Search Schedule for 2Ls
| Task | Timeframe | |
| □ | Consider getting involved with PILF (join, or participate in activities) | All year |
| □ | Register for one or more LawHelp classes or complete a public interest externship during the school year | All year |
| □ | Make a budget and start living by it. Estimate a post-school budget and use it to estimate your target salary range. | August – October |
| □ | Browse the members-only content on the Equal Justice Works website to learn more about public interest law and the opportunities available | August – October |
| □ | Consider working on pro bono cases through the Pro Bono Alliance | September |
| □ | Register with PSLawNet.org, if you have not already done so, to enable yourself to search their online database of public service organizations | September |
| □ | Make a list of the areas of public interest law that interest you and a list of the geographical areas that interest you | September - October |
| □ | Meet with Debbi Myers or the Student Public Interest Coordinator for public interest counseling | September – October |
| □ | Conduct a focused summer job/externship search using the resources outlined in the CSO Public Interest Handbook and Public Interest website | September – October |
| □ | Consider attending the Equal Justice Works Career Fair to meet with people from public interest organizations | September – October |
| □ | Attend the PILF Auction meeting to find out what the requirements are to obtain a PILF scholarship for the summer | October |
| □ | Contact organizations of interest to inquire about possible summer positions | October – December |
| □ | Research funding resources (pay close attention to individual deadlines) | November – January |
| □ | Follow-up with the organizations you’ve contacted as often as necessary | December – April |
| □ | Consider attending the Northwest Public Interest Career Fair and/or the Rocky Mountain Government/Public Interest Career Fair | December – February |
| □ | Consider working on pro bono cases through the Pro Bono Alliance | January |
| □ | Begin looking into fellowships using the resources provided in the CSO Public Interest Handbook and elsewhere to decide if you want to apply for a fellowship | March – May |
| □ | If you decide to do a project fellowship, then begin working on a project description (possibly in cooperation with a public interest organization) | April – August |
| □ | For fellowships with deadlines in the fall, you should prepare the necessary application materials (deadlines are as early as September) | April – August |
| □ | Have a great summer working at the public interest organization of your choice | May – August |
Note: Students who have missed some of these dates
should by no means
lose hope. 2L students starting their public interest job searches in
the spring still have a good chance of finding public interest
employment; however, students who start the process by these dates will
have a better chance of receiving their preferred public interest
employment.
Back
to
beginning of chapter
37
Public
Interest Career Search Schedule for 3Ls
| Task | Timeframe | |
| □ | Consider getting involved with PILF (join, or participate in activities) | All year |
| □ | Register for one or more LawHelp classes or complete a public interest externship during the school year | All year |
| □ | Make a budget and start living by it. Estimate a post-school budget and use it to estimate your target salary range. | August – October |
| □ | Consider working on pro bono cases through the Pro Bono Alliance | September |
| □ | Complete and submit fellowship applications before the deadlines (each fellowship has its own application process and deadline) | September – February |
| □ | Register with PSLawNet.org, if you have not already, to enable yourself to search their online database of public service organizations | September |
| □ | Make a list of the public interest areas that interest you and a list of the geographical areas that interest you | September - October |
| □ | Meet with Debbi Myers or the Student Public Interest Coordinator for public interest counseling | September – October |
| □ | Conduct a focused job search using the resources outlined in the Public Interest Handbook and on the CSO Public Interest website | September – October |
| □ | Attend the PILF Auction meeting to find out what the requirements are to obtain a PILF bar / relocation scholarship | October |
| □ | Send resumes and then attend the Equal Justice Works Career Fair to meet with people from public interest organizations | September – October |
| □ | Contact organizations of interest to inquire about possible employment positions | November – December |
| □ | Research funding resources (pay close attention to individual deadlines) | November – January |
| □ | Follow-up with the organizations you have contacted as often as necessary | December – April |
| □ | Consider working on pro bono cases through the Pro Bono Alliance | January |
| □ | Attend the Northwest Public Interest Career Fair and/or the Rocky Mountain Government/Public Interest Career Fair | January – February |
| □ | Have a great time working at the public interest organization of your choice | May – |
Note: Students who have
missed
some of these
dates should by no means
lose hope. 3L students starting their public interest job searches in
the spring still have a good chance of finding public interest
employment; however, students who start the process according to these
dates will have a better chance of receiving their preferred public
interest employment.
|
2L Law
Student—Public
Interest1
Street
Address, City, State Zip
JURIS DOCTOR CANDIDATE, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, April 2007 • 3.xx cumulative GPA; xx out of xxx students • Academic Scholarship Recipient, 2004–present • Senior Editor, BYU Education and Law Journal (Associate Editor, 2005–2006) • Vice President, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (Publicity Chair, 2005–2006) • President, Public Interest Law Foundation (Vice-President, Book Sale Chair, 2005–2006) • Public Interest Law Foundation Service Award Recipient BACHELOR OF ARTS, English, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, August 2004 • 3.xx cumulative GPA • Academic Scholarship Recipient, 2001–2004 • Graduated with University Honors • Honors Thesis: The Treatment of Gender in Adolescent Fantasy Literature • Graduated in three years while working 15–30 hours per week Work Experience RESEARCH ASSISTANT, Innocence Project, Brigham Young University, January 2006–present • Conducting directed research for Professor Michael Goldsmith • Assisting in research and writing of habeas corpus petitions LAW CLERK, Disability Law Center, American Fork, Utah, August 2005–present • Investigating instances of abuse and neglect in private facilities and institutions for the disabled and mentally ill • Assisting in preparation for civil rights class action litigation LEGAL EXTERN, Utah Legal Services/Legal Center for Victims of Domestic Violence, Provo, Utah, June 2005–present • Interviewing clients and assisting with paperwork for protective orders • Conducting legal research and drafting legal documents in relation to family law, landlord-tenant, and property disputes LEGAL EXTERN, Disability Law Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 2005–June 2005 • Completed resource manual to help with investigations and training • Assisted in investigations and conducted legal research • Offer extended for clerkship INTERN, Utah Legal Services, Provo, Utah, May 2003–December 2003 • Contacted and assisted clients • Drafted letters and other legal documents for supervising attorney GROUP HOME AIDE, Green Arbor, Napa, California, June 2001–August 2001; June 2002–August 2002 • Cared for the primary needs of six developmentally disabled girls • Implemented behavior modification plans and assisted with physical therapy • Planned and carried out social activities for residents PERSONAL ATTENDANT, John Smith, Napa, California, May 2001–June 2001 • Acted as caretaker for quadriplegic man • Duties included housekeeping, cooking, and caring for the primary needs of client Skills and Interests • Certified in Basic Mediation; currently receiving training for Domestic Mediation • Language: Four college semesters of Spanish; American Sign Language experience Volunteer Experience • Mentor, Law School Sixth Grade Mentoring Program, Provo, Utah • Volunteer in five different residential care facilities for the elderly and disabled, Utah and Carbon Counties, Utah • Volunteer at the Princess Basma Hospital for Disabled Children, Bethany Hospital for the Disabled, Israel 1 This
resume and the one following it are included to provide examples
of
activities, externships, and jobs that are helpful to the resume of a
law
student seeking a public interest job. It
is not necessary to have as much public interest
background
as shown
on these resumes, but the more demonstrated interest in public interest
work in
general or in a specific area of interest, the stronger the resume. For more information about resumes and cover
letters, please see the CSO’s Professional Development Handbook. |