Why law students don't become public interest lawyers (it's not what you think)

A longstanding piece of conventional wisdom about lawyers is that law students don't become public interest lawyers because they can't afford to. Law school costs a lot of money, many students take out large loans to finance their education and living expenses, and public interest jobs don't pay much. Ergo students can't do public interest work. This line of reasoning seems logical on its face, but I don't think it's the full story. 

Here's another way of looking at the career choices of lawyers, as well as those made in many other professions: demographics.

I'll start with an interesting statistic about the nonprofit world in general. In the next five years, one-third of the executive directors of nonprofit organization in the U.S. will retire. These are the senior baby boomers -- the people that are more or less the ages of the Clintons and the Bushes. The retirement of this generation means is that in the next few years there will be tons of new opportunities for leaders (finally) to move up in these organizations, and it also means that many of these organizations will end up in crisis, since they have not prepared meaningful succession plans.

What this statistic also implies is that there has been a significant absence of opportunities to enter public interest jobs over the past three decades, because (1) there are limited number of nonprofit professional jobs to begin with, and (2) the ones that do exist have been dominated by members of the  senior demographic bulge. Many of the senior leaders of nonprofit organizations, legal organizations included, entered their careers in the 1970s when they were in their 20s, and have held on to those jobs ever since. In contrast, people entering their careers in the 1980s, 1990s and today have generally faced fewer opportunities in the nonprofit sector, partly because other people got there first.

If debt were the only reason people did not become public interest lawyers, we could expect to see two things: (1) there would be a lot of unfilled openings for these kinds of jobs; and (2) a lot of rich students would become public interest lawyers (since in my experience the desire to do public interest is pretty much evenly distributed). But neither of these is true. Public interest jobs are hotly contested. It's a lot easier to get a job at Cravath than one at the ACLU.

This is one explanation why so many people of my generation have found themselves in the private sector: there are many more opportunities there, not simply opportunities to earn money but opportunities to be engaged.

Certain individuals sometimes lay a kind of moral slant on this phenomenon, like, "oh it's so horrible that we have to work in the private sector rather than doing public interest."  I see this phenomenon as neither good nor bad; it simply is what it is. Each generation faces various challenges and opportunities; it's reasonable to assume that these change over time. The task of any creative person is to make the best out of what is available, rather than bemoaning our fate at not living in an ideal world.

I do think that there is a tremendous amount of creativity in the private sector, and some of the most innovative approaches to helping others have come from private sector energies and organizations. Consider the growth of social entrepreneurship organizations, which essentially are creating new positions for this kind of work where none existed before.

In the next decade or so, opportunities should open up in public interest organizations, as senior baby boomers retire. (As it happens, most of these new opportunities will go to ... surprise! the children of the original senior baby boomers, who will then start their own cycle of demographic dominance.)  But my guess is that most of us who are members of Gen X or who are at the tail end of the original baby boom will spend a large part of our careers working in the private sector. Our challenge is to find ways to make this meaningful for us, and meaningful for the world. 

Comments

[want in]

I agree. I tried desperately to get a job in the public interest before I graduated. I paid my own way through loans, but my school had a loan forgiveness program for public interest job, which would have made it possible. Decent grades at a top ten law school didn't cut it for the public sector, but the private firms lined up.

So what's your advice to those at private firms who want in when the boomers retire?

[Michael Melcher]

Excellent question; I'm not sure I have a great answer. Basically, it comes down to: (1) showing the general application of your existing skills (such as explaining how the skills required to negotiate an indenture are relevant to negotiating a consent decree); and (2) acquiring specific domain expertise -- knowledge and competence in the particular area represented by the public interest organizations you want to enter. If you are reasonably senior and experienced, I imagine the most direct way of doing this is through board participation in relevant organizations.

[June]

I am a public interest lawyer, and was lucky to go into a public interest career right after law school. I think that there are opportunities for law students to choose public interest careers now, although you might have to be flexible in terms of where you will live. You also need to build connections in the public interest community from the start of your law school career.

I agree that the public interest market can be much more competitive than people realize, but I would not discount money as a force driving law students' decisions regarding career choice. My law school also has a loan repayment program for students going into public interest work, but it is limited.

I agree that participating on boards of public interest organizations is a good way to get your foot back in the door.

[Aisha]

Great post. I came through Chai..

I am doing a two year Equal Justice Works fellowship and its the only way I could do public interest work. Its hard for newbies to edge their way in..

[Bittersweet]

It is a combination of the lack of jobs, AND the lack of income associated with Public Interest positions.

While I could defer, I was willing to work for almost free, but it took me over two years to find an "permanent" attorney position. I have no more deferments left. My law school has no debt forgiveness program. With $900 a month going to Sallie Mae, Public Interest work is no longer an option, at least until Sallie Mae is paid off.

At that point, I'm hoping that I may have other obligations (spouse, mortgage, children, etc.) that are not issues currently - but that is probably at least 15-20 years down the road.

I guess I'll burn that bridge when I come to it (Yes, I know the metaphor is mixed, but it fits better to this situation).

[hypotheek woning]

I am in agreement to believe that acquiring specific domain to expertise in particular area like public interest organizations requires certain essential skills. In addition I think for new commers it is little hard to get into this stream.

[hypotheken]

It really makes me to feel good whenever I see the interesting blog like this.Thanks

[Custom Essay]

I just wanted to say thanks so much for this post. I'm only a month into my 1L year but as someone who came in with the idea of doing public interest work I'm very much in the minority and some days feel extremely out of place. Good to know that it's not just me in this boat!

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[Toronto Accident Lawyers]

I’m a rising second year law student at Case Western Reserve University. Since I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and am now in Cleveland for law school, D.C.’s vast system of public transportation and plethora of free summer activities (see the Having Fun on the Cheap page!) definitely has a big-city allure for me as well.