Public Interest Career Guide (PDF): The Career Planning Center's guide to careers in public interest law, including detailed guidelines and advice regarding the public interest job search.
Job/Internship Resources
Equal Justice Works: Equal Justice Works organizes, trains and supports public service-minded law students and is the national leader in creating summer and postgraduate public interest jobs. EJW also hosts each fall one of the largest public interest law conference career fairs in the country, bringing students and public interest employers from across the country together in one place for job opportunities, networking and leadership training.
PSJD: PSJD is a network of 200 law schools and more than 13,000 law-related public interest organizations in the US and around the world which provides a comprehensive clearinghouse of public interest organizations and opportunities for lawyers and law students through its online database. Users can perform customized searches of public interest opportunities around the world, ranging from short-term volunteer and paid internships to full-time jobs, fellowships and pro bono opportunities.
Roll Call: The online version of the "Newspaper of Capitol Hill" is an excellent site for policy and public interest positions in Washington, DC. Job postings are listed at RCjobs.
Union Jobs Clearinghouse: Union Jobs Clearinghouse is a site for postings of open staffing and trade positions in organized labor that are accepting applications.
Nonprofit Career Network The Nonprofit Career Network provides job listings and volunteer opportunities in the nonprofit sector. Most positions are non-legal. The site also includes a directory of nonprofit organizations.
Funding Sources for Public Interest Positions
Public Interest Law Society Fellowships: PILS fellowships are available to support Marquette Law School students work for the common good during the summer. The application deadline is in March each year.
Washington, DC Initiative: Marquette Law School's Washington, DC Initiative is designed to financially assist students living and working in the Washington, DC area during the summer. Positions must be legal or legal-related.
Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps JD: The AmeriCorps JD program provides funding for students spending the summer in qualifying internships with host organizations that provide legal assistance in low-income and under-served communities across the country.
Curtin Justice Fund Legal Internship Program: This program pays $2,500 stipends to three students who spend the summer working for nonprofit organizations dedicated to meeting the legal needs and concerns of homeless and indigent people and their advocates, with preferences given to bar association and legal services programs.
Equal Justice Works Fellowships: EJW is the national's largest provider of post-graduate legal fellowships, supporting graduates working in diverse projects addressing issues in a broad variety of substantive areas and locations.
Other Useful Links
Citizen Advocacy Center Located in Elmhurst, IL, the Citizen Advocacy Center trains individuals in how to use the law and democratic participatory tools through individual assistance, educational brochures and Democracy Workshops. The Center provides numerous internship opportunities each year for law students.
Good Works GOOD WORKS is a national directory of social change organizations and is the first directory to present alternatives to traditional corporate employment. The directory lists the aims and projects of over 1000 organizations and provides background information on contacts, starting salaries and benefits, types of staff openings, available internships, annual budget and funding sources, and the application process. It also profiles individuals who are building public interest careers.
IdealistLegal Service Corporation The Legal Services Corporation is a private, non-profit corporation established by Congress to seek to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans.
Pro Bono Institute The Pro Bono Institute is a small non-profit organization housed at the Georgetown University Law Center that provides research, consultative services, analysis and assessment, publications, and training regarding the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems.