One of the areas public interest jobs are involved in is the legal sector. In fact, this is one of the most prevalent areas of public-interest employment, because most public-interest agencies and organizations need legal representation.
One of the best ways to work in public interest if you're interested in the law is through public-interest law internships. While you're in law school, for example, you can work for a law firm that specializes in public-interest agencies. Pick your area of interest, such as environmental law, and then find a law firm that specializes in that area. In fact many law firms come to look for students at law schools so that they can serve in summer internships or in other assistant-type jobs and thus gain experience in the law while still in school.
These types of public-interest legal internships give you valuable experience before you graduate from school; in some cases, you may even be hired by the law firm you've done an internship for before.
As a public-interest law intern or as a lawyer, you are going to specifically focus your legal expertise on the area you have chosen in regard to the public interest sector. For example, as a public-interest legal intern, you may help fulfill some of the legal duties (under the supervision of a lawyer) for a public interest organization that may not be in a position to afford a full-time lawyer. In fact, this is what happens in many public-interest organizations. Paid staff, including legal representation, is limited. Therefore, these organizations rely on volunteer or intern help to get many things done that they otherwise would be hard-pressed to do. Many of these organizations receive public funding, grants or donations to help them stay solvent.
When you do public interest legal internships, you will often work with the law firm that specializes in public interest. Alternatively, you will work for a particular organization under the supervision of its legal staff. These organizations usually focus on policy objectives, a particular area of social need or lack such as poverty, which needs to be corrected, or they may work with specific clients on issues like pollution. Some of these organizations are very well organized, such as Greenpeace or the American Civil Liberties Union. In every case, though, they started out as small grassroots organizations that grew into something much larger.
When a group's cause is brought to the fore, of course the staff and those who volunteer for it worked to make it a major issue in public life, politics, and so on. These groups specifically work to make issues part of the public consciousness, so that they get taken care of. However, this necessarily means that these groups also need legal representation. Many public service lawyers do part of their work for free or pro bono. In other ways, of course, these groups receive legal help from students or from interns working under the supervision of experienced legal staff. Lawyers advise, prepare necessary documentation, and even represent clients in trials or proceedings as necessary.
If lawyers are working in a pay capacity for these groups, they often get salaries paid by the nonprofit organization or by the government. Lawyers may also work on a consulting basis for more established public-interest organizations such as the aforementioned Greenpeace or for the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In lieu of working for public-interest organizations, you may also work for local, federal or state government agencies. As a lawyer, you may prosecute criminals, help draft regulations, or work as judges or magistrates. In this capacity, you actually help implement laws. As one example, if the environment is a matter of public interest for you, you may work as a lawyer to help protect environment of standards and may even work to help prosecute corporations that break current laws. You may also help in the event of real estate development, when buyers and lenders don't want to inherit any cleanup costs that may come with that particular piece of real estate. In that case, you help provide protection for the parties purchasing the piece of land so that they do not inherit the existing pollution cleanup costs, too.
Education
Many jobs in public interest do not need formal training and many in fact occur on a volunteer basis. Other jobs in public interest will often require a college background for the particular area of interest you have, such as environmental issues. And of course, if your particular interest is in legal employment in regard to public interest, you'll need to have gone to law school and passed the bar in your particular state after graduating from college.
Getting public interest law internships or public interest legal internships
When you're in law school, many law firms and agencies come looking for help from students who want to gain valuable job experience in a particular area of interest. For example, you can work with an attorney who is already involved in public-interest law and is doing pro bono work. Once you graduate, too, law firms and government agencies will be very interested in hiring you for this type of work. If you do work for the government, you may also be required to take certain civil service examinations in addition to graduating and passing the bar for your particular state.
You may begin your legal employment by becoming a law clerk or a research assistant to those involved in public-interest work. Judges, too, employ law clerks. As you continue, you may be hired to work for a firm that specializes in a public-interest area of concern, such as the environment.
In fact, environmental law is one of the fastest-growing sectors of public-interest law. This is becoming increasingly prevalent as air pollution and global warming, as well as preservation of the environment in general, become increasingly problematic. You may work for firms that specialize in this type of work or you may work for public departments that specialize in environmental law. You may also work for the Environmental Protection Agency or another governmental agency, too.
Job duties
Besides your regular job duties as a public service lawyer, you'll also need to be aware of continual changes in laws, court decisions, precedents, and so on. Your hours can be long and can be quite stressful, depending on the situation.
Compensation
In most cases, public service lawyers do not make as much as their colleagues in private, more lucrative practice; however, although these lawyers may make significantly less than their colleagues in private practice, the rewards may come in other ways. In general, the median salary for lawyers in private practice is about $90,000 year, with public service lawyers making about $77,000 a year.
Conclusion
If you have always been concerned with the public interest, jobs in public interest are quite plentiful and maybe something you'd be interested in. Whether you get involved as a lawyer or in another area of the public-interest sector, this is a very rewarding work. Although it may not pay as well as some other type of jobs do, the rewards are very great indeed because of the benefits they provide to the public.
