Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Non-Governmental Organizations
Here in Washington, DC, there’s a non-governmental organization on every street corner. So it should come as no surprise that our latest Career Alternatives post focuses on working for an NGO.
Several tipsters suggested the NGO career path as an appealing alternative to BIglaw life. Here’s what one had to say:
Many staff, particularly executive directors, of international development/human rights NGOs are attorneys. In many instances, having a law degree now seems to be a prerequisite for success in this field.
While other degrees may lend themselves more obviously to certain types of NGO work — e.g., master’s degrees in international relations or public policy — a law degree also confers a significant amount of credibility, according to a second source:
If you’re looking for alternatives to practicing law, working with an NGO is a good alternative for lawyers (or bar failers who want to market themselves as having decided not to practice). It helps if you have previous experience in the field you want to work in, but a JD generally can be marketed as giving you experience in legal or policy analysis.
Interested in learning more? Additional detail, after the jump.
What are the skills required?
It depends. You’d need different skills depending on what kind of role you have (program managers, researcher, campaigner, public relations, fundraising, etc).
How’s the pay?
Here are two tipsters’ takes (which are pretty consistent):
1. Pay can vary greatly. I have a friend with a JD in a policy/campaigning position with an international NGO making about $70K; I’d say most people make less, probably starting around $40K. Of course, NGOs also need legal teams; people with experience in nonprofit law or in the field of the NGO’s work, most likely. The biggest pro would be getting to do work you’re really passionate about; the drawback would be the paycheck, combined with the likelihood of having to live in a big and expensive city.
2. The pay scale for NGOs seems to vary widely, with entry level positions just out of law school in the $35,000 - $40,000 range, and more senior legal positions in the $60,000 - $90,000 range. Senior Associates and Partners at law firms can often step straight into Executive Director positions, and if that NGO is a large, well-known organization in a major city, one could expect a six-figure salary.
Many NGOs have positions overseas that offer similar salaries, and if that person stays in the position for at least a year, that money comes tax-free. NGOs may also offer housing and travel stipends for overseas postings.
Okay, so the work sounds interesting (and meaningful), and I can live with the pay. How do I break into this field?
As is the case for most jobs, the best way to find an NGO position is through networking. Competition for such jobs is fierce, particularly for positions with organizations that hire globally. A law degree is definitely a useful credential as most NGOs focus on policy issues and lobbying.
Many lawyers at law firms find opportunities through the law firm’s pro bono clients. Other good ways to start meeting the right people to eventually get an NGO job would be: (1) to attend conferences on a specific topic of interest, (2) to participate in a short-term volunteer program, for example through the ABA Rule of Law Initiative or the International Senior Lawyers Project, or (3) to offer to teach a short course for an NGO that does legal capacity building (there are several NGOs all around the world that hire lawyers and other professionals to teach courses on their area of expertise to local government officials and/or business people- for example, check out the International Law Institute).
Earlier: Career Alternatives posts about working for an accounting firm, as a law librarian, as a law firm recruiting coordinator / director, for a public relations firm, as a conflicts analyst, and as a law school administrator.
(37) Comments
Comments
Comments hidden for your protection. Show them anyway!
FIRST BITCHEZ
When is the next installment of the Asian BIGLAW chronicles?
When are you going to write about being a legal blogger? Lat is a trailblazer in this career alternative.
this is the best alternative you've posted so far, lat. keep them coming (and stay away from the boring, brainless stuff)
None of these alternatives are financially appetizing. Can you find an alternative career path that rakes in the Benjamins? Some of us bear thousands of dollars in student loan debt.
3:03 is on the money. Please please please (with cherries on top) write a segment about legal blogging as a viable career path.
(Or are you trying to minimize the competition?) ::winks::
I read about a suburban high school in metro NY area that is paying a former Brooklyn DA 160K to start as its principal. A law degree has many uses, just get out fast
I read about a suburban high school in metro NY area that is paying a former Brooklyn DA 160K to start as its principal. A law degree has many uses, just get out fast
When is this TTT blog going to post something about white guys with asian girls? Those pretty, flat faced Korean babes are a great "alternative" to the boring, bitchy spoiled white girls... and pretty good at head too.
- King of WGWAG
NGOs are a bastion of naive liberal students who wanted to practice "international law" before coming to law school, only to realize that they won't be negotiating treaties or talking to heads of states. Now they are at an NGO and don't realize that they could have gotten the same NGO jobs without going to law school, and would have been better off with three years of work experience instead.
Move to a country with no extradition treaty to the US. Stop paying loans. Work normal job, live normal life, laugh at idiots working 60 hours a week and paying 40% of their earning to support useless wars and idiotic liberal porkbarrel spending.
Can anyone define international law? Why do people continue to throw that catch-all out there?
I want to fight for truth, and light, and justice.
Legal blogging? How many more legal blogs can there possibly be? Lat seems to have everything pretty well covered.
3:39: as much as I love ATL, I have to disagree. This blog's tabloid angle leaves much to be desired if you want stories about international legal developments.
Why dod they call them NGOs?
Isn't BigLaw a "Non Government Organization"?
Stupid acronym.
3:46: True, but this blog's tabloid angle is why it generates enough traffic to be Lat's full time job. I'm not sure you could make a career out of blogging on too many other legal-related topics.
This post is missing a big question: What do NGOs do and why would they need a lawyer to do it?
(No, I didn't earn a PolSci degree, so humor me.)
Being somewhat familiar with international NGOs (I'm on the board of an NGO), I'll say that the JD has its uses if you can leverage your practice area expertise but bar none the best jobs go to people with international experience. Not just sitting in an office in London or Geneva, but boots-on-the-ground Reed Brody type stuff. For folks who lack that, the best way in the door I'd say is to work up the ladder within government or academia. Unless you have lots of pro bono street cred or immediately transferrable practice expertise, BigLaw doesn't give you much of an advantage.
I agree - the phrase NGO makes no sense. In a literal sense, every private company is an NGO. In context I guess it means do-gooder. Then why not just say "charity." Or it is more like a think tank?
3:48: you would have to act like a traditional media conglomerate and generate innumerable "niche" blogs in order to make a living. Can you make a living out of "Snake Collector" magazine? No. But you could make a living out of fifty other wild animal magazines.
3:51: I have no idea what you just said. Can you slowly repeat it with footnotes?
What does an NGO do? Why do people presume that the answer to that question is common knowledge?
3:49 PM - This post is missing a big question: What do NGOs do and why would they need a lawyer to do it?
Depends on the NGO :). Most do public policy advocacy of some sort or another. They need lawyers to handle aspects of nonprofit law, represent them in civil disputes or, if they do legal advocacy, work in the legal department; they also hire lawyers with experience in policy analysis and advocacy, lobbying, legislative drafting, etc.
To whomever mentioned that private firms could be NGOs, the usual definition of NGOs is that they are involved in governmental affairs in some way but are not State agencies, hence the need to define them as non-governmental.
3:29 PM - NGOs are a bastion of naive liberal students who wanted to practice "international law" before coming to law school, only to realize that they won't be negotiating treaties or talking to heads of states.
Not really. I have a job where I do, in fact, get to be involved in treaty negotiations (as a lawyer, not an NGO worker), although I have never directly worked with a head of State. NGOs tend to be actively involved in treaty negotiations, mostly in terms of advocacy for inclusion or exclusion of specific language in a treaty, or for the adoption of certain intergovernmental policies.
A minute ago, I googled "Reed Brody." It's hard to look at those photos when you're sitting in a small office and preparing to go home and watch TV.
Also, 3:29, it's as hard or harder to get hired by a prestigious, international NGO than by, say, a big, $160K/yr firm. The competition is stiff, and usually international.
4:06: why would you want this job in the first place? Nobody has made a compelling case for it. The competition is stiff, the hours are long, and the pay is low.
4:12 PM- 4:06: why would you want this job in the first place?
Because you are really interested in the field in which the NGO works, because you're dedicated to certain policy/political issues, because you want to travel, etc.
For this profession, the Kennedy School of Government would probably be a better choice than Harvard Law. Your JD won't be useful because they'll consider you a dilettante.
(I think.)
Isn't NGO primarily the non-US term? We in the US would say "non-profits" or "not-for-profit organizations" right?
"Because you are really interested in the field in which the NGO works"
Let me know if there are NGO's working in the fields of football, beer, or women. Otherwise, pass.
4:25, sounds like it's time for you to start your own NGO.
What if the global economy stagnates--or even shrinks?
4:38 - Economies can shrink, I don't think government ever does. NGOs deal mostly with governmental affairs in some way so there's always work. Downside though is NGOs are reliant on foundation funding or private donors so a stagnant economy might translate into fewer funding dollars.
4:25 - Football: FIFA. American football: USOC(?) Actually, nonprofit trade associations representing private company members are often accredited as NGOs so conceivably the NFL could start its own NGO. Beer: an agricultural product, no shortage of agri-trade and farm labor NGOs there. Women: Americans for UNFPA, UNIFEM, also no shortage of women's NGOs.
Show me one law student who actually can do rigorous, quant-based policy analysis. Most of these guys would pee in their pants at the idea of using SAS or SPSS or STATA. All they want to do is talk the talk ...
9:29, if all you do is number crunching you have a terrible job.
Um... What about other career alternatives like policy work, compliance, finance, or fishing trawler captain?