Deferral Stipend

Once You Go Pro Bono, You Never Go Back?

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A 2009 Georgetown Law grad, Russ Ferguson, has penned a column for the conservative American Spectator suggesting that deferred associates who have signed up to work in the public interest may not want to take Biglaw spots when they open up to them.
What’s that sound we hear? Oh, it’s the class of 2010 singing Hallelujah.
Ferguson recounts the history behind the generous $60k – $80k public interest fellowships from law firms — a history you all know well. Then he goes on to say that the firms’ Go-Away-For-A-Year money may have been too convincing. From the American Spectator:

[A]s newly barred lawyers have taken this public interest option, many have found jobs they like and enjoy. They picked up some ethical sense in school and enjoy doing work that connects with their values. They sympathize with their classmates who ended up at firms and are working long hours doing work they dislike, but they don’t want their jobs. They calculate how much they are making per hour, and find that they are better paid — at least at first — than those at firms.

True. But $60k – $80k may be a generous salary at their particular agency or organization. These folks may well have to take a paycut to stay on. (Though as long as they make $65,000, they should be breaking even on their law school investment.)
Ferguson told ATL that many public interest employers have contacted him since he wrote the column. “Originally, public interest employers expected these new lawyers to leave at their first possible chance,” he said. “Employers expected these lawyers to be often asking for days off to fly out to job interviews. Instead, they have been asking to stay put.”
Sure, serving the public interest is spiritually fulfilling, but it’s not filling the coffers. Is Ferguson right about people turning up their noses at Biglaw for Social Security benefits law? A poll, and more discussion, after the jump.


The Biglaw deferral program has been great for the public sector. “I have been surprised to hear from the heads of public interest organizations who say they are getting a higher caliber of applicants,” Ferguson told ATL. But we’re not sure why he finds that surprising. Top Biglaw recruits turned away for a year are likely going to make for a high-caliber pool. “Heads of public interest organizations have noticed an increase in the quality of their applicants, and then have noticed a desire of those applicants to stay in their public interest job,” he said.
Will Biglaw be burned by its do-goodery? Ferguson writes:

Law firms wanted a reserve workforce committed to them to be on call and ready to go should the market pick back up. What they may be getting, however, is quite different. A lot of these associates are trying to find a way to stay in their public interests jobs, or at least a related field, and may have given up on law firm work forever.

UPDATE: There appear to be different policies regarding repayment of stipends by associates who don’t start at their firms. We heard from one firm that does not require repayment, but at least one of you reports a different policy at your firm.
But that’s why Biglaw pays $160,000 starting salaries. It’s never been the work that attracted (most) people; it’s the big paycheck. Biglaw types have always known that nonprofit and public sector jobs come with fewer hours and a higher quality of life. Now that they’ve had a bite of the apple, though, will the knowledge keep them out of the Biglaw garden?
Erin Geiger Smith at Business Insider thinks so:

Firms are full of associates who say they only took the job working for the man to pay off student loans. Some of them are serious, some of them are half-serious. In other words, they would, in theory, love to do public interest work, but the lure of money is just too good to be true.
But if one actually spends time in a fulfilling job where they immediately do actual work, it could be right that its tough to want to go to the hallowed halls and sweatshop-type hours their firm life promises.

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Smith points to Barack Obama, who “famously turned down Biglaw for public interest work” (though not before he hooked himself a corporate-lawyer sugar mama).
Ferguson — who is currently on a public interest fellowship himself, as well as getting an LLM in Securities and Financial Regulation at Georgetown — writes:

These new lawyers have found that their new jobs are more fulfilling and more interesting, and — more importantly — they’ve seen that they can live on a smaller salary. As one of my classmates put it, “Add up the hours I worked this week and add up the hours my friends at law firms worked. Divide our salaries by the amount of hours and you’ll see — I’m rich.”

Yeah, but not as rich as you would be making $160,000 per year. Has the recession really undermined the allure of six figures? Check out our poll below.
(If you’re not deferred, don’t take the poll. You can view the results here.)

After the Crash [American Spectator]
Deferred Associates Loving The Public Interest Life Enough To Stay? [Business Insider]
Will Deferred Associates Idea Backfire for Law Firms? [ABA Journal]
Will Deferred Associates Idea Backfire for Law Firms? [Offer in Comprimise]

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