Public Interest

The Single Most Important Piece of Advice for Aspiring Public Interest Lawyers

Before I explain, let’s lay out a few assumptions here to make sure this advice is for you.

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Go to law school for free.

Let no one say I buried the lede. This is it — the single most important piece of advice for aspiring public interest lawyers: go to law school for free.

Before I explain, let’s lay out a few assumptions here to make sure this advice is for you.

One: you do in fact want to be a public interest lawyer.

That doesn’t mean “I am politically progressive and I’m not sure what to do with my life but I’m pretty sure I want to ‘help people’ in some nebulous way.” No. If that’s you, my advice is to stay away from law school. Far away.

That doesn’t mean “I think I’d like to be a law clerk to a federal judge, shoot for a legal fellowship at a federal agency — that’s public interest, right? — and see where that takes me.” If that’s you, then it’s possible you could get there from the law school giving you a free ride. But it should go without saying that it’s probably not likely.

And that doesn’t mean “I’m committed to public interest law but I’ll be able to do it more comfortably after paying full ticket for a top school, dealing with big firm life for a few years to pay off my debt, and then making the leap as an experienced attorney.” You might well make it in private practice — who am I to say? — but you’re likely not putting yourself in position to be a public interest lawyer. Good luck getting out of the golden handcuffs.

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If you truly want to be a public interest lawyer then you probably feel passionate about a pet issue or two: poverty, civil liberties, the environment? Those will work. And you’ve probably done enough research to have some target employers in mind: Bronx Defenders, ACLU of Northern California, maybe the Southern Environmental Law Center? Check. And you’re probably aware that even if you attend a law school with a good loan repayment assistance program (LRAP, in the public-interest parlance), and even if you find an employer offering still more loan repayment assistance, and even if you sign up for income-based loan repayment (IBR) with that ten-year public service loan forgiveness (PSLF) target in mind, you’ll still be just scraping by on your public interest salary. If you’ve found yourself nodding along with this paragraph, then keep reading.

Two: you have what it takes to get a full ride.

Got a 2.0 GPA from the University of Southwestern North Dakota and a 143 LSAT? Sorry, but you shouldn’t be thinking about public interest law. Find another outlet to work on your pet issues. That said, you don’t need to be a perfect candidate to get a full ride. In this time of declining law school applications, remember that schools are competing for applicants who will improve their admission statistics.

Three: you’re not independently wealthy.

Trust fund baby? Spouse of a hedge fund manager? Chances are you’re not reading this, but if you are then you can stop now. This advice isn’t for you — go ahead and do whatever you want.

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Four: you’re not already paying sticker price for law school. If you are, I’m sorry.

Now for the explanation: You should go to law school for free because, according to the most recent data from NALP (the National Association for Law Placement), the median starting salary for a legal services attorney is around $43,000, or $3583 per month. According to another report (from the New America Foundation), the median debt a law student graduates with is $140,616. Assuming an interest rate of 6.8% and a standard ten-year repayment term, the average law-school graduate’s monthly loan payment would be about $1618. That would mean almost half your income, oh newly-hatched, starry-eyed legal services attorney, will go to repay your law school loans. Unless, that is, you ratchet down that debt number.

Of course it’s not really that simple — I mentioned LRAPs and IBR and PSLF above, and these programs do change their beneficiaries’ financial picture significantly. (I’ll write about them in other columns.) But then again, maybe it really is that simple. Why worry about LRAPs and IBR and PSLF when you can simply avoid the debt in the first place? I’ve found few people in the public interest world who care much about the prestige of anyone’s law school. But I’ve also found plenty of people who are worried about how to pay their bills. So, if you’re really committed to public interest law, I say this: ignore prestige, avoid debt, and go to law school for free.

Sam Wright is a dyed-in-the-wool, bleeding-heart public interest lawyer who has spent his career exclusively in nonprofits and government. If you have ideas, questions, kudos, or complaints about his column or public interest law in general, send him an email at PublicInterestATL@gmail.com.

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