Should You Become A Public Interest Lawyer?

Choosing uncertainty in exchange for life experience and meaning.

For some law students, choosing to become a public interest lawyer is one of the hardest choices to make during law school. And it is by no means an easy one. It’s a decision that involves not just deciding to skip out on interviewing for law firm summer associate positions during early interview week or giving yourself permission to not take that corporations course. Often, a public interest law career is a decision that significantly impacts and shapes your future career, lifestyle, relationships, work-life-balance, financial situation, and – let’s be real – your life experience.

Public interest law almost always means making far less money than you would at a private law firm. It may also mean that on a daily basis you get to do work that you are passionate about, stand up and advocate for underrepresented people in vulnerable situations who have no voice, and have a career that allows you to impact society and make the world a better place. Public interest law can offer what money can’t buy: life purpose, doing work that allows you to sleep at night, and a reason to wake up excited to go to work every day.

Each person will have a different calculus for weighing the positives and negatives of whether to become a public interest lawyer. When it comes down to it, the decision is about knowing your circumstances, your priorities, and ultimately, yourself: what will make you happy.

On a realistic level, it’s important to think about your financial situation and future when deciding whether to go into public interest law. Although there are certainly ways to make it work, and many people do, a public interest salary can present financial stress and uncertainty, particularly if you live in a big city.

That being said, studies consistently demonstrate that happiness comes not from income but from a combination of vital life factors and experiences, many of which are naturally inherent in a public interest career. Purposeful work, contributing to society, creativity, intellectual growth, and a schedule that allows for time with family and friends, flexibility, and relaxation are all lifestyle priorities that influence happiness.  

In fact, a 2015 study found that lawyers in public-service jobs who made the least money were most likely to report being happy. They also consumed less alcohol. In comparison, several studies have found that associate attorney positions represent the unhappiest job in America.

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Studies also establish that after a certain point, making more money doesn’t make you happy. Relying on data from the Council for Community and Economic Research, a 2010 Princeton study found that at a national level, making more than $75,000 per year does not significantly improve day-to-day happiness.  Although entry-level public interest law salaries rarely start at $75,000, there is potential to reach this level within a few years, depending on the organization and type of public interest law work. A CNNMoney poll also found that nearly a quarter of people believe they would be happy making between $50,000 and $74,999.

Public interest jobs also frequently compensate for salaries with other benefits such as being able to work from home sometimes and have reasonable hours, without the expectation to work at night and on the weekends. These types of jobs often mean not needing to worry about meeting billable hours; being able to enjoy generous vacation days (without having to still be available on email), sick days, and personal days; and flexible maternity leave. Perhaps the most valuable benefits of a public interest job are the opportunities to have ownership over cases, develop leadership over projects and programs, and build a professional reputation early in your career, for example by conducting trainings for other lawyers, speaking on panels, and having media coverage, even right out of law school.

Law school loans are also a factor to consider. Although this program may be at risk under the current administration, the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program forgives the balance of your loans after making 10 years of small loan payments while doing qualifying public interest law work.  Some major law schools pay the full cost of those 10 years of small loan payments for alumni who work in public interest law, meaning that zero law school loans need to be paid. State bar associations also have programs to help reduce the burden of law school loans for public interest lawyers, in addition to public interest law fellowships. Equal Justice Works has some great resources to help public interest lawyers navigate student debt.

Of course, family commitments, undergraduate student loans, and other debt understandably make a public interest law career impossible for many future lawyers. But there are still opportunities to do important public interest work while working at law firm, for example pro bono cases and research for non-profit organizations. Law firms increasingly support and count pro bono work as part of billable hours.

As humans, lawyers spend their lives searching for purpose and meaning.  Public interest law provides an opportunity to access these priceless ingredients of happiness on a day-to-day basis. As a public interest immigration lawyer, I am incredibly lucky to get to defend some of the most courageous and brave people in the world, for example asylum-seekers who have risked their lives to challenge the injustice of dictators and long-time green card holders who are willing to fight deportation as long as it takes, while detained, for the hope of remaining united with their U.S. citizen children, families, and communities. These inspiring clients that I get to fight for have enriched my daily experience with meaning and have taught me lifelong lessons of character, strength, resilience, and grace.

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Public interest law has its challenges, and it certainly does not lend itself to a straightforward career path. It also has immeasurable rewards and can make it effortless to live from the heart. Your decision whether to do public interest law is a highly individualized one that requires weighing many factors, including your willingness to accept uncertainty in exchange for profound life experiences.

Adina Appelbaum is an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by the Arnold & Porter Foundation at the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition. She founded and leads the Crim-Imm Pro Bono Project, which, in partnership with major law firms, increases access to counsel and impact litigation on behalf of detained immigrants facing deportation due to criminal convictions. Adina was recently named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Law and Policy and is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar and a Global Law Scholar. Prior to law school, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Cairo, Egypt.