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Lawyers In Low-Pay Public-Interest Jobs Forced Into Gig Economy To Survive

Just because you passed the bar doesn't mean you won't have to bartend to pay the bills.

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Anything little thing that happens — I get tickets on my car and I got to pay that, or you know, a toll fee or something like that — anything like that, it just ends up throwing me off. It makes it hard to be able to save anything.

I have family members that I support, so it’s been very hard for me. I’m out here freaking doing deliveries with three degrees.

— Danielle, a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society in New York City, commenting on the difficulties of being her family’s sole breadwinner and covering her monthly expenses (rent, food, cellphone costs, loan payments, car costs, and anything else that may arise) on her low public-interest salary. After business hours are over at Legal Aid, Danielle works late shifts for Grubhub or UberEats.

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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