Making the Most of Your Pro Bono Experience

Editor's Note: Ms. JD's annual conference, Avenues to Advancement, was held November 20-21 in Chicago. These are notes from the "Making the Most of Your Pro Bono Experience" panel. 

Taking a pro bono case can be a great way to give back and learn valuable skills at the same time.  Here are some tips from the panelists on finding the right pro bono matter for you and how to balance good pro bono work with an already busy work schedule. 

How do I find the right pro bono opportunity? 

First and foremost, follow your heart. Pursue the kind of pro bono work you find rewarding. You can often locate organizations that need legal assistance in your own community, neighborhood, or religious institution. If your firm has a Pro Bono Counsel, discuss both your professional and personal interests with the Counsel who will assist you in finding an opportunity.  

How do I balance good pro bono work with a busy schedule?

Be upfront about your availability. If you are unsure about the time you are able to commit, request projects that have flexible deadlines or that do not require an ongoing commitment.

Avenues to Public Interest

Editor's Note: Ms. JD's annual conference, Avenues to Advancement, was held November 20-21 in Chicago. These are five tips from the Avenues to Public Interest panel.

1. Don’t limit yourself geographically.

Public interest offices are often located in areas near the clients they serve. Geographic flexibility can significantly increase your chances of finding an internship, fellowship, or career in your interest area. 

2. Show your commitment.

Personalize your application package, listing relevant volunteer and course work and explaining your personal link to the agency or interest area. If possible, tailor your writing sample and include any related materials that demonstrate your commitment. One panelist described a student who submitted copies of his published "Letters to the Editor," rather than a traditional legal writing sample. The candidate got the job.

3. Be passionate and intentional.

Public interest organizations seek interns, fellows, and employees who are sincerely devoted to the organization's mission. Demonstrate your passion by engaging in volunteer and work activities with sincerity and vigor.There is no substitute for genuine enthusiasm!

Ms. JD 2009 Summer Scholarship

Ms. JD is awarding two $500 scholarships to female law students entering their second or third year at an accredited U.S. law school and working the summer of 2009 at least 35 hours per week for a minimum of 8 weeks at a government agency or nonprofit organization. Unpaid judicial externs also qualify. Applications are due no later than May 1st.

Click here to apply!

Ms. JD Announces its Public Interest Law Scholarships!

Ms. JD is pleased to be offering two $500 scholarships for law students working in public interest this summer. Unpaid judicial externs also qualify for these scholarships. This year's essay topic asks applicants to discuss myths about being a law student. Did you experience any pleasant surprises upon starting your study of law? Did you learn any law school 'lessons' the hard way? Ms. JD wants to hear about them. Applications are due no later than June 1st. More information is available at http://ms-jd.org/ms-jd-2008-summer-scholarship-application (you must be logged in in order to apply).

Unintended Consequences and Using the All-Mighty Dollar as a Carrot

There has been a lot of buzz in the blawg-o-sphere this week about Harvard Law School's announcement that it will waive 3L tuition for those going to work for the government or public interest for the five years after law school. I think this news is great. And as Professor Volokh points out, because HLS is a trendsetter among law schools, this just may spark a little healthly competition aimed at loan forgiveness policies amoung elite law schools. Feeling the squeeze of law students loans myself, I would be all for that.

However, what about the possibility of unintended consequences? Today on the Environmental and Urban Economics Blog, Professor Kahn explores the possiblity that this initiative may hinder the representation of women in law firm leadership down the road. The first step to his hypothesis is an assumption that women will take this deal in larger numbers than men. He writes, and I tend to agree that:

Liberal students will be more likely to accept this deal. Will women at HLS be more likely to take this offer? While I have no evidence for this claim, my intuition is telling me that the answer is yes.

In the second logic step, Professor Kahn points out that more women taking this deal to go into public or government service will necessarily mean that fewer go to work at law firms sooner or later as it is very difficult to go to a big law firm after 5 years in public service or the government. This is both for the practical reasons and the pragmatic point that few would want to go to big law after 5 years of public service.

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Social networking for women NGO activists and their clients

PulseWire is in beta testing, open for women who are working in the fields of human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and water sustainability. Could that be you?

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Why Do Women Dominate Public Interest?

I was poking around the Perspectives magazine articles available online, and I came across An Eye-Opening Tool for Wide-Eyed Law Students, a piece last year about the Equal Justice Works ranking of law schools by their public interest programs. I found two things interesting about the article. First, the approximately 27% of law graduates who enter public interest has remained fairly static since the 1980s. Second, women are presumed to benefit more from pressure on law schools to provide more support for public interest job hunting since women are more likely to take public interest jobs (the article cites a study that roughly 6% of women graduates go into public interest while only roughly 3% of men do--don't ask me why 6+3 doesn't equal 27%, apparently the stats cited in the article are from different data or counting different types of jobs as public interest).

Hanging out my own shingle: what being Ms. JD means to me

My summer internship is over. I spent 10 weeks totally immersed in public interest law, and as a result I have completely changed what I had so carefully planned to do after graduation. No longer do I plan to remain an academic, nor do I wish to pursue a job at a large firm. More than likely I will open a solo practice so I can do public interest law.

Avoiding burnout on the Death Row defense bar

Public interest practice is a wellspring for reform of the entire legal profession