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Pipe Dreams and Pumps: One Public Interest Law Student’s Two-Sided Story
By Jessica Skocik • March 14, 2019 •Careers, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job
When I decided to go to law school, I knew I wanted to help people. I wanted to be what they call a “public interest student.” For me, law school was a magic place where I could acquire a particularized skill set in order to help more people more effectively. It never occurred to me (a first-generation law student from Missouri) that people attended law school to do anything else. I capitalized on my experience studying and teaching abroad and working with juvenile sex offenders to create the most compelling personal statement I could dream up, and I was off…
Choosing a law school: Four factors that matter, besides the U.S. News rankings
By Jen Reise • March 13, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Law School, Pre-Law
With the 2020 U.S. News rankings of law schools finally out, there’s a lot of discussion about the winners and losers this year. But as an individual applying to law school, rankings don’t tell the whole story. Here are four factors to consider in order to identify what the best law school is – not in general, but specifically for you. Location You’ll make important connections in law school, and most will be in the surrounding legal market. You’ll clerk at a local firm, network with local attorneys, and learn about the business and legal landscape of that community. In…
Unpaid Internships: A Garbage and Discriminatory Legal Practice
By Kate Miceli • January 21, 2019 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Politics and Government, Other Career Issues, Law School, Internships and Clerkships
Do you want to know the best-kept secret in the legal community? Unpaid internships. In my last blog post, I mentioned that I had four unpaid internships in law school. I received several stunned responses from friends outside the legal community, specifically those in business school. I thought it was common knowledge that many law student internships are unpaid. Spoiler alert: it’s not. For those outside the legal community, here are two important things you should know. One, it is very common for law students to work full-time, unpaid internships during the summer and school year. Two, law students are…
Executive Director Needed for the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations
By Diane Rynerson • December 14, 2018 •Careers, Nonprofits and the Public Interest
The National Conference of Women's Bar Associations is now accepting applications for executive director. The deadline for submissions is January 31. This is a part-time position with flexible hours. For more information about the position and how to apply, please click here.
Fostering Goodwill: The Case for Pro Bono Work
By Jacob Maslow • October 05, 2018 •Careers, Nonprofits and the Public Interest
Each year, attorneys donate dozens of hours in pro bono work. It’s sort of become an unspoken rule of the legal field. Although not required, professional organizations like the American Bar Association strongly suggest that attorneys donate their time to those in need of legal assistance. After all, the term “pro bono” is a shortened version of “pro bono publico,” which in Latin means “for the good of the public.” When attorneys do pro bono work, they’re helping the community – the public – by taking on clients who are otherwise unable to afford an attorney. Still, there are some…
You Graduated From Law School… Now What?
By Dennis Hung • August 31, 2018 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Legal Academia, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Politics and Government, Other Career Issues
One mistake you don't want to make when graduating from law school is to assume that having a major law degree will have clients knocking on your door or local firms immediately hiring you. In fact, the field of law is actually one of the most competitive in the US and law school graduates have their work cut out for them. In today's competitive climate, you have to have flexibility when it comes to geography, a fine attention to details when it comes to compiling a resume, and most importantly, a willingness to take the kind of work that's available.…
10 Ways to Help Immigrant Children Separated from Parents
By Tsion Chudnovsky • August 23, 2018 •Careers, Legal Academia, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Politics and Government, Law School, Internships and Clerkships, Issues, Women and Law in the Media, •Other Issues
With immigration tragedies playing out across America, many lawyers and students are searching for constructive actions they can take. Here our immigration lawyers review some of the best ways to help refugees and immigrant children separated from their families. While it is unclear exactly how many immigrant children have been separated from their parents, the US government has so far been unable to comply with federal court orders to reunite the children they have separated from their parents. The heart wrenching images and stories have ignited an immigration firestorm and prompted the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, based in Geneva to declare the…
Join Ms. JD’s Global Education Fund Program!
By Danielle Allison • August 12, 2018 •Ms. JD, Careers, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Law School, Other Law School Issues, Issues, Other Issues
Interested in women’s issues, international development, fundraising and education? If yes, consider supporting us as our next part-time, unpaid, Global Education Fund program volunteer! Ms. JD created the Global Education Fund (“GEF”) to enable women in developing countries who otherwise would not have access to further education pursue a legal education. Each year, GEF has made it possible for two Ugandan women in each class year to pursue their dreams of becoming lawyers by attending the law program at Makerere University in Uganda. The part-time and unpaid Global Education Fund program volunteer will be responsible for: Helping to lead outreach and program development…
11 Tech Tips for Your Legal Tech Work
By Jeanne Ortiz • July 22, 2018 •Ms. JD, Careers, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Law School, Features
The Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project (LSNTAP) and Pro Bono Net hosted the 2018 edition of 50 Tech Tips for Your Toolbelt this past June. You can find the recording here and a list of all the tech tips here. These are the tips I shared for the webinar and a few bonus ones: Color Zilla - A browser extension for identifying the colors of your site or any other colors that you want to use for other programs. TimeAndDate.com - You can find here all of the calculators you need for time and distance. The date calculator is useful for deadlines and…