Career Center

Public Interest & Government

Public interest organizations, such as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Public Defender Offices, and Legal Aid Offices, are popular employment choices for students. These positions offer unparalleled practical experience for law students, and provide the intrinsic value of working for an organization that promotes justice by representing individuals, groups, causes, or issues identified as traditionally under-represented or unrepresented in our society.

While there are often numerous positions available for law students in public interest organizations, many of these organizations cannot afford to pay summer interns. At Duke, the Law School and the Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) annually support summer interns through endowments and grants from fundraising efforts. Students remaining in North Carolina for the summer also routinely receive grants from the state bar as a source of funding. Basic information about these types of financial support is available on the public interest and pro bono website; for additional information, see us or contact the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono.

In addition to our internal resources, Duke Law School subscribes to several external resources for public interest employment, including websites and publications, which inform students about public interest conferences, internships, fellowships, employment opportunities and nonprofit organizations.

Students considering careers in public interest or government are encouraged to contact Career Counselor Stella Boswell for individual career counseling.

Postgraduate Fellowships

Postgraduate fellowships are wonderful professional development opportunities for graduating students. Postgraduate fellowships are typically available in the following formats:

Foundation-Sponsored Fellowships
Some post-graduate fellowships are sponsored by foundations such as Equal Justice Works, the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, or the Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship Foundation. Applicants choose the non-profit organization that they wish to work with, and develop a project proposal to be submitted to the foundation for funding consideration.

Employer-Sponsored Fellowships
Post-graduate fellowships can also be sponsored by employers who obtain funding for the fellowship in advance. Employer-sponsored fellowships are 1-2 year positions within the organization, typically with a predetermined job description.

Government Fellowships
Graduating students also have the option of government fellowships:

Presidential Management Fellows Program
The Presidential Management Fellows Program is a competitive two-year program that offers graduates the opportunity to work for the federal agency of their choice and convert to a permanent employee upon completion of the program without competing in the general applicant pool. Interested students must be nominated by Duke Law School. Additional information about the PMF Program will be available early in the Fall Semester.

White House Fellows Program
The White House Fellows program is America's most prestigious program for leadership and public service. White House Fellows typically spend a year working as full-time, paid special assistants to senior White House Staff, the Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries and other top-ranking government officials. Fellows also participate in an education program consisting of roundtable discussions with renowned leaders from the private and public sectors, and trips to study U.S. policy in action both domestically and internationally.

Government fellowships are awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis.

Stella Boswell and Associate Dean Kim Bart are available to help students prepare fellowship applications. Our offices host programs throughout the year for all students interested in postgraduate fellowships. Additionally, we maintain a listserv for new fellowship announcements and general discussion about fellowship applications. To join this listserv, please send an email to Stella Boswell.

Fellowship announcements are also regularly posted by employers on Symplicity. To access these announcements, click on “Jobs/Resume Collect” and select “Fellowship” from the Position Type drop-down box.

Legal Employment Career Fairs

IMPACT Career Fair for Law Students and Attorneys with Disabilities – sponsored by Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law. It is typically held during August in Arlington, VA.

Lavender Law Conference – sponsored by The National Lesbian and Gay Law Association and National Lesbian and Gay Law Foundation. Typically held in early September in Chicago, IL.

National Black Law Students Association National Job Fair – sponsored by NBLSA. Dates and location to be announced.

Equal Justice Works Conference & Career Fair – sponsored by Equal Justice Works. October 2011 in Washington, DC (the exact dates will be announced soon).

Florida Public Defender Association Job Fair – sponsored by the Florida Public Defender Association. Dates and location to be announced.

On-Campus Interviews

The following is a representative example of the non-profit and government employers that often conduct on-campus interviews at Duke Law:

Law Firm/Public Interest Split Summers

Several law firms have programs that enable students to work one half of their summer with the law firm and the other half with a public interest organization, with the law firm paying the students’ salaries for the entire summer. The Yale Law School Career Development Office maintains a list of Firms Sponsoring Split Public Interest Summers, and makes the list available to the general public.

Finding Public Interest Summer Employment

Serving the Public: A Job Search Guide Volume I – USA by Harvard Law School: Each year, Harvard Law School publishes a handbook and directory for law students and lawyers seeking public service work, which includes the government sector as well as traditional public interest jobs. This publication also provides information on funding for public interest summer internships, post-graduate fellowships, federal honors programs, entrepreneurial grants, and judicial clerkships. The current edition of Serving the Public is currently available in the Career Center library.

In addition to the printed resources that they publish, Harvard Law School's Office of Public Interest Advising website is a clearinghouse of information on job resources for the public interest-minded law student.

Employment Opportunities in North Carolina

IOLTA: Many years, up to five students from each law school in North Carolina are awarded funding for a public interest summer internship. The funding is drawn from the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts program (IOLTA), a non-profit organization created by the North Carolina Bar. Students can obtain a list of public interest employers approved for a recent program from the Career Center or from the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono. More information about the IOLTA grants and the selection process for Duke Law students is available from the Office Public Interest & Pro Bono.

North Carolina Department of Justice Internship Program: The internship program at the NC Department of Justice is designed to introduce law students to public service. Internship opportunities are available in all divisions of the Department of Justice. In addition to assisting the state's attorneys, interns also participate in a variety of activities to give them perspective on the work of the DOJ. This includes attending oral arguments in the appellate courts and visiting the State Bureau of Investigation crime laboratory.

North Carolina State Government Internship Program: Summer internships for legal residents of North Carolina are offered in virtually all areas of state government through the North Carolina Youth Advocacy and Involvement Office. Seventy-five paid internships are available for 10 weeks each summer for undergraduates, graduate and profesional students. Law related opportunities are available with the following entities: the NC Indian Land Trust Project, the NC Ridge Law GIS Project, the NC Court of Appeals, the NC Supreme Court, the NC Department of Labor, and the NC Department of the State Treasurer.

Stanback Conservation Internship Program (Environmental): The Stanback Internship Program is a partnership between the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University and targeted conservation organizations. Every year, Duke Law students with an interest in environmental law participate in the Stanback program.

Funding Summer Public Interest Employment

Dean's Summer Service Grant and the Horvitz Public Law Fellowship:Dean's Summer Service Grant, Horvitz Public Law Fellowship provide new funding for summer 2011. The Law School announces two new programs to support summer work in public service or public law. The Deans Summer Service Grant guarantees $3000 for 2Ls who complete 10 hours of pro bono work this school year and secure a summer position with a public service organization. The Horvitz Public Law Fellowship is a competitive fellowship available to 1Ls and 2Ls whose summer position will contribute to the students understanding of the Constitutional framework. See the web site for qualifying organizations and details; application information will be available soon. Thank you, Dean Levi & Alumnus Rick Horvitz, for making these programs possible.

The Curtin Justice Fund Legal Internship Program: The Curtin Justice Fund Legal Internship Program is managed jointly by the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendents. The program will pay a $2,500 stipend to law school students who spend the summer months working for a bar association or legal services program designed to prevent homelessness or assist homeless or indigent clients or their advocates. The Legal Internship Program will provide much-needed legal assistance to organizations serving the under-represented and give students direct experience in a public interest forum. Through this, it aims both to help homeless clients and to encourage careers in the law that further the goals of social justice. Applicants must submit the application to the Curtin Internship Program, American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, 740 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005. All applications must be received by Friday, March 25, 2011.

The Public Interest Law Foundation (“PILF”): PILF is a student-run organization dedicated to helping students finance their summer public interest legal internships. PILF carries out its mission by sponsoring various fundraising events throughout the year, distributing the proceeds as fellowships to both first- and second-year law students.

Burdman/Steckley-Weitzel/Carroll-Simon Endowed Fellowships: Duke Law School is the recipient of three endowments to support fellowships for public interest summer employment. Fellowships are available each year for students seeking public interest summer employment. More information about the endowed fellowships and the selection process is available from the Office of Public Interest & Pro Bono.

Funding opportunities are also available from these outside organizations:

Equal Justice Works Summer Corps: Summer Corps provides 350 law students with the opportunity to earn a $1,000 education award voucher for spending their 2009 summer in a qualifying internship at a non-profit, public interest organization.

Public Interest Law Initiative: The Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) sponsors a Summer Internship Program for first and second year law students. Each summer, PILI funds dozens of internships at public interest law agencies in the Chicago metropolitan area. The program is open to law students from across the country. The stipend for the 10-week program is $5,000.

Student Loan Repayment Assistance (LRAP)

The Duke Law Schoool LRAP program is available to graduating students who obtain public interest or government employment. The LRAP program is administered by the Office of Financial Aid.

State LRAP
Currently, twenty-three states offer loan repayment assistance programs for attorneys entering public interest or government employment: Arizona, District of Columbia, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington. For more information about these programs, please visit the ABA Loan Repayment & Forgiveness web page.

Federal Government LRAP
The Office of Personnel Management provides information about loan repayment assistance for federal government employees. The following federal government agencies also offer loan repayment assistance:

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
Department of Defense
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Justice
Department of Labor*
Department of State
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Government Accountability Office*
Nuclear Regulatory Commission*
Securities and Exchange Commission*

* These employers participate in On-Campus Interviewing.

Employer LRAP

Many legal services organizations across the country provide loan repayment assistance programs for their employees. A list of such organizations is available from the Legal Services Corporation.