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Public Interest Careers

At Duke we take a holistic approach to career counseling, encouraging students to include public interest work in both their long term and short term plans. In addition to resume preparation and interview training, students are exposed to public interest programming, informative career panels, speakers and workshops throughout the year, designed to educate on all aspects of public interest legal practice.

Whether you are interested in summer public interest work, careers in the public sector, or private firms offering pro bono opportunities, the Associate Dean for Public Interest and Pro Bono will be happy to talk with you about your background, your future aspirations and your immediate career needs. Students may sign up for the public interest listserv to receive breaking news on selected job openings, fellowships, events, pro bono opportunities, etc.

The Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono also works closely with the Career & Professional Development Center to offer students and alumni the support they need in making decisions about their careers. The Career Services Office offers career counseling in all sectors – firms, non-profit, government, international and less traditional legal positions. It has an extremely high record of placement and boasts one of the most comprehensive on-campus interviewing programs in the country. Each year a wide variety of public interest and government employers participate in the on-campus program. Visit the Career's Center's Public Interest & Government website.

The Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono works with students on careers in many ways:

  • Counseling - on careers alone or in conjunction with counseling students on the pro bono activities they wish to pursue while at Duke Law
  • Acquainting students with the benefits they receive from Equal Justice Works. Duke Law is a Patron-level member of Equal Justice Works, which gives students access to its many services. These include an annual career fair and conference in D.C.; the chance to apply for the nation's largest post-graduate fellowship program; supplemental summer public interest fellowships; information on loan assistance programs; the E-Guide comparing law school public interest data.
  • It administers several summer fellowship programs that are available exclusively for Duke Law students. These include fellowships from three summer public interest summer fellowship endowments from alumni and friends from: former Associate Dean Linda Steckley and her husband, Pete Weitzel; Duke Alumnus Richard Burdman '56; and Duke Alumni couple Candace Carroll '74 and Len Simon '73. Five fellowships of $4,300 were awarded for the summer of 2007. The Nicholas School of the Environment provide Stanback Fellowships to Duke Law students through a donation from Fred Stanback. Also the IOLTA (Interest of Lwawyer's Trust Accounts) a branch of the North Carolina State Bar, awards each of the North Carolina law schools five fellowships of $3,000 each. Two members of the Class of 2004, Sarah Dadush and Sohini Chatterjee, have give thousands of dollars for several years for an International Development Fellowship. In recent years, alumni couple Caitlyn and Tom Fulghum '98 and the Howrey law firm, based in Texas, contributed money for a fellowship. The largest source of fellowships is students themselves. The Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) raises around $100,000 each year through an auction and gala, as well as other activities, to finance summer public interest employment for Duke Law students. The Law School adds $10,000 to that fund.
  • The Office organizes an annual Summer Public Interest Employment Recognition Day each fall. At breakfast, the Alumni Office honors those students who worked the previous summer in the public sector. At lunch, students who have worked in the public sector the last two summers sit at tables organized by subject (legal aid, US Attorney, environment, international, etc.) so that first-year students can receive peer counseling and networking assistance.
  • The Office works with the Career Center on programs advising students on finding and funding summer fellowships and applying for post-graduate fellowships.
  • All of the programs of the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono -- from the overnight Public Interest Retreat featuring public interest keynote and alumni speakers to the many lunch programs -- have a career element to them. Those who have made significant contributions from the public sector to private firm pro bono share their stories with students.

Students interested in public interest careers are encouraged to explore the offerings of both Career Services and the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono.