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Employment Resources

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Summer Fellowships & Employment

Post-Graduate Fellowships

Each year Duke Law School receives hundreds of solicitations from public interest employers offering summer internships, as well as post-graduate fellowships and employment. Students are invited to browse through the collection, housed in the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono, and the Symplicity program in the Career Center, which also maintains files on organizations and has a reading library of books on work in all sectors. The Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono sends selected announcements to the public interest listserv and the post-graduate fellowship listserv.

Students seeking counseling about public interest employment should see Stella Boswell, the public interest counselor in the Career Center and the public interest dean who counsels students on both pro bono and employment. Students are also encouraged to review faculty profiles to become familiar with the activities, connections and research interests of faculty and use them as a source of advice and an entry to employment opportunities.

 

Supporting National Organizations

Duke Law School is a member of several national organizations that provide employment-related services for students and alumni. PSLawNet, Equal Justice Works, National Association for Law Placement and the Arizona Law School Government Honors Handbook are described below, as well as other national organizations and websites with useful information.

 

PSLawNet

Duke Law School is a member of The Public Service Law Network Worldwide (PSLawNet) which is a global network of some 120 member law schools and nearly 10,000 law-related public service organizations and offices around the world. PSLawNet fosters law student community service and encourages all future lawyers to incorporate public service into their careers. PSLawNet offers comprehensive, current information on a broad range of pro bono and public service opportunities – short-term, volunteer part-time positions, summer internships, post-graduate jobs and fellowships - as well as resources and expertise to assist law schools in empowering future lawyers as public servants.


Equal Justice Works (formerly known as NAPIL - The National Association for Public Interest Law)

Equal Justice Works is "the country's leading organization engaged in organizing, training and supporting public service-minded law students, and is the national leader in creating summer and postgraduate public interest jobs." Duke Law students seeking summer or permanent public interest employment are encouraged to attend the fall Equal Justice Work Career Fair, the nation’s largest public interest job fair for law school students. To learn more visit the Equal Justice Works website.

Equal Justice Works Job Fair Promotion

The Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono strongly encourages all students who seek permanent or summer employment in the public interest sectors to attend the Equal Justice Works Conference and Job Fair in Washington, DC. The largest public interest job fair in the country – more than 200 employers and organizations attend – the conference and job fair is a unique opportunity for students to learn about the wider array of public interest employment opportunities and hear speakers discuss “hot topics” in the public sector as well as valuable career advice.

The job fair is open to law students of any year as well as alumni. Though first-year students are not eligible for pre-arranged interviews, they may participate in the “table talk” portion of the conference, during which they will have the chance to meet with employers to discuss career advice and career opportunities. Second and third year students should send their applications and requests for interviews to participating employers ahead of time. This process is explained on the Equal Justice Works website and is managed by the Career Center.

Interested students may register to attend the Equal Justice Works Job Fair Promotion in the Career Center. Some of the registration expenses are paid by that office.

To learn more about the many services provided by Equal Justice Works, visit the Equal Justice Works website.


Government Honors and Internship Handbook

Duke Law School subscribes to the University of Arizona School of Law’s Government Honors and Internship Handbook, a comprehensive compilation of federal government honors and intern programs, including both summer and post-graduate positions.


NALP - National Association for Law Placement

The National Association for Law Placement, the governing body for law school and law firm recruiting administrators, maintains important statistics about legal hiring, information about judicial clerkships, and a bibliography for those seeking resources about non-traditional legal employment. It is now the home of PSLawNet.


Other Websites and Sources on Public Interest Employment

The following websites are just a few of the many that offer extensive information on public interest and government employment (both summer and post-graduate) for lawyers and law students:

  • Access Jobs (http://www.accessjobs.org) - Non-profit employment listings (legal and non-legal) searchable by geographic region.
  • Attorney Jobs Online (http://www.attorneyjobsonline.com) - Law-related opportunities in federal, state and local government; courts; Capitol Hill and public interest settings. Available by subscription or to current law students through Westlaw at http://www.lawschool.westlaw.com.
  • Foundation Center Job Corner (http://www.fdncenter.org/pnd/jobs) - The Foundation Center maintains a searchable database of job openings in foundations, grant making public charities, corporate grant makers, educational institutions and other NPOs (by region).
  • Harvard Law School's Office of Public Interest Advising (OPIA; http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/opia) - While visiting this website, be sure to click on "Guides" to see the specialty guides to public interest practice. Also, Harvard Law's OPIA publishes "Serving the Public: A Job Search Guide," which provides an excellent overview for those starting the process. A copy of the Guide is available in the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono and the Career Center.
  • Human Rights Internet (http://www.hri.ca/organizations-databank.asp) - The website states, "The Human Rights Organizations Database is HRI's most comprehensive listing of institutions working in the field of human rights."
  • Idealist.org (http://www.idealist.org) - A project of Action without Borders, this website has a searchable database of 20,000 nonprofit and community organizations in 140 countries with job listings and volunteer opportunities.
  • Legal Employment Search Site (http://www.legalemploy.com) - This is a general link to an extensive number of legal and non-legal employment sites.
  • National Legal Aid & Defender Association (http://www.nlada.org/jobs) - An extensive listing of public interest and government jobs that are searchable by state.
  • Nonprofit Career Network (http://www.nonprofitcareer.com/resource/resourc.htm) - This website has a searchable database (by geographic location) of jobs (legal and non-legal) in nonprofit organizations in the United States and internationally.
  • Public Service JobNet of the University of Michigan Law School ( http://www.law.umich.edu/currentstudents/publicservice/Pages/jobnet.aspx ) - Legal job listings (including summer, temporary, fellowships and permanent employment) that can be searched by job type, practice area and geographic area.
  • Yale Law School Career Development Office ( http://www.law.yale.edu/studentlife/CDOGuides.asp ) - Offers guides and materials provides a comprehensive list of "split summer" opportunities. Yale also allows visitors to look at its job listings database.


Government Job Listings

  • Department of Justice - Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management (http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/) - A listing of available attorney and internship positions throughout the Department of Justice. This site also has links to individual divisions within the Department of Justice, the DEA, FBI, Federal Bureau of Prisons and individual US Attorney's Offices as well as extensive links to other federal sites, independent agencies, corporations, and commissions within the Federal Government.
  • Office of Personnel Management (http://www.usajobs.opm.gov) - The Federal Government's Office of Personnel Management maintains a website which announces jobs in all federal agencies across the country. The database is searchable by position, salary, and geographic location, and an on-line application is available.
  • NC Government (http://www.osp.state.nc.us/jobs/) - The State of North Carolina maintains a website of its services, including a listing of available state jobs (legal and non-legal).

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