<p>Ok I did some research on those kind of lawyers and prosecutors and......damn they make NO MONEY whatsoever. So my question is-despite the view on public(in other words if you are going into this type of law NOT because you want to benefit the society)what other advantages(especially long term,im talking 10-15 years down the road)can you extract from a kind of job like public interest lawyer or prosecutor?If it is for career growth then what is the difference between this and judicial clerkships?</p>
<p>PS-Also what amazes me is that a lot of top14 law school graduates go into this kind of field.Its like-you could have been making 100-200k per year right now.Why stick with 30-60k a year which is a median salary for UNDERGRADUATE grad lol...?</p>
<p>Probably be a lot more satisfying and possibly be even more interesting. I know if all things equal Id much rather be a prosecutor over a corporate or patent lawyer</p>
<p>A lot of people are not just working for money but rather try to make positive impact in the society. There are many that are in poverty while serving the disadvantaged in the world. Then there are those that cannot find a higher paying jobs. So everyone has his/her reason.</p>
<p>One of the advantages of going to one of the very top private law schools is that they tend to have great loan forgiveness programs. I know Harvard’s has a cost of living adjustment, so as the cost of living goes up, the threshold for having to pay back any part of your loan does too. </p>
<p>It’s not an all or nothing system. It’s a sliding scale. So, last time I looked, folks making $30,000 would not have to make any loan repayment for that year. Those making $60,000 would have to pay some, but not all of it. (Judicial clerkships are NOT included in this BTW; you still have to pay the full amount during clerkship years.) </p>
<p>Some federal government jobs forgive a small portion of the federal portion of your loan for each year you work at a low salary. The good part of this is that it doesn’t count as income. </p>
<p>Being an ADA or expecially an AUSA (federal prosecutor) gives you trial experience you probably wouldn’t get as an associate in big law. Being a federal public defender can give you that sort of experience too. </p>
<p>And, there are LOTS of people who do NOT go to law school to make a lot of money.</p>
<p>Two advantages of choosing public interest over corporate:
Satisfaction in knowing you’re contributing to society and making a difference
The much more relaxed lifestyle that accompanies public interest law jobs as opposed to 80-hour-a-week corporate law firm jobs.
Overall experience that could lead to making even greater change should you decide to move on from the law firm and become perhaps a legal reformer or humanitarian lawyer in underserved regions/countries.</p>
<p>It makes sense that it’d also be much easier to develop relationships in public interest as opposed to in the law firm, because in the firm, the only thing that matters is how many billable hours of work you get done. Btw, to get that 160k, that usually almost always means billing a minimum of 2,000 hours – and that’s billed hours, a number that doesn’t account for the many hours spent at work not working on clients’ matters (i.e. firm meetings, conference calls, doing non-related work in the office, all breaks/firm events, etc.). I heard a harrowing story once from a big law firm associate who said that the minimum billable requirement really meant and had him working 90 hour work weeks. Throughout his duration at the firm his life consisted of two things: work and sleep.</p>
<p>You said prosecutors–so I assume you’re talking government as well? These are actually pretty cushy jobs, particularly when you’re just handling administrative type cases for [insert name] agency. Solid salary, great benefits, job security and no more than 45-50 hour weeks if we’re excluding DOJ attorneys. </p>
<p>Now as far as public interest within legal aid societies. Yeah, its low pay–not as low as you’d think. I worked on an HR project for one of the bigger legal aid organizations and got a pretty good look at the salary range–it was higher than I expected. Still not much. Would I do it? No. But it takes a certain type of person to do it. I do admire the people that do this type of work, and don’t look down on them at all for opting for a significantly lower salary.</p>
<p>I am a T14 grad working at a nonprofit, on a standard public interest salary. I love it. This is going to be long.</p>
<p>Public interest is not a great route to “career growth” in a better-paying area of the law, though there is some opportunity to cross over to government work or private practice (if you do unemployment or social security cases or criminal defense for poor people, there’s no reason why you couldn’t do it for rich people). But if you want to be at a firm 5 years after graduation, the best way to do it is to start at a firm at graduation (well, and defer for 2 years for your circuit and supreme court clerkships).</p>
<p>So, why do I like my job?
It allows me to practice an area of law that is just not done by big firms, and which I find fascinating.
My clients are interesting people, and most of them are really likable.
I have time for a personal life–I work less than 50 hours a week and with a flexible schedule when I really need it. I don’t have a blackberry to check, I never work on weekends, and I can tell my boss when I feel swamped.
My coworkers are great.
I get a huge amount of independence-- I represent clients at hearings, advise them about their cases, draft motions and briefs, etc. I also get to make presentations to prospective clients, write regulations, lobby elected and appointed officials, etc. When I say I do these things, I don’t mean I write memos and then watch my boss do them. My supervisors are there when I need them, and my organization is a bit more hands-off than most, but I get to do things that senior associates at firms still haven’t done.
We pick the clients who need the most help and have the best cases, not the ones with the most money. We can reject difficult clients because we don’t need them to pay our bills.
Victory is often hugely meaningful to my clients, and thus hugely meaningful to me.
With LRAP and IBR plus some luck and scrimping during law school, I’m doing ok financially. I’m definitely not raking in the big bucks and I’ve had to prioritize (shorter commute but no car, renting instead of owning, a cat instead of a dog so no paying a dogwalker) but I can afford to live alone in a nice neighborhood, pay my loans and still have leftover for charitable donations/retirement/emergency fund/fun. I joined a gym. I travel and go out to eat and sometimes buy new clothes–not super luxuriously, but enough for me. I can’t afford to have a kid on my own (daycare is $$$$$) but it’s totally doable with a partner. </p>
<p>Oh, and I spent a summer working at a big law firm and rejected their offer to come back full time. The people were nice–nicer than I ever would have expected. Some of the work was interesting. I hated having a blackberry and billing my time, and some other stuff. I have good friends at firms–some love it, some hate it. I’m glad I realized it wasn’t for me.</p>
<p>“Yes but again…ull be making 45k instead of 160k.”</p>
<p>^^^ Few attnys - - only those at top firms - -earn $160K; in big cities, public interest attnys starting salaries are above $45K, and with loan forgiveness, that is certainly a liveable wage. Rather than worry about a $160K salary you’ll never earn (at least not for the next 10 years), focus on getting a job - - and if you decide to “settle” for a public interes job, you will be surprised at how keen the competition is for those positions.</p>
<p>Career public interest attnys in big cities earn closer to $160K than you think (and again, don’t forget to factor in the value of full loan forgiveness for those who stay 10 yrs). Also, many attnys in small firms and solo practitioners never earn $160.</p>
<p>nyc, I agree that many people in private practice don’t earn $160. </p>
<p>public interest folks at nonprofits aren’t that close to that level…salaries at mine top out around $80k, even for folks who’ve been there a decade (we are in a big city, but do get less than even other nonprofits in the area)</p>
<p>If you count government service (federal agencies, judges, DAs, etc.) as public interest, though, you’re right–starting salary for federal attorneys is usually around $89k, though state and local are often lower.</p>
<p>Federal salaries are always higher, but even state court/agency salaries are above $100; likewise the salaries for senior/career institutional public interest attnys. I’m not so sure about non-profit organizations. And even if the big city, $220-230K (two income household) is enough to support a family.</p>
<p>And I had a couple of qualifies in my post: “big cities” and “CLOSER to $160k than you think.”</p>
<p>not necessarily true. I know several lawyers who make 160k plus with a degree from a tier 2 law school and they don’t work for large firms, they work for coprorations</p>
<p>nobody said otherwise. working for a corporation can also pay very well. but:</p>
<ul>
<li>it is not public interest law. public interest law is the topic of this thread.</li>
<li>also, it is quite rare to work for a corporation directly out of law school. Some people do it, but most work for a firm or the government before “going in-house.”</li>
</ul>
<p>Some lawyers work for money, some work for the public good. I could definitely see the draw to public interest law, just like I could see it for nonprofit work of any other kind.</p>