Like many leading law schools, HLS has developed a loan-repayment assistance program for students who secure full-time post-graduate employment in the government, non-profit organizations or academia.  Harvard’s program allows participants to pay a much smaller percentage of salary toward annual law school loan payments than they would on their own, with LIPP covering the difference.  LIPP requires no up front commitment to the public sector, which makes it one of the most generous loan forgiveness schemes offered by any leading law school.  Another distinguishing feature is that unlike most of its peers, HLS does not restrict participation in LIPP just to graduates who take public sector jobs.  Instead, some private sector occupations, such as clerkships and active Ph.D. study, also allow graduates to qualify for LIPP assistance.

In the past several years, HLS has affirmed its commitment to helping graduates find work in the public sector by offering LIPP as well as other programs designed to alleviate the financial burden of student loans.  One of these is Summer Public Interest Funding (SPIF), which allows students to pursue jobs with unfunded or partially funded public interest organizations prior to their second or third year of law school.  Students receive a guaranteed stipend based on financial aid status, class year and the job’s time committment, with 1Ls and 2Ls not on financial aid receiving $385 per week up to 2Ls who are on financial aid receiving $565 per week.  For a public interest job to qualify, the student must work for a minimum of 280 hours over at least 8 weeks.  In the summer of 2010, over 515 HLS students received funding for their public interest internships through the program.

In February 2010, HLS announced the creation of a new program to support students interested in pursuing a career in public interest after graduation.  Called the Public Service Venture Fund, the program will ultimately provide seed money to students who want to create their own non-profit ventures and salary support for those who want to work at existing non-profits or government agencies.  The Public Service Venture Fund is slated to go into effect beginning in 2013, and will start by awarding $1 million to the most innovative 3Ls who submit proposals.  The Fund replaces the Public Service Initiative (PSI), which was a popular program that paid the 3L tuition for students who commit to a career in public service.

For more information about LIPP and Harvard’s other financial aid programs, be sure to consult the Clear Admit Law School Guide for Harvard Law School!

The decision to merge the two offices can be partially attributed to the paths that most Michigan Law graduates have chosen.  Assistant dean Susan Guindi, who will lead the new office, points out that many graduates have worked across all three sectors and “it makes sense to structure the office to mirror that fact.”

Guindi graduated from Michigan Law in 1990 and became the first associate director of the Office of Public Service in 1995.  Prior to rejoining the Michigan Law community, Guindi was a practicing attorney at a Washington DC firm and completed two clerkships.  Assistant dean for admissions Sarah Zearfoss, a 1992 graduate of Michigan Law, spearheaded the merger of the two offices beginning last year.  She stated that the law school is “committed to beginning the career counseling relationship with students, literally, before they’re even students.”

The Office of Career Planning for the Public, Private, and Nonprofit Sectors boasts a larger counseling staff, additional opportunities for networking and career planning, more summer and post-graduate funding sources, and relationships with employers who are new to the Michigan Law network.

For more information about career services at Michigan Law, visit the Office of Career Planning for the Public, Private, and Nonprofit Sectors website.

Over the past five years, the number of students taking part in summer internships subsidized by Penn Law and the Toll Public Interest Center (TPIC), founded in 1989 and renamed in 2006, and performing pro bono legal work during their studies has drastically increased.  Penn Law students clocked more than 30,000 hours of pro bono legal service in the past three years and 60 percent of first year students received funding for summer internships in 2010.

The Toll’s gift will continue to fund the loan forgiveness program, pro bono service projects, post-graduate fellowships and internships in the public sector for Penn Law students.  According to Arlene Finkelstein, executive director of TPIC, these funds have allowed the school to double its student initiatives. “As a result, all students at Penn Law are able to engage in a wide range of meaningful pro bono opportunities that offer tremendous hands-on experience, while providing service to the community at a time of tremendous need,” Finkelstein shared.

To learn more about TollRAP, the Penn Law public interest loan repayment assistance program, the Public Interest Scholars Program, Public Interest Week and other TPIC programs, click here.

PILA grants are awarded to students who plan to work in the public sector over the summer. This year, 3L Peggy Nicholson, who serves as the president of PILA, said that an effort was made to make the application process as transparent as possible for UVA law students. Oftentimes these grants are what make it possible for students to take legal services jobs in the public sector that offer meager stipends.

A couple grantees will be traveling as far away as Tanzania, while others will work at the Legal Aid Justice Center located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Students have secured internships with civil legal service organizations, federal, state and local government, public defenders in Virginia, New York, Alaska, Georgia and Washington, and public interest groups.

The majority of students, 33 in total, traveled to New Orleans where they assisted in the Office of the Public Defender, helped repair homes destroyed by Katrina and worked on legal issues regarding fair housing.  Lauren Fine, who will be graduating from Duke this spring, viewed this experience as more than just one to give back to those in need.  She said that “it was great to contribute even a small amount to the area, and also to meet Duke Law students from other classes.”

Thirteen students spent their spring breaks volunteering at legal agencies in Miami.  One 1L, Andrew Barr, spent his week at the Florida Justice Institute reviewing claims, making notes and providing recommendations.  Barr, who hopes to practice law in Miami after graduation, viewed this as “a great experience and put perspective on the practice of law, something I lost in everyday life as a student.”

Other students traveled to Atlanta to read trial transcripts and compose briefs for attorneys working at the Southern Center for Human Rights, while their classmates spent the week in Jackson at the Mississippi Center for Justice working on an initiative that educates students about the cost of education and the perils of taking out large loans.

For more information on public interest and pro bono opportunities for Duke Law students, click here.

Weissinger, who has completed pro bono work with the JustChildren Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center during her tenure at the law school, will be providing guardian ad litem representation for abused children in Denver at the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center.  There, she will focus on education issues including representing children at school discipline hearings and working to help them remain in the same school.  Like Blumenson, Weissinger is a member of the Public Interest Law Association (PILA) board and has been the recipient of PILA summer grants.

Blumenson has chosen to return to the Juvenile Services Program at the Public Defender Service in Washington D.C. where she interned during her 2L summer.  Before enrolling at UVA Law, Blumenson taught at an all-boys school through Teach for America. After graduation she’ll be working in a detention facility for males age 18 to 22 who are still in the juvenile detention system.  She will specifically work with men who have special education needs.

The law firm Greenberg Traurig is sponsoring both UVA Law students’ EJW fellowship.

For more information about the EJW fellowship program, click here.

Beginning this November, Miami Law will provide an unlimited number of $2,500 monthly stipends, for a period of up to six months, to recent graduates who have passed the state bar examination and have taken jobs without pay in the public sector.  To receive the $15,000 Legal Corps Postgraduate Fellowship, law graduates must provide free legal services for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations or the U.S. government.  In addition to the stipend, fellows can take continuing legal education courses free of charge.

In the words of the law dean, Patricia White, “this is the first serious attempt by a law school to come to grips with the fact that the job market for lawyers is, for a variety of reasons, in trouble right now.”

Funding will initially come from donors and Miami Law will cover the remainder of the cost, according to Assistant Dean Marcelyn R. Cox.  At the moment, the law school plans to run the fellowship program for as long as necessary to ensure its graduates are able put their legal acumen to good use immediately after graduation.

Previously, Caplan had established the Herbert L. Caplan Award Fund, which awards scholarships to two second-year law students for their commitment to public interest work. Students submit essays detailing their work prior to their second-year and are selected based on the promise they show.

Says Lisa Guynn, Senior Director of Development, about Caplan’s generosity, “Herb Caplan had a vision for inspiring students to follow a path that would make the world a better place…the Caplan Fellows will gain valuable public-interest experience that places them at the heart of pressing social issues.”

To read more about this fellowship, click here

Prior to joining PILI in 2004, Curry held leadership roles at the P-Fund Foundation, Minnesota Justice Foundation and AIDS Legal Council of Chicago. She obtained her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame College of Law and was admitted to the bars of Illinois and Minnesota before beginning her brief career as a private sector attorney at Gardner, Carton & Douglas.

During her tenure at PILI, Curry has counseled both current law students and practicing attorneys who are interested in pursuing pro bono work.  In addition to designing and teaching courses on public interest law, Curry also directs PILI’s law school graduate fellowship programs and law student internships.

In her new role, Curry will partner with other offices at the law school, including Financial Aid, Career Services, the Dean and public interest-based organizations, to increase student awareness about opportunities in the public sector.  Curry’s task of creating and implementing new courses, programs and internship opportunities for current students and alumni dovetails with the law school’s recent expansion of its loan repayment assistance program and the increase in funds available for students undertaking public interest summer internships.  In Curry’s own words her primary goal as director will be to “increase the opportunities for public interest involvement to which [Chicago] students are exposed.”

It all began in 1992 when Sanders’ mother contacted the Clinic and reached out to Randolph Stone, who served as the Mandel Clinic director from 1991 until 2001.   Stone, along with Clinical Professor of Law Herschella Conyers, decided to take the case due to its alignment with the goal of the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project.  With the help of two 2L students, Stone and Conyers prepared for trial, the first time the Clinic had undertaken a jury trial in a murder case.  Sanders was found guilty and was sentenced to serve 40 years in prison.  Over the next two decades, law students became heavily in involved in the preparation surrounding each of Sanders’ numerous appeals.

Most recently, five current law students, Hewot Shankute ’11, Neil Anderson ’11, Sharon Yecies ’11, Kiersten Fletcher ’10, and Greg Cheyne ’10, worked on an appeal that focused on Sanders’ right to a fair trial.  Although students were not allowed to present their arguments to the judge, they shared their arguments with Stone as he prepared for trial.  While there are still several months before the Illinois Supreme Court delivers their rule on this appeal, those who are familiar with the case don’t seem optimistic based on prior appellate rulings.  Presently, Sanders has already served the bulk of his prison term and the Clinic doesn’t expect to file additional appeals as a result.

As the end draws near, Stone commented that “the students have done a fantastic job over the years…from looking at the file students, can see everyone who came before them and their contributions.”