As you begin to turn your attention to the coming semester, we want to briefly address the process of completing a public interest or public sector job search for your 2L summer. In this announcement, you will find the following:
* 2L PI/PS Job Search Resources
* OCIP & Public Interest/Government Work
* Internships with the Department of Justice
* Other Government Internship Opportunities
* Counseling Appointments
* Save the Date — PI/PS Fall Employer Reception (Thursday, 9/2/10)
Unlike during your 1L year, when you were not permitted to contact employers until December 1, you should begin planning for your 2L summer public interest/government job search this summer. Many competitive non-profit organizations (e.g., ACLU, Earthjustice) and some government agencies (e.g., New York City Law Department) complete summer hiring early in the Fall, sometimes as early as August; while some federal government agencies accept applications on a rolling basis throughout August, with a number of interview invitations in September (e.g., U.S. Dept. of Justice).
2L PI/PS JOB SEARCH RESOURCES
There are a number of resources available on the CDO website to help you get started with your 2L Public Interest or Government job search. For an overview of how and when to conduct your 2L PI/PS job search, please review the webcast of the program we presented during the spring semester and our accompanying PowerPoint presentation.
For an overview of post-graduate government career opportunities, please feel free to listen to the program Eric Stern did last spring and to review his accompanying Power Point presentation. (While this program was focused on post-graduate government jobs, it contains a lot of relevant information on federal, state & local government hiring trends.)
Our cover letter and resume guides contain tips for customizing your application materials for a public interest or public sector job search.
PSLawNet, b-Line, and the Government Honors and Internship Handbook are good starting points for researching organizations and opportunities. In addition, you will find links for useful practice area-specific online resources on the Public Interest and Government jobs pages of the CDO website.
Your classmates and fellow summer interns are also terrific sources of information; we encourage you to take the opportunity to talk with them about their experiences at organizations in which you may be interested. You can find out who worked where this past summer and for the prior three summers via the Summer Evaluations located on the b-Line. If you are having trouble finding a classmate who worked at a particular organization, please feel free to contact us — we will do our best to find an appropriate contact for you.
OCIP AND GOVERNMENT/PUBLIC INTEREST WORK
There are always a number of prestigious government employers who interview 2L students for summer internships through OCIP. Be sure to review all of the participating employers in OCIP so as not to miss the opportunity to interview with representatives from government agencies while they are here on campus. You can now review the list of OCIP-participating employers by going to the “OCI” tab in the b-Line.
For students whose primary interest is public interest work, the decision whether to seek interviews with private sector firms at OCIP can be anxiety-producing. Please be assured that if you are interested in working for a public interest employer next summer or after graduation, there are many wonderful opportunities to do so. OCIP is certainly not the way that most students find public interest jobs or that most public interest employers hire law students. If you know that you want to engage in public interest work, you can certainly feel comfortable with your decision not to interview with firms at OCIP.
That said, there will be a number of public interest employers at OCIP. You can now review the list of OCIP-participating employers by going to the “OCI” tab in the b-Line.
INTERNSHIPS WITH THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) hires more summer legal interns than any other federal government agency. If a DOJ summer internship is at or near the top of your list, you should consider applying to both the Summer Legal Internship Program (SLIP) and the Volunteer Legal Internship Program (VLIP).
The differences between these two programs are that the SLIP is a paid program and the VLIP is not; and that a limited number of divisions/sections participate in the SLIP, while nearly all of the divisions/sections participate in the VLIP.
SLIP also involves a centralized on-line application, which opens up on July 26, 2010 and is due on September 7, 2010. More information about SLIP, including an application checklist and timeline, a list of participating components & their anticipated hires, and answers to frequently asked questions can be found here.
The VLIP has a decentralized application process. Since this program tends to attract a lot of 1L applications, comprehensive information (including deadlines and hiring components for summer 2011 internships) is not typically made available on the website until late November. You should, however, plan on applying directly and independently this August to any of the offices in which you are interested that are listed as participating in the VLIP. A list of agencies (with application instructions) who hired summer 2010 legal interns can be found here; you should follow these application instructions in connection with your summer 2011 internship applications. Finally, some of the DOJ components have in the past opened up summer internship positions early for 2L applications on PSLawNet. To find these opportunities, do a search for internships with “U.S. Department of Justice” in the “Organization Name” box.
New Resource! We just posted on our website a memo containing candid advice from students who participated in the SLIP interview process, as well as sample essay responses from successful applicants.
OTHER GOVERNMENT INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
If you are interested in pursuing summer internships with other federal and state government agencies, you should review the Government Honors and Internship Handbook and some of the other resources listed in PSLawNet’s Government Career Library. (Please note that the Handbook will be updated in August).
COUNSELING APPOINTMENTS
We know that your public interest or government job search efforts will be very individualized. As always, we are available by phone during regular business hours; the most efficient way to arrange an appointment (by phone or in person) is through our on-line appointment scheduler. However, we know that some of you may have difficulty fitting an appointment into your regular work day. Please feel free to contact the attorney-counselor with whom you are interested in meeting directly and we will do our best to arrange a phone or in-person meeting (here or perhaps in SF) outside of regular hours.
As a reminder, here is a list of our attorney-counselors’ specialty areas (and our individual summer schedules) to help ensure that you receive the most relevant guidance. Please note that we will be available throughout August.
Public Interest Job Search (including DA & PD careers)
* Alex Lee (Out of the office from 7/12 – 7/14)
* Linda Maranzana (Out of the office from 7/15 – 7/30)
Government Job Search
* Eric Stern (Out of the office from 7/12 – 7/16)
SAVE THE DATE – PUBLIC INTEREST/PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYER RECEPTION
On the evening of Thursday, September 2, we will be holding our annual Public Interest/Public Sector Employer Reception at Berkeley Law. Several dozen PIPS employers normally attend this “table talk” event; it is an excellent opportunity to introduce yourself to potential employers and to learn about their work and internship opportunities. We will email you more information, including the list of employers who will attend, as this event approaches.