Public Interest Column: Staying Firm in Saying No to Big Law

Editor’s Note: The Res Gestae features Public Interest students in our Public Interest Column, wherein we solicit PI students across the Law School to write about various topics related to Public Interest. Whatever the topic may be, we are dedicated to uplifting and promoting the work that our PI students accomplish. This column is written by Contributing Writer and 3L Eman Naga.

It’s a seemingly quintessential truth spoken to every law student that if you are interested in public interest work, you will be devastatingly, bone-crushingly broke. You are repeatedly warned that if you choose a non-Big Law route, you would be choked by the hands of salivating loan financing overlords and that you would barely be able to afford to put food on the table. Some may argue further (sometimes telling themselves more than telling you) that the public interest road doesn’t lead anywhere, because isn’t the legal system broken and rigged anyway? Their logic then follows that public interest work is “cute and all” but not sustainable in light of the Big Law potential surrounding Michigan Law and the broader T-14. This anti-public interest energy permeates the entirety of the law school with professors warning students in class and classmates spouting in UpCo that it’s all quite simple: if you’re public interest, you are destined to a life of financial poverty. That’s where it begins and the starry-eyed lL dreaming of a career oriented in economic justice, labor rights, gender equality, or all three, gets pushed towards the big, scary, overworked, depressed, soul-crushing route of corporate work. Perhaps the public interest-or-bust student initially rejects the premise, but almost always slowly and surely folds as the empty promise of pro bono in Big Law looms and preys on their morality. This phenomenon, the metamorphosis of a public interest student to a Big Law attorney, is a tale as old as time, more stable in law schools than Constitutional Law syllabi. The public interest students that survive this narrative are automatically assumed BOA (broke on arrival) and left to their own devices in a predominantly corporate geared academic and professional environment. I’m one of those students. And it sucks. But you can and should do it.

Now, I will not refute the pay argument because it’s quite intellectually lazy, just because one’s starting salary isn’t 210k+ doesn’t mean it’s poverty wages. Rather, I want to create a list of advice I wish I heard starting law school. Here we go:

1. You won’t be broke but financially plan. The law school and the university have many random financing sources such as Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), scholarships through AccessLex, and GSIing. Research can be mind-numbing but any extra funding is helpful and your future self will thank you.
2. Go to the Big Law events in the Big House. I’m serious. One, there’s a crap load of the most random but most useful merchandise (shout out my handy collection of Hogan Lovell tide pens and my mom’s McDermott work Contigo). Two, it’s a truly fascinating social experience, not of your peers (though sometimes) but of the attorneys. They will tell you, with a plastered smile and cheeky voice, that they are working for BigOil and BigPharma. Self-consumed with imposed notions of prestige because of their firms’ flashy names and the companies they represent, they forget that their work is largely looked down upon by anyone who’s not a diehard conservative. For me, it was a reminder that these people, in their roles as human embodiments of their respective firm employers, are severely disjointed from the material consequences of their work. Honestly, that seemed kind of sad. It solidified for me that this isn’t the life I want. If you go into these events with a critical mindset, it will likely do the same for you.
3. Be prepared to research and join organizations on campus that even somewhat align with your career goals. MDefenders is a no-brainer for students interested in public defense (PD) but for everyone else and honestly even PD students, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and the Organization of Public Interest Students (OPIS) are the best areas to crowdsource information. While OCP is great for resume and cover letter reviews, they have difficulty connecting students with their interests and we just aren’t handheld like our BigLaw peers. For example, I came to law school with a specific interest in protester rights and anti-national security state expansion litigation. As you can imagine, no one in OCP knew what to do with me. It was through these organizations, their mentors, and their listservs, that I was able to figure out places that aligned with my interests, their timelines, etc., and apply accordingly.
4. Remind yourself why you went to law school. That doesn’t mean rereading your personal statement or your application but materially staying connected to the communities you want to help. Pro bono opportunities are a decent way to do this but they are not the sole way, especially because law school and the law have a way of divorcing you from community and reality. By engaging with your communities, you are reminded of why you came to law school. For me, camp counseling was rejuvenating, but for you maybe it’s volunteering your tutoring skills or protesting for causes you believe in. Whatever it is, touch grass.
5. If you begin to feel swept by the BigLaw wave, remember that it’s normal. When you’re in such a BigLaw-dominated space, it’s natural for the propaganda to begin to work. The solution is to remind yourself it’s natural because we are social creatures. When everyone is talking about BigLaw and you are a member of society, it is completely normal for you to be affected by the spaces you exist in. Make sure you find your public interest community and hold on tight to counteract the corporate energy until at least after OCI ends when you will feel far more stable and comfortable in your public interest-oriented career path. See also tip #4.
6. Pro bono is largely a joke. People don’t tell you this but BigLaw attorneys, even when well-intentioned, have difficulty doing good pro bono work given their massive caseloads and overworked firm atmosphere. My internships have had Big Law assistance facilitated by pro bono managers at these firms and I promise you, their pro bono aid largely consists of the most scrambled motions, distraction during team calls, and missed deadlines. Again, even with the purest of hearts, the body and mind can only produce so much work product, and when pressure is put on these attorneys to meet the demands of high-paying clients, pro bono projects get the most depleted energy, if it gets any worthy energy. Remember this when firms sell pro bono as a quasi equivalent to a rewarding public interest career: public interest work in Big Law is not the dream it’s sold as when firm incentive will always be the bottom line, not social causes or impoverished clients. 

This list is by no means exhaustive and the majority of public interest career advice will differ depending on your interests, experiences, and connections. That said, a big part of being a public interest student in a largely corporate atmosphere is firmly rejecting the gnawing imposition of its mentality and this is what worked for me. It’s doable — so many have done it before you, so many will do it with you, and so many will do it after you. Just hang on tight — you’ll be fine, I promise.