Social Justice Initiatives | Columbia Law School
Public Interest Career Resources & Publications
SJI's Proprietary Guides for Columbia Law School Students and Grads
Proprietary public interest career resources produced for the sole use of Columbia Law School students and grads, including the Public Interest Job Search Toolkit, can be found on the SJI Guides page. (You will be prompted for your LawNet or Alumni website password.)
Below we have compiled a selection of other career resources that you might find useful.
Practice Area-Specific Guides
We thank our counterparts at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School for making these resources available to the public.
- “Career Guide for Energy Climate and Clean Tech,” by the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (private and public law)
- “Careers in Foundations for Lawyers,” Harvard Law School
- “Careers in Immigration Law,” Harvard Law School
- “Children’s Rights Law: A Career Guide,” Harvard Law School
- “Civil Rights/Civil Liberties,” Harvard Law School
- “Entering the Law Teaching Market,” Yale Law School
- “Environmental Law Guide,” Yale Law School
- “Firm-Sponsored Split Public Interest Summers” Yale Law School
- “Health Care Law: A Career Guide,” Harvard Law School
- “International LL.M. Career Planning,” Yale Law School
- “International Public Interest Law,” Yale Law School
- “Legal Services Guide,” Harvard Law School
- “LGBT Rights Law: A Career Guide,” Harvard Law School
- “Guide to Conservative/Libertarian Public Interest Law: Exploring Opportunities with Nonprofits, Research Institutes, and Government Agencies,” Harvard Law School
- “Private Public Interest and Plaintiff’s Firm Guide,” Columbia Law School and Harvard Law School
- “Public Defender Handbook” New York University Law School
- “Public Interest Fellowships, Vol. 1,” Yale Law School
- “Women's Rights,” Harvard Law School
Online Public Interest Job Search Resources
- PSJD. A public interest legal job search database of 13,000 domestic and international organizations, government agencies, and public interest law firms. Free for Columbia students when you register individually at “Getting Started.”
- Capital Defenders. A list compiled by Boalt Law School of law student internship opportunities (both summer and year-round) in offices around the country that are engaged in the defense of death row inmates or capitally charged defendants.
- Gotham Gazette Classifieds. An online listing of public service jobs in New York City; includes many law-related jobs.
- Human Rights Blog
- Human Rights Tools.This website has a variety of tools for human rights professionals.
- Idealist.org. Job listings in public service, including human rights positions throughout the world. If you enter your profile, Idealist will send you relevant listings. To sign up, click here to fill out a profile.
- National Legal Aid & Defender Association. An excellent resource for postgraduate jobs in civil legal services organizations and defender organizations. Other public interest organizations are also listed. Searchable by state.
- One World. Similar to idealist.org.
- UN Jobs. Job postings at the United Nations.
Assessing a Law Firm's Commitment to Pro Bono
We've developed what we find to be a useful guide to evaluating the pro bono commitment of a potential employer or placement.