Careers in Government and Public Lawyering
All sorts of interesting, challenging and fulfilling jobs and careers are available to law graduates interested in public law and policy. Some lawyers move in and out of government or public law work. New lawyers can look for jobs in a wide range of careers in government agencies, nonprofits, and private lobbying and law firms. Find more details by following the links below.
Governments at the federal, state, county and city level employ attorneys to work with executive branch officers, agencies, legislative bodies and courts.
Nonprofit Organizations/Public Interest Jobs
Public interest lawyers work in organizations representing particular types of needy clients, in public interest law centers or advocacy organizations engaged in impact litigation and legislative work, and other types of nonprofits, which usually employ at least one attorney to do a number of different types of legal work.
Many different types of specialties practiced by law firm attorneys involve government or public lawyering. These include lobbying or other types of political law or legislative practice, representing governments or government bodies as clients, such as cities, counties or school boards, and representing private corporate or individual clients in practice areas subject to heavy government regulation, such as communications, employment, environmental, health or immigration.