This project will examine the professional trajectories of public interest lawyers, who play crucial roles in allowing access to legal remedies and problem solving. Previous research has found that many students come to law school seeking public interest careers but do not ultimately pursue them; even those who do frequently change paths. This study will be the first to investigate what influences those who persevere through law school and beyond in their quest to become public interest lawyers. Since equal access to justice is a significant aspect of how the legal profession understands itself, explaining choice and persistence in public interest careers is significant to explaining the practices of the profession. Therefore, the project's intellectual merit rests in its contribution to understanding an empirical puzzle in the sociology of the professions.
This project will study graduates of law schools that vary according to student population and whether the institutions are public or private. It will survey students who graduated in 2001-05 to investigate how career choices are influenced by background prior to law school (family, schooling, work, and volunteer activity), law school experience (academic performance, externships and clinics, extracurricular activities, summer jobs, volunteer activities, leadership roles), and experience in each position after graduation, as well as changes in personal circumstances (marriage, divorce, children, responsibility for other family members, educational debt and other financial circumstances). By comparing the career paths of all graduates, the goal is to identify the factors associated with sustained public interest commitment and relate them to different types of careers in the public and private sectors.
The project's findings will have significant broader impact; it will provide useful information concerning career choice within the legal profession, of particular importance at a time of extensive reconsideration of education to the profession. It will also enable law schools to make effective use of scarce resources to support innovative curricula and financial aid programs, such as scholarships and loan assistance.
