Would-Be Public Interest Lawyers See Deferred Associates as Competitors

Some would-be public interest lawyers are worried that deferred associates are taking positions that could have been theirs.

Some large law firms are paying new associates stipends ranging from $60,000 to $85,000 to spend a year working for public interest organizations—a pay cut for a new associate but more than the average annual starting salary of $41,000 for public interest lawyers. Among the law firms taking part in such programs are Latham & Watkins, Morrison & Foerster and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

The National Law Journal reports that some new lawyers with a public interest focus, particularly those in the northeast, are worried about the impact on their own employment prospects.

One of them is Allison Standard, who recently graduated from the University of North Carolina law school. "The hard part is that there is no easy solution to this," she told the NLJ. "You can't blame the organizations for taking the free labor. But people who intended on public-interest careers have been working throughout law school to build a path to these jobs, and they might get passed over."

Jane Fox, who is finishing up her third year at Brooklyn Law School, is looking for work as a public defender or a public-interest lawyer, the story says. She has completed several clinical externships and worked for the Legal Aid Society in New York during the summer.

"Deferred associates are getting congratulated for going to public-interest organizations in the final hour and being so generous, while the people who were planning on working at these organizations throughout law school and have demonstrated a commitment are forgotten again by the legal establishment," Fox told the NLJ. At times, she said, she is bitter. But she also hopes the deferred associates will help public-interest groups expand services.

"We have so much to offer potential employers, but these deferral programs edge us out in one big way," she said. "We don't come with a $70,000-plus salary with benefits intact. Psychologically, it's hard to deal with that reality."