Seeing how this week’s theme is public interest, I thought it made sense for me to talk about my public interest summer job search. I feel like a lot of people come into law school with strong leanings towards either public or private interest. I was not one of those people. I honestly am not sure what I intend to do with my law degree. My lack of direction made picking a job this summer pretty difficult. The conventional wisdom about the summer job hunt seems to be that 1L year is a good time to explore new areas. I decided my best bet would be to take advantage of the law school’s guaranteed public interest funding and find a job working in the public sector.
I walked in to my first OPIA advising session pretty scatterbrained. None of my interests seemed to line up with my experiences, and none of the jobs I thought seemed interesting were in any way related to one another. My advisor suggested that I sit down and try and figure out what my main interest areas were and focus in on them specifically. In undergrad, I had been an international relations major and had a particular interest in African politics. I had also managed an alternative rock radio station. (I told you my interests were scattered!) I was able to narrow myself down to two fields: international law with a specific interest in Africa and communications/media law.
I am happy to report that after a winter spent buried in cover letters and resumes, I received offers from organizations in both of my areas of interest. I plan on spending this summer working for the Office of the Prosecutor within the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The tribunal was established in the 90s to bring justice to those responsible for the Rwandan Genocide. I am still not sure what I plan on doing after law school, but I am incredibly excited at the opportunity to expand on my legal research and writing skills while also working in a field that I find interesting.
– Anit
