Public Service Center Presents: Options Outside Big Law
Feeling discouraged by firm receptions? Were you stuck in a circle last night nodding and awkwardly waiting to word-vomit your narrative? Well, you’re in luck. Last Wednesday, January 29, the Public Service Center hosted a panel just for you: Options Outside of Big Law. The panel featured some of our very own UVA Law students (Kyndall Walker ’26, Cosette Vincent ’25, Elizabeth Gaccione ’26) and was moderated by Dawn Davison, a Director of Public Service. While this has come at a contentious time for some public service jobs, there was real insight to be gained, and I will now share it with you. You’re welcome.
Fortunately, all three of the panelist’s summer/post-grad positions are safe from the freeze. Kendall will be working with the Second Look Project, Cosette at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and Elizabeth at Earthjustice.
When asked about their journeys choosing public service over Big Law, a common theme emerged–crippling fear of OPP emails. We’ve all been there. The red bold text, action items, and deadlines could give anyone a run for (or from) their money. All jokes aside, the panelists echoed that before coming to UVA, they knew they wanted to go the public service route. Kendall and Elizabeth even had specific issues they were passionate about and have now pursued in law school: post-conviction criminal justice reform and environmental advocacy, respectively.
Kendall and Elizabeth explained the process of using Equal Justice Works to secure their public service summer positions. For those like me who had never heard of the program, it is a large career conference, sort of like a national OGI (now, fully virtual), that places law students in public service roles. Like Big Law OGI, you rank organizations and are then chosen for interviews.
But finding a niche is hard. And it can be intimidating competing for public service jobs with students that have developed a strong passion for a particular practice area. You may be thinking, “I know I want to do public service and help people through my legal work, but where do I start?”
Cosette’s journey reminds us that summer positions are a great way to figure out what you like, what you don’t, and what you are interested in. She spent her 1L summer at the Social Security Administration (SSA) litigating on behalf of the federal government and against people trying to receive funds. She realized that litigation was not her thing; she gravitated more towards policy-adjacent work. She used this experience to narrow down her search for 2L summer and was able to find the GAO, an agency more tailored to her interests and strengths. So, don’t get discouraged if you don’t know exactly what type of public service work you want to do. Take opportunities as they come and follow that gut feeling when you have it.
Finances were also a large topic of conversation. Kendall recalled her Big Law friends “comforting” her when she accepted a public service job for her 2L summer, saying things like “we’ll take care of you after our Big Law summer, don’t worry.” Her response to them: “I don’t need you.”
There was also some concern from the attendees about the future of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Cosette reassured the audience that it should take more than an executive order to do away with the program. And Dawn Davison quickly jumped in, explaining that the program helps all public service workers that the “current administration may not want to affect.”
For most of us, this is one of the biggest internal dilemmas of law school. At times, it may seem irrational to give up Big Law salaries and the promise of paying loans off so quickly. But Elizabeth calls to mind the benefit of that sacrifice: “It's going to suck working so hard for something that you don’t care much about.” (Except for you FedSoc boy #23. Don’t worry, I’m sure your passion for merger agreements and Sweetgreen Wednesdays will sufficiently motivate you.)
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hcr9bm@virginia.edu
