WCL Office of Public Interest Pictures

Facts About Public Interest Activity
at the Washington College of Law

  • Typically 12-14% of WCL graduates accept postgraduate public interest employment, almost twice the national average.
  • 80 students received $4,000 grants to pursue summer public interest internships last summer form the Equal Justice Foundation.
  • 99 alumni received loan repayment assistance this year for their commitment to working in the public interest or government sectors.
  • 104 members of the Class of 2011 completed the Pro Bono Honors Pledge, performing over 26,000 hours of pro bono work. The Pro Bono Excellence award went to Diana Tafur, who completed the greatest number of pro bono hours (896).
  • 40 students traveled to New Orleans during the 2010-11 Winter Break to assist with post-Katrina legal and community service projects. 11 students traveled to Tucson, Arizona during spring break to provide over 400 hours pro bono legal research and documentation of human rights abuses.

Contact Information

David Steib, Esq.
Assistant Director
Office of Public Interest
American University Washington College of Law
4801 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Suite 122
Washington, DC 20016
Phone: 202-274-4099 Fax: 202-274-4096
Email: dsteib@wcl.american.edu

Many WCL alumni have created their own nonprofit organizations. Some of these include:

Examples of WCL alumni placement at Public Interest/Public Service organizations and agencies:

Public Interest

American University Washington College of Law (WCL) is uniquely dedicated to creating and sustaining an educational culture that emphasizes the power of the law as a tool to achieve social justice and fundamental human rights. Our faculty, administrators, alumni and students fully recognize that a law degree confers not only special responsibilities to the community, the nation, and the world, but also provides tremendous opportunities to bring about positive change for humankind. The recognition of these responsibilities is found in our commitment to pro bono and public service. This commitment is an essential component of the education mission of our law school.

- Dean Claudio Grossman

 

As the first law school founded by women, the goals of advancing the causes of underprivileged and underrepresented people were at the core of American University Washington College of Law from its start in 1896.

This commitment continues today, with the Office of Public Interest (OPI), which seeks to educate law students about their professional responsibility to perform public service work as practicing attorneys, fostering a lifelong commitment to public service. OPI provides a variety of services for students pursuing public interest and pro bono activities during law school and after graduation. Most importantly, the OPI highlights students achievement in public interest and pro bono activities and provides recognition for these accomplishments.

WCL's public interest programs are among the strongest in the nation. This vibrant activist community offers unique opportunities for law students to gain legal experience through a broad range of pro bono and public service programs such as:

Students and Alumni

Students arrive at WCL with a variety of backgrounds and interests including: environmental activism, women's rights, civil rights, international human rights, labor and employment, criminal justice, juvenile justice, land use, and war crimes tribunals. Upon graduating from WCL they continue to work on social justice issues as nonprofit staff attorneys, policy advocates, government attorneys and litigators in public interest law firms.

WCL graduates have been very successful and securing prestigious fellowships. Since 1998, graduates have received more than 30 postgraduate public interest legal fellowships with programs such as: Skadden, Equal Justice Works, Echoing Green, Soros, Women's Law and Public Policy, and New Voices. The Assistant Director & Public Interest Specialist in the Office of Career and Professional Development provides career seeking resources and counseling for students planning public interest or government careers.

Research and Networking Opportunities

At WCL students have the opportunity to network with practitioners while participating in many public interest activities and programs. Students conduct research as faculty Dean's Fellows, and volunteer with the War Crimes Research Office, Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Innocence Project, and the Health Law Project, among other programs. In addition, there are many domestic and international for-credit opportunities through the Clinical Program, externships and the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. Every year WCL is one of the host schools for the Greater Washington, D.C./Baltimore Public Service Career Fair. The fair offers law students an opportunity to lean about public interest organizations and government agencies and to interview for summer and post-graduate positions. Each spring the Externship Program coordinates an Externship Fair with typically more than 130 employers and 400 students participating. The Externship Program places hundreds of upper-level students each year in externships with government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, courts and law firms engaged in pro bono work.