Public Interest and Clinical Work

Students can readily prepare for careers serving the public interest, volunteer in myriad ways, and get practical experience that will enrich their education, their legal practice, and their lives.

Clinical Programs

The Law School’s clinical programs have long met the educational needs of our students and the legal needs of our community. In 2008, the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic celebrated its 50th anniversary of serving the people of Chicago. Second and third-year students working in the clinic learn litigation, legislative advocacy, and transactional skills by representing clients while under the close supervision of clinical teachers. Students can work in a wide variety of areas, including

• appellate advocacy;
• civil rights and police accountability;
• criminal and juvenile justice;
• employment discrimination;
• housing;
• mental health;
• social service;
• exoneration of people wrongfully convicted;
• federal criminal law; and
• advocacy for immigrant children.

For those more interested in the business side of law, the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship is devoted principally to expanding economic liberties by providing a range of legal services for start-up businesses in economically disadvantaged communities.

Students actively represent clients in all these projects—it’s not just busy work. The State of Illinois and the Seventh Circuit both allow students, under the supervision of licensed attorneys, to serve as counsel for clients. This means that our students serve as the trial lawyers—they conduct the direct and cross examinations, make the opening and closing arguments, and draft the motions. They also argue the cases on appeal. They do the leg work and the research, they draft the contracts and negotiate the settlements. They practice law. For this they earn course credit, gain real-world experience, and serve the community.

Career Counseling and Support

The Law School's Office of Career Services (OCS) provides extensive support to students interested in pursuing a career in public service. Our career counselors are experts in navigating fellowship applications and government programs and know how to help you find public service employment. We have a network of alumni in public service, including graduates of prestigious programs like the Skadden and Echoing Green fellowships. Our alumni practice worldwide and have even started their own renowned public service organizations. Please visit the OCS website to learn more about our experienced career counselors and the support and resources available to students seeking public interest careers.

Student Organizations and Volunteer Opportunities

The clinics are far from the only way to serve the public interest and engage with issues that matter to you. You can join student organizations like the Chicago Law Foundation, which raises money to give grants to students working in summer public interest jobs, or Neighbors, which works with school children on literacy and civics issues. You can participate in the Spring Break of Service, which last year sent twenty-nine students to do legal aid work in Biloxi and Jackson, Mississippi. You can even start your own organization to do what is meaningful to you.

Chicago’s Hormel Public Interest Program

The University of Chicago Law School believes that work in the public interest is a valuable and fulfilling career option. Accordingly, the Law School is committed to making such options available for its graduates. One obstacle to graduates considering such positions is the large educational debt burden many undertake to pay for their undergraduate and graduate education.

In response to this challenge the Law School has created a unique and generous program to assist its graduates in pursuing careers in the public interest. The Law School is proud to introduce the Hormel Public Interest Program (HPIP). HPIP is not a traditional loan repayment assistance program and is superior to such programs because HPIP does not have a lengthy time requirement to receive benefits. Moreover HPIP provides benefits regardless of spousal income or potential family contributions.We believe the HPIP approach is the best way to support and encourage our graduates as they pursue legal careers in the public interest arena.

Brief Summary

HPIP replaces the previous University of Chicago Loan Repayment Assistance Program. HPIP provides a benefit for a University of Chicago Law School graduate who works full-time in a qualifying job with a salary of less than $72,000. For such graduates, the Law School will make an interest-free loan of $10,000 a year, with each loan forgiven in full before the end of each year.Benefits under HPIP are available for the seven of the eight years following graduation, for a potential total of
$70,000. The benefit is available regardless of parental, spousal, or other income.

For additional information on the Hormel Public Interest Program, please visit the HPIP page.

Summer Loan Program

Since the summer of 2006, the University of Chicago Law School has guaranteed financial support for every student who engages in qualifying summer public interest work for four or more weeks during the summer following the first year of law school. Program Details. Students undertaking qualifying public interest work that first summer are eligible for a $6,000 forgivable loan available at summer’s start.

Qualifying Position. A qualifying position is one that pays less than $600 per week for employment with a not-for-profit organization or government unit (other than a university or a judicial externship), in a full-time position that has some bearing on legal work.

Loan Forgiveness. If you complete at least four full-time weeks in a qualifying position in your first summer of law school, $3,000 of the loan is forgiven. This forgiveness is in addition to any salary paid by that or another summer employer and is in addition to any other grant you may have received, so long as you are not receiving more than $600 per week for your qualifying work. The $3,000 balance may be repaid as much as 15 months later, so that you can use your second summer's earnings (which average more than $2,000 per week for 2L Chicago students) as a source of repayment. If you also work in a qualifying position during your second summer, the entire first-summer loan will be forgiven.

For more information, please visit the Summer Heerey Fellowships page.