Public Interest Career Guides and Job Search Strategies
In partnership with UCLA Law’s Centers and Programs, the Office of Public Interest Programs (OPIP) has authored a series of cutting-edge Public Interest Career Guides to provide in-depth information on how to prepare for your public interest internship, summer job, and legal career. These Guides are available for download on this page.
In our Public Interest Resume Guide we provide concrete examples and advice on how to craft your resume to highlight your skills and public interest experience.
Our Careers in series highlights a range of practice settings and career areas. Our Guides include careers in government, food law, immigrant rights, environmental law, and public international law & human rights. The series also features several Guides dedicated to careers in criminal law, including in public defense, prosecution, and criminal law policy and reform. Finally, we have a Guide that features private public interest law firms and one dedicated to youth law and children’s rights.
Each Guide includes strategies for starting your job search, narratives from UCLA Law alumni, an overview of the types of work in the field, examples of employers where UCLA Law students have worked, and advice on preparing for interviews with employers.
For more information, please contact OPIP at publicinterestoffice@law.ucla.edu.
Career Guides
- Public Interest Résumé Guide
- Careers in Criminal Law and Policy
- Careers in Environmental Law
- Careers in Government
- Careers in Immigration Law and Immigrants' Rights
- Careers in Private Public Interest Law Firms
- Careers in Prosecution
- Careers in California Public Defender Offices
- Careers in Public Defense
- Careers in Public Interest Food Law and Policy
- Careers in Public International Law & Human Rights
- Careers in Youth Justice
The UCLA Public Interest Résumé Guide provides general guidance to assist you in drafting your résumé. It is specifically tailored to law students seeking summer and post-graduate positions with public interest entities, including nonprofit organizations, government agencies, courts and private public interest firms.
This Careers in Criminal Law and Policy guide was created to help law students and law school graduates who are interested in careers in the field of criminal law outside of public defense and prosecutorial work. The guide highlights a number of diverse areas of practice within criminal law and policy and various sites that may be of interest for summer internships and post-graduate employment opportunities as well as narratives from alumni who work in this field.
The Environmental Law Resources and Career Guide was created to highlight the breadth of opportunities that exist for environmental lawyers and to provide resources and advice to assist students and graduates with job applications and career development.
A career in government offers lawyers gratifying and dynamic ways to be involved in public service. Careers in Government serves as a tool to help chart the best possible career path for law students and law graduates seeking to embark on this pursuit.
The Careers in Immigration Law and Immigrants’ Rights guide was created to highlight the breadth of opportunities that exist for immigration lawyers and to provide resources and advice to assist students and graduates with job applications and career development.
Attorneys in private public interest practice are at the forefront of public interest lawyering. These attorneys practice in every area of public interest law, as they fight for the constitutional rights of incarcerated people, seek accountability for police officers' use of excessive force, negotiate affordable housing contracts, sue discriminatory employers and monitor elections. This Careers in Private Public Interest Firms handbook has been created to help law students and graduates understand how to enter private public interest practice.
This Careers in Prosecution guide was created to help law students and law school graduates who are interested in performing the duties of a prosecutor.
The Guide to California Public Defender Offices provides law students and recent graduates interested in careers in criminal defense in California with contact and other relevant information for every county public defender office and office to which public defender services are contracted in California.
Public defenders dedicate themselves to protecting the constitutional right to counsel by representing those who cannot afford an attorney. This Careers in Public Defense handbook was created to help law students and law school graduates who are interested in public defense work.
A food law and policy career, especially for attorneys interested in working in the public interest sector, can take many shapes. Food policy work often intersects with other legal subject matters, such as housing, health care, education, and family law. Careers in Public Interest Food Law and Policy has been created to help law students and graduates understand the varied directions a public interest food law career can go, and how to embark upon such a career path.
The practice of youth law is centered on addressing legal issues that may arise in an individual child’s life. This Guide to Youth Law provides valuable information on the diversity of legal careers in the field of youth justice—including in dependency law, guardianship law, education law, youth defense, immigration law, and public benefits law.