Public Interest Law

A growing number of students are interested in doing public interest work when they graduate from law school. Public interest covers a variety of subject matter areas. Lewis & Clark graduates work in public interest careers in the areas of environmental law, criminal law, family law, elder law and other areas where legal issues arise that are handled through nonprofit corporations and organizations and some government agencies.

Lewis & Clark has an extremely active student organization called the Public Interest Law Project (PILP). The organization has won national awards and each year hosts a large auction raising monies to cover summer stipends for students wishing to do public interest work. The proceeds from the auction also go to the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, a program designed to assist graduates of the law school who wish to do lower paying public interest work but who need help paying law school loan debt.