PIRC Public Interest Job Search Services

Public Interest Job Search Resources

Our PIRC LawNET site offers numerous Public Interest Job Search Resources, including: 

• Guidance on Public Interest Resumes and Cover Letters (including samples)
• Timeline for Planning a Public Interest Career
• Charting your Public Interest Path at Fordham Law

One-on-One Counseling

The counselors in the Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) are a valuable resource for your public interest job search and complement the services offered by the CAreer Planning Center (CPC.)  Connect with a PIRC Counselor.

PIRC counselors are available  to meet with you to:

• discuss your interests and help you develop a plan for a public interest job search strategy for summer, academic year, post-graduation  employment and mid-career job opportunities
• review resumes and cover letters
• conduct mock interviews
• connect you with Fordham Law alumni and others who practice in areas of interest.

PIRC organizes, sponsors and advertises a variety of types of events related to public service practice to introduce you to a range of practice areas, cutting edge issues, and to help you make valuable contacts.

Law School Programs

PIRC works in collaboration with the Law School's Center and Institutes to organize and sponsor programs in support of your interest in public service work.

Public Service Practice Profiles

PIRC organizes panels and workshops at the Law School to introduce you to practice areas and help you build contacts with attorneys working with public interest organizations and government agencies. PIRC’s practice area programs complement workshops sponsored by the Career Planning Center, the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, and the Feerick Center for Social Justice and Dispute Resolution.

Job Search Workshops

PIRC and the CPC produce programs and have developed written materials to provide you with an orientation and overview of areas such as the:

• summer public interest job search
• resume and cover letter workshops
• government honors programs
• post-graduate fellowships
• strategies for securing post-graduate employment
• interviewing with particular employers (e.g. district attorneys and public defenders’ offices).
• Programs Within the Legal Community

PIRC produces a weekly email, PIRC-UP!, emailed to all students, which includes a calendar of events which includes panels on a broad range of public services issues in the NYC metropolitan area (including those sponsored by local bar associations) and upcoming conferences. Alumna who wish to receive PIRC-UP! should email Adiaha Foglino, PIRC’s Office Manager at [email protected].

Career Fairs and Receptions

Public service career receptions and fairs are great opportunities to meet with public service employers—attorneys with non-profits, government agencies and private public interest law firms--in one place and over the course of only a few hours. Receptions provide a chance to talk with these attorneys to learn about various practice areas and settings, types of work and career paths. Career fairs are primarily designed to let you interview with a number of employers from around the country over the course of one or two days; the fairs often also include separate opportunities to meet and talk with attorneys at informational tables, sometimes called "table talk."

These events will be listed on the Law School and PIRC’s Calendars and announced in Weekly Brief, the weekly calendar of events emailed to students by the Office of Student Affairs PIRC-UP!, the weekly listing of public service events emailed to students by PIRC. Look for posters on bulletin boards throughout the law school as well.