Turns
out
1Ls
can
make
a
lot
of
money
doing
public
interest
work.
Not
at
the
place
they’re
working,
of
course
—
several
Biglaw
firms
have
taken
to
offering
1Ls
money
to
bribe
encourage
them
to
work
for
the
firm
next
year
rather
than
for
their
competitors.
To
make
sure
that
their
talent
doesn’t
get
sniped
by
other
firms,
it
usually
comes
with
the
caveat
that
the
1L
will
work
at
a
public
interest
provider.
Which
is
the
only
way
a
person
could
feasibly
make
$50k
working
a
summer
at
the
local
legal
aid
clinic.
Law.com
has
coverage:
As
recruitment
for
2L
summer
programs
encroaches
earlier
into
the
first
year
of
law
school,
at
least
15
Am
Law
100
firms
have
offered
sums
of
$25,000
to
$50,000
to
1L
law
students
accepted
into
the
firms’
2L
summer
associate
programs.
…
While
Am
Law
25
firms
have
led
the
trend—Davis
Polk
&
Wardwell,
Kirkland
&
Ellis,
Latham
&
Watkins,
Sidley
Austin,
Simpson
Thacher
&
Bartlett,
Cooley,
and
Quinn
Emanuel
Urquhart
&
Sullivan
all
offered
stipends
contingent
on
public
interest
work[.]
This
is
a
slap
in
the
face
to
students
who
actually
give
a
damn
about
public
interest
work.
The
interests
of
the
firms
(securing
talent)
and
the
interests
of
the
Biglaw-bent
1Ls
(securing
the
bag)
would
be
served
just
as
well
if
the
firms
had
students
doing
their
internships
at
the
local
bodega.
Instead,
they’re
incentivizing
Biglaw-focused
students
to
compete
with
public
interest
students
for
internships
that
are
already
hard
enough
to
come
by.
Even
if
the
1L
on
a
Biglaw
stipend
is
just
doing
public
service
work
for
the
check,
gunners
exist.
The
tendency
will
be
for
students
to
prestige
max
each
line
of
their
resume
—
they’d
still
be
incentivized
to
go
for
high
prestige
public
service
positions
even
if
they
never
plan
on
helping
anyone
else
once
they
walk
through
the
front
door
of
Kirkland
&
Ellis.
Not
all
firms
require
stipend
receivers
to
do
public
service;
Cooley
allows
for
work
in
academia,
government
agencies,
and
some
in-house
positions,
but
the
argument
still
stands.
Why
should
the
small
pool
of
law
students
who
go
to
law
school
intending
to
become
legal
academics
face
more
competition
because
some
future
Quinn
Emanuel
2L
needs
to
find
a
place
to
kill
time?
Things
were
a
lot
simpler
when
you
just
got
a
gig
at
OCI
or
were
hired
to
work
your
1L
summer
at
the
firm
that
was
giving
you
money.
Now
public
service
is
paying
the
costs
for
Biglaw
firms
racing
to
grab
the
talent
they
can’t
replace
with
AI.
Public
Interest
Stipends
Open
Latest
Front
in
Law
Firms’
Competition
for
Summer
Associates [Law.com]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boat
builder
who
is
learning
to
swim
and
is
interested
in
rhetoric,
Spinozists
and
humor.
Getting
back
in
to
cycling
wouldn’t
hurt
either.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.