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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thanks pp. this is helpful. A few other questions. Did "burnout" seem at all a problem among the lawyers? Was the training good? And lastly, what did you or others go on to do? Did you stay in public interest law? I'm wondering what the path for growth is.

Thanks![/quote]

Burnout is going to be a highly individualized thing.  I think you need a thick skin to be a lawyer in general but you really need a thick skin to work in legal services.  There's some really sad stories but you have to be able to separate yourself from it and focus on the legal issues.  Take the cases you can win even if you have to turn away some people with really compelling stories.  While giving that advice I realize that the people generally drawn to legal services work are those who want to help people so maybe the advice is easier to give than in practice.  In my office and throughout the organization it seemed like most people had been there a few years although I didn't see a lot of "lifers" there.  I think the starting salary is around $40K so it's not much money and I think that's the reason a lot of people eventually move on.

The training was almost non-existent and even just getting CLE credits was hard.  However, this may not be the case if you're working in NYC.  Legal services is bigger and supposedly better organized down there.  That said, my boss and co-workers were always willing to discuss strategy on a case with me.  We had a few old practitioner's guides to use and I think we got a very basic version of Lexis Nexis to use for free.

I did it as part of a fellowship so I was there for a year.  I went back to my firm so that won't be helpful for you but I can talk about a few of the others in the office.  One guy had a split set up where he worked at his solo practice 3 days a week and 2 days a week with legal services.  I think he did it primarily to get access to health insurance (he paid a pro-rated amount based upon his part-time status).  He eventually left and went full-time with his own practice doing matrimonial work.  Another girl that handled matrimonial matters also left to work at a small firm doing matrimonial matters.  The managing attorney for my office left and accepted a position as an ALJ at the DOL.[/quote]

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