I graduated this month from MVP and I am considering a ~$60k one-year fellowship at a nonprofit doing disability rights litigation. I'm very interested in the work and am reasonably sure I would be happy there. I could see myself doing this work, or similar public interest work, for at least a few years.
My concern though is that eventually I will need a higher salary to raise a family and support my parents and so I don't think I can stay in public interest work forever. I've worked with many older attorneys in legal aid who are still making $60k salaries in their 40s, which I personally would not be satisfied with. I don't want to put myself on a path that will keep me in public interest work forever, even though I enjoy it greatly as a recent law grad.
Eventually I'd like to work for a private law firm or in-house at a corporation. Has anyone made this kind of transition and/or could talk about it? Thanks.
Transition from public interest to private? Forum
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Re: Transition from public interest to private?
Some types of work are easier to transition out of than others (like, prosecutor -> USAO -> white-collar defense seems to be a pretty common path). Disability rights doesn't seem like it lends itself particularly well to going private.
