Our Career Development Office (CDO) is dedicated to helping students find opportunities with employers of all types, including public service employers. "Public service" encompasses both public interest and government employers.

The CDO has strong relationships with public service employers and engages in ongoing outreach to build and maintain relationships within the public service community in order to create job opportunities for students and graduates. Our programs allow students to engage with public service employers, help students learn about public service opportunities, and educate students about how to develop strategies for pursuing public service opportunities.

Our thorough understanding of students' backgrounds and interests combined with our knowledge of public service employers' missions, needs, and preferred qualifications enable us to effectively connect students and graduates with employers that fit their public service goals.

Learn more about Public Service at Colorado Law

Summer Employment

Sixty-one members of the Class of 2017 and 84 members of the Class of 2018 worked for public service organizations during the summer of 2016.

Summer 2016 public interest employers include:

  • Colorado Legal Services (Denver, CO)
  • Colorado State Public Defender's Offices (multiple locations)
  • Earthjustice (Denver, CO)
  • Environmental Defense Fund (Boulder, CO)
  • Lambda Legal (Dallas, TX)
  • Legal Aid Society (New York, NY)
  • National Conference of State Legislatures (Denver, CO)
  • Natural Resources Defense Council (Washington, DC)
  • Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) (Denver, CO)
  • Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center (Denver, CO)
  • The Nature Conservancy (Carlton, Australia)
  • The Wilderness Society (Denver, CO)
  • Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (Dharamsala, India)
  • Trustees for Alaska (Anchorage, AK)
  • WildEarth Guardians (Denver, CO)

Summer 2016 government employers include:

  • Colorado Attorney General's Office (Denver, CO)
  • Colorado Secretary of State (Denver, CO)
  • Colorado State District Attorney’s Offices (multiple locations)
  • Denver Public Schools (Denver, CO)
  • Federal Communications Commission (Washington, DC)
  • Federal Trade Commission (Washington, DC)
  • Governor's Office of Legal Counsel (Denver, CO)
  • U.S. Attorney's Offices (Anchorage, AK; Denver, CO; and Portland, ME)
  • U.S. Department of Education (Denver, CO)
  • U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration (Kansas City, MO)
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (Denver, CO)
  • U.S. Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division (Washington, DC)
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Denver, CO and Washington, DC)
  • U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Denver, CO)
  • U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (Denver, CO)

Post-grad Employment

28% (42 students) of employed graduates in the Class of 2015 reported working in public service jobs ten months after graduation. Twenty-one were in government positions and 21 were in public interest positions.

Post-graduate employers include:

  • Children’s Hospital Colorado (Aurora, CO)
  • Colorado Department of Transportation (Denver, CO)
  • Colorado Office of Alternate Defense Counsel (Denver, CO)
  • Colorado State District Attorney's Offices (Boulder, Brighton, Cañon City, Centennial, Durango, Salida, and Steamboat Springs, CO)
  • Colorado State Public Defender's Offices (Brighton, Colorado Springs, Glenwood Springs, Pueblo, Durango, Greeley, Centennial, Fort Collins, Denver, Sterling, Alamosa, and Grand Junction)
  • Denver City Attorney’s Office (Denver, CO)
  • DNA People’s Legal Services (Tuba City, AZ)
  • U.S. Department of Labor (Denver, CO and Washington, DC)
  • Wyoming Attorney General’s Office (Cheyenne, WY)

Programming

To inform and educate students about the public service realm, our CDO presents information sessions throughout the academic year. Attorneys who work for public service employers are often the featured speakers. Recent public service information session topics have included:

  • Colorado State Public Defender's Office (Boulder County Office)
  • Financing Your Public Service Career
  • Presidential Management Fellowship ("PMF") Program
  • Project-based Fellowships
  • Pursuing Federal Opportunities
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Legal Honors Program
  • U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program

In January 2016, the CDO sponsored the 5th Annual JD Pathways, a career conference that brought together 99 students and 78 attorneys, a number of whom work for public service employers. The conference included a Transactional Law Panel, a Local Government Panel, an Interviewing Tips and Techniques Panel, and a Public Interest Law Panel, all of which featured members from the public service law community.

The CDO also hosts approximately 70 employers each academic year through the fall and spring On-Campus Interview (OCI) programs. Public service employers participate in Colorado Law's OCI programs alongside private sector employers. Participating public service employers who participated in our OCI programs during the 2015-2016 academic year included:

  • Boulder County Attorney's Office
  • Colorado Department of State
  • Colorado District Attorneys' Council (CDAC)
  • Colorado Judicial District Attorney’s Offices (1st, 4th, 17th, and 18th Districts)
  • Colorado Office of Administrative Courts
  • Colorado Office of the Attorney General
  • Denver Public Schools
  • Earthjustice
  • Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel
  • Level 3 Communications
  • Mountain States Legal Foundation
  • Newmont Mining Corporation
  • Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
  • Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center
  • Sierra Club
  • The Public Interest Network
  • U.S. Air Force JAG Corps
  • U.S. Army JAG Corps
  • U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the General Counsel
  • U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
  • U.S. Department of Energy, Golden Field Office
  • U.S. Department of Transportation, FTA Region VIII
  • U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  • U.S. Marine Corps JAG

Government and Public Interest Law Career Fair

Colorado Law co-sponsors an annual Government and Public Interest Law Career Fair with the University Denver, Sturm College of Law every November. Over 50 public service entities participated in the 2016 event. Participating organizations included:

  • AFL-CIO
  • American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado
  • City and County of Denver
  • Colorado Department of Human Services
  • Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies
  • Colorado Department of Revenue
  • Colorado Department of State
  • Colorado District Attorney's Council
  • Colorado District Attorney’s Offices (1st, 2nd, 10th, 12th, 17th, and 20th Districts)
  • Colorado General Assembly
  • Colorado Legal Services
  • Colorado Office of Administrative Courts
  • Colorado Office of the Attorney General
  • Colorado State Public Defender's Office
  • Disability Law Colorado
  • DNA-People's Legal Service, Inc.
  • Earthjustice
  • U.S. Public Interest Research Group
  • Governor’s Office of Legal Counsel
  • Independence Institute
  • Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel
  • Jefferson County Attorney's Office
  • Justice and Mercy Legal Aid Clinic
  • National Labor Relations Board, Region 27
  • Office of Alternate Defense Counsel
  • Office of the Child's Representative
  • Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado (PERA)
  • Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN)
  • Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center
  • The Colorado Lawyers Committee
  • U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado
  • U.S. Department of Education
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development
  • U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Financial Support

Colorado Law provides fellowships/stipends for summer work that would otherwise be unpaid or extremely low-paid. Through student groups and donor gifts, Colorado Law's Public Service Summer 2016 Fellowship Program provided 48 students with stipends ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 for public interest work with government agencies and non-profits located both nationally and internationally. Another 27 students were awarded stipends ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 through other fellowships offered at Colorado Law.

Additional summer fellowships for work involving environmental, natural resources, social justice, the public sector, international human rights, and public policy issues are available to students as a result of the generosity and public service commitment of Colorado Law's alumni and friends.

Graduates employed in qualifying public service positions may receive grants through Colorado Law's Loan Repayment Assistance Program to help them meet their student debt obligations.

 

Job Search Resources

Our CDO maintains a regularly updated database of internship, externship and post-graduate job opportunities. The CDO also provides students and graduates with access to outside tools which are essential for learning about public service job opportunities, such as PSJD and the Government Honors and Internship Handbook. Colorado Law is also an Equal Justice Works member school, making our students and alumni eligible to participate in EJW's annual career fair, educational stipend program, and post-graduate fellowship programs.