Public Service Careers

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

Seventy-six members of the Class of 2020 and 55 members of the Class of 2019 worked for public service organizations during the summer of 2018.

Summer 2018 public interest employers included:

American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (Denver, CO)
Biden Foundation (Washington, DC)
Boulder County Legal Services (Boulder, CO)
Bridge to Justice (Boulder, CO)
Colorado Lawyers Committee (Denver, CO)
Colorado Legal Services, Migrant Farm Workers Division (Denver, CO)
Colorado Municipal League (Denver, CO)
Colorado State Public Defender's Office (Multiple Locations)
Common Cause (Washington, DC)
CTIA - The Wireless Association (Washington, DC)
Earthjustice - Colorado (Denver, CO)
Environmental Defense Fund (Boulder, CO)
Federal Public Defender, Western District of Texas (El Paso, TX)
Federal Public Defender, Districts of Colorado & Wyoming (Denver, CO)
International Law Commission of the United Nations (Geneva, Switzerland)
International Telecommunication Union (Washington, DC)
Kids in Need of Defense (Houston, TX)
Laborers International Union of America (Washington, DC)
Land Conservancy of New Jersey (Montville, NJ)
Micronesian Legal Services (Saipan, CNMI)
Municipal Public Defender's Office (Denver, CO)
National Association of Counsel for Children (Aurora, CO)
National Emergency Number Association (Washington, DC)
New Mexico Environmental Law Center (Santa Fe, NM)
Northwest Justice Project (Wenatchee, WA)
Office of the Child's Representative (Denver, CO)
Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado (Denver, CO)
Public Knowledge (Washington, DC)
Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center (Denver, CO)
Rocky Mountain Wild (Denver, CO)
Social Justice Collaborative (Oakland, CA)
The Climate Reality Project (Boulder, CO)
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Denver, CO)
The Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization of Yale Law School (New Haven, CT)
The Legal Aid Society (New York, NY)
The National Conference of State Legislatures (Denver, CO)
The Nature Conservancy (Boulder, CO)
The Public Interest Network (Denver, CO)
Triangle Project (Cape Town, SA)
Trustees for Alaska (Anchorage, AK) (Anchorage, AK)
Tulsa County Public Defender's Office (Tulsa, OK) (Tulsa, OK)
United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (Detroit, MI)
Utah Legal Services (Ogden, UT)
Western Environmental Law Center (Helena, MT)
Western Resource Advocates (Boulder, CO)
WildEarth Guardians (Denver, CO)
Wilderness Workshop (Carbondale, CO)

Summer 2018 government employers included:

1st Judicial District Attorney's Office (Golden, CO)
20th Judicial District Attorney's Office (Boulder, CO)
Alaska Office of the Attorney General (Anchorage, AK)
Boulder County Attorney's Office (Boulder, CO)
City of Boulder, Office of the City Attorney (Boulder, CO)
City of Ulysses, Police Department (Ulysses, KS)
Colorado Department of Transportation (Denver, CO)
Colorado District Attorneys' Council (Denver, CO)
Colorado Office of the Attorney General, Civil Litigation and Employment Law Section (Denver, CO)
Colorado Office of the Attorney General, Consumer Protection Section (Denver, CO)
Colorado Office of the Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Section (Denver, CO)
Colorado Office of the Attorney General, Criminal Justice Section (Denver, CO)
Colorado Office of the Attorney General, State Services Section (Denver, CO)
Denver City Attorney's Office (Denver, CO)
Denver District Attorney's Office (Denver, CO)
Federal Communications Commission, International Bureau (Washington, DC)
Federal Communications Commission, Office of Engineering and Technology (Washington, DC)
Fort Collins City Attorney’s Office (Fort Collins, CO)
Jefferson County Attorney's Office (Golden, CO)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, CO)
NOAA, Office of General Counsel, Alaska Section (Juneau, AK)
State of Colorado, Office of Respondent Parents' Counsel (Denver, CO)
Town of Jackson (Jackson, WY)
U.S. Army JAG Corps (Nationwide)
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado (Denver and Durango, CO)
U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (Washington, DC)
U.S. Department of Energy, Golden Field Office (Golden, CO)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the General Counsel (Denver, CO)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (Washington, DC)
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (Washington, DC)
U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division (Denver, CO)
U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Denver Immigration Court (Denver, CO)
U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor (Portland, OR)
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of General Counsel (Lakewood, CO)
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General (Washington, DC)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Fuels Enforcement Branch (Denver, CO)
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Denver, CO)
U.S. Navy JAG Corps (Nationwide)
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Washington, DC)
Washington State Attorney General's Office (Spokane, WA)
Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (Turnwater, WA)

Post-grad Employment

30% (46 students) of employed graduates in the Class of 2017 reported working in public service jobs ten months after graduation. Thirty-two were in government positions and 14 were in public interest positions.

Post-graduate employers include:

Boulder County Attorney's Office (Boulder, CO)
Clark County District Attorney's Office (Las Vegas, NV)
Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Securities (Denver, CO)
Colorado Legal Services (Colorado Springs, CO)
Colorado District Attorney's Offices (Alamosa, Boulder, Cañon City, and Montrose)
Colorado State Public Defender's Offices (Brighton, Denver, Golden, and Pueblo)
Denver City Attorney’s Office (Denver, CO)
Environmental Defense Fund (Boulder, CO)
Federal Communications Commission (Washington, DC)
The Legal Aid Society of New York (NY, NY)
Santa Fe Dreamers Project (Santa Fe, NM)
U.S. Army JAG Corps (Honolulu, HI and Abilene, TX)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5 (Chicago, IL)

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:

Careers at Earthjustice
Colorado State Public Defender's Office
Equal Justice Works: Programs & Public Interest Career Resources
Financing Your Public Service Career
Navy JAG Program: Internship & Career Opportunities
Nuts and Bolts of the LRAP Application
Post-grad Public Service Job Search Planning for 2Ls
Presidential Management Fellowship ("PMF") Program
U.S. Department of Justice Honors and SLIP Programs
Wednesday Morning Coffee with the Colorado Governor's Office of Legal Counsel

In January 2018, the CDO sponsored the 7th Annual JD Pathways, a career conference that brought together 104 students and 71 attorneys, a number of whom work for public service employers. The conference included mock interviews, 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 80 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 2017-2018 academic year included:

Boulder County Attorney's Office
Colorado District Attorneys' Council (CDAC)
Colorado Judicial District Attorney’s Offices (4th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th Districts)
Colorado Office of Administrative Courts
Colorado Office of the Attorney General
Fort Collins City Attorney's Office
Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
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 Energy, Golden Field Office
U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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 2017 event. Participating organizations included:

American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado
Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Colorado Civil Rights Division
Colorado Department of State
Colorado Department of Transportation
Colorado District Attorneys' Council
Colorado District Attorney’s Offices (multiple Districts)
Colorado Legal Services
Colorado Office of Administrative Courts
Colorado Office of the Attorney General
Colorado State Public Defender's Office
Denver City Attorney's Office
Denver Water
Disability Law Colorado
Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Colorado & Wyoming
Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Texas
Governor’s Office of Legal Counsel
Jefferson County Attorney's Office
Justice and Mercy Legal Aid Clinic
National Association of Counsel for Children
Office of Legislative Legal Services
Office of the Child's Representative
Office of Respondent Parent Counsel
Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado (PERA)
Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center
The Colorado Lawyers Committee
The Sierra Club
U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado
U.S, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Office of Chief Counsel
U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
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. Department of Justice, Executive Office of Immigration Review
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
WildEarth Guardians

Financial Support

Colorado Law provides fellowships/stipends for summer work that would otherwise be unpaid or extremely low-paid. Colorado Law's Public Service Summer 2017 Fellowship Program, provided 62 students with stipends ranging from $2,000 to $6,000 for public interest work with government agencies and non-profits located both nationally and internationally. Both donor gifts and the fundraising efforts of student groups help support the fellowships offered at Colorado Law.

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 awards 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.

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