Breadcrumb
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.
Summer Employment
During the summer of 2021, 37% of employed 1Ls (61/167) and 25% of employed 2Ls (40/158) spent their summer working for a public service employers.
Eighteen of these students worked out of state at employers such as the Executive Office of the President's Council on Environmental Quality; U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration; U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation; Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau; NAACP Legal Department; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance; U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Environmental Policy & Compliance; Center for Biological Diversity; and New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.
For those students who stayed in colorado, sixteen of them worked at public defender offices, nine worked for district attorney's offices, and another nine students worked for the Colorado State Attorney General's Office.
Additional public services employers included:
- Boulder County Colorado, County Attorney's Office (Boulder, CO)
- Boulder County Legal Services (Boulder, CO)
- Bridge to Justice (Boulder, CO)
- City of Fort Collins Colorado, City Attorney’s Office (Fort Collins, CO)
- Colorado Center on Law and Policy (Denver, CO)
- Colorado Legal Services (Denver, CO)
- Colorado Municipal League (Denver, CO)
- Colorado Office of the Child's Representative (Denver, CO)
- Covid-19 Eviction Defense Project (Boulder, CO)
- Denver City Attorney's Office (Denver, CO)
- Denver Office of the Municipal Public Defender (Denver, CO)
- DNA-People's Legal Services (Boulder, CO
- Earthjustice Colorado (Denver, CO)
- Federal Communications Commission, Media Bureau (Denver, CO)
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Washington, DC)
- Federal Public Defender, Districts of Colorado & Wyoming (Denver, CO)
- Four Corners Environmental and Economic Justice (Boulder, CO)
- Lakeshore Legal Aid (Detroit, MI)
- Lewis and Clark County Montana, Attorney's Office (Helena, MT
- Midwest Environmental Advocates (Madison, WI)
- National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) (Aurora, CO)
- Native American Rights Fund (Boulder, CO)
- Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (Westminster, CO)
- Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center (Denver, CO)
- San Diego County California, District Attorney's Office (San Diego, CA
- Sierra Club (Boulder, CO)
- The Nature Conservancy (Boulder, CO)
- The Public Interest Network (Denver, CO)
- U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) (Colorado Springs, CO)
- U.S. Army JAG Corps (Colorado Springs, CO)
- U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado (Denver, CO)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the General Counsel (Lakewood, CO)
- U.S. Department of Energy, Golden Field Office (Golden, CO)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (Denver, CO)
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of General Counsel (Denver, CO)
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Fuels Enforcement Branch (Denver, CO)
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Denver, CO)
- Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Office of General Counsel (Towaoc, CO)
Post-grad Employment
24% of employed graduates from the class of 2020 (38/158) reported working in public service jobs ten months after graduation. Twenty-two of these graduates remained in Colorado, while sixteen moved out of state. Eleven of these graduates were working for public defender offices in Alaska, Colorado, New Mexico, and Washington, DC. Five of these graduates were working for district attorney's offices throughout Colorado. And, five of these graduates were working for the U.S. federal government.
Post-graduate employers include:
- Alaska Public Defender Agency (Anchorage, AK)
- Bridge to Justice (Boulder, CO)
- City of Aurora, Municipal Public Defender's Office (Aurora, CO)
- Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (Denver, CO)
- Colorado Department of Labor & Employment (Denver, CO)
- Colorado District Attorney’s Offices (Golden, Georgetown, Cortez)
- Colorado Office of the Attorney General (Denver, CO)
- Colorado State Public Defender's Offices (Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, Golden, Pueblo)
- Earthjustice (Washington, DC)
- First Peoples Worldwide (Boulder, CO)
- International Association of Privacy Professionals (Portsmouth, NH)
- Legal Services of Northern California (Sacramento, CA)
- Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (New Bedford, MA)
- New Mexico Public Defender’s Offices (Aztec and Taos)
- Next Century Cities (Washington, DC)
- Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (Washington, DC)
- The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (Delano, CA)
- U.S. Army JAG (Washington, DC)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (Washington, DC)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (Denver, CO)
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Eloy, AZ)
- U.S. Senate (Washington, DC)
- Wyoming Legislative Service Office (Cheyenne, WY)
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 spring with an average of 60 public service entities participating each year. Participating organizations have 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
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
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 2021 Fellowship Program, provided 39 students with stipends ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 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.