Strapped Law Firms Steering New Hires Toward Public-Interest Work

Scores of recent law-school graduates hired by top firms before the recession hit are spending their first year on the job working largely with nonprofit organizations and government legal-aid offices for reduced pay, the Associated Press reports.

While a few firms have rescinded job offers amid the downturn, most are seeking ways to retain newly hired lawyers.. The “deferred associates” are paid stipends and frequently assigned public-interest and pro bono work, often with low-income communities, while their employers ride out the slowdown.

Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called the practice “a creative response by the firms to what was a very ugly crisis” and said she hoped it would continue “in good times.”

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