The Face of Public Interest Law

For some lawyers, providing legal services to unrepresented or underrepresented individuals or groups is exactly the kind of legal work they always wanted to do.

By Dianne Molvig

few years ago Madison attorney Bob Peterson appeared before the State Bar's Board of Governors to advocate for creating a new Bar section for public interest lawyers. A debate ensued. Some board members questioned whether a new section was warranted. Others pointed out that public interest attorneys already were members of other Bar sections in their specific areas of practice. And one attorney posed a question to Peterson that perhaps was on the minds of many in the room: "Just what is public interest law, anyway?"

"The room burst into laughter," Peterson recalls. "My attempt to present a definition was halted in its tracks."

Another board member piped up, chiding his colleague, "It's not what you do!"

Public interest law does have a certain "you know it when you see it" - or don't see it - element to it, Peterson acknowledges. Nevertheless, he's willing to take a stab at defining it. "I think it's the legal representation of unrepresented and underrepresented groups and individuals," he says. "It's for that part of society that generally has a difficult time getting the services of an attorney."

Peterson ultimately prevailed in winning Board of Governors' support for creation of a Bar committee, which later became the Public Interest Law Section. Peterson is section chair. Among his fellow section members are law students and attorneys who work in diverse settings: government offices, legal services agencies, other nonprofit advocacy organizations, and private practice. Their fields of practice are even more diverse: elder law, consumer law, family law, environmental law, Indian law, public defender work, and more.

Working for agencies that rely upon government funding, grant support, and what little fees clients may be able to pay usually translates into salaries that are at the low end of the spectrum. Lawyers who choose careers in public interest law know they won't realize the earning potential of their colleagues in traditional law firms. What motivates them to head down this career path? What are the drawbacks and rewards? What advice would they offer to others considering public interest law as a career? Here several attorneys present answers to such questions.

Opting for a different pace

Eleven years ago, Bob Peterson wrote a short story that opened with a description of lemmings racing toward a cliff's edge. It was no coincidence that Peterson also was nearing his law school graduation. He looked around him and saw his classmates driven by a competitive frenzy. "But no one knew where they were going," he says.

Despite the peer pressures and the usual now-what-are-you-going-to-do-with-your-law-degree questions asked by relatives and friends at graduation ceremonies, Peterson decided to step back and out. He bought a one-way ticket to Europe, where he traveled for six months, living out of a backpack and a tent - and thinking about what to do next. "I ended up in London," Peterson says, "and wrote a letter to a friend and law school classmate, saying if I could be a staff attorney at the Center for Public Representation, I'd be happy." While in law school, he had worked at CPR in a clinical program assessing the medical needs of the rural uninsured in Polk and Barron counties.

He also knew job openings at CPR were infrequent. When he got back to Wisconsin, he took a job delivering plants. Many a time on his delivery routes he walked through the doors of law firms, wondering if law would ever be his career. His resolve to wait for the right job was being tested.

Then one day Peterson stopped by CPR to say hello. Director Louise Trubek greeted him with the news that CPR had just received a grant to follow up on the project he'd begun as a law student. She encouraged Peterson to apply for the job; he eventually was hired. "I've never felt such a sense of fate," he says. "The pieces just fell into place. I tell that story to law students who are discouraged, because what I learned is to maintain your passion and be patient. Wait for your door to open. If you hang in there, it will."

Today, Peterson is executive director of ABC for Health Inc., a nonprofit public interest law firm based in Madison, which he established five years ago as a spinoff of his work at CPR. His agency focuses on health care access issues, such as appealing insurance or HMO claim denials, for families across the state. "We pulled together this organization for a lot less than people thought it would cost," he says. "I had contacts with funding sources, and I used some of the resourcefulness I learned living out of a tent and a backpack."

He is, he says, where he belongs. "I have down times when I feel discouraged," he admits, "such as when you work hard on a grant and get notice it wasn't funded. But then you have a day when you represent a client before a hearing with an insurance company. The client needs a transplant, and later you get a call from the client saying the insurance company is going to cover it. You've changed that person's life. That's very rewarding."

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Changing people's lives for the better is one of the key rewards Jennelle Joset cites about her job. She knew she wanted to be a public interest attorney before she entered law school. "I saw that people who can't afford attorneys very often don't get justice," she says. "But everyone is entitled to the same justice."

After finishing law school three years ago, Joset became staff attorney for the Center Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse in Superior. "The pay is low," she says, "but we don't have the hectic rat race of a large law firm. It's almost like a family atmosphere here. It's a very supportive environment."

The job does, however, bring a harried tempo of its own. Joset and a paralegal make up the entire legal team, representing clients in four counties. The agency has a long waiting list. While there's no push to accrue billable hours as in a private firm, the pressure is still on. "You have to spend this many hours because all these people need services," Joset explains. "And you're the only one here to serve them. So it's hectic in a different way."

What's more, the work itself is draining: dealing with cases of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. "It's the worst of the bad," Joset notes. "But we have a relaxed work environment, which helps. And as an agency, we spend time taking care of ourselves. We do a lot of stress management and healing-type things." Yoga, massage, retreats, and ample vacation allowances are some of the wellness techniques Joset and other staff use to fend off burnout.

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