Other Benefits of Non-Profits

There are many social justice non-profits out there with a need for attorney volunteers. To that end, many of them host free CLE's with the caveat that you agree to take at least one case for them.

These organizations can range from your Bar Association's volunteer lawyer arm and the local legal aid office to immigration organizations, The Innocence Project in your area, human rights advocacy organizations, anti-torture advocacy groups, immigrant group organizations (designed to generally help a group from a particular part of the world with its resettling in your area) to church groups.

If you attend their CLE's, many of which are half-day classes, you're expected to take on a case. Fear not, baby attorneys and neophytes in these areas of law, you will be paired up with a mentoring attorney, who will not do the work for you but who will work with you, answer questions and point you in the right direction.

This is a great way to make contact with working attorneys and actually feel relevant to the world at large. While it won't help pay the rent or your student loans, it will help you feel like you're actually making use of your law degree as you do whatever else it is you're doing to to facilitate the care and feeding of your student loans.