SECTIONS SPOTLIGHT
Public Interest Law Section
SARAH CIPPERLY Cipperly Law LLC sarah @ cipperlylawgroup . com
“ Service is the rent you pay for living on this Earth .” – Muhammed Ali
“ If you want to make a lot of money , you are on the wrong side of Clifton Road .” – Frank Alexander , Emory Law circa 2001 .
Public interest lawyers , by definition , have a very different dayto-day work life than those in private practice ( I have done both , so I am speaking from my own experience ). On the one hand , public interest law can be grueling . The stakes are high : a place to sleep ; safety from violence ; freedom from unjust prosecution ; access to life-saving health care ; protection of limited wages from garnishment . Food to eat . Clothes on their backs . In a public interest law firm , like Atlanta Legal Aid Society , where I worked for ten years , every case is some variation of emergency . There were never enough resources to help everyone , and it was constant triage . On the other hand , legal aid lawyers don ’ t have to have a practice development department . I didn ’ t really give out business cards . Certainly , the leaders of the organization worried about money , and as a unit leader , I worried about demonstrating that we were being good stewards of that money , but by and large , it wasn ’ t my job to figure out how to drum up business .
As a lawyer who has now almost evened out my years in private practice with those in full-time public interest , however , I have to say that I ’ m not sure it ’ s all that different after all . Yes , now I have to worry about marketing ( N . B . I used to work in law firm marketing . They paid me money for it . I stink at it now ). I have to worry about billables and collections and keeping business moving . I have to worry about whether to grow my business and which bank to use and how to file an attorney ’ s lien . But what really keeps me up at night , and the reason I keep doing this work despite what one might argue is my better judgment , are largely the same : did I give sound advice ? Did I consider all the possible factors ? Am I meeting all my deadlines ? Will this case turn out OK ?
www . atlantabar . org THE ATLANTA LAWYER 38