The 2024 Public Interest Career Fair (PICF) brought together students and public sector employers including Gould alumni to showcase the many career paths and opportunities available for law students. The Nov. 6 event was sponsored by USC Gould School of Law’s Career Services Office, Office of Externships, and the Barbara F. Bice-Public Interest Law Foundation.
“I’ve always known I wanted to work in public interest and help my community through law,” said 1L Brinda Kalita. “Coming to the career fair was the right step to see what opportunities are available.”
With numerous alumni representing their public interest employers, students could hear directly from people who had once been in their shoes. As Carly Rustebakke (JD 2021) from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office put it, “It’s just really exciting to come back and see students picking their career direction, then having a chance to help them decide what they want to do.”
The PICF isn’t only a chance for students to network with public interest employers, but also an opportunity for them to learn more about potentially career-changing externship, volunteer, and fellowship opportunities.
For 1L Mia Payne, the career fair offered a look at the “best available opportunities and where I can get the most face-to-face experience with organizations and employers.”
According to Carmen Hidalgo Kirschner from the Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law, “we have a long-standing relationship with USC Gould School of Law,” including part- and full-time internships and the Sorrell Trope USC Family Law Public Interest Fellowship, specifically for students from USC Gould.
The career fair also offered a chance for recent alumni to catch up. Now at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Martin Gauto (JD 2006) and Carson Adrianna Scott (JD 2020) recalled their experiences with the USC Immigration Clinic. Gauto found his time working with the clinic to be one of his “most memorable experiences” and with the help of the career fair, “propelled my passion for immigration law.”
Scott shared a similar sentiment for the clinic and fair, noting that she remembered “being a 1L, walking around the career fair and actually meeting Immigrant Defenders Law Center representatives.”
“Students thinking about public interest jobs can meet and interact with attorneys to learn more about the represented organizations and even their own career paths. It is also gratifying to bring alumni back to the law school so they can be involved on campus, meet potential job candidates, learn about our public service initiatives,” said Senior Director of Career Services Rachel Kronick Rothbart, who organized the event. “For our own students, it serves to showcase how Trojans ‘fight on’ for public sector careers and pro bono work.”
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