Vanderbilt Law’s annual Public Interest Boot Camp, sponsored by the Public Interest Office, provides students with the building blocks to create a strong public interest career. Two students share their experiences and reflect on the day’s activities and presentations.
Claire Schmeller ‘28
The afternoon portion of the Public Interest Boot Camp kicked off on Friday, September 12, with a Community Lunch, where guests and participants of the boot camp had an opportunity to sit at tables organized by sectors of public interest law.
The lunch opened with a message of resilience and joy from Professor Terry Maroney. She quoted the words of Peter Cicchino and reminded us that the struggle to secure conditions for a decent human life for everyone can be and, undoubtedly, is part of a happy life. These words seemed to articulate a shared motivation behind many different career paths that seek to serve humanity. By asking questions of experienced attorneys and discussing opportunities for leadership in our communities and careers, we started exploring the question that would frame the afternoon: “what kind of service resonates with you?”
Before starting as a first-year law student at Vanderbilt, I had the opportunity to lead a Saturday program for middle schoolers in the Bronx, New York. Each week, the children introduced me to a new perspective with which to view the world and my local community. Service, to me, is not a one-sided sacrifice of my time or energy for a deserving population. Instead, service is joyful and an opportunity to foster sometimes unexpected friendships between people of vastly different ages and backgrounds. As I consider what a career in service could look like for me, I have found myself looking for opportunities that highlight the dignity of all people and foster joy through amplifying diverse perspectives.
After lunch, the structure of the afternoon included presentations about real examples of public interest work and Vanderbilt resources that connect students to their communities.
Darrius Woods ‘17, a senior staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, introduced our group of 1L students to his work in impact litigation, where he has the opportunity to advocate for overlooked communities. Several presentations in the afternoon coupled the role of this intrinsic motivation with programs and opportunities at Vanderbilt that support public interest students and help them as they navigate a career in public service. The Public Interest and Career Services Offices led students to valuable opportunities for first-hand experience through Vanderbilt’s summer internships, legal clinics, and externships for credit during the semester. Professor Susan Foxman emphasized the importance of developing excellent lawyering skills, because organizations often require their junior attorneys to take on responsibility right away. Finally, Dean Beth Cruz ’10 emphasized that the challenge of longevity in our careers can be overcome by maintaining a strong sense of what we value. These practical lessons provided a useful scope through which to begin the process of career exploration.
The programming concluded with a hiring panel with prominent Nashville public interest employers. As the speakers articulated the purpose of their work, it became clear that while each office has a different approach, every employer pursued the widely shared goal of social justice. Martesha Johnson Moore, Chief Public Defender at the Nashville Defenders, explained metaphorically that her goal was to be a thorn in the side of the legal system as she works to amend unfair laws. Trey Bussey, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, highlighted that public interest work forgoes profit to seek results that make a difference in people’s lives. The panel highlighted the importance of passion and skill discernment in the job search.
Different public interest positions require different lawyering skills, so I found the boot camp’s emphasis on introspection to be particularly useful in my approach to my law career. There is work to be done across any imaginable range of legal subjects, but, as students interested in working in the service of the nation and world, we must first explore the possibilities for our careers and then ask ourselves, “what resonates with me?”
Sam Schideler ’27
Professor Cara Suvall of the Bronx Defenders and Vanderbilt’s Youth Opportunity Clinic, Darrius Woods of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the ever-present Dean Cruz and Rachel Kohler gave thoughtful and vulnerable insights into their own careers. Over an hour and a half, they shared anecdotes, advice, and a healthy amount of inside baseball that clarified my expectations for the early years of a career in public service and broadened my sense of the possibilities that life as a lawyer could hold. They shared deeply personal stories about managing the kinds of emotional pain that can occur to public interest lawyers. I was especially struck by Professor Suvall’s reflections on managing the limitations of lawyering as a tool to serve the community and how being a whole person requires a healthy dose of engaging with the world outside of the law. Because of the small group, we could all ask specific and niche questions that our panelists had ample time to answer.
Lunch was similar; sitting with Professors Suvall and Maroney, I met other students interested in serving youth through the law. We got to hear about the professors’ experiences with the law, the politics of life in a public defenders’ office, hear their insight on our summer experiences, and ask for help navigating the early years of work after school. Again, the small group and proximity to experts from the field was amazing. We got to build community with each other as students while benefiting from the wells of knowledge that our professors have accumulated.
I’m thankful for the boot camp. It was one of many examples of Vanderbilt’s commitment to providing immense resources for public interest students, no matter how many of us there are. I felt supported by my professors and encouraged by the other students pursuing public interest careers.
