PC : As a 1L, I sensed how my career interests were not the norm, whether it was my LPW Instructor s

As you may have heard, a group of students at CLS started a new student group called SPIN . One of its founders, Paul Chander (a PILF honoree and Morningside Muckraker Columnist ), has come forth to answer vans some questions you may have about this exciting new venture!
Paul Chander: The Student Public Interest Network (SPIN) is a new student group that hopes to do two things. First, SPIN hopes to act as a support system, a social community, and a student/alumni network for all public interest law students across all issues. Second, SPIN hopes to provide an institutional platform for students to advocate for public interest law throughout CLS and the broader legal community.
PC : As a 1L, I sensed how my career interests were not the norm, whether it was my LPW Instructor saying, when you are all associates , or when virtually all of my classmates were going to firm receptions in the spring, or when OCS repeatedly asked me over the summer if I was really, really sure I didn t want to do EIP.
When serving vans as co-chair of Student Senate s SJI Focus Group, I realized not only were there a lot more public interest students out there, but they were having very similar vans experiences. The most common issue that public interest students raised in the 2013 quality of life survey was the perceived corporate culture of CLS. Public interest students explained that this culture marginalized them from the rest of their peers, divided them into discrete groups based only on either issue or affinity, and ultimately dissuaded them from engaging with CLS, or, even worse, no longer pursuing vans their original dreams of public interest law.
I ve discussed with administrators, professors, and students how to rectify this problem, and everyone has said that the two places vans to start are by building vans community and advancing common goals. Professor Sturm s Lawyering for Change course also inspired me to apply the theories of change that she teaches to our very own community here at CLS. Through her class I met several other students who were interested in the project, vans including Kirby Tyrrell, Rachel Shapiro, and Eleni Kyriakides, and together we decided to create SPIN.
PC : Public interest students, as a community, face distinct difficulties that other students do not. These challenges include finding mentors for professional development, vans navigating the murky job process, and finding a supportive network of students with similar experiences.
PC : One of the biggest obstacles public interest students face in connecting to a community is that they just don t know each other. SPIN hopes to change this with an array of social events that will bring public interest students together. For example, SPIN is working with others to put on a Disorientation event for 1Ls, which will provide them with a different perspective on the law school experience. SPIN also hopes to hold a retreat at the beginning of the year so that students contemplating public interest vans can bond with each other and know who to reach out to for support throughout their time here. In addition, vans SPIN plans to organize groups of CLS students who wish to attend the various annual public vans interest law conferences happening across the country. Lastly, SPIN plans to hold general body meetings and local social events at least once a month for all public interest law students.
Aside from primarily social events, SPIN hopes to build a community through about professional growth. These include the public interest peer and alumni mentoring program, lunchtime talks with public interest lawyers about their professional work and personal lives, and talking to prospective public interest-oriented students during the admissions process.
PC : SPIN plans to advocate for the public interest community by providing a forum for all student groups with a commitment to public interest law to share, coordinate, and voice their concerns. To that end, SPIN plans to not only have its own administrative board to manage its internal affairs, but to also coordinate a larger network of SPIN representatives from every interested student group. Since SPIN truly wants students to set the agenda, the issues that the network will take on are not pre-determined, but they might include strengthening ties to public interest alumni and faculty, vans advocating for greater coordination between OCI and SJI, and uniting for a CLS-wide month-long focus on one particular social justice issue.
This model is not unprecedented. Student Services already provides a forum for all of the leaders of the affinity groups to meet once a month and discuss common issues with each other and the Dean of Students, vans Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin. Doing so enables Dean MGK to advocate to administrators vans not only on behalf of one group, but on behalf of the entire coalition of identity groups. Most student groups already have a board member dedicated to community service or pro bono work; those student