Governor Ted Kulongoski touted the importance of public interest law and set forth ideas to overcome obstacles faced by many law students hoping to work in public service Friday.
“The more law students who do public interest law or pro bono work — they can go to a large firm but they actually contribute time,” Kulongoski said. “I think that they do a great service for themselves, for the law profession and for the state of Oregon.”
Kulongoski spoke to about 100 students at the law school, spending more than half of the hour-long event fielding questions from law students regarding public interest law.
The event was organized by the law school’s Public Interest Public Service program. PIPS co-chairman Josh Reed said more than one-third of the University’s graduating law classes goes into jobs for the public interest.
University law students have
contributed more pro bono hours than any other law school in Oregon since 2001, serving 11,214 hours, or 71.5 percent of the state’s total, in 2003, according to the law school.
But Reed said many of those students face a harsh financial reality that could deter them from careers in public service.
“One of the greatest obstacles for students speaking toward the public interest is the staggering amount of debt that they carry when they leave here,” Reed said. “Many students are forced to make career decisions based on their student loans and not on their passion to serve the public.”
Kulongoski said developing
University programs to address law student debt would benefit both the students and the state.
“If I want you to get into public service, if I want you to actually make a difference, maybe what I should be looking at is how I can develop a loan forgiveness program, a debt forgiveness program, so when you get out of school you don’t have this tremendous need to go to whoever pays you the most money,” Kulongoski said.
Kulongoski also addressed how to serve the entire public while having an affiliation with a specific political party.
He pointed to his time with the state legislature and said three things were required to make change: a “leader who is willing to pay the political price to get something done,” an “idea of what you want to do” and a “process” to implement the resulting plan. In addition, “you have to develop a sense on the citizens that there is a need to change,” he said. “That, many times, is something that leaders have a great deal of difficulty generating.”
Kulongoski said law students are “the cusp of democracy” because
the “rule of law holds our whole democracy together.”
He strongly encouraged law students to enter public service.
“I can’t tell you it’s the area of law that will make you rich,” Kulongoski said. “But if you want a rich life where you can make a difference, this is where to do it.”

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