Georgetown Law Celebrates 30 Years of Its Public Interest Careers Office (and the Community It Built)

Three Decades of Helping Lawyers Find Their Paths

In 1996, in response to growing demand from students for specialized advice on pursuing public interest careers straight after law school, Georgetown Law became one of the nation’s first law schools to establish a separate office focused exclusively on supporting students interested in government service, nonprofit organizations and other public interest settings.

Today, OPICS is one of the largest such organizations, with a staff of 14 advising some 150 aspiring public interest lawyers every month on choosing classes that will set them up well for applying to competitive internships and fellowships, preparing them for job interviews, matching them with potential alumni mentors in fields they’re curious about, hosting some 300 employers annually for campus information sessions, providing “summer grants” that enable more than 400 students each year to take on unpaid or low-paying internships, developing paid fellowships to help fund recent graduates as they get started and more.

OPICS also coordinates a pro bono program open to all students. Since 2000, every incoming Georgetown Law student has been encouraged to take a voluntary pledge to complete at least 50 hours of law-related volunteer work during their years in school. In the most recent graduating J.D. class, 228 had earned Pro Bono Pledge recognition, with more than 50 volunteer hours each, and collectively, the Class of 2025 reported more than 24,000 pro bono hours to OPICS. OPICS staff estimate that Georgetown students have logged “nearly half a million” pro bono hours in the last 25 years.

“I wanted to go to law school to save the world, to do good things, to do public interest work,” said David Steib, L’08, reflecting on his law school experience. “One thing that OPICS did for me was help me understand loan repayment, fellowships, clerkships — the logistics of it all. But also, OPICS was just so amazing about creating community for public interest students, helping us find each other and find strength in our common conviction. Finally, the OPICS staff had a lot of heart and created a space where we could come to decompress and be reminded of our humanity.”

After law school, Steib was awarded a prestigious Skadden Fellowship (which the OPICS staff helped him apply for) which placed him in his first job: working on housing cases at Legal Aid DC. He’s now back at Legal Aid DC as deputy director of a new initiative, the DC Resource Bridge, which aims to streamline access to the city’s various options for free and low-cost civil legal services. In between, his public interest jobs have included a year and a half at the Office for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice and two years as the assistant director of the Office of Public Interest at American University Washington College of Law. “I loved OPICS so much that I jumped at the chance to do that work myself, helping law students in the way that I had been helped,” he said.

Looking back on her student days, Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, L’99, said, “I felt the uncertainty of not having a job lined up on the same timeline as my peers. OPICS provided the community of students and mentorship I needed to normalize the idea that a South Asian daughter of immigrants wanted to pursue public interest law — a foreign phrase to my family at the time.” OPICS staff and several of her professors, she recalled, helped her figure out how to turn her interest in immigration law into a first job at a boutique immigration firm. Today, Wadhia is fostering a new generation of aspiring immigration lawyers at Penn State Dickinson Law, where she is the Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. Her career path has also included leading the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration.

A ‘Public Interest Prom’

At an especially challenging moment for lawyers committed to the public interest, attendees said they were grateful for the chance to reconnect and remember why they chose the paths they’ve followed, and let loose on the dance floor (organizers quipped that their working theme while planning the event was “Public Interest Prom”).

“Everyone’s under a lot of stress, and the rule of law is being threatened — and it was really nice to get together with people who are committed to ensuring that the justice system treats everyone fairly. It reminded us that as an alumni network, we are a resource to each other. And the joy and the celebration helps keep you from getting discouraged, so that you can continue to do the work,” said Steib after the event.

In her remarks thanking all who had played a role in making OPICS30 possible, Assistant Dean for Public Interest Programs Morgan Lynn-Alesker, L’07, said to all the graduates in the room, “I want to express gratitude to you, our alumni community. You fill us up. You make our work meaningful every day and you help us keep believing in the world as it should be.”

Launching the Lauren Dubin Alumni Ambassador Program

The event also honored Senior Director of Public Sector Careers Lauren Dubin, who will retire this summer. Dubin began working part time as Georgetown Law’s first public interest career counselor in 1988, and became part of the founding team of three that set up the OPICS office in 1996.

“Watching you choose careers where you use the law as a tool for justice — naming inequities, reforming systems, preserving rights, standing in solidarity with communities and centering clients — has sustained and inspired us more than you know. Personally, it has been the greatest privilege of my professional life to have played even the smallest part in your journeys,” Dubin said to the alumni in the room.

Dubin also used her time at the podium to honor Barbara Moulton, L’89, a founder who retired as OPICS’ Assistant Dean in 2020. “For 25 years, you led OPICS with an unwavering commitment to opening doors to public interest careers for our students,” said Dubin to Moulton. “So many of the people in this room found their way to their purpose because you were so clear about yours.“ (Kim Kelly, the third founder, is still OPICS’ office manager.)

In Dubin’s honor, OPICS is launching the Lauren Dubin Alumni Ambassador Program, envisioned as a way to expand networking between current students and alumni. For example, the OPICS team is inviting alumni to serve as regional “ambassadors” who may host gatherings for students doing summer internships nearby, offer job-shadowing opportunities for students and otherwise serve as mentors.

After all the tributes and toasts, the audience had a surprise for showtune-loving Dubin: an alumni and staff chorus formed on stage to sing a heartfelt song from the musical Wicked, “For Good,” an anthem about transformative friendship. Aided by lyrics sheets distributed to all tables, the entire room chimed in on the final lines: “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good!”

OPICS plans for the OPICS30 celebration to last throughout the year. Visit their website to submit memories and memorabilia, donate money or expertise to the new Lauren Dubin Alumni Ambassador Program and more.

In this video, OPICS alumni and staff reflect on its 30-year history.