PILF speaker encourages students to pursue public interest work

By Christi Vargas

During a recent visit to the Law School, Clare Pastore, a senior staff attorney for the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles, said public interest law is a viable — and rewarding — career option for students who “have a commitment to the community.”

Pastore, who has taught at USC as an adjunct law professor since 1989 and was a visiting professor last year, spoke at the invitation of USC’s Public Interest Law Foundation. She will teach a Poverty Law seminar next semester.

“I enjoy this work because the issues are really compelling,” Pastore said. “Our work requires many different types of advocacy — we’re not on a treadmill of 100 percent litigation.”

Pastore began her career at the Western Center in 1989 as a Skadden Fellow. Originally founded at USC, the center has advocated since 1967 on behalf of low-income people, mostly in the areas of housing, health care and welfare. The organization has won many lawsuits, including a recent multi-million-dollar settlement against the County of Los Angeles which prohibits the county from deducting the cost of the health care it provides from the monthly stipends of qualified welfare recipients.

Pastore encouraged students to stay involved in pro bono work. She said students who want to work in public interest law but who will start their careers at law firms because they are overloaded with debt should find out what kind of pro bono policy their prospective firms offer. A policy of counting some or all pro bono hours toward billable hour requirements makes a huge difference in the ability of new lawyers to do pro bono work, she advised.

“People who do pro bono work while in the private sector make a commitment that connects them to the community” she said. “The advocacy community in Los Angeles is large, with tons of qualified people, and it is a great community to work in.”