LETTER TO A YOUNG PUBLIC INTEREST ATTORNEY
LOS ANGELES PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL
2 L.A. PUB. INT. L.J. 239
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LETTER TO A YOUNG PUBLIC INTEREST ATTORNEY*
Niels Frenzen

Where to begin? I think some of my experiences as a student and a young lawyer might be of some interest and relevance to someone starting out today.

When I started law school I remember being very sure aboutwhat I did not want to do. I had no interest in working in a traditional mid-sized or large firm. I don’t think I necessarily had any idea of what went on in these firms, but the idea just did not
attract me in the least.

I went to law school with the idea of becoming a lawyer in order to do some “good” but beyond having that vague goal, I did not have a clear idea or plan in mind. I think I viewed law school as a way to acquire a tool which I hoped would allow me to do something “good.”

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Niels Frenzen is a Clinical Professor of law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. He teaches immigration law and directs USC’s Immigration Clinic. From 1987 to 2000, he was the Directing Attorney of the Public Counsel Law Center’s Immigrants’
Rights Project. Prior to 1987, he worked as the Supervising Attorney of the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami. He has represented hundreds of asylum seekers and other immigrants and has litigated numerous lawsuits challenging the mistreatment of immigrants and asylum seekers. He has participated in human rights delegations on behalf of Amnesty International USA, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and other human rights organizations in Haiti,
Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, and the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo, Cuba.