Five Georgetown University Law Center students and two recent graduates were selected as the inaugural cohort of the Alfred Moses Public Interest Scholars program, the university announced Feb. 18.
The program provides financial support for law students seeking careers in public interest, which involves advocacy on behalf of underrepresented individuals for civil rights, social justice and the public good. The funding, established with a $10 million gift from former U.S. Ambassador to Romania Alfred Moses (LAW ’56), covers the remaining tuition costs for current students and provides monetary support for graduate fellows.
Molly Izer (LAW ’27), one of the new Moses scholars who hopes to work in government oversight and civil rights law, said the funding will address the financial barriers to working in public interest.
“This is going towards the furthering of public interest, and that is a radical thing,” Izer told The Hoya. “The express support for that just by the existence of the program is incredibly important to me. The next thing is just that this work does not pay and the right work doesn’t pay, so this helps mitigate those steps between a problem and the solution that takes money.”
The median starting salary for an associate at large, prestigious firms — colloquially known as “big law” — is about $215,000, while the median starting salary for a public interest attorney is about $70,000.
Ashley Nies (LAW ’27), a Moses scholar interested in systemic issues with healthcare, said the program can incentivize students to work in non-governmental organizations, nonprofits and other firms that may not have lucrative salaries, like public interest.
“One great thing about the Moses scholarship is that it allows you to do these careers in plaintiff side work, and it makes you eligible to receive the funding even if you are in one of those technically private side firms,” Nies told The Hoya. “They’re private, but you’re not getting paid anywhere close to a big law salary and you’re doing public interest work.”
In a June 24 press release announcing the fund, Moses said more young lawyers in public interest are needed.
“There is a great need for public service in our country,” Moses said in the press release. “The private sector is very financially attractive to law graduates, but public service is so important for the future of our country.”
Claire Ellis (LAW ’27), another Moses scholar, said the financial support is a reassuring development amid uncertainty around the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), which forgives the student loan debt of individuals working for non-profit or governmental organizations.
“Coming into law school, I felt very confident in my ability to take out loans and have them repaid through the PSLF,” Ellis told The Hoya. “After Trump got elected, there was just a lot of uncertainty and a lot of flight of the public interest fields. What this scholarship has given us students is a peace of mind and a sense of security. I think the Moses scholarship provides this really nice safety net and assurances for students who are deeply committed to public interest.”
On March 7, 2025, the Trump administration began attempts to limit the scope of the PSLF, excluding organizations that allegedly support terrorism or aid and abet illegal immigration. The U.S. secretary of education will ultimately decide which organizations will be excluded from the program going forward.
Mikaylah Ladue (LAW ’27), a Moses scholar who hopes to become a civil rights lawyer focusing on government abuses of power, said the funding allows students from lower-income backgrounds to explore careers in public interest.
“Higher education is prohibitively expensive for many students, especially for those from a lower-income background like myself,” Ladue told The Hoya. “This scholarship will allow me to pay back my loans while in a public interest career. Facilitating public interest careers is particularly critical at this moment, when the rule of law, constitutional rights and bodily autonomy and dignity are under threat.”
Nies said it is particularly important to her that the funding encourages law students to consider more than just the salary when selecting their career paths.
“That’s one important area that it covers that is super important to me,” Nies said. “Your salary is not going to be quite as high as your big law counterparts, but it’s work that’s really important. It’s the work that I think a lot of us came to law school to do.”
