Harvard, which will announce the appointment later in the spring, has never had a chair devoted to public-interest law.

"I see this as public-interest law," said Robyn M. Hill, chief counsel to the board.

"That's a bad analogy," says Clark, who began his deanship by eliminating the position of adviser to students considering careers in public-interest law.

The American Bar Foundation, for example, frets that fewer law school graduates are going into government work or public-interest law.

The sport itself, not family heritage, kept him fencing as he prepared for a career in public-interest law.

The LRC employs over 65 lawyers specialising in public-interest law.

No mere pedestrian aids, these: the 21-by-36-inch metal signs present visual histories of landmark issues in public-interest law.

Since high school, Mr. Brescia's working life has involved either the poor or the mentally ill or public-interest law.

Civil litigation and out-of-court negotiation, which make up much of public-interest law, can take years.

Another difference between the sexes is the higher percentage of female graduates entering public-interest law.