In this era of “law firm fellows,” what does it meant to be, well, a non-law firm fellow? A friend with a coveted post-graduate project-based fellowship recently complained to me that she earns far less than law firm volunteers, a.k.a. “law firm fellows,” who typically see their firm salaries dwindle to half or a third of their former selves. Ouch! Just kidding.

The salary discrepancy makes for awkward “What’d you do last weekend?” conversations, but the costs to perennial public interest fellows is much greater: thanks to the influx of “law firm fellows,” the term “fellow” is being rapidly diluted. (Of course, lay-people have long mistaken it for a non-job title, asking me the question most damning to a recent law school graduate, “So, what are you studying?”)

Now, even within the public interest law field, the term “fellow” has been thrown into ambiguity. What does it mean to be a “legal fellow”? Career public interest lawyers, stuck in the pre-”3 to 5 years” experience range, often gain positions as fellows. But increasingly, the term also applies to volunteer attorneys who may only stick around until the economy rebounds.

Which one is really a public interest law fellow? Attribution: Jakob E (Flickr, 2008)

Little is more important to the success of a young attorney than her ability to build credibility, to hoard cachet. Rightly or wrongly (yes, sometimes wrongly), volunteer attorneys on “furlough” from their law firms are considered by some to merely be full-time, extra-competent interns.

For a public interest lawyer determined to stick around, being mistaken for a full-time intern after landing one of your first full-time jobs as a lawyer is more than disheartening. It’s disastrous for our ability to be taken seriously, to get our work done.

Don’t get mad, get a better title. There’s no reason why we should resign ourselves to the term “fellow.” Recognizing the diminished value and meaning of the term, fellowship supervisors should be open to changing our titles. Here are a few ideas:

Project Attorney
Associate Attorney
Legal/Policy Associate
Policy Counsel
Legal/Policy Officer

Do those help? Let us know what you think are some palatable replacements.

About this contributor:  Naureen Shah is a writer, researcher and legal advocate focusing on international human rights issues. Read more from this contributor