Michael Cowles
"If you are going to law school to start a career in the public interest, Texas Law has everything you need. From the large and passionate community of like-minded students, to the amazing people at the Justice Center, to the extensive network of faculty and alumni, there is no reason a Texas Law student should be intimidated by pursuing a career in public interest law. Take advantage of it and make your career what you want it to be."
Michael O'Keefe Cowles lives in Austin and works remotely as a trial attorney in the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Previously, he was an assistant attorney general in the Labor Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General in New York City. Immediately after graduating from Texas Law, he worked with the Equal Justice Center to expand advocacy on behalf of low-wage workers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, funded by the Texas Law Julius Glickman Fellowship in Public Interest Law. After the fellowship, he worked for several years as a staff attorney in the Equal Justice Center's Austin office.
At Texas Law, Michael participated in the Transnational Worker Rights Clinic and the Immigration Clinic, and was active in the American Constitution Society and the Justice Center's student advisory board. He worked with the Texas Civil Rights Project, the ACLU of Texas, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in Washington, D.C., and Austin plaintiff attorney Broadus Spivey.
- Five Students Named Public Service Scholars with the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law
- Justice Center announces 2011 Whitehurst Public Interest Summer Fellows
- Michael O’Keefe Cowles, ’12, awarded Texas Law post-graduate fellowship to pursue low-wage worker rights project in the Dallas-Fort Worth region