POSTGRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS
What is a Fellowship?
The term fellowship covers a broad range of programs. Yale Law
School's "Fellowship Application Tips" describes a fellowship
as "a specified sum awarded after law school graduation
for a fixed time period (usually one or two years) to fulfill
a fairly specific purpose." Postgraduate fellowships
enable graduating law students to secure entry-level positions
in public interest and other non-profit organizations that may
not otherwise be hiring full-time entry level attorneys. Most
fellowships are short term, usually one to two years, although
it is not uncommon for some agencies or public interest organizations
to keep the fellow on as a paid staff attorney after the fellowship
term concludes.
Types of Fellowships (examples noted
in bullets):
1. Organization-Based Fellowships - A number of nonprofit
organizations administer their own fellowships. These fellows
receive a stipend for working within the organization. In addition
to the fellowship salary and duration, the organization determines
the scope of the fellow's work. Candidates apply directly to the
organization and the organization usually chooses the fellow without
outside assistance.
- Blackmun Fellowship, Center for Reproductive Rights,
NYC, NY
- Polikoff-Gautreaux Fellowship, Business and Professional
People for the Public Interest (BPI), Chicago, IL
- Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Fellowship, Lawyers'
Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (CA)
- Racial Justice Project Fellowship, American Civil Liberties
Union of Illinois, Chicago, IL
2. Project-Based Fellowships - Some foundations fund fellowships
for applicants who develop a specific project in conjunction with
a sponsoring non-profit organization. The funders usually have
limitations on the projects they will fund or have particular
issues or types of projects they prefer. The funders consider
not just the applicant's qualifications but also the qualification
of the sponsoring organization to house and supervise the project
as well as the feasibility and benefit of the project itself.
- Skadden Foundation Fellowships - Program funds 25 fellowships
every year to provide civil legal services to underserved groups
in the U.S. Applicants submit a project proposal with a commitment
letter from the sponsoring organization.
- Equal Justice Works Fellowships - Program funds several
dozen fellowships annually for legal services to underserved
groups in the U.S. A percentage are filled through "Route
A," in which an individual applicant submits a project
proposal with a commitment letter from a sponsoring non-profit
organization. The remainder are filled through "Route B,"
in which an organization submits a project proposal then finds
a fellow once the proposal has been approved.
3. Firm-Sponsored Fellowships - Many law firms have developed
a variety of public interest fellowship models. All of them involve
being paid by the firm for a period of time while doing public
interest work. In some cases, the fellow is placed with a designated
public interest organization for a fixed period of time with or
without a commitment to work with the sponsoring law firm. In
others, the fellow works at the sponsoring law firm exclusively
on pro bono matters.
- Holland & Knight Chesterfield Smith Fellowship -
Fellow is placed for two years with a designated organization
in one of the cities in which the law firm has an office. It
is expected that the fellow will join the firm as a third-year
associate at the end of the fellowship.
4. Academic Fellowships - Stipends that assist candidates
seeking graduate degrees or pursuing different types of scholarly
research projects. Legal education has added some variations to
the traditional fellowship model, specifically to support law
teaching and public interest work. One type of fellowship provides
a stipend and tuition for the fellow to obtain an LL.M. degree
while teaching J.D. students, often in a clinical setting. The
second type allows a fellow to research or teach in an academic
setting, but does not link this work to obtaining an LL.M. degree.
- Georgetown University Law Center: Women's Law and Public
Policy Fellowship - Fellows work in D.C. for 1 year with
participating agencies on legal and policy issues affecting
the status of women. Georgetown offers a dozen of other fellowships
in conjunction with its clinics and policy centers. Most offer
clinical teaching experience within an LL.M. program; some offer
research and advocacy opportunities without a degree.
- University of Chicago Law School: Harry A.Bigelow Teaching
Fellowships - Fellows supervise the first-year legal research
and writing program.
- Hamline University School of Law: Two Year Postgraduate
Fellowship in Dispute Resolution - Fellow assists in designing,
implementing, and coordinating activities of the Institute,
including its three international and five domestic programs.
5. Entrepreneurial Grants - Foundation grants for individually
designed public interest projects.
- Echoing Green Foundation Public Interest Fellowship
- Program offers two-year fellowships to "social entrepreneurs"
who develop an independent and autonomous project that creatively
addresses community needs.
6. Non-Legal Fellowships
- Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs - Twelve fellows
are selected to work for nine months to expose them to public
affairs.
- White House Fellowships - Eleven to nineteen fellows
are selected per year to work full-time as special assistant
to a Cabinet member or senior presidential advisor and participates
in an education program designed to nurture his or her development
as a leader.
How Do I find Out About Fellowship Opportunities?
The most comprehensive source of fellowship opportunities and
fellowship information is available on the
Public Service Law Network (PSLawNet) of which Chicago-Kent
is a subscribing member. Students and alumni from participating
member law schools can perform customized searches for fellowship
opportunities or can search by location or practice area for public
interest and non-profit organizations. For fellowship information
and resources, see PsLawNet's Fellowship
Corner which contains the following:
-
Fellowship Calendar - comprehensive
listing of fellowship deadlines
-
Fellowship Application Tips, prepared by Yale
Law School Career Development Office
-
Fellowship and Grant Resources, prepared
by Yale Law School Career Development Office
-
Postgraduate International Fellowships,
prepared by Georgetown University Law Center
Another excellent resource is Harvard Law School's Serving
the Public: Job Search Guide available in the career services
office. Finally, all legal and law-related fellowship opportunities
provided to Kent's career services office are posted in the job posting system. These opportunities may also be highlighted
in the fellowship section of the career services Record
page.
The Fellowship Application Process
Each fellowship has its own specific application form and distinct
selection criteria. Many of the popular full-time fellowships
have early fall deadlines around mid-October and early November,
though other deadlines extend into the spring or on a rolling
basis.
The key is to leave yourself plenty of time to prepare your application.
Most fellowship programs require personal statements/ essays by
the applicant (including one or more essays describing your project
and your background), recommendations from professors and/or former
employers, and transcripts. Some require a statement from the
sponsoring organization and others require a legal writing sample.
Fellowships are often awarded on how well the applicant conveys
the goals of the project, the concrete and specific strategies
to accomplish these goals and the particular skills and experience
the applicant has to make the project succeed.
Yale Law School Career Development Office's Fellowship
Application Tips is a comprehensive handbook containing fellowship
application tips and is a must read for any law student considering
applying for a fellowship. In addition, see Writing
A Personal Essay for Fellowship Applications, taken from Law
School Guide to Public Interest Careers, March 1998, National
Association of Law Placement.
Reasons for Participating in a Fellowship:
As many public interest organizations are unable to hire new
law school graduates, fellowships provide a special entry into
the world of public interest law. Fellowships offer opportunities
to develop expertise in a particular area of law or public service,
make future contacts for employment following the fellowship,
and work in fields and in organizations that often only hire more
experienced lawyers and professionals. In addition, a fellow will
receive notable recognition of accomplishments for future employment.
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