FELLOWSHIPS 101
A review of different types of
fellowships and the resources on how
to find them
Fellowships at W&L Law
Fellowship Advisory Group
Members:
Prof. George Bent
Prof. Johanna Bond
Prof. Joan Shaughnessy
Lorri Olan
Monday, October 4, 2010
What is a Post-Graduate Fellowship?
Purpose
 Entry level public interest job –
often very hard to get
 Financially assist law graduates
interested in public interest or
pro bono
 Focus on underrepresented
populations and/or specific
issues in certain communities
 Develop fellow’s professional
skills and leadership in a
particular legal specialty
Benefits
 Lasts a few months to 1-2
years
 Significant responsibility,
quickly
 Compensation varies
 Health benefits, housing
allowance, loan repayment
assistance
 Training programs and
alumni networks
 Prestige!
Types of Fellowships
 Organizational Fellowships
 Project-Based and Entrepreneurial Fellowships
 Research/Academic Fellowships
 International Fellowships
 Firm-Sponsored Public Interest/Pro Bono Fellowships
Organizational Based
Fellowships
 Defined positions within existing organizations
 Usually for one to two years
 Application is similar to applying for a typical job
 An organization may offer one or more fellowships each year,
but there are hundreds of organizational fellowships available
Parameters of Organizational
Fellowships
 Apply directly to organization
 Non-profit administers its own fellows
 No expectation that graduate will stay
 Rarely does an application require more than a resume,
cover letter and references
 No need to develop an independent project
Organizational Based (Con’t)
The Women’s Law and Public Policy
Fellowship Program
(http://www.wlppfp.org/) – Gtown
ACLU (www.aclu.org)
 Awards 6-8 fellows each year
 Some placed with nonprofits in DC
 Issues: Reproductive rights, domestic


violence, work and family, employment
and sex-based discrimination, Title IX,
economic self-sufficiency, gender-based
asylum, rights of women with
disabilities, and international human
rights.
 Placements may focus on policy,
advocacy, outreach and education,
litigation, or some combination thereof.
 After barred, two year domestic
violence teaching fellow
 Applied fellowship in Civil Liberties




and National Security
Brennan Fellowship
Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights
Fellowship
Human Rights Watch
(www.hrw.org)
Four fellows chosen each
year to work in DC or NYC on
int’l human rights
Center for Reproductive Rights,
United States Legal Fellows in NYC
Juvenile Law Center
ZubrowFellowship
Project-Based Fellowships
 Funds projects that serve unmet legal needs
 Applicant designs project in conjunction with existing
organization or seeks funding to support new organization
 Three-way contract
 Similar to applying for a Foundation Grant
 Program provides financial and technical support to lawyers
working on innovative and effective legal projects
Examples of Project –Based
Fellows
Skadden (www.skaddenfellowships.org) funded by the firm to
support its commitment to public interest work – AKA
“legal peace corps” – groom new lawyers – “apprenticeship”
 25 fellowships awarded to graduating law students and
outgoing judicial clerks each year
 Fellows provide legal services to the poor, elderly, homeless
and disabled, to those deprived of human rights or civil
rights; address issues concerning economic development and
community renewal.
 Salary $46,000 plus benefits plus LRAP
Examples of Project Based (con’t)
Equal Justice Works (www.equaljusticeworks.org) EJW
organizes, trains and supports public service-minded law
students – summer and post-grad.
 50 two-year fellowships each year; fellow must bring something
new to program to distinguish themselves from staff attorneys
 A project is a carefully designed initiative that involves
innovative, effective legal advocacy on behalf of individuals,
groups, or issues that are not adequately represented by some
aspect of the legal system. Advocacy may entail a wide range of
approaches, including, but not limited to, community legal
education, training, and organizing; direct services; litigation;
transactional work; and administrative or legislative efforts.
Examples of Project -Based
Echoing Green (www.echoinggreen.org)
 Provides social entrepreneurs, who have original and
compelling ideas for driving social change, with the tools and
resources to start new autonomous public service projects or
organizations.
 Two-year stipend of $30,000 per year (total of $60,000 over
two years), health and dental insurance coverage, access to
the fellowship’s network of social change makers, and
technical assistance.
 Stipend can be used for any purpose related to the start up of
the organization or project.
Project Based (con’t)
Soros Justice/Advocacy Fellowships (www.soros.org)
 Established in 1997 by the Open Society Institute’s Center on Crime,
Communities and Culture.
 Designed to encourage innovative approaches to crime prevention,
strengthen successful criminal justice programs already in place and
promote nonpartisan debate on complex criminal justice issues such as
juvenile justice and prison reform.
 10 individuals awarded $48,750 for New York City based projects over
18-month period.
 Ashoka Fellowships (www.ashoka.org/home/index.cfm ):
 Fellowship opportunities around the world to social entrepreneurs who
have new ideas to effect social change.
Project Based (con’t)
New Voices (http://newvoices.aed.org/home.html)
 solving problems and defending human rights related to the impact
on the Gulf Coast of Hurricane Katrina and Rita.
 15 organizations are awarded a fellow
Institute for Educational Equity and Opportunity
(http://www.ifeeo.org/)
 a one-year fellowship for recent law school graduates to work with a
public interest educational equity project or attorney of their choice
in the areas of educational equity and opportunity.
 Must secure a potential position with a sponsoring
attorney/organization before submitting an application for a
Fellowship.
Research/Academic Fellowships
 Offers graduate the ability to learn how to teach law in a clinical
setting, or work on legal research projects.
Some require post-law school experience and/or Current Bar
membership
 Strong academic record required
Examples of Teaching
Fellowships
Environmental Law Institute (www.eli.org)
 Gibbons Fellow in Public Interest and Constitutional Law - Seton
Hall Application deadline is February for following fall. Prefer
candidates with clerkship or PI experience.
 Georgetown University Law Center Graduate Fellowship
Program for Future Law Professors
 Institute for Public Representation - Environmental Fellowship in
DC
 Robert M. Cover Fellowship – 2 year position; need 5 + yrs.
experience; placement in clinic with time for research and writing.

International Fellowships
Allows recipients to work on international issues in the
U.S. and abroad.
 Some are not legal fellowships per se but are good
opportunities to work on legally-related issues through
nongovernmental organizations, universities, and, in some
cases, U.S. government agencies.

Examples of Int’l Fellowships
 Fulbright – late September deadline
 Amnesty International Ralph J. Bunche International Human
Rights Fellowship
 Human Rights Watch
 ABA Rule of Law Initiatives
 American Society of International Law Arthur C. Helton
Fellowship –no later than January 10, 2011
 Luce Fellowship, http://www.hluce.org/lsprogram.aspx
 U.S. Agency for Int’l Development Democracy Fellows
http://wlid.usaid.gov/2402.htm - Nov. deadline
FIRM SPONSORED PUBLIC
INTEREST/PRO BONO FELLOWSHIPS
 Defined positions w/in a law firm or a split time position
 Fellow spends a portion of her time in the firm and a
portion working at a designated non-profit agency.
Types of Firm-Sponsored
Fellows
Law firm places fellow with a public interest organization
2. Law Firm hires fellow to work exclusively on public interest
matters at firm
3. Public interest law firm hires fellow
1.
Resources: NALP Directory of Legal Employers and Harvard’s
guide to public interest law firms
Firms sponsoring fellows
Type 1 – Placement with organization
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen
 2 yrs in litigation at firm followed by 2yr fellowship with MALDEF or NAACP LDF
Type 2 – Placement at firm to work pro bono
Covington & Burling, DC
 Designed to alleviate understaffing at Neighborhood Legal Services
The Bernabei Law Firm, PLLC – DC
 1 yr civil rights litigation fellow in labor and employment law
Hunton & Williams Pro Bono Fellowship – Richmond and Atlanta
 2 yr fellowship devoted to pro bono work
Type 3 – Placement with public interest law firm
Thomas Emerson Fellowship at David Rosen & Assocs – New Haven, CT
 Usually 1yr working on civil and human rights and tort cases involving injury or death.
Fellowship Preparation
Goals
 Who do you want to work with? Juveniles, homeless, immigrants?
 What do you want to do? Counseling, education, advocacy?
 When do you want to start?
 Where do you want to work? Where in the world? Where do you
want to spend your days (courtroom, classroom, office?)
 Why are you doing this – objective?
 How do you like to work – multitask? Solo, group projects?
 Develop a timeline to help guide you (network, course selection,
job placements)
Research
PEOPLE RESOURCES
 Contact alumni and faculty with fellowship experience
 Let them know your interests and ask for their ideas/contacts
 Contact potential host organizations for project based proposals to
discuss your ideas
Start your research early, particularly for project based fellowships.
Make sure the organizations or fellowships you select match with
your project proposal - Review projects of current fellows to get a
sense of what the funding organization likes to support
Qualifications: sponsoring firms usually looking for associate
hiring criteria, organizations looking for commitment to
mission/experience
Application Prep (con’t)
DEADLINES – usually early Fall of third year.
 Create calendar of deadlines for opportunities that interest you –
include application components
APPLICATION requirements: resume, transcript, personal statement
and recommendations – get them done early. Opportunity to tackle a
large portion of the application early and in a timely fashion.
 Abide by all guidelines and instructions – more is not always better
(fancy package, limit on recommendations, etc)
 Paper applications – guide your readers, label with headers and subheadings, if ask for information twice, it is for a reason.
 Never underestimate the power of a personal statement
 Start writing – some are long and detailed – EJW can be 12 single
spaced pages.
Applications (con’t)
HOST ORGANIZATION – communicate early and often
 Research organizations – financially stable? Related
work/expertise?
 2L summer placements are great potential host organizations
 Use staff (including development folks) to assist you to
identify issues, provide boilerplate language on organization’s
mission for your application.
 Have staff review your proposal – are there holes, do they
have questions about your project or their role? Address
them in the application!
INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEW PREPARATION
 Arrange mock interview with member of Advisory Group –
submit proposal and lingering questions about your
application before hand.
 Speak with former fellows, W&L alumni and non-alumni
 Research interviewers
 Review application and gather new, relevant data and
information
 Practice, practice, practice
Researching Basics
PSLAWNET.ORG
In the fellowship corner database, click on “Search
Opportunities.” Under “Job Type,” PSLawNet includes four
searchable fellowship categories:
• Fellowship-Law Related is for legal issues not necessarily
involving direct client service.
• Fellowship-Legal is for advocacy or direct legal services.
• Fellowship-Nonlegal is for issues not strictly “legal,” such as
public health or international relations, but for which a law
degree can be helpful.
• Fellowship-Sponsor is for organizations seeking candidates for
project-based fellowships.
EJW Fellows
http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/communities/participants/f
ellowships
YOU CAN FULFILLYOUR DREAMS:
 Remember why you came to law school – for many it is about
making the world a better place
 Your law degree will open many doors for you to achieve this goal
 Think about your vision, your strengths and pursue your goals
Resources
OCP’s Public Interest Website
Pslawnet.org: http://pslawnet.org/page.cfm?pageID=23
 Guide to public interest fellowship programs
 Fellowship Corner
 Calendar of application deadlines
idealist.org http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Internship/126819-290
The Public Interest Law Initiative, www.pili.org
The ABA, www.abanet.org
California Legal Advocates, www.calegaladvocates.org/employment.cfm
Serving the Public – two volume set (domestic and int’l fellowships)
ASIL – American Society of International Law Fellowships
REQUIREMENTS AND DEADLINES CHANGE
ALWAYS CHECKWEBSITE FOR MOST UP TO DATE INFORMATION!!!