Due to budgetary constraints of public interest organizations and government agencies, many public service summer and postgraduate positions are unpaid. However, students and graduates can receive funding from outside resources to work at public service organizations during the summer or for a prescribed amount of time after graduation. This funding is typically awarded as a fellowship.
The process of securing a fellowship is much like the job search process. First, a prospective fellow must research fellowships and find one for which he, and/or the type of work he is interested in, qualifies. Once the prospective fellow identifies the fellowships, he must apply to each. The application process can be as simple as filling out a form or as involved as putting together a detailed packet, complete with statement of interest, proposal for work and outside letters of recommendation.
Below are lists of some of the fellowships most popular with UT Law students. For a comprehensive list of available fellowships, please visit PSLawNet or review Chapter 10 of Harvard’s publication, Serving the Public: A Job Search Guide, which is available in the CSO Resource Library.
Summer and Term Time Fellowships
- Baron & Budd Public Interest Scholarship Program, which is administered by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law, provides financial support to students who do pro bono work for at least 300
hours during the academic year for a non-profit public interest organization in
central Texas. Applications are accepted in late spring or early fall.
- Equal Justice America: Funds work aimed at meeting the needs of the poor. Spring fellowships pay up to $1,500 for at least 120 hours work and summer fellowships pay up to $4,000 for 10 weeks of full-time work. Students must line up a placement with an established organization that provides civil legal assistance to the poor and then submit an application to EJA. See list of UT Law students who have received the fellowships in the past.
- Equal Justice Works Summer Corps: Aims to expand delivery of legal services. To view member-only content on the Equal Justice Works Web site, get password.
- Frank Douglass Public Interest Summer Fellowships may fund four UT Law students to work with public interest legal organizations to provide legal services to underrepresented individuals or groups. Fellows will receive a $5000 stipend and will be required to work a minimum of 400 hours. A sponsoring organization must be a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Preference will be given to applicants who will work with organizations providing civil legal services in Texas. These fellowships are supported by a generous gift from Scott, Douglass & McConnico, L.L.P. in memory of Frank Douglass ’58. Please check back for availability in 2010.
- George M. Fleming Public Interest Summer Fellowships, which are generously supported by George M. Fleming '71, may provide funding for students to work on issues related to health law, health care access, and health care benefits. In the summer of 2009, the program will provide two $5,000 stipends and fellows will be required to work a minimum of 400 hours. A sponsoring organization must be a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or an organization located outside the U.S. that has nonprofit, tax-exempt status within the country in which it is located. The sponsoring organization need not work exclusively in the health law area. Please check back for availability in 2010.
- Haywood Burns Memorial Fellowships for Social and Economic Justice Funds: Funds summer projects with public interest organizations that are struggling to protect and further the civil rights of oppressed people in the U.S.
- Hispanic Bar Association of Austin Foundation Summer Fellowship: The fellowship will provide a $4000 fellowship to one first- or second-year student to work 400 hours at a 501(c) (3) tax-exempt, non-profit public interest organization. Deadline to apply to the 2008 Fellowship is March 28, 2008.
- Law Firms: Many law firms will pay for fellowships. Most offer split summers between a nonprofit and the firm while others will fund fellowships for the whole summer to do public interest work. Most of the deadlines are in the fall. For a comprehensive list of available fellowships, please review "Firms Sponsoring Split Public Interest Summers," located on the PSLawNet Web site (you'll need to scroll down on the page).
- Patton Boggs Summer Fellowship: Funds public policy or government sector work. The Patton Boggs Foundation is pleased to contribute a Fellowship worth $5,000 to support a UT Law student who has completed either his/her first or second year of law school and will be working on public policy and related matters for the government or a nonprofit institution.
- Peggy Browning Fund: Funds work to advance the cause of worker’s rights. Learn more about the Fund's Eleventh Annual National Law Students Workers' Rights Conference, which will be held October 16-17, 2009 in Silver Spring, MD. The University of Texas School of Law may nominate students to attend the conference. In addition, the Peggy Browning Fund may cover on-site meals and lodging expenses as well as reasonable airfare for one student from our school.
- Public Service Scholars Program, which is administered by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law, provides five $5000 scholarships to second- and third-year students with a demonstrated
commitment to studying and working in public service and promoting it at the Law
School.
- Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice Fellows: Provides stipends for summer internships with nongovernmental and
intergovernmental human rights organizations in the United States and abroad
that advocate for the economic and political enfranchisement of marginalized
individuals and groups.
- Texas Law Fellowships: Sponsors public service fellowships for UT Law students.
