Equal Justice Works

"I can remember being in public school in East Orange and meeting people from more affluent districts who were getting access to educational opportunities I didn't have access to and being frustrated by it."

Maya Horton '99

A post-graduate Equal Justice Works Fellowship allowed Horton 'to do something about the disparity. Following graduation she worked with Passic County Legal Aid to enforce the mandates of Abbott v. Burke, a modern day Brown v. Board of Education brought on behalf of students in Horton's former school district.

Post-graduate fellowships are wonderful opportunities for students to have more choice in pursuing the public interest employment of their dreams. PSLawNet has identified over 440 fellowship programs.

Students who know they will be interested in applying for a post-graduate fellowship are encouraged to begin the process early. Many of the deadlines are very early the 3L year so your application should be almost complete when you return to school. Some students start the process as early as their first year by choosing as their first summer employer someone whom they think might be a good sponsor for their application.

Fellowships come in many forms. Some are provided by organizations , while others are sponsored by law firms and allow recipients to do public interest work while in the firm or on leave from the firm. Law firm fellowships such as the prominent Skadden Arps Fellowship often offer a promise of hire in the firm upon completion of public interest. However some are awarded with no promise of hire or connection to the firm. Fellowships are also provided by law schools to support teaching in clinics, public interest work, or research and writing, and may or may not lead to an LL.M. degree. Most notably, Georgetown University Law Center offers nine LL.M. fellowship programs.

Students can raise grant money directly from foundations and outside the fellowship process for a project of their own design. Organizations such as Equal Justice Works and the Soros Open Society also award fellowships for recipients to work at sponsoring organizations

The process of searching for post-graduate fellowships has been greatly aided by PSLawNet, which publishes an on-line fellowship database. Most of the fellowships are for new law graduates or up to ten years out. Duke Law School subscribes to PSLawNet for use by Duke Law students and alumni.To use the Fellowship Guide, visit http://www.pslawnet.org/ and register as a Duke Law student or alumni. Once in, click on Reports to access the Fellowship Guide.

Students interested in applying for post-graduate fellowships should talk with Senior Career Counselor Mary Dillon in the Office of Career Services. She is focusing on assisting Duke Law students to take advantage of this prestigious path to public service employment.