Clinical fellowships provide recent law graduates the opportunity to practice public interest law in an academic environment. While these fellowships most commonly attract individuals with at least some interest in law teaching, they also draw people who intend to practice public interest law in more traditional settings. The fellowships provide excellent training for both future academics and future practitioners.

Like all public interest fellowships, clinical fellowships seek applicants with significant public interest experience. Teaching or other academic experience is usually preferred as well. Most clinical teaching fellowships are open to both graduating law students and lawyers who have been practicing for a few years.

Georgetown Law Clinical Fellowships
Georgetown has the largest clinical law fellowship program in the country. Most of the clinics offer at least one fellowship per year, and some clinics offer several. Each fellowship is two years in duration, awards an LL.M. degree in Advocacy (if requirements are met), and provides a stipend of $48,000+ per year. Many Law Center graduates have received Georgetown Law clinical fellowships. Most clinics, however, will not hire a Georgetown graduate who did not take the particular clinic as a student.

Each clinic determines the duties and responsibilities of its fellows, and each has its own fellowship application process. Substantively, the clinics are also quite distinct. All except Street Law are 'client representation' clinics. Several clinics focus almost exclusively on individual case representation, while others engage in additional types of legal strategies as well. Depending on the clinic, these strategies include any combination of legislative advocacy, community organizing, public education, individual representation and/or impact litigation. The Georgetown Law clinics that offer fellowships are:

• Appellate Litigation
  Litigation in appeals courts in civil and criminal matters
• Center for Applied Legal Studies
  Representation of individuals seeking asylum in the United States
• Criminal Justice
  Defense of indigents in criminal cases (primarily misdemeanors)
• DC Street Law
  Legal education to local high school students and homeless adults
• Domestic Violence
  Representation of victims of domestic abuse
• Federal Legislation
  Legislative lawyering for non-profit clients
• Harrison Institute for Public Policy
  Representation of public officials and non-profit organizations seeking economic and social reform
• Harrison Institute for Housing
  Assistance to local organizations with community development and housing issues
• Institute for Public Representation
  Representation of groups and individuals with civil rights, communications, and environmental issues
• International Women's Human Rights
  Legal assistance to women's groups in Africa
• Juvenile Justice
  Defense of indigent juveniles charged with crimes

 

Other Clinical Fellowships

Several other law schools also offer clinical fellowships either every year or periodically. For these and other opportunities, check out the OPICS Fellowship Chart. These include:

• Northeastern University School of Law Domestic Violence Clinical Fellowship
  Work on domestic violence issues in conjunction with a project at the Boston Medical Center

• Tulane Environmental Law Clinic Fellowship
  Addresses water and air pollution in Louisiana

• Harvard University School of Law Fellowships

      Harvard offers many clinical teaching fellowships and several academic research fellowships.

• University of Baltimore School of Law Public Interest Fellowships
  Fellowships available in Civil Clinic, Community Development Clinic, and Family Law Clinic

• University of Connecticut School of Law William R. Davis Clinical Fellowship
  Primary areas are housing discrimination, child abuse and neglect, and unemployment compensation