About the Fellowship

The Judicial Innovation Fellowship is an opportunity for courts to level up their access to justice work with the help of a technology professional. Each fellow will be placed in the partner court for up to a year, and will have software development, design, data, or cybersecurity experience to apply to a project that betters the public’s access to justice by improving your court’s transparency, equity, or efficiency.

These fellows are career professionals. The core of their work will be project-based, and they are advisors to the court in their area of expertise. Unless otherwise negotiated, the fellows’ salary, benefits, and travel are paid for by the JIF program.

The JIF program is a new program, which means you are also applying to be a co-designer in the program itself. This will be a fluid process, and you want to work with us to learn how to make this program better, together.

To learn more about what we are looking for in court partners and project ideas, please read our  Request for Proposals and the Judicial Innovation Fellowship Roadmap, which is our internal plan for running this program. Below is the information session for courts we hosted on January 11, this is the slide deck.

If you have any questions not covered by these documents, please email judicialinnovation@georgetown.edu.

Apply

Applications are closed for the 2023-24 cohort.

Application & Fellowship Timeline

• Jan. 11, 2023: Court application period opens.
• Feb. 6, 2023: Initial review process begins.
• Feb. 13, 2023: Long list of partners are identified and asked for follow up information.
• Feb. 28, 2023: Fellow application period opens.
• February/March 2023: Review panel assesses court applications.
• March 2023: Short list of potential court partners is identified.
• March 2023: Collaborative process with short listed partners begins to define project scope, deliverables, and expectations around the project.
• April 2023: Final selection of projects and MOUs signed.
• April/May 2023: Court partners have the option to conduct final interviews of potential fellows. (JIF handles the fellow application and screening process otherwise.)
• Sept. 2023: Week-long training at Georgetown Law for fellows and partner courts.
• Sept. 2023: Fellowship begins with the fellows arriving at the partner courts.
• Aug. 2024: Fellowship concludes.

FAQ

We will update this section often as we receive questions.

Who pays for the fellows?

The JIF program pays for the fellows employment through philanthropic donations.

Do the fellows work full time?

Yes. this is a full time job for the fellows.

Are the fellows students?

No. The fellows are career professionals in technology, design, and data, who are taking a year to work in America’s courts.

Are the fellows lawyers?

Not necessarily. Our fellows are tech industry professionals first.

Can a court submit more than one application?

Yes. For courts with multiple project proposals, we ask that a court submit an application per project.

I work at an organization that supports courts, can we apply for a fellow?

No. Courts must apply for and house JIF fellows. If you work with courts, you can recommend your court partners apply and list your organization on the application.