Social Justice Initiatives | Columbia Law School
Current Postgraduate Fellowships
Fellowships Available Exclusively to Columbia Law School Graduates Include:
- Arts Law Fellowship
The one-year Arts Law Fellowships provide J.D. graduates, who are interested in and demonstrate preparation for a career in arts law, with the opportunity to gain experience, skills, and valuable contacts, while connecting talented young lawyers with agencies, which are confronting great demands and diminished resources. - Equal Justice America Fellowship
EJA offers a two-year legal services fellowship to a Columbia Law graduate to work with a civil legal assistance program serving low-income communities anywhere in the United States. Offered every other year from 2008. Please check back for fellowship application. - Greater China Public Interest Fellowship
The Greater China Public Interest Fellowship is designed to provide meaningful opportunities in public interest law in greater China. The Greater China Public Interest Fellowship will be awarded to one member of the Columbia Law School J.D. or LL.M. program, either from the current or a recent graduating class, to spend one year working with a public interest organization in China. Click here for more information. - Kirkland & Ellis New York City Public Service Fellowship
Kirkland & Ellis offers the Kirkland & Ellis New York City Public Service Fellowship to "give something back" to the community and to enhance its relationship with Columbia Law School. The fellowship provides one Columbia student the opportunity for a year of postgraduate public service that meets serious human needs in New York City. Applications for the 2013 Fellowship are due on January 22, 2013. Click here for a brochure on the Fellowship. Click here for the 2013 Fellowship application. - Landesa Women’s Land Rights Fellowship Program
The fellowship is a two-year program for recent Law School graduates, in which fellows will work closely with Landesa staff to enhance their understanding of legal systems and customary rights, as well as the socioeconomic conditions and institutions that shape women’s land rights; gain practical experience designing, implementing, and evaluating projects to protect or improve women’s rights to land; acquire and develop complementary skills that will enable them to work more effectively; and network with professionals and organizations doing related development work. Fellows will be based in Seattle, but the appointment is expected to include extended periods of fieldwork in developing countries. Please check back for fellowship application. - David W. Leebron Human Rights Fellowship
This fellowship honors the Law School’s former Dean (1996-2004) and his commitment to providing meaningful experiences in human rights law. This annual fellowship will enable a Columbia Law School graduate to spend one year working in human rights either in the United States or abroad, in pursuit of a career in human rights law, whether in academic life; in governmental, intergovernmental or nongovernmental organizations or agencies; or as legal practitioners specializing in human rights work. Click here for the 2013 Fellowship notice and application. - Mark Haas Public Interest Fellowship
This fellowship supports a graduating student or recent graduate from mainland China or Hong Kong to pursue public interest legal work in the United States for up to five months. Click here for more information. - Sandler/Human Rights Watch Fellowship
Human Rights Watch, a leading international human rights monitoring and advocacy organization, has created the Sandler Fellowship for a Columbia Law graduate from the J.D. program in honor of Judge Leonard Sandler ’50. The fellow will spend one year in either the New York or Washington, D.C. office monitoring human rights developments in various countries, conducting on-site investigations, drafting reports on human rights conditions, and engaging in advocacy aimed at publicizing and curtailing human rights violations. Sandler Fellowship Information and Application Procedures - Social Justice Fellowship
J.D. graduates who demonstrate a serious commitment to and preparation for careers as public interest lawyers are eligible for Social Justice Fellowships. The one-year fellowships are designed to allow graduates to gain experience, skills, and valuable contacts and also provide talented young lawyers to nonprofit organizations and government agencies that are confronting great demand and diminished resources. - Postgraduate Government Fellowship
The one-year Government Fellowships provide J.D. graduates, who are interested in and demonstrate preparation for government service, with the opportunity to gain experience, skills, and valuable contacts, while providing talented young lawyers to agencies that are confronting great demands and diminished resources.
Fellowships that Prioritize Columbia Law School Graduates:
- Chadbourne & Parke/The Door Legal Services Center
For this fellowship, Chadbourne & Parke sponsors a fellow to work on-site at The Door for a period of approximately 16 months. Located in SoHo, The Door is New York's premier youth development agency, and serves young people, ages 12 to 21, primarily from low-income families. Click here for more information. - The CRR-CLS Fellowship
The Center for Reproductive Rights and Columbia Law School offer a two-year, postgraduate fellowship designed to prepare recent law school graduates for legal academic careers in reproductive health and human rights. Fellows will be affiliated with the Center and the Law School and will participate in the intellectual life of both programs. The CRR-CLS Fellowship is a full-time, residential fellowship for up to two full years. Please check back for fellowship application. - Cochran Civil Rights Fellowship
Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP, a public interest law firm in New York City, offers a two-year Cochran Civil Rights Fellowship to litigate civil rights and constitutional cases that promote systemic reforms in police departments and other large private and public institutions throughout the United States. Please check back for fellowship application. - Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho Fellowship
This civil rights law firm in Oakland, California, offers a two-year fellowship exclusively to a Columbia Law graduate to litigate plaintiffs' complex class-action cases, including employment discrimination, wage and hour disputes, and disability access cases. Please check back for fellowship application.
If you have questions about postgraduate fellowships, please contact Maddie Kurtz, Director of Public Interest Programs.
Public Interest Enhanced LRAP Fellowships Available Exclusively to Columbia Law School Graduates
Enhanced LRAP Fellowships are awarded to students who have demonstrated dedication to and exceptional promise for leadership in public interest law. These fellowships cover all loans up to the cost of law school tuition for fellows whose annual income does not exceed $100,000, and the schedule of forgiveness is accelerated beyond that of the typical LRAP arrangement. They include the Lowenstein Fellowship, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP Fellowship, and Berger Fellowship.
These are the fellowships offered in 2013:
Applications for both fellowships are due to SJI no later than 3:00pm on Friday, June 21, 2013. For more details, review the detailed notice and application documents linked to above.
For more information on these fellowships, including deadlines and application forms, visit our Loan Repayment Assistance Program page.