Ford Foundation Law School Public Interest Fellowships

Description and Eligibility

The Ford Foundation Law School Public Interest Fellowship Program will support first- and second-year law students to have a substantive and transformative experience as summer interns with Ford grantee organizations. Giving students the opportunity to work in the field of public interest law, the program seeks to award highly motivated and accomplished students with an internship in a domestic or international Ford Foundation grantee organization whose work focuses broadly on legal analysis, litigation, and public policy advocacy. Working closely with lawyers and advocates, students will gain exposure to a variety of diverse settings and will be exposed to such topics as reproductive rights, civil rights, gay, lesbian, and transgender rights, immigrants’ rights, prisoner and ex-offenders’ rights, voting rights, children’s rights, and other areas of concern with respect to social justice and equity. 

In its inaugural year, the Ford Foundation will connect a total of 100 law school students from Harvard, New York University, Stanford, and Yale Law Schools to current grantee organizations both domestically and internationally to begin an exciting and new venture lasting ten weeks during Summer 2013. If selected, the law student will receive $15,000 over the summer as an intern in the field of public interest law, giving them the opportunity to have substantive and transformative experiences.

Application Requirements

Applicants must submit the following:

1.) Ford Foundation Cover Sheet

2.) Resume

3.) Personal Statement (750 word maximum) that includes a description of:

• Why do you want to participate in the Ford Law School Public Interest Fellowship Program?
• What you want to accomplish as a Ford Fellow next summer?
• Past examples of leadership and potential for future leadership

4.) A ranked list of up to five preferred organizations with a description (50 word maximum per organization) of why each organization is of interest to you. 

For 1Ls:

Applications must be submitted in complete form and be received in OPIA's office (Wasserstein Hall, Suite 4039) by 3:00 p.m. on December 10, 2012. Please also email a copy to OPIA at opia@law.harvard.edu. 

For 2Ls: 

Applications must be submitted in complete form and be received in OPIA's office (Wasserstein Hall, Suite 4039) by 3:00 p.m. on October 1, 2012. Please also email a copy to OPIA at opia@law.harvard.edu. 

Placements

Students selected by the law school as Ford Fellows will participate in a match process to determine their organization placement (see Application Requirements above for a list of Ford grantee organizations). The match will take into account the students ranking of organizations and the organizations ranking of students.  Prior to the match, organizations will receive student applications and may wish to conduct interviews. Every effort will be made to match selected students with one of their ranked organizations. Students will rank each of their selections in order of preference starting with their first choice (1) and continuing to their final fifth (5) choice.  

Second-year law students can choose fewer than five potential placement organizations. In the event that a second-year law student is not matched, they will have the option to rank additional organizations to secure a placement.

First-year law students may also select fewer than five organizations, however if they are not placed with one of their selected organizations, there will be no opportunity to secure an alternative placement.

Application Timeline 

Further Requirements for Selected Students

Once selected for this program, Ford Foundation Law School Fellows will be required to engage in activities designed to enhance connection with other fellows, and to assist development of the program. 

1. Prior to the start of the summer internship, each Fellow will be required to read:

• Quigley, Letter To a Law Student Interested in Social Justice (2007)
• Scheingold and Sarat, Something to Believe In, Politics, Professionalism, and Cause Lawyering, Chapter 2 (Cause Lawyering, Civic Professionalism, and the Organized Legal Profession: A Brief History)
• Bellow, Steady Work: A Practitioner’s Reflections on Political Lawyering, 31 Harv. C. R. – C. L. L.  Rev 297 (1996) 
• Bell, Serving Two Masters, 85 Yale L. J. 470 (1976)

2. During and at the end of the summer program, each Fellow will be required to write three reflection papers, which will be submitted by pre-agreed dates to Lisa D. Williams, Associate Director, OPIA via email at opia@law.harvard.edu.  

• Reflection Paper #1.  Submit during the first week of internship describing organization’s mission, supervision structure for internship, personal and professional goals for summer internship, and a “response” to any or all of the readings.
• Reflection Paper #2.  Submit during Week 5 of internship describing major projects, assessing whether the goals described in Reflection Paper #1 are being or are likely to be accomplished or whether they need to be adjusted, analyzing an issue related to the structure of the internship organization and an issue raised in one or more of the readings.
• Reflection paper #3.  Submit during the last week of internship providing an overview of accomplishments, describing the most surprising aspect of internship, and assessing accomplishment of goals.  (This is separate and distinct from an evaluation of the organization.

3. Internship Evaluation
    Within two weeks of the last day of the internship.

4. Program Support
    Each Fellow will be asked to assist with recruitment of students for the following year.

5. Fall Colloquium Attendance at Ford Foundation
    In fall, 2013, the Ford Foundation will host a colloquium in New York for the Fellows to meet in person, to continue their learning from the summer, and to further deepen the connections of the cohort group.The     Ford     Foundation will reimburse reasonable travel costs to attend the colloquium.

Further Information for Applicants

This is an opportunity for you to work at organizations around the globe and to become involved in a cohort of fellows at HLS and beyond.  But, if you decide to participate, be sure that your selected organizations match the kind of work that you hope to try out. As always, OPIA staff will be available to help guide you through this process.