Ford Foundation Law School Public Interest Fellowships

The Ford Foundation Law School Public Interest Fellowship Program supports first- and second-year law students at Harvard Law School, as well as New York University, Stanford, and Yale Law Schools.

Description

Ford Fellows participate in a 10-week internship at a Ford grantee organization whose work focuses broadly on legal analysis, litigation, and public policy advocacy.

Working closely with lawyers and advocates, fellows gain exposure to a variety of  practice settings and issue areas including 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 connected 100 law school students with grantee organizations across the United States and around the world. Each fellow received a $15,000 stipend.

2013 Fellows from Harvard Law School worked at the following Ford grantee organizations:

• Beijing Yilian Legal Aid and Study Center of Labor in Beijing, China
• Center for Constitutional Rights in New York
• Center for Justice and Accountability in San Francisco
• Center for Reproductive Rights in New York
• Human Rights First in Washington, DC
• International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, Switzerland
• LatinoJustice in New York
• Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco
• MALDEF in Washington, DC and San Antonio, Texas
• National Domestic Worker’s Alliance in San Francisco
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network in Los Angeles
• National Economic and Social Rights Initiative in New York
• National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, DC
• National Partnership for Women and Families in Washington, DC
• Neighborhood Economic Development and Advocacy Project in New York
• New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice
• Ohio Justice and Policy Center in Cincinnati, Ohio
• Public Advocates in San Francisco
• Public Citizen Foundation in Washington, DC
• Women’s Link World Wide in Bogota, Colombia and Madrid, Spain

See Helios for reviews of host organizations by HLS students.

Eligibility

First- and second-year students are eligible for this fellowship.

Application Requirements

In 2013, applications for the Ford Foundation Law School Public Interest Fellowship consisted of a resume, a personal statement (750 words maximum), a ranked list of five organizations, and a 50-word description of why the applicant wished to work with each organization.

Check back here for 2014 application information in late summer 2013.

Placements

A selection committee reviews all applications for the Ford Foundation Law School Public Interest Fellowship, and selects 25 Harvard Law School students to receive a fellowship.

Each fellow’s application materials are forwarded to the five grantee organization ranked in his or her application.

Fellows are placed at a Ford grantee organization through a matching process which takes into account a fellow’s ranking of organizations as well as an organization’s ranking of fellows whose applications they have reviewed.

Application Timeline 

See the 2012/2013 application and notification timeline below.

Check back for the 2013/2014 application timeline in late summer 2013. We anticipate that the deadline for applications will be earlier than 2012/2013.

Further Information for Applicants

The Ford Foundation Law School Public Interest Fellowship is an opportunity to work at organizations around the globe and to become involved in a cohort of fellows at HLS and beyond.  

If you apply for the fellowship, be sure that your selected organizations match the kind of work you want to explore during your 1L or 2L summer. Students are encouraged to discuss their interest in the program and their application materials with an OPIA advisor before applying.

For information on how the Ford Foundation Law School Public Interest Fellowship affects the Student Contribution from Summer Income and Harvard Law School financial aid, please refer to the HLS Student Financial Services website.

Program Requirements

Students selected to participate in the Ford Foundation Law School Fellows participate in activities that enhance their connections with other fellows, and assist in the development of the program.

Activities include a series of required reading and response papers, as well as participation in an annual symposium. Fellows additionally assist with recruitment of fellows for the following year.