The ABA's Fund for Justice and Education Project Fellows Program

During these challenging economic times, the ABA Commission on the Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Profession and Legal Needs and the ABA Fund for Justice and Education (FJE) have collaborated to create the FJE Project Fellows. The FJE Project Fellows program will provide meaningful volunteer experience for recent law school graduates who may be unemployed, underemployed or deferred and who would like to engage in substantive law-related activities. The experience of volunteering for these public service programs will allow Fellows to build their resumes, work with well-known lawyers and make professional connections, and produce substantive work for the public good. Substantive tasks may include editing newsletters and magazines, conducting research, assisting in planning conferences and panels, and outreach to direct beneficiaries of programs, among others. Fellows will be supervised by the staff director of the project for which they are volunteering. It is anticipated that Fellows will work remotely using their own computers, although it may be possible for Fellows located in Chicago or Washington, D.C. to volunteer in the ABA offices on occasion if space is available.

Prospective Fellows are asked to complete a short application, indicating preference for one of five categories of substantive public service programs supported through the FJE: 1) Access to Justice; 2) Children and the Law; 3) Public Education; 4) International Justice; and 5) Professionalism and the Profession. Through a matching process coordinated by the FJE with entity staff directors, Fellows will be assigned to a project. Every effort will be made to assign projects that align with stated preferences.

To register for this program, go here.