Santa Clara law students who have completed at least one year of full-time or part-time study by May of the application year are eligible for public interest summer grants. To qualify for a grant, applicants must arrange a full-time summer position doing legal work with a non-profit organization having a public service or social justice mission. Some government attorney positions and, depending on funding availability, some judicial externships also qualify.
Students who receive academic credit for a summer job or who receive payment greater than the amount of the Center’s summer stipend are not eligible to receive public interest summer grants.
Applicants must submit their completed applications through the on-line application form. While the grant funding may come from any one of the programs listed below, students need not specify the program in the application.
Grantees will be honored at the Public Interest and Social Justice Law Celebration and Graduation Ceremony in May. Grantees are required to submit a brief report at the mid point and at the conclusion of their placement.
Selection will be based on the following criteria:
- Strong interest in a career in public interest and social justice law. Students need not demonstrate that they ultimately will pursue a public interest law career but should provide evidence that they are giving serious consideration to such work. Such evidence could include prior involvement in public interest and social justice activities.
- Developing ability and strength in working with legal problems and materials. This criterion may be met in part by indications of successful academic performance in law school courses, but it also may be demonstrated through other types of successful involvement in legal projects.
- Additional consideration will be given to students with demonstrated financial need.
Applicants must include the following attachments:
- A letter from the public interest employer confirming a summer job offer for at least 40 hours per week for at least ten weeks. (This letter need not be included with the initial application, but must be provided before the grant money is distributed.)
- A resume.
- A personal statement explaining (1) the work or project for which the student proposes to use this fellowship; (2) how the work will develop the student’s legal skills, (3) how the work will further the student’s professional interests and goals, and (4) the student’s commitment to public interest and social justice law.
- If seeking consideration for the Stevens Fellowships, your law school transcript.
- Optional: A Statement of financial need.
The deadline for all summer grants is noon on March 15 of the year of application. If March 15 falls on a weekend or public holiday, the application will be due on the next business day. Late applications will not be accepted. Apply HERE (LINK TO APPLICATION ). FAQs can be found here.
We are grateful to our generous donors!
Richard P. and Madé S. Berg Social Justice Public Interest Summer Grant
Richard P. Berg, Professor Emeritus, taught at Santa Clara Law from 1973 to 2004. During that time, he played an active role in the Law School’s public interest programs. He served for many years on the Board of the Center for Social Justice; he was an important advocate and supporter of the student summer grants program. In 2017, Richard and his wife Madé made a generous donation to the Law School to create the Richard P. and Madé S. Berg Social Justice Public Interest Endowment Fund. Their gift was made in the hope that it will inspire our students to pursue careers that value and promote the importance of public interest work, regardless of their practice area.
The Richard P. and Made S. Berg grants are available to students who will be working in an office providing civil legal services. Qualifying organizations include legal service agencies or other not-for profit providers of legal services. Government offices that focus on public interest work will qualify, but judicial externships will not.
Justice John Paul Stevens Public Interest Fellowships
The Justice Stevens Fellowships at Santa Clara University School of Law honor Justice John Paul Stevens, who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975-2010. They promote the public interest values that characterize the career of Justice Stevens by supporting Santa Clara law students’ summer work in public interest and social justice law.
Skip Paul, JD ’75 established the Stevens Fellowships in honor of Justice Stevens, for whom he served twice as a law clerk, first at the United States Court of the Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Court, and then at the Supreme Court of the United States. He established a similar fellowship in 1997 at Northwestern University School of Law. Skip Paul started his business career at Atari, where he rose to President; he was later President of MCA, Inc., Chairman and Co-Founder of Sega Gameworks, Chairman of IFILM, and a founding investor in Flektor. He is a Senior Advisor at Centerview Partners. More information about the Stevens Fellowship can be found here.
LGBT Legal Issues Summer Grant
This grant is available to one or more law students who have a full-time summer law position with an organization that does legal work on behalf of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender individuals and/or people living with HIV. The applicant should describe the nature of the intended work and how it might impact civil rights for LGBT members of society. Previous projects have ranged from domestic relations to transgender rights to traditional impact work at an LGBT nonprofit. In recent years, students have worked for the SAGE organization in New York City, https://www.sageusa.org/what-we-do/nyc-services-centers/.
Law Firm and Donor Grants
The Law School is fortunate to have generous donations from law firms and other donors that fund summer stipends. These donors include the Jachimowicz Law Group, and Hoge Fenton. We are very grateful to these generous donors!
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For additional information, see the Frequently Asked Questions. For additional questions, contact Professor Evangeline Abriel at eabriel@scu.edu.