As Dean Edley indicated when he launched the pilot year of the expanded Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship Program in the fall of 2004, it is in keeping with Berkeley Law’s mission as a great public interest law school to make it financially feasible for every student pursuing a JD degree at Berkeley to do summer public interest/public service legal work.  For Summer 2009, fellowship funding is again available through the Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship Program, which provides up to $4,000 of funding to all students who request the support and meet the qualification requirements, detailed in the Fellowship Guidelines and Application below. (For information about how to meet the pro bono hours requirement, go to the Pro Bono and Public Service webpage.) The Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship Program also provides an additional $2,000 to 2Ls who are completing a second summer of eligible public interest/public sector work.

With external, student organization, or Federal Work Study funding, students can increase the total amount of funds available to them through the $4000 Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship. Click here to read more about these other funding sources. Berkeley Law fellowship recipients can use some (or all or none) of their $4000 in combination with other funding sources. The Fellowship will supplement any additional funds that a student receives, up to a cap. Receiving external funds and/or opting to take less than the $4000 maximum also allows students to “bank” any unused Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship funds for use during a second summer of public interest/public sector work.

Click here to find out how the funding cap and "banking" option work.

All students, including all 1Ls, who did not receive or bank any Berkeley Law Summer fellowship funding last year, will be considered “first-time” applicants. For “first-time” Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship applicants, the Committee will simply review the applications to insure all of the pre-requisites have been satisfied.  If the pre-requisites have been satisfied, their grant will be “automatic.”

Students who received a Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship last year may apply for a second summer of Berkeley Law funding.  For Summer 2009, the Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship Program will offer $2000 to students who received or banked Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship funds last year, who will complete a second eligible summer of public interest work in Summer 2009, and who request the support and meet the qualification requirements detailed in the Fellowship Guidelines and Application.

In addition to this $2000 award, “second-time” applicants may also apply through the Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship for additional supplemental funds. Awards of supplemental funds will be discretionary and the result of a competitive process. “Second time” awards of up to $3000 will be distributed based on the following criteria: satisfaction of the application pre-requisites, the quality and significance of the proposed project, the thoughtfulness of the proposal, the specificity of the project, and the stability and supportiveness of the sponsoring organization. An additional selection criteria will include a demonstration of effort to pursue external funding. (If external funding sources do not exist for a particular project type, this will be taken into account.)

A link to the 2009 Application Form and Guidelines for both the Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship and a select group of student organization fellowships (Berkeley Law Foundation, Boalt Hall Queer Caucus, Boalt Hall Women's Association, boalt.org, ELQ, The OC at Boalt, and the Boalt Hall Committee for Human Rights) appears below.  It is essential that you read the Guidelines completely.  (Note: supplemental essays are required by some student organizations).  Application deadline for all funding is 5:00 p.m. on April 1, 2009.  No late applications will be accepted.

Go to the Pro Bono and Public Service webpage for information about how to meet the 25 hours of pro bono service requirement.

Application Guidelines (for 2009)

Fellowship Application (for 2009)