Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law Fellowship, Yale Law School

About the Program

Application Deadline: Sunday, February 12, 2023, 11:59pm ET

Why should I apply?  Make connections at a great law school and with peers at other great institutions. Participate in a Public Interest Law Colloquium with other undergraduates from Barnard, Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Spelman, Stanford, and Yale. Engage with incredible thought-leaders at the Public Interest Law Colloquium. Distinguish your summer internship as Liman Summer Fellow on your resume. 

What exactly am I applying for/what is a Liman Fellow?  You are applying to attend the Public Interest Law Colloquium, Budgeting for Justice: Fiscal Policy and Monetary Sanctions, held at Yale Law School. This event will be held Thursday, April 20th-22nd and will include a special program for all of this year’s Liman Summer Fellows. You will meet a cohort of undergraduates from Barnard, Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Spelman, Stanford, and Yale (who also attend the Colloquium) interested in public service.  Finally, if selected you will be distinguishing your summer internship as a Liman Summer Fellow, which means submitting a final reflection at the end of the summer to Yale’s Liman Center. 

What are the requirements to apply?  You must be planning to do a 8-10 week summer internship at a non-profit organization in the United States that focuses on social justice and public interest, which is defined broadly and may include various advocacy methods. Host organizations serve the public good in a variety of ways. Many provide lawyers for people who cannot afford them. Some advocate on behalf of underserved communities. Others shape public policy. Organizations must be in the United States. Organizations are not limited to organizations in a particular field. Subject areas of host organizations have included immigration, housing, labor and workers’ rights, indigent criminal defense, death penalty representation, disability rights, children and family services, environmental policy, and mental health advocacy. Organizations must be federally-designated nonprofits—those with 501(c)(3) status. For-profit institutions do not qualify. Some organizations offer remote internships. Applicants are encouraged to look for host organizations that have resource needs and serve communities with resource needs.

Your internship does not need to be secured to apply to be designated as a Liman Fellow.  Please note that sophomores and juniors are eligible to apply.

How do I apply? A complete application includes: your contact information, 1-page resume, 1-2 page personal statement and the names of two references. Please apply by submitting the Career and Civic Engagement | Liman Summer 2023 Fellowship Application Form. Do NOT apply through this Handshake listing.

What are the funding options if the internship I secure is unpaid? 

If you:

1.      Are selected as a Liman Fellow AND

2.      You secure an unpaid internship at a non-profit organization in the U.S. focused on social justice that is 8-10 weeks long AND

3.      The internship fits the criteria for funding offered by the Career & Civic Engagement Center

Then Liman Fellows are guaranteed to receive summer funding from the Career & Civic Engagement Center and become a participant in the Beyond Bryn Mawr Summer Funding Program for Summer 2023.

Additional details:

The Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law supports Yale undergraduates and Yale Law School graduates working in the public interest. Public interest law includes a variety of types of law-related work done in furtherance of the public good. Examples of organizations doing such work include non-profit offices that provide representation for individuals who cannot afford attorneys, organizations that advocate on behalf of underserved communities, and non-profits and government offices that shape public policy.

The Liman Summer Fellowship offers students an opportunity to work at public interest organizations in the United States. Fellows must participate in the annual Liman Center Colloquium held every spring at Yale Law School. Last year's topic is Money and Punishment: Five Years after Ferguson. Past topics included Economic Injustice: Courts, Law Schools, and Institutionalizing Reforms and Who Pays? Fines, Fees, Bail, and the Cost of Courts, Moving Criminal Justice, and Navigating Boundaries: Immigration and Criminal Law. Other Colloquia have addressed many topics, including: the federal funding of legal services, encountering the criminal law, low-wage workers and workfare, the challenges of becoming and staying a public interest lawyer, the role of mass media in public interest advocacy, public interest lawyering, and public interest advocacy at the state and local level in an era of high anxiety.  Through their involvement with the Liman Center, Summer Fellows become part of a large network of public interest advocates and scholars.

Questions?  Please contact Jennifer Prudencio from The Career & Civic Engagement Center at jprudencio@brynmawr.edu.