Clara Belfield & Henry Bates Overseas Fellowships

Deadline: November 3, 2008
(Late applications can be considered subject to available funds.)

For Applications for Projects to Take Place Between January 2009 - January 2010

For those interested in pursuing an internship or other project overseas after completion of second year or shortly after graduation

Due to the generosity of Helen Bates Van Tyne, the Law School has an endowment for assisting recent University of Michigan law school graduates or law students who have had two or more years of law study to travel abroad for study or work experience. Students may apply for grants to enable them to pursue legal studies abroad (including independently designed research projects) or to accept professional internships with international or government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, law firms, or other legal or political institutions in foreign countries. Students are invited to submit proposals to undertake projects of individual interest to them following their second year of law school or shortly after graduation. Proposals for projects of various types and requiring various lengths of time are welcome. However, students may not seek Bates Fellowships for externships or study abroad programs for academic credit toward the student's JD.

Examples of previous fellowship awards have included support for internships with international agencies, human rights organizations and law offices in foreign countries; and comparative legal study and teaching assistantships at universities throughout the world. Some projects have lasted up to a year. Most have involved an opportunity abroad for a few months between the bar examination and the beginning of a permanent job. Still others have been short-term visits of six weeks, for example, to enable a student to complete an already well developed research project.

Application Process:
Interested students should submit a proposal; resume; an official Law School transcript; at least one letter of recommendation from a member of the Law School faculty; an invitation letter from the internship agency, academic institution, research supervisor or equivalent (if available), to the Center for International and Comparative Law, 300D Legal Research, by November 3, 2008. Late applications will be considered if funds remain available.

Please submit your proposal and resume electronically to Stephanie Wiederhold (wls@umich.edu). Letter(s) of recommendation may also be submitted electronically to Ms. Wiederhold. The invitation letter from the internship agency, academic institution, research supervisor or equivalent (if available) may also be submitted electronically to Ms. Wiederhold followed by an original paper letter. In addition, please be sure to complete the Bates Fellowship Application Cover Sheet. This may be submitted electronically to Ms. Wiederhold.

The proposal should include a complete description of the student's proposed project or program abroad; the exact dates of the proposed visit; relevant study and work experience; language skills; any other relevant information; and the student's local address, telephone number, and e-mail address. It should be sufficiently detailed to permit the Awards Committee to evaluate the quality and feasibility of the proposed project or program. Students do not need to have a track record of experience abroad to be considered. However, the proposal should describe how the project or program will contribute to their professional development. If the student is proposing an internship, the proposal should include a description of the agency and a detailed description of the nature of the work the student will be performing. In addition, the statement should include the amount of fellowship requested, an estimate of expenses necessary for the proposal, including a line-item budget for living expenses and round-trip travel to the program's location (based on the most economical fares), and a list of other fellowships applied for or received. The fellowship is intended to cover travel, housing, and subsistence, (e.g., food and basic living expenses). If other expenses are included in the budget, the applicant should explain why they are necessary.

The fellowships are awarded in varying amounts. They have varied in size from several hundred dollars to approximately $10,000. Fellowships often do not cover the full project expenses of those applicants who receive awards. Therefore, all applicants are encouraged to apply simultaneously for alternative sources of funding. Students should know that Bates Fellowship Awards are taxable income. Please see Assistant Dean Virginia Gordan (vgordan@umich.edu, 300C Legal Research; 734-764-5269) if you have any questions or for advice about your proposed project or preparing your proposal.

Examples of Bates Overseas Fellowship Awards