Dean's Public Service Fellows Program Information and Application
The University of Michigan Law School (UMLS) has a long tradition of developing lawyers who work in service of the public, whether they devote their careers to public service or serve the public good in other ways. To further the Michigan tradition of public service, the UMLS created the Dean's Public Service Fellows Program. The Program recognizes up to ten second-year UMLS students who have a demonstrated commitment to public service and who intend to seek public service legal employment during the summer after their second year of school (or a later summer for joint degree students) as preparation for pursuing a public service law career after graduation. In recognition of their selection Fellows shall receive a $7000 cash award. In exchange, Fellows shall work during that summer in a government or nonprofit legal setting selected in consultation with the Assistant Dean of Public Service. Receipt of the award is contingent upon the fulfillment of the obligations listed below.
In order to be considered for the Program, students must complete an application form which is available as a fillable .pdf form or in hard copy from 200 Hutchins Hall #29. The application deadline is late September/early October.
The Dean shall appoint a selection committee chaired by the Assitant Dean of Public Service. The selection committee shall include faculty, staff, and/or alumni. Fellowships will be announced prior to the Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair.
Selected Fellows shall have until March 13, 2009 to finalize the details of their summer employment, which must be approved by the Assistant Dean of Public Service. If a selected Fellow does not have approved employment by March 13, 2009 an alternate will be named to replace the selected Fellow as a Dean's Public Service Fellow.
The government or nonprofit position must be the primary legal employment for the summer; students who split their summer employment between public service and private law practice are ineligible. Fellows must be employed a minimum of 10 weeks in the specified position. Fellows may not receive any other form of financial assistance from the University for said summer employment, including but not limited to, support from the Michigan Public Service Guarantee, a Bates Fellowship, the Perry Watkins Fellowship, the Law School's Refugee and Asylum Law Program, the Cambodian Law Program, the Student Funded Fellowship Program, and the University's International Institute. (Finally, if a student is awarded a Dean's Public Service Fellowship and later receives other University support for the same summer employment, the student must forfeit the Dean's Public Service Fellowship and an alternate will be named.) The work performed for the Program may not be partisan political in nature.
At the conclusion of the summer, Felllows must submit a report to the Assistant Dean of Public Service that includes the contact information of the organization for which they worked, a description of the specific duties they performed, and an overall evaluation of the job experience, with an emphasis on whether it advanced the objective of pursuing public service after graduation. In addition, Fellows must agree to serve as peer counselors to students that may be referred to them by the Assistant Dean.