Career Development Office Blog

Apply For The IJC Fellowships

By Career Development Office on February 3rd, 2014

The IJC will award Justice Fellowships to recent law graduates and law clerks from around the country – individuals with tremendous talent and promise and a demonstrated commitment to provide legal services for the poor and for immigrants. The IJC will also select 15 Community Fellows annually – exceptional college graduates with the linguistic skills, passion and cultural competency to work in and with New York City’s diverse immigrant communities.

Justice Fellowship:

Structure

Justice Fellows will be hosted in clusters of 2-4 in New York City’s leading non-profit legal services offices, which will be selected to participate in the IJC on a competitive the basis. Upon selection, Fellows will have the opportunity to indicate their preferences for the host organization where they will work, though the IJC will, ultimately, make placement decisions.

Justice Fellows will represent immigrants with the most complex cases that require lawyers to handle the case from start to finish, such as deportation defense and affirmative petitions for victims of crime, domestic violence and human trafficking, among others. The Justice Fellows will be primarily supervised by experienced attorneys at their host organization, with supplemental support from the IJC’s own supervisory staff.

Benefits

Justice Fellowships run for two years, with the option of renewing for a third year based on performance. During the two years of the fellowship, Fellows’ salaries ($47,000) and benefits will be covered by the IJC, along with loan repayment assistance for law school loans. During the third year of the fellowship, for those selected, salaries will be increased to reflect greater experience.

In addition, Fellows will participate in a comprehensive immigration law training program at the start of their fellowship and, throughout the course of the fellowship, will meet bi-weekly as a group for professional development activities, skills trainings, case sharing, reflection sessions and other programmatic activities organized by the IJC staff. At the end of the fellowship, IJC Fellows will be extraordinarily well trained, deeply networked in the legal and immigrant rights community, and profoundly committed to developing creative strategies to fight poverty and ensure access to justice.

For applicants

You must be a law student who graduated in the Spring/Summer of 2013 or will graduate in the Spring/Summer of 2014. Law clerks completing clerkships by Summer 2014 are also eligible for a Justice Fellowship beginning in September 2014.

Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on March 1, 2014 and must be submitted via the IJC website.

Finalists will be interviewed in New York City or via video conference for applicants who are unable to travel to New York City. Fellows will be informed of their selection in March 2014.

Community Fellowship:

Structure

Community Fellowships are available to students who are completing their undergraduate degrees in May or June 2014. They will be placed in community-based host organizations, which will be selected to participate in the IJC on the basis of competitive RFPs.

They will be supported by the IJC to become accredited representatives of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and will conduct outreach and represent community members on a range of cases such as naturalization applications, deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA), and other matters that can be managed by a non-lawyer until the point of final submission and review. The IJC’s 3 on-staff attorneys will closely supervise Community Fellows and “ride circuit” to host sites to review cases and ensure quality control.

Benefits

Community Fellowships run for two years, during which time Fellows’ salaries ($35,000) and benefits will be covered by the IJC, along with loan repayment assistance support. In addition, Fellows will participate in a comprehensive immigration law training at the start of their fellowship and, throughout the course of the fellowship, will meet biweekly as a group for professional development activities, skills trainings, case sharing, reflection sessions and other programmatic activities organized by the IJC staff.

At the end of the fellowship, Community Fellows will be extraordinarily well trained, deeply networked in the legal and immigrant rights community, and profoundly committed to developing creative strategies to fight poverty and ensure access to justice.

For applicants