Fellowships

Bay Area Legal Aid Sponsorship of Fellows for 2013

Bay Area Legal Aid provides free civil legal assistance to low-income families of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Its mission is to provide high-quality service regardless of a client’s disability, language or Bay-Area location.  Since 2000, BayLegal has successfully sponsored one Shartsis Friese, six Equal Justice Works and three Skadden fellowship applications.

BayLegal invites law students beginning their third year and recent law school graduates to propose innovative fellowship projects for 2013 for submission to the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, Equal Justice Works, Soros Justice Fellowship Program and/or similar programs.  Project ideas should relate to one or more of BayLegal’s substantive practice areas:

Domestic Violence Prevention and Immigration Relief: help survivors of domestic violence achieve safety and economic independence for themselves and their children. Areas of practice include: obtaining restraining orders, divorces, custody and support orders; preventing unwarranted evictions and obtaining public housing transfers; assuring public benefits and victim/witness assistance; assisting with credit repair/ debt relief and providing immigration assistance for victims of violence.

Housing Preservation: work to preserve and expand affordable housing laws and regulations.  This includes: litigating on behalf of victims of illegal evictions, housing discrimination, substandard housing conditions, foreclosure rescue scams and wrongful termination from affordable housing programs.

Health Care Access: assist people to enroll in and obtain services from health insurance programs for the indigent, including Medi-Cal, Healthy Families and county care programs. In addition to providing brief services and extended representation to clients improperly denied coverage or charged with overpayments, BayLegal conducts education and outreach at community-based organizations and public-policy advocacy.

Economic Justice: secure income and support services for those who qualify for public benefits such as SSI, CalWORKS, General Assistance, Food Stamps and In-Home Support Services.  This encompasses: assisting clients reverse unfair terminations or denials of benefits; working with local and state government to improve administration of these programs and become more responsive to community needs.

BayLegal will consider fellowship proposals drafted by applicants, or assist candidates to design a project in one our main practice areas based on the candidate’s own interests and the interests of the community.

Factors that will be considered in evaluating candidates for sponsorship include:

• Demonstrated commitment to public interest law;
• Knowledge of or strong interest in the subject-matter of the proposed fellowship;
• Membership in a minority population served by BayLegal, including the LGBT community;
• Fluency in a non-English language spoken by many of BayLegal’s clients;
• Excellence in oral, written and legal research skills;
• Anticipated or current California Bar membership.

Interested candidates should e-mail the following materials:

• Cover letter
• Resume
• One-page summary of fellowship proposal or statement concerning the practice area in which you would like to develop a project;
• List of three references
• Writing sample

Direct materials and inquiries to Jerel McCrary at fellows@baylegal.org on or before July 1, 2012.

(BayLegal will work closely with successful applicants to design the final project proposal.)