Job Location : Sacramento,CA, USA
Public Advocates Inc. and the Charles Houston Bar Association (CHBA) are proud to announce the seventh annual Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship opportunity for law students committed to pursuing careers in public interest law. The Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship is a collaboration between Public Advocates and CHBA to improve the representation of attorneys of color in the public interest profession and to increase advocacy with communities of color throughout the Bay Area, particularly Black communities. The Arc of Justice Fellows will spend the summer clerking at Public Advocates with dedicated support from CHBA.
The Fellows will leverage Public Advocates' and CHBA's networks and professional development resources and will be exposed to public interest practitioners representing a wide variety of legal fields. In addition, the Fellows will establish meaningful connections with other summer law clerks and attorneys at other public interest legal organizations, minority bar associations, government agencies and private law firms or corporations.
Since 2016, Public Advocates and CHBA have selected Arc of Justice Summer Fellows from law schools throughout the country to clerk on our Education Equity and Metropolitan Equity (Housing and Transit Justice) Teams. The Fellows have engaged in local, regional, and state policy work on behalf of students, transit riders, and residents of color. They have also been warmly welcomed into the CHBA network, building meaningful relationships with high-caliber Bay Area attorneys through networking and social events.
Fellowship PartnersPublic Advocates, a non-profit law firm and advocacy organization, challenges the systemic causes of poverty and discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing and transit equity, and climate justice. Since 1971, Public Advocates has focused on “making rights real” across California by collaborating with grassroots groups representing people of color, immigrants, and low-income individuals to achieve strategic policy reform, enforce civil rights, and support movement-building.
CHBA is a nonprofit organization of lawyers, judges, and law students throughout Northern California, and operates as an affiliate member of the National Bar Association and the California Association of Black Lawyers. Since 1955 CHBA has been committed to working within the African American community to facilitate access to the justice system and to promote equal protection under the law.
Our Legal Clerkship Program exposes students to the diverse strategies of our impact work in an environment designed to help them develop as public interest attorneys. Each law clerk is assigned to a supervising attorney on one of our two teams (Education Equity and Metropolitan Equity) who has primary responsibility for giving constructive feedback in a positive learning environment.
Law clerk duties may include legal research and writing, drafting policy memos and reports, client communication and leadership development, community training and resource development, coalition-building, and data analysis. In addition to providing substantive legal advocacy experience, the Legal Clerkship Program includes a number of brown bag sessions, visits to legislative and state agency meetings in Sacramento, team-building events, meetings with community partners, and other activities intended to complement the day-to-day work of our law clerks.
We value applicants with a demonstrated commitment to public interest work.
The summer program begins the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Summer clerks commit to working full-time for 10 weeks (Monday through Friday, 7.5 hours/day).
Public Advocates currently has a hybrid schedule and we expect all of our clerks to be able to commit to working at least part time for 10 weeks in Public Advocates' San Francisco or Sacramento offices, with the acknowledgement that this could change if COVID-19 levels increase.
QualificationsPublic Advocates and CHBA are seeking a law student with a demonstrated commitment to:
The ten week-long Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship comes with a $6,000 living allowance (subject to taxes) to each summer clerk who commits to and completes a 10-week internship. The allowance can be used to supplement any additional outside funding law clerks may receive.
How to ApplyApplicants should provide a cover letter explaining:
Send your materials in one PDF or Word attachment to our Legal Clerkship Program at [email protected] . Only applications submitted to this email address will be considered. Please include “Arc of Justice Fellowship Application” in your subject line. If you are applying for the Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship, please do not submit a separate summer clerkship application .
We are currently accepting applications and plan to finalize our class by the end of February, 2025.
Diversity CommitmentPublic Advocates is committed to fostering a diverse staff and diversity in the legal profession. We encourage all interested individuals to apply — especially Black, Indigenous and People of Color; women; people from low-income backgrounds; people with disabilities; people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; and anyone belonging to any other federal or state protected category. Read our Diversity Vision Statement .
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