Attorney Project-Based Fellowship Sponsorship 2025
Attorney Project-Based Fellowship Sponsorship, Philadelphia Legal Assistance 2025
Temporary, Full-Time Position
Anticipated Start date: Fall 2025
Application Deadline: July 15, 2024, but applications are reviewed on a rolling basis
Application requirements: Cover letter, resume, references, a five-page legal-writing sample, and transcript
BACKGROUND:
Philadelphia Legal Assistance Center, Inc. (PLA) is interested in sponsoring eligible law students and law clerks for Attorney Project-Based Fellowships to begin in the Fall of 2025. This includes Skadden, Independence Foundation, Equal Justice Works, law school-specific fellowships, and others as they become available.
Created in January 1996 and primarily funded by the Legal Services Corporation, PLA provides free civil legal services to low-income Philadelphians and migrant agricultural workers throughout the state of Pennsylvania. The work is professionally challenging and uniquely fulfilling for those wishing to pursue a career in public interest law on behalf of low-income individuals.
PLA attorneys provide high-quality, innovative, and holistic representation to low-income individuals in areas of basic human need: shelter, family safety, and income maintenance. Attorneys also engage in systemic advocacy. We encourage the use of creative strategies to resolve legal problems as well as innovative service delivery models to meet client needs. PLA’s substantive areas of expertise and practice in Philadelphia include consumer housing, family, unemployment compensation, and income taxes. The Consumer Housing Unit focuses on mortgage foreclosure defense, predatory lending, bankruptcy, and tangled title and operates the Eviction Diversion Hotline, part of Philadelphia's nationally recognized Eviction Diversion Program. PLA’s family law practice addresses family safety and interpersonal violence through representation in custody and protection from abuse matters. Philadelphia workers receive legal assistance from our Unemployment Unit, which maintains an active appellate court practice and is led by a national expert in unemployment benefits. Other income supports such as food stamps and medical assistance, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) cases are handled by PLA’s Medical Legal Community Partnership, which is currently at 17 sites in the city.
We welcome any project that would enhance the current work of any of our substantive units, especially with an emphasis on racial equity. Additionally, if you have areas of particular interest or project ideas, we encourage you to state them in your letter. PLA has several current fellows and past fellows who can support you both in your application process and in your fellowship.
QUALIFICATIONS:
PLA is seeking incoming 3Ls, recent graduates, or judicial clerks for Attorney Fellowship sponsorships whose projects will commence in the Fall of 2025. A J.D. from an accredited law school and willingness to sit for the Pennsylvania State Bar is required.
Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA) is an equal-opportunity employer. PLA values a diverse work environment and strongly encourages women, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQ, people with disabilities, people who have experienced poverty or homelessness, and people who have had prior contact with the juvenile, criminal, or child welfare systems to apply. PLA invites all applicants to include in their cover letter a statement about how your unique background and/or experiences might contribute to the diversity, cultural vitality, and perspective of our staff and legal services practice.
Interested applicants should email a cover letter, resume, references, five-page legal-writing sample, and transcript (preferably in one PDF document) to work@philalegal.org. Please let us know if you have a preference for a fellowship funder.
The hard application deadline for Skadden, Independence, and Equal Justice Works is July 15, 2024. However, applicants interested in Skadden and Independence will be considered on a rolling basis, given the earlier deadline for those fellowship applications. If you have access to school-based fellowships, we will also consider applications for those later in the school year.