Direct Legal Services
Work with people on housing, immigration, family matters and benefits. Interview clients, research issues and help prepare cases with supervision.
Meet legal aid organizationsExplore Legal Aid Careers
Work with clients, challenge unfair systems or shape policy. Find the route that interests you.
Find Your Kind of Work
Impact Litigation
Work on cases aimed at changing policies or practices that affect many people. Research, investigate and write with a legal team.
Explore litigation workPolicy and Community Advocacy
Research proposals, work with community partners and help change laws or policies. Legal aid work extends beyond the courtroom.
Explore policy workMore Public Interest Paths
Explore public defense, government and private public interest firms alongside civil legal aid.
Explore PSJD’s career guidesFind Current Jobs and Internships
Find a role that fits your year, interests and location. Each listing includes the employer’s application instructions.
- California Legal Aid Jobs
Look for California legal aid jobs, internships and law clerk positions. Each employer sets its own application process.
- PSJD's Jobs and Employer Directory
Broaden your search across public interest employers and fellowships. Ask your career office about your school's access.
Try the Work Before Choosing a Career
Start with a law school clinic, student placement or volunteer role. Ask who supervises you, how you’ll receive feedback and how the placement is funded.
Find a student placement or write a short career-conversation request.
Plan Beyond a Fellowship
- Ask whether the role ends with its funding or has a path to a permanent position.
- Ask when future hiring decisions happen so you can plan your next search.
- Build references and ask which work you may use as an application sample.
Explore graduate and post-bar roles alongside fellowships.
Meet People Doing the Work
Start with a short conversation, a training or a student program. You can build a network while you learn.
Summer Funding During Law School
If you are a 1L or 2L planning a summer in civil legal aid, ask your career office which funding programs you can apply for. Your school may have deadlines and eligibility rules that are separate from the fellowship dates on this site.
Justice John Paul Stevens Fellowships
The Stevens fellowship supports enrolled students at participating law schools who arrange full-time, unpaid summer public interest law internships. You apply through your law school, which selects its fellows. The Foundation does not take student applications directly.
Check whether your school participates, then ask its public interest or career services office about the next application round, award amount and placement requirements.
Participating schools and Stevens fellowship information
School Funding Has Its Own Rules
- UC Davis summer funding brings several opportunities into one application for first- and second-year students. Some awards cannot be combined, and funding is not guaranteed.
- UCLA public interest funding includes summer stipends and school-affiliated opportunities, including Stevens fellowships.
These are examples of school-administered funding. Ask your own school what is available to you, including if you study outside California and hope to work here.
The LSFN fellowship is now the Public Interest Bar Fellowship
The former Legal Services Funders Network fellowship is now our Public Interest Bar Fellowship. It supports graduates as they take the bar and begin working in legal aid.
