Stanford Law School (SLS) and the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation (SPILF) jointly offer a postgraduate public interest fellowship that enables a SLS alumnus/a to provide legal services for underrepresented communities or otherwise serves the public interest. Their projects must be hosted by a 501(c)(3) organization. Eligible host organizations may engage in direct legal services, impact litigation, or policy advocacy, either domestically or abroad. The Fellowship Committee seeks projects with objectives including but not limited to:

• Representing groups with unmet legal needs;
• Addressing the underlying causes and consequences of injustice, poverty, and disenfranchisement;
• Creating a society free from racism, sexism, heterosexism, and economic exploitation and supporting the rights of disabled people, immigrants and refugees, the LGBTQ community, people of color, women, workers, youth and the elderly;
• Promoting public health and environmental quality by working to change the root causes of environmental degradation;
• Promoting community economic development.

Past recipients include:

• Christy Holstege, JD '12, who independently established a legal clinic within Shelter from the Storm, a domestic violence shelter-based agency in California’s rural Coachella Valley;
• Stephanie Klitsch, JD '12, who is currently working at the Council for Children’s Rights in Charlotte, North Carolina to improve educational opportunities for foster youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities through client representation and community education;
• Michael Caesar, JD '11, who spent his fellowship year with the Impact Fund in Berkeley, California, working to protect those who have been refused employment or wrongfully terminated because of their citizenship status or national origin;
• Maureen Keffer, JD '11, who spent her fellowship year with California Rural Legal Assistance in its Salinas office representing indigenous Mexicans and other farmworkers who are victims of human trafficking and labor issues;
• Michael Kaufman, JD '07, who is now a staff attorney  with the ACLU of Southern California after spending his fellowship year with them to improve inhumane and unlawful conditions at Southern California immigration detention facilities;
• Jessica Oats, JD '09, who is also now a staff attorney with the same organization that hosted her fellowship, Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia (and she is featured in our Spring 2010 newsletter); and
• Thomas Nosewicz, JD '08, who is now a staff attorney with the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York, after having spent his fellowship year with the Special Litigation Department of the Orleans Public Defender in New Orleans, LA (and is featured in our Summer 2010 newsletter).

Please address all questions regarding the fellowship to spilffellowship@gmail.com.