Ms. JD is pleased to announce that applications are now open for the 2019 Summer Public Interest Scholarship Competition!
The recipients of the 2019 Public Interest Scholarship Competition will each receive a scholarship, up to $5,000 per recipient, to go towards their summer living expenses as they pursue careers in public interest law. Ms. JD is thrilled to continue our support of women pursuing public interest careers and soften the burden faced by folks who accept public interest internships, which are often unpaid.
Eligibility
- The Scholarship is open to all law students who currently identify as women, or who have previously lived as a woman (or girl) and now identify as non-binary.
- Applicants should be entering their second or third year at an accredited U.S. law school as of summer 2019.
- Applicants should be planning to work at least 35 hours per week for a minimum of 6 weeks over the summer of 2019.
- Eligible placements include positions with a government agency, nonprofit organization, or unpaid judicial externship.
- Applicants do not need to have a confirmed placement at the time of application, but will be asked to submit an offer letter confirming their public interest placement before funds are disbursed in May 2019.
Application
- In 800 words or less, submit a written application responding to the prompt below.
- Post the application essay directly to the Ms. JD blog.
- Use your Ms. JD account to post your response to the blog. If you do not yet have an account, register for one here: http://ms-jd.org/profile/register.
- In addition to posting the application essay directly to the blog, please send your essay and resume as PDF attachments to publicinterest@ms-jd.org. Please include your name and Ms. JD account ID at the top of your attached essay. We also ask that you provide us with information regarding your anticipated summer employer and any sources of summer funding you will be receiving.
- Applications are due by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, May 5, 2019.
Prompt
This year Ms. JD celebrated our annual conference with the theme “Speak Up!” Please describe a time in your personal or professional life that you had to speak up to advocate for yourself, and how you envision your future public interest career will facilitate speaking up on behalf of yourself or others.
(A note on framing: folks often say that they would like to “be a voice for the voiceless” in public interest work. We encourage applicants to consider that each person you will serve already has their own voice, and instead reflect on how you might uplift – rather than replace – voices of those most marginalized or whose voices are missing from mainstream conversations.)