The Notre Dame Law School Program on Church, State & Society continues to offer its summer fellowship opportunity to ND Law 1L and 2L students. Fellowships allow selected ND Law students to spend approximately ten weeks over the summer working for a religiously-affiliated organization in a legal capacity. Students can also spend the summer fellowship working for a law firm that serves a substantial number of religious institutions.
The fellowship is intended primarily for first-year law students, but second-year students may apply as well. Interested students should submit a summary of their intended fellowship (1-2 pages long), describing their interest and relevant experience, a description of their proposed placement organization(s), and resume to Professor Jorge Barrera Rojas (jbarrer2@nd.edu) by January 19th, 2024. Emails should be titled 2024 Summer Fellowship Application.
Past placements have included: the General Counsel’s office at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C., the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Legal Services, Catholic Charities Legal Assistance in Chicago, Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, Catholic University of America’s Office of General Counsel in Washington, D.C., the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Archdiocese of Detroit, Immaculata Law Firm, and Wagenmaker & Oberly in Chicago.
Students are encouraged to create their own fellowships, and placements are not limited to Catholic institutions. Students may contact organizations about possible placement accommodations. However, students should *not* contact the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or the Archdiocese of Chicago about placement, as the Program already has professional contacts at those organizations. Students should also *not* contact law firms before vetting the firm with the Program on Church, State & Society.
Summer Fellowship stipends range from $6,000-$8,000 over ten weeks. It is expected that organizations hosting students provide (1) a mentor for the student, (2) full-time legal work and research over ten weeks, (3) work space and basic technology such as computer/phone.
Read more about our past summer fellows here:
Program on Church, State & Society names 2023 summer fellows
Program on Church, State and Society names 2022 summer fellows
Program on Church, State & Society 2021 fellows share summer experiences