The Abby Lyn Gillette Fellowship within the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center supports one rising 2L or 3L student spending their summer focused on promoting or improving women’s rights. The Gillette Fellowship was established in honor of the late Abby Lyn Gillette, former Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at NYU School of Law from 2000 to 2008, by her husband, Professor Clayton Gillette, and their son Alex, in honor of her commitment to advancing women’s leadership in the legal profession. This fellowship award is in lieu of a regular PILC Summer Funding grant.
Applications for the 2026 Abby Lyn Gillette Fellowship will be considered through Sunday, April 5, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET, and the recipient will be notified in April. To apply, interested rising 2L and 3L students are asked to submit the following materials to womensleadership@nyu.edu with the subject line “Abby Lyn Gillette Fellowship”: 1) resume, 2) unofficial transcript, and 3) short personal statement (of no more than 500 words). The personal statement should describe your interest in and contributions toward women’s rights, broadly defined, in and outside of law school thus far; identify the firm or organization where you will be working over summer 2026; and describe how your work will improve or promote women’s rights.
Learn more about current and previous Abby Lyn Gillette Fellows!
Reach out to the Birnbaum Center with any questions about the Gillette Fellowship.