The Gideon’s Promise Law School Partnership Project (LSPP) is inviting applications for its class of 2027 fellows. LSPP is a 3-year fellowship that provides recent law school graduates committed to a career in public defense with continuing legal education training and guaranteed permanent employment in a partner public defender office upon program completion. For information on Gideon’s Promise and the LSPP, see: https://www.gideonspromise.org/law-school-partnership-program/.
NYU Law will nominate one 3L to apply for the Gideon’s Promise Fellowship to work at one of the participating public defender offices. If the candidate is selected for the fellowship, NYU will pay a modest stipend (but no health benefits) for the first year, after which time, the fellow will be guaranteed a full-time, paid job with the public defender office. The fellow must commit to working in the office for three years, and Gideon’s Promise will provide support and training throughout this time.
Last year’s participating offices were:
• Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy (Frankfort, KY)
• Orleans Public Defenders (New Orleans, LA)
• Albany County Public Defender’s Office (Albany, NY)
• Metropolitan Public Defender Office (Portland, OR)
• Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office (Knoxville, TN)
• East Baton Rouge Parish Office of the Public Defender (Baton Rouge, LA)
• Harris County Public Defender’s Office (Houston, TX)
• Steuben County Public Defender’s Office (Bath, NY)
• Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office (Tulsa, OK)
Other offices that have participated include:
• 4th Judicial Circuit (Jacksonville, FL)
• Jefferson County Public Defender Office (Birmingham, AL)
• Office of the Public Defender for Montgomery County (Montgomery, AL)
• Mecklenburg County Public Defender (Charlotte, NC)
• Elkhorn Public Defender Offices (Oregon)
• Luzerne County Public Defender (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
• Richland County Public Defender (Columbia, SC)
• Shelby County Public Defender (Memphis, TN)
• Nashville Defenders (Nashville, TN)
• Fredericksburg Public Defender’s Office (Fredericksburg, VA)
• Hampton Office of the Public Defender (Hampton, VA)
• Lynchburg Public Defender’s Office (VIDC) (Lynchburg, VA)
*When this year’s participating offices are available, you will be able to find the list online at the link above.
If you would like to apply for the fellowship, please send a resume and statement of interest as a single PDF document to emily.kernan@nyu.edu by Wednesday, September 2, at 5:00pm. The subject line of your email should be “Gideon’s Promise Fellowship Application.” In the body of your email, please rank your top five offices from the list above, even though all may not be available.
All of the applications received by the deadline will be forwarded to a Faculty Selection Committee, which will conduct interviews and select one student to apply for the fellowship. The selected student will be notified on or by September 18 and must submit a separate application to Gideon’s Promise by October 2. Please note: The Gideon’s Promise application requires responses to essay questions (available on the website) and two letters of recommendation.
Your commitment to working in one of these underfunded offices will be an important factor in the decision-making process, so please be sure to address this in your statement of interest.