Swearer Center for Public Service
Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship
The Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship at Brown University offers 4 undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in public interest law projects for a summer. Broadly defined, public interest law includes helping those often lacking resources to retain attorneys, engaging in a variety of advocacy work and participating in shaping public policy.
Structure
Students selected as Liman Fellows secure their own placement, with support available from the Swearer Center and Brown Center for Career Exploration. Summer Fellows have worked on issues such as immigrants’ rights, workers’ rights, prison conditions, educational equity, juvenile justice, and marriage equality. Placements can include non-profit organizations providing civil or criminal legal services to individuals, institutions representing particular groups, entities focused on problems of legal and public policy, and law-related media. The fellowship does not provide funding for students to work in for-profit, federal government, law firms, or even those that engage in pro bono work
See a list of suggested resources for identifying opportunities.
- In general, the Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship program supports work in the United States. On rare occasions, work that has both an international and domestic focus has been supported. On occasion, work with federal, state, or local government, which is targeted at particularly needy populations, has been supported.
- The organization and internship opportunity must meet the criteria of our program (Internship over 8-10 weeks, unpaid or low-paid that meets SPRINT summer funding requirements, public interest work with a non-profit organization), and you must confirm your placement if you are accepted into the Liman Fellowship program. Placements are expected to provide a substantial opportunity that should be a student’s primary summer experience.
- Incoming fellows are expected to attend the annual Liman Public Interest Colloquium at Yale Law School, held each spring (usually March or April) in New Haven, CT. Students’ travel from Providence and lodging for the Liman Colloquium are arranged with the Swearer Center, and the program covers these expenses.
- Fellows are required to submit a written reflection about the iProv experience. This reflection is due no later than September 1, following the completion of their summer internship experience.
- Comply with all SPRINT Fellowships: Principles and Expectations.
The Liman Fellowship may satisfy the practicum requirement for students participating in the Engaged Scholarship Certificate.
Eligibility
Only undergraduates who will be enrolled during the spring and fall semesters following the summer iProv Fellowship experience are eligible. This includes all students regardless of citizenship and current location of study. Students on a leave of absence from Brown, either in the semester they are applying for or in the period when they would receive the funding, are not eligible.
Since the funding for fellowships is finite, students who previously received a SPRINT award remain eligible to apply for SPRINT Fellowships. Students who have not previously received SPRINT summer awards will be given priority.
Funding
The base stipend for domestic SPRINT Awards is $2,500. In addition, students with Brown financial aid will automatically receive an additional Gap Award ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 based on their Parent Contribution/Responsibility as determined by the Office of Financial Aid, for a total award of $4,500 - $5,500.
Apply
The Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship application opens every December in UFunds.
Contact
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Joshua Rodriguez
Associate Director, Co-Curricular Learning
About the Fellowship
The Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship at Brown is managed by the Swearer Center in partnership with The Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law School. The program is named in honor of Arthur Liman, a 1957 Yale Law graduate. Through his distinguished career, he demonstrated how dedicated lawyers in private practice and public life can serve the needs of people and causes that might otherwise go unrepresented.