Scholarships & Summer Funding
The Public Interest and Public Service Law Center
GW Law's Public Interest and Public Service Law Center accumulates several summer funding resources each year. Please visit their Funding Your Public Interest Career page for more information.
Funding Your Public Interest Career
Squire Patton Boggs Fellowships
For the past 20 years, the law firm Squire Patton Boggs, though its charitable foundation, has provided five fellowship opportunities for public interest students at GW Law and other law schools. All grants will be in the amount of $5,000. If a rising 3L receives a grant, GW will add $1,000 for a total award of $6,000.
The application cycle for these fellowships typically opens in December and ends in late-January.
- Joe Brand "Human Rights First" Fellowship
This fellowship is offered exclusively to GW Law students and is named after Joe Brand, a GW Law alumnus.
- Sustained Impact Racial Justice Fellowships
There are three organizations that students can apply for through this fellowship program. They are:
- The Lone Star Justice Alliance in Dallas/Austin doing juvenile justice work in minority communities
- The Cincinnati Citizen Complaint Authority doing police-minority community relations work
- The Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, DC
The Law School will nominate only one student for all three placements, and GW law students will compete with applicants from other law schools.
- Veterans Justice Fellowship "Swords to Plowshares"
This fellowship is with Swords to Plowshares in San Francisco, addressing justice for veterans. GW law students will compete with nominees from other law schools for this position.
Swords to Plowshares - Veterans Justice Fellowship Application
Summer Funding Overview
Each year, the Law School distributes grants to students working in public interest positions over the summer through the Public Interest Grant Program. The grants are distributed in the amount of $5,000 for those who have completed their first year of law school, or $6,000 for upper-level students.
The application cycle for these grants begins in January, with the deadline being within the first week of April. During the month of January, the Public Interest Director and Program Manager host a summer funding info session to go over all the application details and instructions. You can view the recording of the 2025 info session (you must be logged into your @law.gwu.edu email to access it) and find more information on GW Law's Summer Funding page.
2025 Public Interest Grant Program Application
Equal Justice Foundation (EJF)
This student-run organization raises money and awards stipends to students working in unpaid public interest internships. To be eligible for a stipend, students must volunteer at least 15 hours with EJF. Email [email protected] for more information about volunteer opportunities.
Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund (KACIF)
This highly competitive program provides grants ranging from $750 to $3,000 to GW undergraduate and graduate students pursuing internships that are necessarily unpaid. Necessarily unpaid internships are typically those with non-profit, governmental, educational and non-governmental organizations that genuinely lack the financial resources to pay salaries or wages to their interns. In order to maximize the number of students who receive funding, grants for internships in the District of Columbia and other U.S. domestic locations typically range from $750 to $1,500, while grants for international internships typically range from $2,000 to $3,000. KACIF also awards travel grants of up to $300 to cover the costs of using public transportation to and from an unpaid internship.
Spring Application Period
- Applications open on November 1 and close on November 15
- Application decisions will be sent via email the third week of December
Summer Application Period
- Applications open on April 1 and close on April 30
- Application decisions will be sent via email the third week of May
Fall Application Period
- Applications open on July 15 and close on August 1
- Application decisions will be sent via email the third week of August
KACIF Information and Application
Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) Foundation
The FCBA Foundation is now accepting applications for its Law School Summer Internship Stipend Program and its Law School Scholarship Program.
- The FCBA Foundation Law School Summer Internship Stipend
For the 32nd consecutive year, the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) Foundation will award stipends to outstanding law students employed as unpaid summer interns, through the FCBA Foundation’s Law School Summer Internship Stipend Program.
The FCBA Foundation is actively looking to help students from around the country who want to dedicate their time and talent over the summer to government service in areas related to telecommunications, media, and technology (TMT) law, including broadcasting, cable, information technology, television, telephony, satellite, wireless, internet law and policy, privacy, cybersecurity, copyright, emerging technologies, and related policy and legal issues.
How much are the stipends? The program provides stipends of up to $10,000. The Foundation considers funding from other sources in making award decisions and generally will adjust its stipend awards so that a recipient’s total funding for the internship will not exceed $12,000.
Where can recipients work? Over the years, stipends have been used by students to support work in diverse federal, state, and local government agencies with a connection to the TMT sector. Examples of agencies where recipients can work include the FCC, FTC, NTIA, DOJ, DHS, NIST, and others. Students can also work in Congress and in relevant parts of state and local government.
Where does the money come from? The Law School Summer Internship Stipend Program awards stipends from its General Fund as well as other targeted stipends, and last year provided support to six outstanding law students. FCBA individual and corporate members donate money to the FCBA Foundation to support these stipends.
Are there limitations on use of the funds? Stipend recipients may be selected before they have finalized their summer plans, so the FCBA Foundation requires recipients to confirm in writing that they have accepted an unpaid internship at an eligible agency or government office. Minimum requirements for internship duration and time commitment also apply.
How to apply: The application for the stipend will be available online from Monday, February 3, until Monday, March 3, 2025. The application and deadlines can be accessed at: https://webportalapp.com/sp/
login/fcbastipend .Questions: If you have any questions about the Foundation Law School Summer Internship Stipend program or application, please contact Stephanie Budaker by email at [email protected].
- The FCBA Foundation Law School Scholarship
The FCBA Foundation Law School Scholarship Program provides financial assistance to rising second or third-year students currently enrolled in accredited law schools in the United States who have a demonstrated interest in pursuing a career in TMT law. The scholarships range from $2,000 to $5,000 each and will be payable to the applicable law school in one lump sum to help cover the student’s tuition and other education-related expenses in the 2024-2025 academic year. Awards will be determined by a number of factors, including financial need and merit.
The application for the scholarship is now available and can be accessed at https://webportalapp.com/sp/
login/fcbalawscholarship . The deadline for submitting applications is Monday, March 3, 2025. The Foundation plans to notify successful applicants regarding their scholarship awards around mid-May.If you have any questions about the Foundation Law School Scholarship program or application, please contact Stephanie Budaker by email at [email protected].
Additional Scholarship Opportunities
All additional scholarship opportunities are posted in the Job Listings section of CORE. These include scholarships sponsored by law firms, bar associations, professional organizations, and more. To view current scholarship opportunities, go to the "Job Listings" section of CORE, and change the "Type of Job" filter to "Scholarship."