Pitt Law provides a range of academic and legal fellowships designed to support students during their law school studies. These fellowships are awarded based on merit and can include financial assistance, internships, and externships.
To be considered for these fellowships, students must submit an application outlining their qualifications, achievements, and goals.
Fellowship Opportunities
First Amendment Law has a long history of importance to the academic legal community and all citizens of this country. This Fellowship was created to provide funding for a JD student with a special interest in and demonstrated talent for analysis of legal and public policy issues concerning First Amendment Law. The fellowship appointment is for one year with an award of $10,000. After reviewing the application and the required supporting documents, a committee will select the fellow. All rising second and third-year students are eligible to apply. The deadline for the David and Carl Janavitz Fellowship application is April 1.
This fellowship offers tuition support to a first-year law student from an underrepresented group. The support is renewable for up to two years based on academic merit. Additionally, the Fund provides recipients with a paid summer associate position at Dentons Cohen & Grigsby during the student's first summer of law school. There is also an opportunity for the student to return for a second summer. Financial support will be awarded to one student in the academic year 2023-2024 and another in the academic year 2024-2025. All accepted students are encouraged to apply for this fellowship.
K&L Gates LLP and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law have established the K&L Gates Diversity Fellowship. The Fellowship provides a full-tuition scholarship for all three years of law school to an entering student at Pitt Law. In addition, the student will receive a paid summer associate position at K&L Gates in their first summer of law school, with the opportunity to return for a second summer. This Fellowship is the first partnership of its kind in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania between a law firm and a law school and one of only a few such partnerships in the country.
If you apply to Pitt Law, you will be invited to apply for the Fellowship upon admission. However, priority consideration for the Fellowship will be given to those applicants who submit a response to Question 3 under Section 12 ("Optional Information") of the Pitt Law application.
The John P. Gismondi Fund is dedicated to providing summer employment opportunities to law students at Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) or other public interest non-profit organizations. John P. Gismondi generously donated $225,000 to the Foundation to finance the program.
Under this program, the Gismondi Fund will sponsor four Summer Fellowship positions for students who have completed their second year of law school and are certified to represent clients per the court rules of Allegheny County. The fellowship will enable students to gain valuable real-world experience by working on legal matters at public service organizations.
The Samuelson/Glushko Fellowship awards a $2,500 stipend to Semester in D.C. Program students who take up externships in intellectual property and technology law. This fellowship is made possible by a generous contribution from Professor Pamela Samuelson of the University of California-Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law and her husband, Dr. Robert J. Glushko, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.
To apply for the Samuelson/Glushko Fellowship, you must first obtain an intellectual property or technology law externship that meets the Semester in D.C. Program requirements and has been approved by Professor Baylis. Then, complete the Samuelson/Glushko Fellowship application (PDF) and submit it to pittindc@pitt.edu. The deadline to apply is November 30.
