Vanderbilt offers substantial financial support for students pursuing public interest work during and after law school. Summer stipends are available to help defray the living expenses of students pursuing summer pro bono work at nonprofit and government agencies. First-year students may apply for Garrison Social Justice Scholar Awards, which provide students committed to or exploring social justice and public interest careers with summer stipends and scholarship support during their second and third years of law school. Post-graduate fellowships are available through the George Barrett Social Justice Program and the Gideon’s Promise Law School Partnership Program. Vanderbilt Law School also offers a Loan Repayment Assistance Program to graduates practicing in the public interest.
Designed for new lawyers pursuing public interest employment, Public Service Pathways enables new VLS graduates to gain valuable public sector work experience as they continue to pursue permanent employment in a location of their choice. Graduating students secure volunteer legal internships with government agencies, in judicial chambers, with public defenders’ or prosecutors’ offices, or with nonprofit advocacy organizations which are funded by VLS stipends after graduation. The PSP also provides financial assistance for bar preparation and stipend support for up to six months.
The Public Interest Office helps student identify and apply for legal fellowships that support their career interests, and Vanderbilt also funds post-graduate public interest fellowships through its academic programs and through Gideon’s Promise, which enables students to secure permanent employment as public defenders. Additional fellowship information can be found below:
Public interest law is rewarding, challenging, and meaningful, but it can also be low paying. Many law graduates need to repay student loans, which can provide an additional challenge to taking public service employment upon graduation. To help ease the burden for public interest graduates, Vanderbilt Law offers a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) that pays 100 percent of your annual loan repayment obligation for up to 10 years for students who earn less than $70,000.
"A legal education can be cost prohibitive if you want to do social justice work. Knowing I have financial support for tuition and summers makes it easier to focus on the work I’m doing for my clients and in class and develop my skills in a meaningful way."
Email the Public Interest Office Program Coordinator.
Vanderbilt does not respond to email requests for legal assistance.
Please call 615-322-4964.