Job’o’th’Week (Fellowship Edition)
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Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship
The Organization
Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services, Inc.. is the principal funder and oversight agency for organizations that provide legal assistance to low income residents of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Legal Services system is a community of legal services provider organizations committed to the aspirational goal that: Every resident in the state will have access to the full range of legal services and legal remedies regardless of where they are in the state.
The Position
Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, Inc. is currently seeking applicants for a Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellowship that will be located at Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services beginning in September 2018.
About Our Fellowship Program
In 2003, an evaluation of the Martin Luther King Jr., Summer Internship Program revealed that, while the internship experience had been a very positive one for Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Inc. (PLAN) interns, clients and programs, the goal to enhance cultural and ethnic diversity within the programs was not being realized.
In response, PLAN Inc. created the Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellowship Program in 2004. In partnership with a sponsoring regional or specialty program, law school graduates and attorneys who are new to practice are hired as full time staff attorneys for a two-year fellowship.
Fellows are assigned mentors and supervised by experienced attorneys. Salary and benefits are determined by the host program. In addition, loan repayment assistance (LRA), up to $5,500, is available per fellowship year. Fellows are required to apply for LRA through the PA Bar Foundation IOLTA LRA Program, their law school, and/or the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in order to receive PLAN Inc. LRA. The 2018-19 IOLTA-PA Bar Foundation Program application is expected to open in early September 2018. This fellowship is intended to support and promote new lawyers who are interested in long term public interest careers.