Internships & Fellowships

The New York City Bar Association is always thinking of ways for law students to get engaged in their career early on. As opportunities arise, we will post them here.

Thurgood Marshall Fellowship Program

The Thurgood Marshall Fellowship Program is designed to honor the legacy of Justice Thurgood Marshall by providing internship experience in public service or civil rights to talented minority law students. Under this program, a Fellow works with the City Bar’s Committee on Civil Rights and the City Bar Justice Center for a year. With the Justice Center, the Fellow will have the opportunity to work on one or more projects serving New York’s needy, and with the Committee on Civil Rights, the Fellow will have a chance to participate in research and policy analysis on a range of civil rights issues.

During the course of the year, the Fellow receives all NYC Bar publications and notifications of events, and has the privileges of Association staff to attend those events. In addition, he/she is invited to participate in a variety of programs sponsored by the City Bar to enhance the Fellowship experience.

C. Bainbridge Smith Scholarship

The C. Bainbridge Smith Scholarship Committee provides scholarships to second and third year NYC law students who have spent a significant portion of their lives in New York City, demonstrate character, intelligence and promising aptitude for the law, and face a special economic disadvantage (including lack of funds, or physical or cultural challenges).

City Bar Diversity Fellowship Program

The New York City Bar Association Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Lawyers (the “Committee”) has been the proud sponsor of the City Bar’s Diversity Fellowship Program (the “Program”) since 1991.

Since then, more than 300 diverse and talented first year law students from eleven New York City area law schools have been given a rare and valuable opportunity: to spend their 1L summer in a law firm, or corporate or government legal department to better prepare them for careers in the law. Our goal is to provide first year law students from underrepresented populations the chance to spend a summer in one of New York’s most exciting legal environments.

The selection criteria for Program Fellows are demanding. As a result, we identify students who have proven themselves, even as 1Ls, capable of flourishing in the challenging settings that are today’s government offices, law firms and corporations. After completing a legal writing requirement, preparing a personal statement and being interviewed by a faculty-dominated screening committee at their respective schools, the candidates selected by their schools are then interviewed again by a panel of attorneys and other school representatives under the aegis of the Committee. Like the preliminary process at their schools, this interviewing panel also reviews the candidate’s undergraduate and law school transcripts, resume, personal statement and legal writing sample. Only those who pass this final hurtle are assigned to a participating employer.

We invite any legal employer who is interested in learning more about the Program, and how they can join it, to be in touch with the current Chair of the Committee, Steven Seltzer at sseltzer@metlife.com. Mr. Seltzer would also be pleased to send you a fuller description of the Program and its criteria. We encourage all who would like to bring greater diversity and opportunity to the profession to join us. Your participation in this effort will insure that some of the most creative, ambitious and qualified law students in the New York area will be more able to compete and succeed in the legal job market.