The Defender Services Office is pleased to announce its Non-Capital Defender Services Diversity Fellowship Program, 2024 – 2026. The Fellowship Program seeks to enhance the quality of representation provided under the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) by creating a pathway for diverse attorneys to become qualified to join federal defender offices, CJA panels, or federal capital trial teams. As an employee of the host office, fellows will receive mentoring and training, have the opportunity to interact with other fellows, and have the opportunity for increasing responsibility and eventual control over their own federal criminal caseload.
Designed for graduating law students and attorneys early in their careers, the non-capital program will place 12 fellows in different FDO host offices around the country for two-year terms during which fellows will gain federal criminal defense training and experience in providing representation in non-capital CJA cases. Each class will have opportunities for joint training, mentorship, and other group activities. Non-capital fellows are employees of federal defender organizations, which are either community defender organizations (CDOs) or federal public defender organizations (FPDOs) and will receive a salary and benefits package comparable to other post-graduate, public interest legal training programs. The salary range for non-capital fellows will be the Judiciary Salary Plan (JSP) Grade 11 – 13, depending on experience, which is comparable to the federal General Schedule (GS) pay scale. The salary will also reflect locality adjustments.
Placement: Successful applicants will be placed in one of the following twelve Federal Defender Organizations:
District of Alaska (FPDO)
Southern District of California (CDO)
Districts of Colorado and Wyoming (FPDO)
District of Kansas (FPDO)
Eastern District of Missouri (FPDO)
Districts of Northern and Southern Mississippi (FPDO)
Eastern District of North Carolina (FPDO)
District of New Jersey (FPDO)
Northern District of Ohio (FPDO)
Middle District of Pennsylvania (FPDO)
Districts of North Dakota and South Dakota (FPDO)
Western District of Washington (FPDO)
Duration: The fellowship is for a period of two years. Fellowship awards will be made by the end of April 2024 and the position begins in September 2024.
Eligible applicants: 3L and 4L students graduating this school year (2023-2024) and recent law school graduates. Successful candidates must be barred, eligible to practice (pro hac vice) or must take the bar in the relevant jurisdiction within the first year of fellowship.
Application deadline: December 11, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET
Complete the online application at https://diversityfellowship.fd.org/. The application consists of:
Applicant information
Curriculum Vitae (CV) information
Three (3) references
Short essay question responses
Location preference(s)
Certification
Please allow sufficient time to complete the application – partially completed applications cannot be saved.