TL;DR: If you have any ideas for what motivated law students could work on this summer, please let us know on this form. And please distribute this as widely as possible!
Law students across the country are eager to work on pressing problems created or highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, many organizations and legal practitioners on the front lines of the crisis need assistance urgently, but may not be in a position to take on summer fellows. Through The COVID-19 Rapid Response/Systems Summer Institute, we are committed to bridging the gap between those students and those organizations. Having received hundreds of fellowship applications from students in the last few days, we are now seeking project partner organizations and lawyers in need of assistance. Here is some basic information about our program.
Fellows will work individually or on teams on a variety of project types, including:
- Direct client work (e.g., law-related work, such as staffing a helpline or assisting individuals with unemployment insurance forms)
- Legal research/writing
- Advocacy efforts
We hope that many of our project partners will be able to work closely with our fellows, providing initial instruction and some amount of supervision, feedback, and mentorship as the projects evolve. We understand that some partner organizations will be unable to engage on all of those levels, so we will have structures to supplement as needed: please don’t let limited supervision capacity prevent you from reaching out to us. Although the pandemic is a driving force behind this effort, the projects themselves need not be virus-related.
If you have a specific project to propose, please submit it on this form.
If you are uncertain about whether your potential project would be a good fit or is adequately developed, please send us a line here. We are eager to hear even vague ideas and to workshop them with you.
Please email jlipton@law.harvard.edu and molly@peoplesparity.org with any questions.
On this Tuesday (05/05) at 12:00 pm ET, we are hosting a Zoom webinar to describe the program in more detail and to answer questions from interested lawyers/organizations. You can join the webinar at this link. The video from the webinar will also be made available for those who cannot join.
If you are a lawyer potentially interested in volunteering any amount of time to provide supervision and mentorship, please let us know here. We will work with you to find opportunities that match your availability and any conflicts concerns.
Regardless, we ask that you please distribute this as broadly as possible within your networks, to help us connect as many law students wanting to help with as many organizations in need of help as possible.
Thank you!
The COVID-19 Rapid Response/Systems Summer Institute Organizing Committee