What is the Student Public Interest Award?
The Public Interest Fund supports summer fellowships for Texas Tech University Law School students who are interested in working in public interest law. Interested 1L and 2L students must first acquire an internship or position on their own and then apply for an award for this summer.
What qualifies as public interest work?
Public interest law includes working for individuals, groups, and social interests that are traditionally underserved or have barriers to equal access to justice.
It encompasses both policy and direct representation legal work. It may include non-profit organizations, prosecutor or public defender offices, military judge advocates general, judicial clerkships, and governmental offices that directly serve individuals with challenges to access to justice. The work must be primarily legal in nature and supervised by a licensed attorney.
How does the application process work?
Being a recipient of a Student Public Interest Award is competitive. The Public Interest Award Committee selects the recipients in mid to late April. Applications are scored based on students' commitment to public interest, as demonstrated by a personal statement detailing how they've advanced the public interest in law school and beyond; financial need; and how greatly the type of internship they've acquired serves the public interest.
The application deadline for summer 2024 is Friday, April 12, 2024.
For more information and to apply, please go to:
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/law/studentlife/public-interest-award.php
