They hope to raise enough money to send at least one of their classmates into a public interest job for a year after graduation — in the ballpark of $50,000 — and continue to offer the fellowship to subsequent graduating classes.
Public interest fellowships aren’t uncommon at law schools, although most rely on funding from the school itself or from a private endowment. The students behind Harvard’s new Post-Grad Student Funded Fellowship, 3Ls Sheila Lopez, Julie Ruderman, Alison Welcher and Maura Whelan, said they don’t know of any other public interest fellowship funded only by student donations. Many schools hold auctions or other efforts to raise money for public interest programs, although not specifically for postgraduate fellowships.
