Fall 2026 Post-Graduate Fellowship Sponsorship (Skadden and Equal Justice Works (EJW))

About NYLAG

Founded in 1990, NYLAG is a leading civil legal services organization combatting economic, racial, and social injustice by advocating for people experiencing poverty or in crisis. Our services include comprehensive, free civil legal services, financial empowerment, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community partnerships. NYLAG exists because wealth should not determine who has access to justice. We aim to disrupt systemic racism by serving individuals and families whose legal and financial crises are often rooted in racial inequality. NYLAG goes to where the need is, providing services in more than 150 community sites (e.g. courts, hospitals, libraries) and on our Mobile Legal Help Center. NYLAG’s staff of 400 impacted the lives of 129,000 people last year.

Job Description:

New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) seeks to sponsor third-year law students, judicial law clerks, and recent law graduates for Skadden and Equal Justice Works public interest law fellowships starting in Fall of 2026. NYLAG works closely with applicants who we sponsor to develop a proposal once selected and has an excellent track record of successful applicant sponsorship in various areas of civil legal services law.

We will consider projects that fulfill NYLAG’s mission and are particularly interested in fellowship projects that explicitly seek to dismantle or mitigate obstacles to overcoming poverty and crisis and impede access to justice for communities who experience disparate outcomes and increased vulnerability.

Successful projects will expand the number of individuals impacted by our services, and will propose new models of service that center NYC communities in the design and implementation of the project, advance equity, deepen the breadth of services we provide, identify opportunities for inter-agency collaboration to comprehensively respond to client needs, and/or leverage impact litigation to break down and systemic barriers and inequities. These legal interventions should include substantive legal areas such as:disability advocacy; domestic violence; elder justice; employment; public benefits; special education; LGBTQ law, health; shelter advocacy; consumer protections; housing; immigration; and veterans’ rights.

Each project should include some combination of direct client services, community education, advocacy, pro bono involvement, and/or impact litigation. Projects involving community outreach, education, and engagement may want to leverage NYLAG’s Mobile Legal Help Center (MLHC), through our Community Access Project Unit. Projects may want to consider how technology and/or innovative engagement models may expand access to justice.

Examples of prior successful post-graduate fellowship projects that NYLAG has hosted:

• Partnering with communities to provide direct representation services and join in advocacy efforts for middle and high school aged students with Dyslexia, to ensure access to evidence-based reading instruction.
• Integrating employment law and discrimination claims within the LGBTQ Law Unit’s work, through collaborative efforts with NYLAG’s Employment Law Project and Pro Bono Volunteers.
• Representing medically fragile children in New York City in appeals of adverse Medicaid determinations and wrongful denials of medically necessary care, to ensure that medically fragile children can remain at home.

Application Process for NYLAG Sponsorship

Prior to submitting an application for sponsorship to NYLAG, those considering applying for fellowship sponsorship should reach out directly to staff in the NYLAG Unit in which the project would be housed to preliminarily discuss the viability of any potential project. If your project will involve multiple Units, please be sure to connect with leadership from both.

To be connected with someone at NYLAG, you may email: fellowships@nylag.org, or visit our website at www.nylag.org to identify the appropriate Unit director. NYLAG staff will actively work with the selected candidates to more fully develop the fellowship proposal for submission.

Applications must be submitted by June 9, 2025. Applications must include a cover letter describing your proposed fellowship project and a copy of your resume. Please discuss in your cover letter the project you want to develop and the unit(s) or project(s) in which your fellowship project will be housed. We will ask for writing samples and references before interviewing.

You may use the following email address for any questions: fellowships@nylag.org

Qualifications:

Applicants must be rising third-year law students or recent law school graduates eligible for the fellowship programs for which they seek NYLAG sponsorship. Please consult the fellowship program websites for information on eligibility, at https://www.skaddenfellowships.org/ and https://www.equaljusticeworks.org/become-a-fellow/.

Applicants must be passionate about the mission of NYLAG, and dedicated to advancing social, racial, and economic justice through legal interventions and advocacy.

NYLAG’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

NYLAG is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, and those with lived experiences in the communities we serve are strongly encouraged to apply.

Employment type:

☒ Full-time

Professional Level:

☒ Professional

Salary: NYLAG is a unionized workplace, and salaries are set pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. The current salary range for this position is between $77,079- $80,002.

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, life insurance, long term disability, commuter benefits, flexible spending accounts (FSA) for Medical and Dependent care.

Application Instructions: Please save resume and cover letter on one pdf.