New program will pay some law school admittees to defer studies and work in public interest
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Weil, Gotshal & Manges recently announced a program that funds yearlong public interest positions for individuals admitted to a handful of prestigious law schools who are willing to put off their studies for one year.
The Weil Legal Innovators Program will fund the public interest work of 10 prelaw students, Bloomberg Law reports, at 20 preselected organizations. Individuals accepted to law school at Columbia University, Duke University, Georgetown University, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania are eligible to apply for the program, which for the first year will run from July 2020 to July 2021.
Applications open Nov. 15, according to the law firm’s website, and the deadline to apply is Feb. 28, 2020. Those accepted will receive a $50,000 annual salary, health benefits and a $10,000 law school scholarship. Nonprofits hosting the participants get $40,000. If applicants want to work at an organization that is not one of the 20 listed, the law firm will consider other groups on a limited basis.
Also, participants are eligible for Weil Gotshal’s summer associate program; however, Barry M. Wolf, the law firm’s executive partner who chairs its management committee, told Bloomberg that there’s no expectation that participants must join the law firm after graduation.
