The Access to Justice Tech Fellows is a 10-week fully funded experiential learning program that places law students at legal services organization to develop innovative solutions that leverage technology, data, and design to expand access to legal services and improve our civil justice.

Our civil justice system is facing a crisis.

Millions of Americans cannot afford the legal help they need when facing life-changing situations. They’re left to navigate these complex legal situations on their own—and they risk losing their families, homes, and livelihoods in the process.

In the face of this crisis, leaders in the civil legal aid sector are responding creatively to expand their ability to serve more people. They are designing and implementing thoughtful and innovative solutions to improve service delivery. Law students must meaningfully engage in this growing movement in order to accelerate the pace of future innovations in addressing the unmet legal services need for low income people. 

The prestige of acquiring a juris doctor (JD) can no longer overshadow bleak job prospects, heavy debt loads, and the deficit in practice-ready skills that many law grads have when entering the profession.

Meanwhile, the legal profession will continue to undergo unprecedented structural and technological changes.

Therefore, law schools must respond to these changes by equipping future lawyers with the skills and competencies to be competitive in the legal market and address our nation's staggering access to justice gap. These skills include the ability to harness technology solutions, emotional intelligence, project management, legal innovation and entrepreneurship, and modern business methods.

Fellows will spend their summer working on a variety of innovative initiatives and projects at one of our host legal services organizations during the summer.