The Cherie T. Millage Summer Fellowship Program

The Dickinson Public Interest Law Fund established the Summer Fellowship program in 1991. The Fellowship Program is named in memory of the late director of Dickinson Law career services, Cherie T. Millage, who was highly supportive of PILF's goals in promoting public interest law.

PILF typically sponsors three to four fellowships each summer, commensurate with the funds raised during the school year by PILF. Fellowships are awarded based on merit to students who obtain nonpaying summer work in public interest law. Public interest employers include governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and private firms engaged in public interest practice. Recipients are expected to complete at least 400 hours of work with a qualifying organization during the summer. The Millage Fellowships fund individual students for ten weeks of full-time summer work at a competitive rate.

>> Application for the 2006 Fellowship is coming soon!

Application Process
Fellowships are granted by a student-faculty review panel on the basis of proposal writing competition that is open to all 1Ls and 2Ls. The Fellowships cover many areas of public interest law and are often awarded to students practicing outside of Pennsylvania.

PILF receives applications for the Cherie T. Millage Fellowships beginning early in the spring semester. Any student who is interested in applying for a fellowship must first obtain a non-paying job in public interest law. The law school's Career Services Office is a recommended starting point for researching possible opportunities. In conjunction with The Miller Center for Public Interest Advocacy, the Career Services Office offers reference materials on national and local public interest law jobs, as well as electronic databases and online services for job research. See PILF Resources for further reference.

The Fellowship Experience
Read what recent Millage Fellowship recipients have to say about their summer experiences in the Dickinson Lawyer:

Elizabeth Johnson '04 writes about her summer in Native American tribal courts. "I felt like Lewis and Clark as I crossed the Missouri River and drove through South Dakota to the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation...
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Emily Atwood '03 recounts her legislation and public policy work at the Children's Defense Fund. "During the weeks leading to the Senate Finance Committee's hearing, I represented my division at several heated meetings of advocacy coalitions...
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Recent Summer Fellowship Recipients
2004 - Vincent Avagliano, Joanna Litt, Marci Sideman-Miller.
2003 - Heather Fine, Luke Young, John Doyle, Lauren Sassani.
2002 - Elizabeth Johnson, Laura Mammana, Sean Farrell, Emily Atwood.
2001 - Mary Canoles, Joshua McDowell, Marsha Skoff.

Fellows have worked with numerous public interest organizations, including... ACLU of Pennsylvania - The Workplace Project/Centro de Derechos Laborales - Delaware Volunteer Legal Services - Center for Wildlife Law - Farmworker's Division of Camden Regional Legal Services - Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. - Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts - Homeless Advocacy Project - Legal Services - Trout Unlimited - Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation - Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley (Domestic Abuse Support Services) - Children's Defense Fund - AIDS Council of Chicago - Friends of Farmworkers