Public Interest Fellowship
Each year the SLS grants 2-3 Fellowships to students who are pursuing public interest summer employment. Learn more below!
What is a Fellowship?
Each year, the SLS sponsors two first or second year UofT Law students to work in a public interest legal job. Applicants choose a public interest organization in Toronto where they would like work, and obtain that organization’s support.
The SLS and the Fellowship Selection Committee operate in accordance with By-law 9 - Public Interest Fellowship.
How Can Students Apply?
After finding an organization that will participate in the fellowship, students must submit a resume, cover letter and proposal through the Career Development Office’s Law School Summer Employment Program.
The proposal should include:
a description of the organization
the project on which the student will be working
whether the student has volunteered or is volunteering for this organization
the legal aspects of the project
Students must also submit proof the organization supports the student’s proposal. For example:
a supervisor at the organization can sign the proposal
a supervisor at the organization can submit a letter attesting their support
NOTE: Financial need is not a consideration for the Student Law Society Public Interest Advocacy Summer Fellowship.
Please see the Law School Student Employment Program Guide for Summer 2022 on UTLC for additional details.
Deadline and Selection
Applications, including a resume, cover letter, (no transcripts) and proposal, should be submitted to the Career Development Office. The deadline is the one established by the Career Development Office for its Unified Application Process, as promoted on the CDO’s website and by email throughout the year. The selection committee includes two third-year Students’ Law Society executives and the Director of Career Development. Please contact the SLS President or the Director of Career Development if you have any questions.
Rate of Pay
Each fellowship will be worth at least $8,000, subject to potential increases with the duration of the proposed fellowship and availability of funds.
Sample Past Projects Funded by the Public Interest Fellowship
Recipient: Jack Saunders, Summer 2020
This project centred around work with the Conference Board of Canada regarding policy proposal for the next generation of nuclear reactors. Nuclear power has to potential to be a cleaner, safer and less intermittent form of renewable energy then other alternatives, such as wind and solar.
These policy proposal will be directed at Federal and Provincial policy makers, and other stakeholders. There are plenty of environmental legislation and regulatory issues that have to be addressed in switching to clean energy. Furthermore, the large amount of land that may be disturbed by both building new reactors and expanding the supply chain for radioactive materials used as fuel intersect with legal issues surrounding indigenous land claims. Finally, the general switch to green energy relates to international obligations Canada has signed onto, such as the Paris Agreement.
Recipient: Vanessa Colton, Summer 2020
This summer, thanks to the SLS Fellowship, Vanessa worked with the Structural Genomics Consortium. SGC is a not-for-profit organization that works to discover the structures of proteins that are relevant to human diseases. The organization hopes to catalyze drug discovery by publishing results openly. Currently, there is an issue regarding the binding of antibodies in scientific research, resulting in wasted resources and publications with invalid results. SGC plans to launch a new initiative that would act as a standard to organize the quality of research antibodies. In order to do this, they must use CRISPR-Cas9, a DNA editing tool. CRISPR technology is currently subject to a wide range of patent applications from multiple entities. As a summer fellow, Vanessa’s primary responsibility was to conduct the legal research regarding CRISPR, and write a case study and critique on the early stages of patenting on these foundational academic discoveries.