Yale Law School Gruber Fellowship at the Center for Reproductive Rights

12.12.11 - Yale Law School Gruber Fellowship at the Center for Reproductive Rights

Posted On: Monday, December 12, 2011

Background: The Yale Law School is pleased to announce an international legal fellowship opportunity at the Center for Reproductive Rights (Center).  This fellowship is open to graduating YLS students and recent alumni who are interested in careers in women’s rights in the United States or around the world. It is funded through support from the Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women’s Rights at Yale Law School.

The Center is a 501(c)3 organization that uses constitutional, comparative and international human rights law to advance women’s access to quality reproductive healthcare.  International legal fellows at the Center work mainly under the supervision of the Deputy Director and a Regional Director (Africa, Asia, Europe, or Latin America) or International Advocacy Director (global initiatives) supporting the Center’s international human rights litigation and advocacy strategies by developing factual records and drafting legal memoranda, pleadings and amicus briefs; drafting submissions to UN, regional and national human rights bodies and preparing materials for major UN conferences; and researching and drafting human rights fact-finding reports.

An international legal fellow placement with a particular supervisor depends on the current cases being litigated and the international advocacy initiatives being implemented.  Placements take into consideration a fellow’s interest in a particular region, experience working on specific issues, and fluency in other languages that are required to conduct the work. 

Candidates should contact Lilian Sepúlveda, Deputy Director of the International Legal Program at the Center, to discuss possible opportunities.  In order to arrange a phone discussion, please send your CV and a short description of your areas of interest to LSepulveda@reprorights.org by Wednesday, January 18, 2012.

Terms of the Fellowship

The fellow will spend one year working with the Center, beginning in the summer or fall of 2012 through summer 2013.
While at the Center, fellows will receive a stipend of $44,000 as well as a contribution towards health insurance.
After the completion of the fellowship, fellows will be asked to submit a report describing their fellowship experience. Fellows will also be asked to advise future students who are interested in fellowships or are contemplating careers in women’s rights.

Selection Criteria

Applications are invited from Yale Law School students and alumni, including JD and LLM students in their final year, JSD candidates, and recent graduates.

Applications should include:

1)    A proposed plan for the fellowship year (no more than 500 words) – Candidates will develop the plan with support from CRR staff once the candidate and the Deputy Director have agreed on priority projects. (In order to ensure sufficient time to develop a plan, please contact Deputy Director Sepúlveda by January 18, 2012.)

2)    A short statement (no more than 500 words) describing the applicant’s experiences with and commitment to global justice or women’s rights, aspirations for future work in these areas, and the ways in which the Gruber Fellowship will help achieve the applicant’s aspirations.

3)    Three letters of recommendation. For current students, at least two recommenders must be Yale faculty; alumni must include at least one Yale faculty recommender and at least one letter of recommendation from a current or former employer.  Recommenders should submit letters directly;

4)     A law-school transcript and, where relevant, the transcript of any other postgraduate degree program; and

5)    A curriculum vitae.

The application deadline is January 30, 2012.   Decisions will be made by late March.

Submit application materials to: YLSGruberFellowships@yale.edu. For further information, please contact Megan.Barnett@yale.edu.

For more information about the Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women’s Rights, please see http://www.law.yale.edu/intellectuallife/gruberprogram.htm.

For more information about the Center, please see http://reproductiverights.org/en/about-us.