Law Students and New Graduate Resources

The Environmental Law Section of the California Lawyers Association is pleased to offer at least 25 tuition scholarships AND five (5) Michael H. Remy Scholarships which include tuition, transportation, and hotel accommodations, courtesy of Remy Moose Manley LLP, for the Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite®. Learn more here.

The California Lawyers Association Family Law Section is offering a scholarship to all law school students in California who are interested in the area of Family Law as their field of practice. The scholarship will help students who are passionate about Family Law to achieve their career goals and make a meaningful impact in this area of law. The scholarship is intended to help defray some of the costs associated with taking the Bar exam. A scholarship of $1,000.00 will be awarded to the first-place winner of an essay contest. The top three entrants will have their essays published in the Family Law News. Learn more here.

The Labor and Employment Law Section of the California Lawyers Association, and the California Lawyers Foundation are committed to fostering the career growth of persons of color, women, members of the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities, and members of other underrepresented groups who are interested in practicing labor and employment law. Learn more here.

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Mentorship Program is geared toward the professional advancement and support of antitrust and unfair competition law practitioners in California. The Program matches mentors and mentees based on their responses to questionnaires designed to assess applicants’ career goals, areas of interest, and relevant experiences. More information is available here.

The Environmental Law Section (ELS) invites you to join their mentorship program. The ELS Mentorship Program pairs newer attorneys with more experienced attorneys. You may apply to be a mentor or mentee. More information is available here.

The Labor and Employment Law Section connects individuals as mentors and mentees. The Section makes the initial introduction between the mentor and mentee, and the mentor and mentee are responsible for contacting each other and developing their relationship. If you are interested in participating as a mentor or mentee, please sign up here.

You MUST be a member of the Labor and Employment Law Section to participate in this mentorship program.

Access to mentoring and constructive feedback early in one’s career is an important indicator of long term professional success. The Taxation Section is proud to support mentoring through its Odyssey Mentorship Program with the goal of shaping future productive and confident leaders of the profession.  The Odyssey Mentorship Program provides Mentees with a confidential forum to ask questions, be exposed to other members of the profession, and gain expertise so they can be assured, skilled tax practitioners.  It also provides Mentors with the opportunity to give back to the tax community and help support the future of the profession by ensuring its new members are best prepared for the professional challenges they may face. Learn more about the Odyssey Mentorship.

You MUST be a member of the Taxation Section to participate in this mentorship program. See the top of this web page to join CLA, and a Section, for free.

The California Lawyers Association (CLA) has created a collection of scholarship, fellowship, externship, and clerkship opportunities available to diverse undergraduate students, law school students, and recent law school graduates which are awarded by outside agencies.  Click here to access the collection.

The Inclusion & Diversity Fellowship program is a joint program managed by the California Lawyers Foundation (a 501(c)(3) charitable organization) and the California Lawyers Association Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section. The Fellowship provides training, mentorship, and career opportunities for students from underrepresented groups in the legal profession, increases interest in antitrust and unfair competition law, and promotes the work of the Section. Read more about it here.

The Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship Program gives law students a chance to spend 8 to 10 weeks over the summer practicing environmental, energy, land use, and/or natural resources law at a participating government agency or public interest organization. Each participant receives a $6,500 stipend. The Section assists students with placement at the governmental agency or public interest organization and matches the Fellows with mentors who practice in the field. The Section also coordinates gatherings and provides opportunities for Fellows to meet other Section members and attorneys who practice in environmental, energy, land use, and natural resources law fields, and it invites each Fellow to attend the Section’s Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite® in October following the Fellowship with free conference registration. Read more about it here.

The Criminal Law Section of the California Lawyers Association is pleased to announce the Marshall M. Schulman Annual Competition for Student Papers in Criminal Law and/or Criminal Procedure. This is a nationwide competition; while the focus is on California law, past winners have included students attending schools across the country. Learn more here.

The Environmental Law Section of the California Lawyers Association is pleased to announce the Student Environmental Law Writing Competition. The competition is free and open to all law school students currently enrolled at any law school located within California.  Entries may be on any issue of legal and/or policy significance relating to the field of environmental law, and must be 5,000 words or less. Learn more here.

The Public Law Section is seeking entries for its annual Public Law Writing Competition. Historically, the competition has been open to law students. Now, lawyers who have been practicing for 8 years or less can submit entries. Two entries will be recognized, including a $2,000 cash prize for the winner and a $500 cash prize for the runner up. The author of the winning piece will be recognized at an awards reception sponsored by the Public Law Section. Learn more here.

Are you interested in becoming an IP Section Reporter? The Intellectual Property Section of the California Lawyers Association is looking for 2Ls, 3Ls and recent graduates to serve as IP Section Reporters for 2022/2023. Learn more here.

Current law students share what they wish they had known about their first year of law school before classes began.  This resource includes some great tips including networking, work-life balance, professional etiquette and more!

View or Download the PDF here.

On October 22, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued an order which resulted in the creation of the Provisional Licensure Program for 2020 law school graduates.  Learn more about CLA resources for Provisional Licensees here.

We hope this collection of external resources may be helpful as you consider how to approach paying for law school at present and in the future. This list is by no means complete; we recommend communicating with your school for additional resources.

• The ABA offers many articles, webinars and resources to ABA members about student debt repayment strategy, trends, policy and more. Learn more here.
• CLA: How SoFi Can Help CalBar Connect Attorneys (*note: CalBar Connect is a benefit for all CLA members; CLA membership is free to all students, sign up here.)
• AccessLex conducts research, provides resources to students, and pursues policy to make legal education work better for students and society at large. Learn more about AccessLex here.
  • AccessLex: Student Loan Calculator
  • AccessLex: Law School Scholarship Databank
• Federal Student Aid: Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program
  • The ABA is monitoring the latest developments of the PSLF
• ABA & Thomson Reuters: The Financial Literacy Project