Fellowships

Student Testimonials - Summer Fellowship 2023 (PDF, 449.14 KB)

Student Testimonials - Summer Fellowship 2022

Student Testimonials - Summer Fellowship 2021 (PDF, 550.45 KB)

A fellowship is essentially a bursary for an internship position, which is usually unpaid.

So, a fellowship can be a source of funding for students who want to engage in work during the summer that might not otherwise be remunerated.Some fellowships fund opportunities for students to work on social justice topics or with public interest organizations; others are available for students wanting to work with small law firms or sole practitioners.

Fellowships must be applied for in advance of the summer and typically the selection process is quite competitive.  Fellowships are granted based on both the strength of the applicant and the quality of the project/work being proposed.  Fellows are responsible for securing their own placement.

Fellowships are $7,500 fellowships which support public interest lawyering among uOttawa Faculty of Law students.You will receive an amount of $7,300 in May and the remaining of $200 once the final documents requirements have been fulfilled in September.

1. The employer supervisor is either a practising lawyer or someone who has received legal training (holds a J.D. or an LL.B.) and who works at the organization or the firm for which you will be completing your internship and who is responsible for supervising your work.
2. The supervisor is a member in good standing of a law society and has not been subject to any disciplinary measures.
3. The supervisor must have a minimum of 3 years law-related work experience after graduating law school or 2 years experience as a lawyer after their call to the bar.

Any 1st or 2nd year (or 3rd year of 4) uOttawa law student in either the J.D. or any joint J.D. program is eligible to apply. To be eligible, you will be required to return to uOttawa to complete your studies during the next academic year.

The selected fellow must complete at least 300 hours of work for the host placement or within the proposed project. The 300 hours of work must be completed between May 1 and August 31. The scheduling of the hours is to be decided between the student fellow and the host placement. The student must be available during the host employer’s regular business hours. 

All Summer Fellowship opportunities are advertised to students as the deadlines approach. Typically, applications will be due in March each year. Detailed information about each fellowship opportunity will be published in The Source Document Library under the ‘Resources’ tab as well as in the ‘Jobs’ tab.

Successful recipients will be notified by early April 2024.

We strongly encourage you to consider pursing an in-person summer fellowship placement.Note that some Fellowship are required to be undertaken in-person.

Yes, students can apply for more than one fellowship.You must submit one application for each fellowship you apply for in our Brightspace portal. 

Yes, you can still apply, but needs to know that having two plans sometimes increases the chances of being selected (i.e., if 2 students propose the same employer). 

The application must be submitted to the Brightspace portal under the “2024 Bourse de stage | Fellowship” section which can be found on your home page by no later than Monday, March 18, 2024, at 12:00 pm (noon).

The student must complete the application online form. When uploading your application materials in Brightspace, there is an option to confirm that the Application Form was completed. If you are planning an independent work proposal, then the organization information may be omitted.Please consult the Fellowship Handbook in The Source or in Brightspace for more information.

You may find more information in the fellowship handbook, in The Source job postings tab and/or on the Brightspace portal.

Please refer to the recommendations in the Step-by-Step Guide (PDF, 406.59 KB)for Finding a Student Proposed Internship, including consulting the P2P Mentoring Network on the homepage of The Source, where you can do a search (e.g., by area of law, location) of experiences of other students who have completed a Fellowship or Student Proposed Internship to give you inspiration for places to reach out to. The Step-by-Step Guide also gives you recommendations for the initial outreach email to the place where you would like to complete your Fellowship to see if it is a possibility. 

Yes, we are strict with the timelines, no extension will be granted.

The fellowship handbook can be found in The Source document library and in the Brightspace fellowship application portal.

For further information about the fellowship program, please contact Anna Jeffery. If needed, you can schedule an appointment through The Source.

Yes, you will need to complete the SPI during the first half of the summer (115 hours), then the Fellowship (300 hours) during the second half of the summer.

Work schedules are negotiated with the employer supervisor to ensure that students maximize their practicum experience and meet the work requirements of the employer.

Yes, if you are proposing a fellowship abroad, you must satisfy the requirements and conditions set by the International Office as indicated in the Fellowship Handbook.

Yes, if the Fellowship supervision requirements are met.

Student selection is evaluated and confirmed by the CPDC Manager and Counsellor, the Faculty Committee, and the host organization.