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About the Arthur Liman Public Interest Summer Fellowship

The Arthur Liman Public Interest Summer Fellowship is sponsored by the Swearer Center for Public Service in conjunction with Yale Law School. This fellowship supports undergraduates who want to spend the summer working in the area of public interest law. Broadly defined, public interest law includes helping those often lacking resources to retain attorneys, or to engage in advocacy work of a variety of kinds, to gain voice, and to participate in shaping public policy. Undergraduate Fellows have worked in areas such as civil legal services for criminal defendants, children's rights, immigrants’ right, drug policy, and the death penalty. Placements can include organizations providing civil or criminal legal services to individuals, representation of particular groups, entities focused on problems of legal and public policy or law-related media.

The fellowship provides a $3,000 stipend. All currently enrolled Brown University undergraduates are eligible to apply, including seniors wishing to work the summer immediately following their graduation. At the time of applications, undergraduates need not have identified a specific project. The Liman Program will help with placements, including organizations with Liman Fellows. However, if students are interested in specific substantive areas or projects, they should indicate this as part of the application process.

Brown Liman Fellows will work closely with the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School and will join Liman Fellows from Yale, Barnard, Princeton, Harvard and Spellman College. The program is named after Arthur Liman, Yale '57, who through his long and distinguished career, demonstrated how dedicated lawyers in both private practice and public life could serve the needs of people and causes that might otherwise go unrepresented. Brown’s Liman Undergraduate Summer Fellowship is funded by the generous support of Arthur Liman's son, the filmmaker Doug Liman.

All currently-enrolled Brown University undergraduates are eligible to apply, including seniors wishing to work the summer immediately following their graduation.

At the time of applications, undergraduates need not have identified a specific project. The Liman Program will help with placements, including at organizations with Liman Fellows. However, if students are interested in specific substantive areas or projects, they should describe those.

Applications for Summer 2008 fellowships need to be submitted by February 1, 2008. The application must be received by close of business and may be delivered to:

Alan Flam
Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service
Brown University, Box 1974
25 George Street
Providence, RI 02912

Please refer questions to Alan Flam at Alan_Flam@Brown.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yale's Liman Fellowship Website

2007 Liman Fellows

The Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University is pleased to announce the Brown University recipients of the 2006 Arthur Liman Undergraduate Summer Fellowship. The Fellowship is co-coordinated by the Swearer Center and the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School. This program allows for students to do summer work in the field of public interest law. Broadly defined, public interest law helps those often lacking resources to have adequate access to legal services. Liman Fellowships often exist at the intersection between law and human/civil rights movements. These Undergraduate Summer Fellowships are funded by the generous support of the filmmaker Doug Liman, Brown class of 1988, and the Liman Fund, in memory of Doug's father, Arthur Liman, Esq.

The 2007 Liman Fellows are:

Zachary Townsend ‘09 is a Public Policy, Education Studies and Applied Math concentrator from North Brunswick, NJ. He is a Co-Coordinator of Polaris Project Rhode Island, the local chapter of a national organization that works to end human trafficking. At Brown, Zachary has been awarded the Royce Fellowship has served as Vice President of the Undergraduate Council of Students, and is a former Brown Daily Herald Opinions columnist. Zachary plans to spend this summer working for the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Rachel P. Judge ‘07 is a Sociology concentrator from Royalton, VT. Rachel was awarded the Starr Fellowship in 2005 which she used to launch the Providence Downtown Farmers Market in partnership with Farm Fresh Rhode Island. She has served as a Writing Fellow and as a Research Assistant in the Sociology Department’s Initiative for Spacial Structures in the Social Sciences.

Te-Ping Chen ‘07 is a Sociology and International Relations concentrator from Oakland, CA. Te-Ping is the founder of Democracy Matters Rhode Island, a campaign to connect, recruit, and empower students around publicly financed elections. At Brown Te-Ping has served as a Writing Fellow, and as both a Teaching Assistant and a Research Assistant in The Department of Sociology.

Nabanita Pal ‘09 is a Development Studies concentrator from Gaithersburg, MD. “Neeta” is the Program Coordinator for the Rossi House Debate Team, which instructs incarcerated young women on debate, public speaking and persuasive writing. She has also been a City Girls Mentor through the Swearer Center. Neeta has served her fellow Brown students as a Minority Peer Counselor and remains active in the South Asian Student’s Association.

Conchita Cruz ‘07 is an International Relations and Latin-American Studies concentrator from Providence, RI. Conchita serves as a Program Coordinator for English for Speakers of Other Languages in Olneyville, through the Swearer Center. She has been very active on campus promoting programming through the Third World Center and the Office of Student Life for students of Latino and Caribbean heritage, and is the recipient of two research assistantships in the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Sociology.

Reports from past Liman Fellows