The Judicial Fellows Programme of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is a highly selective program that gives recent law graduates work experience as clerks at the ICJ in The Hague. Only a few of the world’s most outstanding legal scholars are chosen. Candidates are nominated by Penn Carey Law in February of each year and are selected by the Court on a competitive basis. 

For questions, contact Caroline Ruhle

Catalyst Fellowships support students who obtain unpaid postgraduate positions in government, non-profit, or international organizations that may lead to full-time staff positions or to related employment in the public sector. 

Below are some examples of international-related placements:

• Clooney Foundation for Justice (Morgan Blomberg L’21)
  Investigating and gathering evidence about violations of international criminal law.
• Reprieve—Secret Prisons Team (Jake Romm L’20)
  Representing clients at Guantanamo Bay
• Center for Justice and Accountability (Meroua Zouai L’20)
  Supporting active litigation in pending war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture cases

Information from Toll Public Interest Center on financial support for Public Interest Fellowships

Project-Based Fellowships enable students and recent alumni to design a one-year project to address a specific need of a non-profit partner organization.

Below are some examples of international-related placements:

• Human Rights First (Allison Perlin L’21)
  Applying human rights perspective for both impact litigation and direct representation cases
• Reprieve (Sabine Cardio L’20)
  Conducting investigations on behalf of clients who were victims of artificial intelligence/drone strikes
• Human Rights Watch (Shikha Bhattacharjee L’13) 
  Researching the implementation of laws to end manual scavenging 
• Food First Information and Action Network - Germany (Denisse Cordova L’12)

Information from Toll Public Interest Center on financial support for Public Interest Fellowships

Funding is available to support LLM postgraduate work on human rights development and reform. Preference will be given to proposals that involve an internship or fellowship with a government agency, non-governmental organization, or multilateral agency.

Past examples:

• Human Rights Watch, Tokyo: Atsushi Shiraki LLM’20
  Working to enhance access to justice for the underprivileged
• TrialWatch, Clooney Foundation for Justice: Hugh Fitzgibbon LLM’21
  Monitoring trials of journalists, women, LGBTQ persons, human rights defenders, and minorities
• UN Women’s East and Southern Africa Regional Office: Amanda Nasinyama LLM’17
  Collating over 300 laws that regulate women’s status in the family

Information from Toll Public Interest Center on financial support for Public Interest Fellowships

With a long-standing mission of promoting mutual understanding through educational and cultural exchange, Fulbright Fellowships offer both ‘student’ and ‘scholar’ grants to fund 8- to 12-month fellowships in over 140 countries. The Law School’s students and alumni have pursued Fulbright Fellowships to engage globally with a diverse range of research topics and professional opportunities.

Examples of prior Fulbright projects by Law School graduates:

• ‘Women’s Rights are Human Rights: The Role of Indian Commissions in Advancing Social Change’ (India)
• ‘Shari’ah-Compliant Insurance and Regulatory Laws’ (Qatar)
• ‘The Evolution of China’s Legal System: Intellectual Property Rights in an Emerging Market Economy’ (China)
• ‘Enforcement of Public International Law: The Role for International Criminal Law’ (Netherlands)
• Grant to support a binational business study and internship. (Mexico)
• ‘Abrahamic Influences on Tunisian and American Family Planning Law’ (Tunisia)
• ‘Social and Legal Implications of Implied Consent and Disclosure’ (Greece)

For questions, contact the Office of International Affairs

Additional details on the University of Pennsylvania page

Helton Fellowships are awarded by the American Society of International Law (ASIL) of which Penn Carey Law is an active member.   “Micro-grants” are available for law students and young professionals to pursue field work and research on significant issues involving international law, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and related areas.   

Fellows undertake their projects in association with an established educational institution, international organization, governmental agency, or non-governmental organization.

Past example:

• Women Enabled International (Radhika Saxena LLM’19)
  Looking at ways domestic laws and policies deny women and girls with disabilities their legal capacity.

For questions, contact the Office of International Affairs

Additional details on the the ASIL website