The Domestic Violence Clinic hires one clinical teaching fellow/supervising attorney each year, for a two-year fellowship position. DVC fellows receive intensive, supportive mentorship as they develop skills in litigation, teaching, and legal scholarship; fellows are well-prepared for a career in clinical teaching or public interest practice.
DVC fellows develop skills as clinical teachers. They supervise law students as they represent survivors of domestic abuse in civil protection order cases in D.C. Superior Court. As supervisors, fellows teach students to develop a range of skills—from building a strong and empathic attorney-client relationship; to acquiring litigation practice skills; to exploring legal ethics; to becoming creative problem-solvers, trauma-informed lawyers, and excellent storytellers. They help students critically examine the psychological dynamics of intimate partner violence, the harms inflicted by our society’s systemic and institutional responses, and various alternatives to solutions rooted in the existing legal system.
DVC fellows also learn to design clinic seminar classes on a range of topics, including child custody, professional ethics, and the individual and social dynamics of intimate partner violence. Faculty provide close support as fellows design the classes they will teach, focusing on how to navigate potential student learning challenges, how to develop an individual teaching “voice,” and how to facilitate interesting, challenging, and thought-provoking conversations and classroom exercises.
DVC fellows receive extensive training and mentorship as they continue to improve their lawyering and litigation skills. Fellows provide direct representation to a small number of clients experiencing family abuse, primarily outside of the academic semester.
Fellows are offered extensive opportunities to engage in legal scholarship. DVC faculty and others in the broader Georgetown community provide a wide range of support to fellows interested in researching, writing, and publishing their work.
First-year DVC fellows join the full community of Georgetown’s clinical teaching fellows in a course on clinical pedagogy co-taught by members of the Georgetown clinical faculty. They are also part of the Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program, where they have opportunities to collaborate with lawyer-fellows working on a wide variety of women’s rights legal issues at placements throughout Washington, D.C., and learn from leaders in the national and local feminist legal community.
Preference will be given to applicants who have a background or demonstrated interest in family law, domestic or sexual violence, and/or poverty law, and to applicants who have trial practice experience. Applicants must be admitted to a Bar at the time they submit their application. A fellow offered the DVC fellowship position who is not a member of the D.C. Bar must apply for admission by waiver immediately following acceptance.
The fellowship runs from early July 2024 through June 2026. The first-year salary is $70,000; the second-year salary is $75,000. Upon completing the fellowship, Georgetown awards fellows an LL.M. in Advocacy.
The DVC welcomes and considers applications from any and all interested applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran, or other protected status.
You must have successfully passed a Bar exam by the time you submit your application, with no exceptions. Fellows who are not members of the D.C. Bar must apply for admission by waiver upon accepting the fellowship offer.
Please complete the Women's Law & Public Policy Fellowship Program application and submit it to both Professors Deborah Epstein and Rachel Camp ([email protected]) and to the Fellowship Program ([email protected]).
Applications must be submitted by Friday, November 10, 2023.