Law Funding Sources

For more information, click on source name to go to the agency web site. 

If searching for a specific foundation, you may wish to do a page search (find-Ctrl F)

The list below represents a sampling of all possible sources of funding for scholarly activity. You are encouraged to use InfoEd's SPIN database  
for a more customized search.

Any questions regarding searches and funding sources should be directed to the Office of Grant Support (718) 430-3642.

                                 Grants               Scholarships/Fellowships           Prizes

 

Grants:

Source

Funding Interest

Phone

Additional Info

American Bar Association Child Custody (312) 988-5805

Mini-grants and directed grants. 2006 topic: Bringing Mental Health and Social Services into Child Advocacy Efforts

American Society for International Law International Law (202) 939-6000

Provides micro-grants 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.

Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation Legal and Human Rights (212) 836-1352

Seed money, start up, research.

Equal Justice Works Access to Justice (202) 466-3686

Creates partnerships among public interest lawyers, nonprofit organizations, and other donors in order to afford underrepresented populations effective access to the justice system.

Law School Admission Council Law (215) 968-1198

Funds empirical research related to legal education in the US.

MacArthur Foundation Juvenile Justice (312) 726-8000

Supports research, model programs, policy analysis, and public education related to juvenile justice.

National Endowment for Democracy Democracy (202) 293-9072

Interested in nonpartisan programs seeking to strengthen democratic values among all sectors of the democratic political spectrum

National Institute of Justice Criminal Justice see specific programs for contact info

See website for grant opportunities.

National Science Foundation Law and Social Science (703) 292-7280

Supports social scientific studies of law and law-like systems of rules, institutions, processes, and behaviors.

Open Society Law and Justice (212) 548-0600

See website for grant opportunities.

Russell Sage Foundation Social Science/Social Inequality (212) 750-6000

See website for grant opportunities.

US Institute of Peace International Conflict Resolution (202) 457-1700

Welcomes proposals of an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary nature.

 

 

 

Scholarships/Fellowships:

Source

Funding Interest

Phone

Additional Info

American Association of Law Libraries Minority Scholarship  

Awarded annually to college graduates with meaningful law library experience who are members of a minority group as defined by current U.S. government guidelines, are degree candidates in an accredited library or law school, and who intend to have a career in law librarianship.

American Bar Association Legal Opportunities Scholarship Minority Scholarship (312) 988-5415

Established to improve diversity in the legal profession.

American Trial Lawyers Association Law (202) 965-3500

Several law school scholarships offered. See website.

Fulbright Scholar Program (Center for International Exchange for Scholars) Various (202) 686-2000

See website for details.

Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law: George N. Lindsay Civil Rights Legal Fellowship Civil Rights (202) 662-8600

Fellow will have the opportunity to gain legal experience in one or more of the following areas: voting rights, criminal justice, poverty, employment discrimination, fair housing, community and economic development, pro-affirmative actions efforts, discrimination and the intersection of gender and race, and human rights law.

Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Fellowship Civil Rights no calls

Fellowship will enhance the fellow's understanding of litigation-oriented, transactional, and other non-traditional practices of civil rights law, and prepare her or him for a career of promoting social justice.

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Scholarships Minority Scholarships  

See website for details.

National Center on Philanthropy and the Law at NYU Nonprofit Law (212) 998-6168

The Center has established two Fellowship Programs: 1) Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowship in Nonprofit Law  2) NCPL Fellowship in Nonprofit Law at NYU's Office of Legal Counsel. These Fellowship programs provide law school graduates with exposure to an unusually wide variety of legal and organizational issues encountered by nonprofit organizations.

Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund Scholarship Program Minority Scholarship (212) 219-3360 

First or  second year students in a JD degree program.

Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Germany/European Union  

Provides young American professionals (23-34) with executive level internships in the federal government and private sectors in Germany. Seminars in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich as well as visits to Poland, the Czech Republic, Belgium and France provide an in-depth understanding of issues facing the European Union and Germany today. Candidates are competitively chosen from the fields of business administration, economics, journalism and mass communications, law, political science and public affairs/public policy.

Voelker Foundation Native American Scholarship Minority Scholarship  

To assist Native American students in their pursuit of a legal education.

 

 

Prizes:

Source

Funding Interest

Phone

Additional Info

American Bar Association Law Student Negotiation Competition Legal Negotiation (800) 285-2111

Competition simulates legal negotiations in which law students, acting as lawyers, negotiate a series of legal problems. 

American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers Competition  Consumer Financial Services Law (405) 325-4699

Best publishable article or substantial book review, best book chapter or book, and the best student case note of comment on a topic dealing with consumer financial services law.

American College of Legal Medicine Student Writing Awards Legal Medicine/Bioethics (847) 969-0283

Any aspect of legal medicine, including medical licensure and regulation of the profession; business aspects
of medical practice; liability of physicians, hospitals, managed care organizations, and pharmaceutical
manufacturers; public health law; the physician-patient relationship; care of special patents; food and drug law;
medical research; forensic science; and the history of legal medicine. A separate competition is held for an paper dealing with bioethics.

The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel Mary Moers Wenig Student Writing Competition Trusts and Estates  

The paper must relate to the area of trusts and estates, broadly defined. Any one or more of the following topics are appropriate for discussion: Business Planning, Charitable Planning, Elder Law, Employee Benefits, Fiduciary Administration, Fiduciary Income Taxation, Fiduciary Litigation, Estate Planning and Drafting, Professional Responsibility, Substantive Laws for the Gratuitous Transmission of Property,
Wealth Transfer Taxation (Estate, Gift and GST Tax)

Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice Writing Award Underrepresented Women (510) 642-6263

Invites (previously unpublished) submissions of research, analysis, narrative, theory, and commentary that address the lives and struggles of underrepresented women.

Cromwell Initiative Legal History (212) 854-5735

A number of awards are available to support research and writing in American legal history. 

International Insolvency Institute Prize Insolvency Issues (703) 591-6336

Prize will be awarded for original research, commentary or analysis on topics of international insolvency and restructuring significance or international comparative analysis of domestic insolvency and restructuring topics. The Prize competition is open to full and part-time undergraduate and graduate students and to practitioners in practice for less than five years.

Legal Affairs Writing Contest for Law Students Law (203) 789-1510, x13

Submissions must be original, unpublished work. Articles should make an argument about a pertinent topic in the law. 

National Association of Women Lawyers  Selma Moidel Smith Law Student Writing Competition Women in the Law  

For an essay on an issue concerning women's rights or the status of women in the law

National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law William J. Pierce Writing Contest Uniform or model acts (312) 915-0195

Open to law school students or recent graduates. Any article, note, or comment that addresses a uniform or model act, or an issue arising from a uniform 
or model act promulgated by the National Conference of Commissions on Uniform State Laws may be
eligible.

NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund Law Student Essay Contest Constitutional Rights (703) 267-1250

The contest is open to all individuals who are law students at the date of submission and who have not been previously admitted to practice law in the United States. The subject of the contest is "The Right of the Individual to Keep and Bear Arms as a Federally Protected Right."

Pacific Legal Foundation Writing Award Judicial Awareness  

Open to law school students. Paper must address one of three topics. See website for details.

University of Leicester: Victoria Fisher Memorial Prize Essay Women and the Law 0116 252 2363

Prize is given for best essay on a topic related to women and the law.