Fellowship Opportunity Invitation

Youth Justice Project Fellowship 2025

Disability Rights NJ seeks a law student graduating in 2025, or law clerk finishing a clerkship, with a deep commitment to fighting for youth justice and disability equality, to apply with Disability Rights NJ for a NJ Bar Foundation New Jersey Non-Profits grant. Interested candidates must be a graduate of a law school in the state of New Jersey.

The NJ Bar Foundation fellow will be a member of the Youth Justice Project team at Disability Rights NJ, working to “decriminalize disability” for youth in underserved communities by ensuring their educational and community needs are met through direct legal representation, community advocacy, and self-advocacy training. The Youth Justice Project is a unique program in the state. Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Administrators of the Courts in New Jersey, Youth Justice Project attorneys have direct access to the court system and to justice-impacted youth in Mercer County and Essex County. This year, the Youth Justice Project will provide legal representation more than forty (40) justice-impacted youth in these two counties. The fellow with work with the team to grow and expand the project in 2025. 

This fellowship will allow the law graduate or attorney to practice public interest law and develop advocacy and other legal skills. The fellow will gain practical experience defending and expanding education and disability rights by advocating for justice-impacted youth, representing individual clients, and engaging with our policy and communications teams on advancing legislation and public education. The fellow will have the opportunity to conduct client interviews, draft retainers, conduct document review, draft complaints, and negotiate agreements. The fellow will attend meetings with the client, including mediations, settlement conferences and, if necessary, hearings. The fellow will also advocate for state legislative and administrative reform to better implement existing laws as well as provide research assistance to advance the team’s goals and objectives.

To partner with us, please submit a letter of consideration indicating your interest and/or any experience in public-interest law and specifically youth justice, along with a resume, and a writing sample, to [email protected] with the subject line “Youth Justice Project Fellowship Proposal” by December 6, 2025.

Disability Rights NJ is an Equal Opportunity Employer and committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace.