Cover Fellowships

The Cover Fellowships are named after Professor Robert M. Cover (1943–1986), a brilliant scholar, a gifted teacher, and a committed social activist. Bob was intellectually and personally engaged in the significant social justice issues of his time—civil rights, poverty, justice in the workplace, and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. An honorary member of the Yale clinical faculty, who moved his office into the clinic, Bob’s life and scholarship stand as models of the deep connections between theory and practice, between thought and action, and between law and justice.

Yale Law School has long been a leader in training legal educators. The Cover Fellowship Program explicitly provides for the training of clinical legal educators, who provide a crucial dimension of modern legal education.

The Cover Fellowship Program seeks to attract lawyers with at least five years of practice (or equivalent experience) who are interested in a long-term career in law school clinical teaching. Each fellowship starts during the summer and lasts for two years, with a stipend of about $46,000 per year. One new Cover Fellow is selected each year.

The Cover Fellowship Program provides time for research and writing as well as representing clients, community outreach, trainings and classes, and supervising students. Fellows typically choose to concentrate their work in two of the clinics offered by Yale Law School’s Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization. Fellows are also encouraged to audit courses within the academic curriculum.

Fellows work with one or more civil clinics, which include immigration, domestic violence, housing, transactional and general civil law. To begin the application process for a Cover Fellowship, please send a resume, a letter making a case for your candidacy, the names and phone numbers of three references, and a writing sample to Kathryn Jannke, Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, Yale Law School, P.O. Box 209090, New Haven, CT 06520-9090. Applications for fellowships commencing in July must be received by December 1 of the previous year.

The Robert M. Cover–Allard K. Lowenstein Fellowship in International Human Rights Law is a two-year position for lawyers with international human rights or other relevant experience who are interested in preparing for a career in human rights practice or human rights clinical teaching. The Fellow will help supervise the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and coordinate activities of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights. 

Cover–Lowenstein Fellows are selected every other year.

Yale Law School’s San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project (SFALP) and Robert M. Cover Fellowship Program offer a post-graduate fellowship for lawyers who are interested in a long-term career in law school clinical teaching or public lawyering.  The Fellowship starts during the summer and lasts for one year, with a stipend of about $46,000 per year plus health benefits. One new SFALP Cover Fellow is selected each year. 

Fellowship responsibilities include running the San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project at Yale Law School, co-teaching a seminar on local government law with Yale Law School Professor Heather Gerken, supervising student work, and working directly with the San Francisco City Attorney's Affirmative Litigation Task Force on related litigation.  The Fellowship provides time for research and writing as well as community outreach. Fellows are also encouraged to audit courses within the academic curriculum.

Applicants should send a resume, a letter making the case for your candidacy, contact information for three references, and a writing sample to Professor Heather Gerken, Yale Law School, P.O. Box 208215, New Haven, CT 06520-8215.  Applications for the fellowship commencing over the summer must be received by September 1 of the previous year.