Baylor Law School provides Public Interest Summer Fellowships to students interning during the summer for not-for-profit or governmental organizations serving underrepresented populations. These fellowships are partially funded through the generous gift of Coulter ('33 JD) and Lily Rush Hoppess, in the late 1970s, for the purpose of "promoting and advancing the administration of justice through the competent and ethical practice of law."

Public interest law is a broad definition for legal practice areas that assist individuals in obtaining equal access to justice. Public interest employers for purposes of these fellowships include: government programs that serveindigent populations, not-for-profit organizationsthat serve indigent populations, legal aid, and public defenders offices. Typical issues include poverty & welfare, domestic & family, immigration, civil rights, workers' compensation, and bankruptcy. Except in unusual circumstances, fellowships will not be awarded to students working in prosecution or for the judiciary.

Fellowship recipients will receive $400 per week of work. Fellows must work a minimum of 5 weeks and a maximum of 10 weeks with the qualifying organization. Summer fellows must be supervised by an attorney.

Summer 2010 Fellows worked for organizations such as:

• TRLA Bee County Public Defender's Office
• Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth
• Catholic Charities Immigration and Legal Services, Dallas
• TRLA, Austin
• Public Defender, Kauai
• Dallas County Public Defender's Office
• Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, San Antonio
• Lone Star Legal Aid, Waco
• Immigration Unit of AYUDA, Washington, D.C.
• Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth
• TRLA, San Antonio