For Law Schools

The Peggy Browning Fund provides unique opportunities for law students to work for economic and social justice. We accomplish this goal through a variety of activities, including the sponsorship of legal fellowships and workers' rights conferences for law students. In so doing, it is our belief that law students who are exposed to these positive experiences will have an increased understanding and appreciation for the issues facing workers and what representing working people is all about.

Our Fellowship Program provides students with an opportunity to work for non-profit labor-related organizations. Our office works closely with participating law schools in soliciting qualified and committed students for our programs. Additionally, we provide networking and other support services to the selected Fellows. Each year we bring the Fellows and their supervisors from the mentor organizations together for a half-day workshop. The mentor organizations present worker rights/labor issues facing their clients; students outline the work projects accomplished during their respective fellowships.

Through our annual National Law Students Workers' Rights Conference, we provide educational opportunities for law students to learn more about the issues facing labor today. Each fall, through formal and informal sessions and interactive workshops, top academicians and practitioners address the issue of labor's relevance in the coming years. The goals of our conference are two-fold: to offer encouragement to law students already committed to workers' rights, and to inform students not currently committed to these interests, in the hope that as they become leaders in their communities they will bring an appreciation of workers' rights issues to their work as lawyers and community leaders.

Students benefit from the numerous other networking opportunities we provide as well. Employers frequently contact us with job openings, and we include job postings on our website. Many applicants for our fellowships are hired by our mentor organizations in other positions, so our recruitment efforts help place far more than the students we directly support.

The prestige of a Peggy Browning Fellowship has become widely recognized. Many organizations and law firms have reported that, because of our reputation and their experience with our Fellows, they consider a Peggy Browning Fellowship as an especially important credential.

Currently over 150 law schools participate in our programs. From 1998 through 2020, we awarded over 1,000 fellowships throughout the nation. Over 3,000 students have attended our annual conferences, over 1,800 attended our Regional Workshops at participating law schools, and many have found summer positions or even longer-term employment through the networking opportunities we have provided.

Any fully accredited law school wishing to participate must identify a Career Service Officer and a Labor Law Professor to serve as liaisons with the Peggy Browning Fund. They must actively promote the program, identify interested students, and share information with them. It is also most helpful, although not currently required, if schools assist the Peggy Browning Fund in various ways (e.g., by covering some or all costs for their students to attend our annual conference, by taking ads in the Program Books for one of our events, by providing facilities or helping organize a fund-raiser, etc.).

Send a letter expressing your interest in participating, and supporting such a commitment, to:

Rachel Del Rossi
Executive Director
Peggy Browning Fund
100 South Broad Street, Suite 1208
Philadelphia, PA 19110
Email: rdelrossi@peggybrowningfund.org

Please include all contact information (including email address) for the liaisons identified for your school. Also include such information for your Law School Dean.