Public Service

NYU Law has a culture of public service. We offer the most comprehensive public service infrastructure of any law school in the nation. 

The Public Interest Law Center (PILC), founded in 1992, coordinates and promotes NYU Law’s public interest and government service activities—including Public Interest Summer Funding Grants  for all 1Ls and 2Ls doing public interest work—and also offers individual career counseling. PILC’s Public Interest Legal Career Fair is the largest career fair of its kind in the nation. 

The Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program, NYU’s oldest public interest scholarship, was established more than 60 years ago and awards full tuition to 20 scholars selected for their academic merit, leadership potential, and commitment to working in public service. 

The Latinx Rights Scholarship offers full-tuition support to students who intend to pursue careers serving Latinx communities. 

The Furman Public Policy Scholarship Program provides specialized training and advising to selected students pursuing careers in public policy, offering full-tuition support and experience-based opportunities. 

The Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program, established in 1958, offers 3L fellowships that facilitate internships with civil liberties and other human rights organizations. 

Our recently enhanced Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP Plus), which helps ease the burden of debt repayment obligations for qualified graduates, is one of the most generous in the nation. 

Public Interest News in Brief

  • Melissa Murray
    In current legal battles and beyond, NYU Law alumni, students, and faculty are working to protect reproductive freedom and advocate for those mademost vulnerable by the Supreme Court’s revocation of…
  • Illustration of lawyers in front of the scales of justice and a collage of various clientele
    At law firms and in business, many NYU Law alumni carry on the Law School’s tradition of public service through their commitment to pro bono. What drives them to take on this demanding work on top of…
  • Priti Krishtel
    To make lifesaving drugs more widely available, Priti Krishtel ’02 advocates for patent reform around the world. BY EMILY ROSENTHAL In 2005, India changed its patent laws to allow pharmaceutical…
  • Margaret Satterthwaite
    Talk of the Law School Protecting Judicial Independence The United Nations Human Rights Council named Professor of Clinical Law Margaret Satterthwaite ’99 as special rapporteur on the…