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Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Legal Fellowship

2013-2014 Application Deadline: Dec. 10, 2012

The Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Legal Fellowship is a one-year fellowship that focuses on First Amendment issues. It is funded by the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Legal fellows monitor significant developments in First Amendment media law, assist with legal defense requests from reporters, prepare legal memoranda, amicus briefs and other special projects. They write for the Committee's publications, the quarterly magazine The News Media & The Law, and the weekly newsletter, News Media Update. The fellowship lasts one year (September to August), with a stipend of $40,000, plus fully-paid health benefits.

Candidates must have a law degree or be scheduled to receive one no later than August 2013, and should plan to take a bar examination in any state by August 2013. Strong legal research and writing skills are required, and a background in news reporting is very strongly preferred.

There is no application form. Candidates mustsubmit the following no later than December 10, 2012:

  •     cover letter
  •     resume
  •     names, addresses and phone numbers for three references
  •     short legal writing sample
  •     news clips (if necessary, one non-legal writing sample may be submitted in lieu of news clips)

Please address applications to:

Bruce D. Brown
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
1101 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1100
Arlington, VA 22209

or to:

fellowships@rcfp.org

(Note: one application can be submitted for both this fellowship and the Jack Nelson Fellowship. If sending by email, all documents must be in the form of Word documents or PDFs.)

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